Caitlyn+Valanzola

Famous for its ice cream and its casual and welcoming family atmosphere, Friendly’s located on Central Street in Foxboro Ma has become the go to spot of Foxboro. It is conveniently located in the center of Foxboro just a few feet from the rotary also known as the Foxboro Commons. The Foxboro Common is the center of the rotary, there are walkways and benches and plenty of open space to sit and have a picnic or hang out and relax on a nice day. There is also a small stage set up for concerts. The Common shapes the rotary, it is where all the main streets meet and circle around the Common allowing people to get from one main street to another. The Common is surrounded by a couple of banks and shops and the roads leading off of take you to restaurants, gas stations, schools, houses, etc. Friendly’s is always busy serving families, groups of friends, couples, etc. Whether people are going in for lunch, dinner or ice cream, the comfortable leather booths are full. They have an ice cream window next to the front door which gets busy as well and is crowded with people ordering and sitting or standing around eating their ice cream. The parking lot is small and usually full pushing the overflow onto the dead end street or over to the bank or CVS parking lots. The staff is friendly and move fast and are always in a good mood. The food is good and the ice cream is even better. Friendly’s first opened in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1935 as an ice cream shop. It was built as a place for families to sit and enjoy spending time with each other. They pride on having a friendly staff, reasonable priced meals and ice cream to make the meal. By 1974 Friendly’s had a chain of 500 restaurants in the mid Atlantic and northeastern USA. In 1999 the biggest dessert in Friendly’s history was released, it was the //Cyclone//, which came in six different flavors. In 2004 the //Cyclone// was reintroduced as the //Friend-z//. Friendly’s comes up with the “What’s your favorite?” theme for the new ice cream menu, and a contest for the perfect ice cream sundae resulted in the //Coffeehouse Turtle Sundae// and the //Peanut-butterpan Sundae,// in 2006. The My Friendly’s/ My Meals kids menu was awarded the best kids menu in America, in 2007. June 7th 2008, Friendly’s introduces //Free Ice Cream Day!// and draws in many people. Their newest campaign is the Best Friends of Friendly’s club which allows those who become a best friend of Friendly’s to receive discounts, news and special offers. Entering the restaurant you get a strong smell of French fries, making you hungrier. This was the only smell I could strongly point out while being in the restaurant. When meals were brought out and placed in front of the other customers around me the smell of French fries was lessened as the scents from the meals filled the area. At night the smell of French fries is not the powerful smell. While sitting waiting for my ice cream and trying to identify the smell I concluded the restaurant smelled like grease and cleaning products. After the rush of customers for dinner, Friendly’s doesn’t smell as appealing as it does during the day. Leaving Friendly’s with the smell of French Fries on your cloths lets u think about your night and how enjoyable it was. While sitting at one of the many booths in Friendly’s with your menu in front of you, you notice many things. There are pictures on and in the menu as well as on the walls. Depending on whether you have the ice cream or lunch/ dinner menu there are different pictures. The lunch and dinner menus have pictures of the meals in them to show the customer what their meal will look like. The front of the menu has a hamburger on it with Friendly’s written across the top. The ice cream menus have a strawberry shortcake sundae on the front and the inside is full of pictures of the toppings, and different types of sundaes and ice cream options. The fact that there are pictures in the menu show the restaurant is confident in their meals. Pictures in menus show how you meal will look, and the customer expects to receive the meal exactly how it looks in the picture. The green walls are full of pictures of past Friendly’s restaurants as well as random landscapes with a scoop of ice cream somewhere in the photo. Each table has a napkin holder, ketchup, salt and pepper shakers sugar packets and a dessert menu, all ready for when you receive your meal. Having all the condiments on the table makes it convenient for the customer and the staff. I would consider Friendly’s a third place, a home or office away from your home or office, because it is inexpensive, provides food and drink, has many regulars and is located in the center of town making it accessible to everyone in town. These are the characteristics or a third place and although Friendly’s may not be a place to meet up with other workers to do office work because they don’t have Wi-Fi, but it can be a home away from home for some people. As for the sounds that fill the restaurant, there is lots of conversation, clanking of silver wear, dishes and glasses, and background music. Friendly’s is a social place most people there are there to sit with friends or family and enjoy a meal, so there is a lot of conversation. People are talking and laughing; those around me I could hear more clearly over the other voices. People enjoy themselves at Friendly’s and feel comfortable to laugh or be loud, whereas in other restaurants people speak quieter because it’s fancier and rude to be loud. While sitting and observing I also heard noises from the kitchen and center staff area of the restaurant. I could hear silver wear being put away, and dishes and glasses being washed. I also heard a glass drop and all the other kitchen noises stop for a moment. Friendly’s is a popular place so the dishes need to be washed constantly. Also I noticed there was background music playing. It was a soft rock station and when the restaurant wasn’t as full you could hear the music clearly. The music relaxes the customers and because its soft rock and not just instrumental it makes the atmosphere of the restaurant casual and fun. As for taste, I enjoyed a happy ending sundae topped with hot fudge whip cream and a cherry. The happy ending comes with two scoops of ice cream and one topping. I ordered a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of black raspberry ice cream and for my one topping I chose hot fudge. Friendly’s has many flavors and is always coming out with new ones. The flavors at Friendly’s are both simple and exotic. I chose simple flavors that fruity but just like all of Friendly’s ice cream it was rich, cold and creamy. Some of the ice cream had melted as a result of the hot fudge on it. The whip cream and cherry were an added bonus to the happy ending completing the sundae. Sundaes, Friend-z’s, Fribbles, ice cream cones are all options available for eating ice cream. Friendly’s is not like Stone Cold Creamery which makes the flavor you want in front of you and has many different options. It is simple and has a very New England feel to it. Friendly’s is focused on ice cream which is its main selling point and exactly what draws in customers. The restaurant wants to create a comfortable, social and “friendly” atmosphere. Friendly’s was titled Friendly’s because its goal was to provide a place for families and friends to eat and get great service from people who are friendly and want make sure people are having a good time. The pictures of ice cream, and past friendly’s restaurants shows its emphasis on ice cream and that they have been open for years and knows how to please their customers. I think Friendly’s is so popular in my town because it is a welcoming place, the food and ice cream is good and the location is convenient. It is full of Foxboro townies and reflects the values of the people in the town, which are family, town pride and simple life styles.

Alecia Beth Moore most commonly referred to as Pink composes music that sends a message whether it be about her personal life or an issue that is bothering her. Pink was born September 8th 1979 and raised in Doylestown Pennsylvania with a brother, Jason and parents Judith and James. Since her childhood she aspired to be a singer because her father sang and played guitar for her. In high school Alecia joined her first band, Middle ground, but after losing a battle of the bands competition against another local band, the band split. Asthma kept her from singing in her early teens but instead she wrote lyrics that reflected her feelings. At the age of fourteen she began performing songs in Philadelphia clubs. She joined the group Choice who signed with LaFace records, when she was sixteen, and stayed with LaFace records, after Choice split. As a solo singer she chose the stage name Pink. Her favorite character was Mr. Pink played by Steven Buscemi in the 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs. Reservoir Dogs was a movie where six strangers get hired by Joe Cabot to rob diamonds but the police show up and some people are killed, after the men realize there must be an undercover cop among them. Joe Cabot gives all the men fake names to protect everyone’s identity. Once establishing her stage name she worked hard and released her first album in 2000. Since then Pink has produced four more albums and doesn’t plan to stop. Pink is known for standing up for what she believes in and being honest and she proves that through her music. media type="youtube" key="4eRApNHSRRk" height="344" width="425" align="left"Live on stage Pink, along with two backup singers and a guitarist, sitting in front of a few television screens begin to perform the song Dear Mr. President. The melody is slow with just the acoustic guitar and Pink singing slowly and softly. The screen is projecting images of President Bush, the first lady, homeless people, soldiers, rows of caskets with American flags draped over each, gay marriage protests etcetera. Each image reflects what she is singing about in the song. //Dear Mr. President// is from her fourth album __I’m not dead__ and addresses issues about the world during the Presidency of Bush. The song is composed of questions she would ask President Bush if she had the chance. Many issues are touched upon, ranging from the homeless to asking “how do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?” (Dear Mr. President Lyrics ) focusing on the war. Mothers suffer as their children go off to war and if their children die they lose the chance to say goodbye causing more pain. Pink passionately sings this song asking “what kind of father would take his own daughters rights away? What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?” (Dear Mr. President Lyrics ) focusing on the issue of gay rights. President Bush is anti gay however Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Mary is a lesbian but her sexuality and personal life is not supposed to be discussed while Cheney and Bush campaigned. Cheney denies his daughters sexuality and she herself wouldn’t comment in public until after Bush was reelected. These issues are presented in everyday life and are issues that need to be dealt with. She concludes the song saying “Dear Mr. President, you’d never take a walk with me, would you?” (Dear Mr. President Lyrics ) stressing the fact that none of her questions will be answered by President Bush. // Ave Mary A // a song from Pink’s fifth album __Funhouse,__ is about the world and social issues as a whole. The song is fast and upbeat; Pink sings faster throwing out lyrics about the issues with the world. The chorus slows down a little and the notes are sung out and held adding the effect of Pinks cry for help. “Ave Mary A, where did you go?...how did you know to get out of a world gone mad? Help me, help me let go of the chaos around me” (Pink: Ave Mary A lyrics) reflects Pinks urgency to fix the world we live in. Again she is asking questions to address the issues she has with society. This time she is asking for help from a higher power. I believe she is turning to religion, calling on the Virgin Mary who is usually called upon in the prayer the Ave Maria. She is pointing out the importance of believing in something to help you through the day, especially in today’s world where many things are messed up. There are issues Pink states such as “we hate so fast and we love too slow” (Pink: Ave Mary A lyrics) showing the lack of community among people. People don’t interact anymore there is no human to human contact just emails and phone calls because everyone is too busy to pay attention to anyone around them. There is no love just hatred among most people because of the lack of desire to get to know anyone. The pain of 9/11 and other tragic events reflect the lyrics “Broken hearts all around the spot. I can’t help thinking that we lost the plot. Suicide bomber and a student shot” (Pink: Ave Mary A lyrics). These events affect the country, creating pain and fear in society. Pink has noticed the deterioration of today’s society through the tragedies, and lack of community and wants people to come together and face these issues. Although she doesn’t focus on a specific issue she is focusing on society as a whole and asking for help because all the small issues are creating a bad society media type="youtube" key="hEZtiW8oUh8" height="340" width="560" align="right" The music video for Stupid Girls opens with a young girl watching television and pink as a devil and angel appear at each shoulder. She is watching images discussed in Pinks song. There is a drunken woman who buys a little dog and later on is seen driving and being completely distracted. She is putting on makeup, talking on her cell phone and not paying attention to the road at all. The little girl watches a music video with a dancer, sees a women fake tanning, plastic surgery and another women on a date with inflatable boobs. There are also images of a women president, a women playing football with guys. In the end of the video the little girl has two options playing with Barbie or football, she chooses football and the devil pink disappears. The song //Stupid Girls// is also from her fourth album and is about the image of women today. Once again she uses questions throughout the song to get her listeners to think about these issues. She addresses the thoughts of some women, “maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back” (Stupid Girls lyrics ). Girls are always worried about what guys want and if they are being noticed. She doesn’t understand why woman think they have to act a certain way, such as “flippin [their] blonde hair back push up [their] bra like that” (Stupid Girls lyrics ), to get attention from a man. She makes it clear she doesn’t want to be like that and finds those types of girls stupid. She asks “what happened to the dream of a girl president?” (Stupid Girls lyrics ) and concludes that “she’s dancing in the video next to 50 cent” (Stupid Girls lyrics ). Pink wants “outcasts and girls with ambition” (Stupid Girls lyrics ) looking for women who are strong, smart, independent women not slutty, fake “Barbie dolls”. The little girl learns after her afternoon of watching television that it’s better to be the ambitious smart girl not the stupid girl. She wants women to take a stand instead of just conforming to what society and men expect. Girls have eating disorders to keep their bodies thin or surgery to transform their body into something it’s not. Girls should be comfortable with their bodies and appearance and feel confident about themselves. Alecia Beth Moore passionately delivers her music with strong points and messages to be revealed. In these three songs, //Dear Mr. President//, //Ave Mary A//, and //Stupid Girls// she has mentioned many issues including the war, gay rights, women’s identity and expectations in society, and the deterioration of our country. Each of these songs specifically points out social issues. Pink feels very strongly about these issues and her love life and she shows it through her lyrics. In general her music focuses on her struggle with her love life which is also an issue in society. Relationships are formed and broken everyday and the emotions felt can be both good and bad resulting in more issues depending on the severity of the emotion.
 * Pink- Alecia Beth Moore** Pink Facing Issues through Her Lyrics[[image:http://www.pink-fanclub.com/images/blaze/01.jpg align="right"]]

**Works Cited** __ Dear Mr. President Lyrics. __ 25 October 2009 . __ Hail Mary. __ 25 October 2009 . __ Pink (Singer). __ 25 October 2009. 25 October 2009 . __ Pink: Ave Mary A lyrics. __ 25 October 2009 . __ Pinks Biography. __ September 2008. 25 October 2009 . __ Reservoir Dogs. __ 25 October 2009 . __ Stupid Girl Pink. __ 25 October 2009 . __ Stupid Girls lyrics. __ 25 October 2009 .

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