Week Three: Brother Ray

Cite: "The Last Days of Brother Ray"
Paraphrase: The Last Days of Brother Ray was an article on Ray Charles life including his dark side. Ray Charles was a famous blind pianist credited for starting soul music for the most part.
Analyze: When i think about about Ray Charles, I always just marvel at how incredible it is that he learned to play music so well considering he was blind. He is so much better at the piano then the average person with in my opinion less tools to learn with. It does make sense though that he would be so drawn to it. If I was blind and enjoyed playing music, I would play often because that is probably the second main sense (behind site) and so rather than how the most of us watch t.v. he would listen/play music. And if i had a disability like that i would probably strive to be incredible. There are so many things that are limited to his disability so it would make sense that he would be a perfectionist when it comes to music. It makes sense why its such a good "kid's story." Well the nice happy rainbow version at least. Blind man practices and overcomes disability to become one of the best pianists ever. To a kid that is probably just another story that you can do what ever you want if you put your mind to it. Its sort of funny to think about all the half truths that we were told as a kid like how George Washington founded this country on equality yet he owned slaves. Although if I could go back and had the choice whether to be told the mushie half truths or the full story I would prefer the half truths because they do inspire you and i think morally set you down the right path as a child. I mean if you were raised being told about all these hypocrasies, you would probably grow up to be a pretty cynical child with a lot of trust issues.