Herbal RemediesMy project has been quite the educational rollercoaster. The medicines we have today put me on edge. They are usually expensive and include countless ingredients. It would take forever to genuinely learn what you’re putting into your body. Not to mention the side effects are endless. Traditional medicines and herbs focus more on improving your overall health, versus doctors today who just want to eliminate your current problem, not prevent it for the future. It’s all about brands and it’s all about money. Frankly, I’m against it. Now, I won’t say we haven’t made positive progress, and extreme at that, but some of these medicines just aren’t necessary. I began wanting to base my studies off of traditional medicines in Native American history and the history of apothecaries, but soon enough, I got into research and became gravitated towards two plants in particular. Hellebore and mulungu. Hellebore is a very interesting flower. Beautiful and innocent looking but most strains are extremely poisonous. Mulungu, which also means God in East Central Africa, is used as a sedative, which is great for insomniacs. In my research you will find dropped information, random facts and lots of examples of trial and error.
Hellebore |
All of these references in my song relate to one thing: the 1940’s American struggles. Whether at home or in foreign territory, it was a very trying time. More than 6 million women filled in for the men at war. Many of them being stay at home mothers, or not even that. These references touch on popular media like advertisements and songs, while also looking at the dates that the soldiers left and returned to America. This is why I chose the perspective of a wife at home for this song. The country was plagued with worry and panic. Everyone had already had a fair share of financial struggles because of the great depression, so when men started shipping out to go fight, many women were left with little help, having to care for their own wellbeing and their children’s, as well as maintain an income. Underestimated at first, housewives set out to take on some unusual roles for their time. For example, women worked in the war industries, building ships, planes, trucks, machines and artillery. Others worked in factories, plants, farming and many other areas of the work force that were stereotypically left for men. The war left a great increase in the number of women serving for the military, as well as nursing. The war also revitalized our economy and pulled America out of the great depression. Gross national product was valued for less than $100 billion in 1940, yet was up to more than $200 in the span of five years. Some may take these historical events and only see one side- that of a man’s. This song illuminates a woman’s perspective of how the war affected them. Both bad, because some lost husbands and some women lost their own lives fighting as well. Yet, also, the good because they gave proof that women are just as capable in a traditional work setting as a man.
Mulungu
With this song, the sense is quite literal. The Vietnam War was very memorable with all the protests going on because it was an unusually large amount of people revolting. This includes Martin Luther King Jr, with his speech, ‘Beyond Vietnam’ and Muhammad Ali, who refused to fight in the war. He said, “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America.” Yet this song is more about what is seen on the battlefield. Insomnia and PTSD affecting people, especially the soldiers. They saw women and children unrightfully killed. Said by a soldier in Dear America,“They rounded up about 20-30 people. Most were women and children but there were some that were old men in the group. But they rounded them up right over the bank and shot them all with a machine gun and left them in a ditch.” The ages of the soldiers (most were around 21), who they were ordered to kill, and who ended up being killed. Thought the Viet Cong was our main target after a while, an unimaginable amount of Vietnamese citizens were brutally killed. As many as 2 million civilians dead on both sides. It took a very big toll on the mental health of many people, as this song shows. At times they hadn’t a clue what they were looking for. They were going in no particular direction, and many seemed to confirm that they liked having uneventful times, rather run into the enemy. “Contact with the enemy seems to be more infrequent than ever before. The soldiers like that. They sense, rightfully or not, that the war is almost over,” said in ‘Dear America’. So, the purpose of this song is to humanize these men and bring the experience down to a personal, emotional level.
Below are some of my favorite note pages I've created over the duration of this project.