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Students Find Their Groove as Semester Rolls On

What's on your playlist? Illustration by Peter Lazaravich.
What's on your playlist? Illustration by Peter Lazaravich.

It's almost been a month since the fall semester began, and as students shuffle from class to class there’s more than schedules and classroom numbers on their minds — or more specifically, in their ears.

Preparation for the new school year not only includes crisp textbooks, fully inked pens, and freshly stocked notebooks; MP3 players are also receiving attention as students look to new playlists for motivation.

Downtown, at the bustling Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, CNN’s “The Situation Room” is airing on the big screen in the First Amendment Forum. In the middle of the room Miguel Castellanos, a criminology junior, is sitting stoically by himself, a lone figure with those all-too-familiar white buds in his ears.

As Castellanos waits for his next class to begin, he is armed with his backpack in one hand and his trusty iPod in the other.

“Right now I’m listening to some new stuff by Nelly, Linkin Park and K-Paz de la Sierra,” Castellanos says, describing his eclectic mix of music as soothing. “It calms me down. Before I take a test, I listen to a lot of music.”

As for the song that has him primed for the new semester, Castellanos pauses as he thinks. “B.o.B’s song ‘Airplanes.'"

The piano-driven rap song hit airwaves earlier this year and features Paramore’s Hayley Williams who sings the track’s hook.

“The lyrics make me want to try harder,” Castellanos says.

Photo by Lauren Melby.

For dietetics and pharmacy sophomore Mya Johnson, last year’s Black Eyed Peas hit “Boom Boom Pow” gets her through the day. She still indulges in 2005’s “Let’s Get Retarded,” saying the song’s beat and lyrics are what drive her.

“The bass line in that song just pumps me up as I walk to class,” Johnson says.

Luke Jensen, 23, transferred from out-of-state. He uses music as a way to bring a small piece of home to his new surroundings. The Chicago native arrived in Phoenix two weeks ago to study criminal justice. For Jensen, Kanye West’s song “Homecoming” helps him stay at ease as he adjusts to Arizona living.

Christian Jordan, a liberal arts freshman, has been in Arizona for only three days, and like Jensen, he is listening to a local band from his hometown. With a pleasant grin plastered on his face he explains how Hawaiian music affects him.

“It keeps my head up and keeps me looking forward,” he says. “It just makes me happy.”

Currently he is listening to “Honey Do” by Nesian N.I.N.E. “It talks about a girl and keeping you on the right track,” Jordan says.

For Britton Zogg, it’s neither a pop beat or catchy hook that gets her going. She turns to the one-man band Konrad Wert, otherwise known as Possessed by Paul James. Renowned for his lo-fi sound and combination of blues and folk, the rawness and grit he produces is exactly what Zogg wants to hear as the broadcast junior prepares to tackle another year of quizzes and exams.

“The blood-work in that man is all music,” she says.

How do you get into your groove, ASU?

Contact the reporter at jose.sandoval@asu.edu.


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