Monday, October 22, 2007

 

Morning Class

This morning in class I gave out a list of assignments so far. I forgot to list the letter you wrote to me in response to my letter. If I forgot anything else, please let me know. I gave students an essay about Tupac, written by Ernest Hardy, a writer who is a critic whose critique of hip hop culture is filtered through the lens of black masculine identity and power. Who has it?

1. Post your summaries of the article by Ernest Hardy about Tupac. 2. Post your freewrite response to the question about the role of police. 3. Post your paraphrase of a section or a sentence. Write the original sentence and your paraphrase.

Christina paraphrased a sentence that referenced James Baldwin. She didn't know who he was, nor did anyone else in the class. If anything, looking at Baldwin's photo would have added a lot to one's understanding of Dyson's reference to Tupac. Baldwin was a literary scholar who was a brilliant African American writer. He wrote his school's song which they still sing today. He was a major force in the Civil Rights Movement. He was gay and didn't hide the fact. A great essayist, playwright and novelist, he is certainly one of the most influential men of the 20th century. Take a moment and look at his picture and think about what Dyson means when he lets Karen Lee, a black militant, reflect on Tupac. She said: "He was a little baby with big eyes. They were the first things you could see" (48).

The assignment was to paraphrase the following: "Those big eyes and the world they envisioned made Tupac the hip-hop James Baldwin: an excruciatingly conscientious scribe whose narrative flamed with moral outrage at black suffering" (48).

I also found out that some students never looked up Black Panther Party to see what the organization stood for. The BPP was essential to Tupac's development. Remember he said when he grew up he wanted to be a revolutionary.

The freewrite was to think about the role of the police in (American) society. Why does this nation think they are necessary? What did the BPP think about the police's role in poor and black communities?

Today is a national mobilization to look at police brutality in America. People wear all black and there are actions throughout the country every Sept. 22.

Comments:
The role of the police in our society have very contrasting views. In poor and black communities many people tend to shy away from the police, and strongly voice their opinion of law enforcement being corrupt. Some may argue that the police display brutality solely in these communities, but you also have to look at the soaring crime rate in these areas. Police presence needs to be more pominent in crime infested areas if the crimes are to cease. In contrast those individuals who put their faith in law officials often feel neglected by the lack of law enforcement presence when it's needed most. They don't have a clear sense of if police should be trusted or not. The Black Panther Party felt as though police often attempted to discredit and destroy their organization. Members of the BPP had many run-ins with police and often faced discrimination and police brutality in their opinion.
 
Original Sentence:
"As they touted anticapitalist beliefs, some of the party's chief icons lived luxuriously, even dissolutely, at the expense of the proletarian rank and file."

Paraphrase:
While they praised views in opposition of the wealthier class, a few of the top figures indulged in lavish lifestyles themselves, paid for by those in much lower classes.
 
Do thug niggaz go to heaven speaks about how Tupac struggled to embrace a gangsta persona. It was a façade that gained him notoriety and success that was otherwise unachievable had he showed the world who he really was. On a quest to figure out who he was, Tupac battled the question of being himself or being what society wanted him to be. Tupac eventually lost the battle. He succumbed to what people wanted him to be, and not who he really was, and as a result, he lost his life. The unfortunate legacy that he left for his audience is the persona he imitated, the persona that it is okay to live a life of misogyny, violence, drugs, and poverty. The saddest part is that this was not who Tupac really was, yet he was willing to die to be accepted.
 
leave a comment
 
Chon Hong Cheang
I think polices are necessary because they are the only people who protect our safety, money, and property in this period of time. Black Panther Party think that the police had disgrace their organization, it was because the police had attempted too much violence when they were in the community.
 
This small article about Tupac is somewhat confusing to me. But from what I can understand Earnest Hardy is talking about his short ecounter with Tupac and how society made him the type of person he was. Tupac struggled between his two characters and ultimatley chose the one that would lead him to his downfall. Society wants you to play the part that they want you to play, not the part that your meant to play. Sometimes you lose yourself when you act a certain way, but Tupac was still trying to show us who he really was.
 
Do thug niggaz go to heaven?
Tupac was one of the most important figures in the history of hip hop. Critics always thought of him as a gangster trying to make his way through a famous life. People think that he was trying to express his feelings through his music and others thought of him as an icon, a role model. He was always seen as a really strong man who would stand up to his dreams. Others saw him as really sweet and caring.
Some of the views towards Tupac were seen as he was thought to be a fake or a phony. They think that certain people do not have goals or dreams, desires or reality. This made his work really questionable and some thought that it would create a lot of trouble.
Even though we see Tupac as he is now, he was always caught in people’s attention not because of all the things he did in his life. Things such as being a hip hop artist, a role model, the life that he went through, or fans of his music. They were all intrigued and interested in him because they thought that there would be more to him that meets the eye.
 
English 201 1-3
The passage by Ernest hardy, was about “realness” in the game. Whose being real, and whose not. It’s amazing to me to find out how these hip hop artist realy grow up. Where they brought up and raise how they express in there rap songs. How poor where they, if at all. Did they really live that “thug, gangsta” life style that they presuaded. Pound to pound, trying to get acceptances in game, through the fans( the people who buy the albums) is all one whole journey. One lie after another.
Tupac to me wasn’t a phony, like the news letter stated, but rather ignorant. Consitantly, “juggle the illusion he was trying to sell, with the many lives he tried to lead.” Learning about the “real hip hop legaends,” through flims, music and books we resources, makes me wonder did we knew the “real” them. And if we did would we love them, like we do, would we consider the legends, as we do. But most importantly, would they matter!
 
Chon HOng CHeang

“Do thug niggaz go to heaven” told me about how Tupac struggled in his life. It was a sad thing that he could not be person that he wanted to be. He acted the way that the world wanted him to be. It was a shame because we do not know his real person; we don’t know his real personality and everything.
 
Tupac Shakur was at his best, and a average rapper who willed himself into a iconic status. He was important to so many young black males and other aroung the world. He lived in a society that didn;t view him as human. He reach a point that you convince yourself and everybody around you, "Being a real nigga or the man" is whats important instead of focusing on goals and desires. He also had a crucial side that uplifed many viewer's . The illusion he was trying to sell made a different side of Tupac knowledgeable. he was not this big time Gangsta everybody thinks, this ugly image he portrayed This was the side of him that truly "means Acting Out"
 
Tupac Shakur was at his best, and a average rapper who willed himself into a iconic status. He was important to so many young black males and other aroung the world. He lived in a society that didn;t view him as human. He reach a point that you convince yourself and everybody around you, "Being a real nigga or the man" is whats important instead of focusing on goals and desires. He also had a crucial side that uplifed many viewer's . The illusion he was trying to sell made a different side of Tupac knowledgeable. he was not this big time Gangsta everybody thinks, this ugly image he portrayed This was the side of him that truly "means Acting Out"
 
summary.... tupac was like most african-american males in most ways than one.. he was underpaid,feltthe sting of racism, and also died young.Although black men never get a chance to speak or express what they truly go through mentally,tupac was not only able to do that he spoke his feelings freely to the whole world, and having such a grand scaleto be responsible for could only be understood by someone who has been through exactly the same. criticism is welcome with the right intentions but we must remember who are we to judge anyone..
 
was tupac lying his whole career just to gain power money and respect. In earnest hardy's essay he talks about tupac and the realness that actually exsisted from him to the world. his imagery to society was what kept him going in the rap game. he was recognized becasue of his tenderness in songs such as " dear mama" and " keep ya head up" this showed that tupac related with everyday life struggles and he was a normal person such as us. although his life was struggle and although he lived a hard life this dosent reconcile with the fact tht he appereared to be such a hard core thug. tupac was real human trying to prove overly to the world that he was "real' and not aphony and this is why his image appeared as a negative vibe. he had to keep up with what he thought his fans loved him for.
 
debbie Adame
In the American Society, the role of the police has its advantages and disavantages views and thoughts and sometimes racism. The role of the police are to "serve and protect the nation for their safety ". I feel that this is always thruth because in the lower class nation, a lot of them dont thrust the police because they dont serve them right and most of the time they are being racist towards them. A lot of the them who dont speak english and or dont have a translator with them at the moment of the scene, police ignore them and dont help them. Black Panther did not belive that police were doing there role because at that time they were being very injustice and racism towards the lower class community.
 
Freewrite:
In America, police is there to 'serve and protect' the people. Unfortunately many Americans or people who live here in America don't feel they are being served and protected by the police, there's even people who feel scared. There have been some cases where the police have been very brutal to the poeple, the police don't treat people the right way and they just beat them. This nation thinks police is necessary because whenever there's an accident they are the first onesto get there, they are also the ones that go to the emergencies when you call and say you have one (even though sometimes they are very late). This nation also thinks the police is necessary because sometimes is them who keep order in our communities. The Black Panther Party thought that the police wasn't doing the right job in poor black communities. The police was just beating the people, so then the people from the community did not feel protected at all. They thought the polcie wasn't treating them the right way.

Summary:
The essay 'Do thug niggaz go to heaven?' by Ernest Hardy was about Tupac. It explained how Tupac seemed to be a hard and tough person when in reality he was a soft and nice person, Tupac had like two personalities. Even though Tupac was one of the most important figures in hip hop, he was also a man who went through a lot of struggles in his life. Sometimes Tupac was a very different person, in the inside he was soft and from the outside he sometimes looked like a tough man. He could be a hard and soft person and still be able to do very good songs, so maybe this is why Tupac had many fans.

Paraphrase:
original sentence:
"The embrace of black pride was not for compensatory or therapeutic ends."

paraphrase:
To have black pride did not mean that he will feel good.
 
freewrite:
the role of police in our American society , well is soppsed to be helpful and beneficial in cases of an emergency,theft, and wrong doings such a breaking laws . unfurtunately wr ahve polce that use and abuse their power to thefullest. the treatment becomes different depending on race and profile. especially pertaining to blacks, police brutality is crucial. this is one of the main reasons why the black panther party did not what anything to do with the police in the poor communiyt espacailly. the poor are the ones who tend to make more of a sacrafice to get life done. so this is a reason why the poice treat blacks lower then any other race.
 
original;
as they touted anticapitalist beliefs, some of the party's cheif icons lived luxuriously, even dissolute, at athe expense of the proletarian rank and file.

paraphrase:
some of the overseers of the party live good, and some live at the level of poor, but thet all represented the same thing.
 
original;
as they touted anticapitalist beliefs, some of the party's cheif icons lived luxuriously, even dissolute, at athe expense of the proletarian rank and file.

paraphrase:
some of the overseers of the party live good, and some live at the level of poor, but thet all represented the same thing.
 
English 201 1-3
Paraphrases
1. “This variety of femiphobia turns on the stylish dishonesty that is transmuted into masculine wisdom: Never love or partner with the women you sleep with.(pg.186)

States that you treat your “wife” and the one you sleep with totally differently. Never treating the one you sleep with like the one you love.

2. “As Sonia Sanchez says, the country tries to “asphyxiate our daughter in a state of undress, and convince them that they’re hos.
States that they try to suffocate women/girls dreams. Making them feel that they are worth nothing but jobs with their ass all out and stuff. Killing their dreams.
 
English 201 1-3
Freewrite:
Police in America society is very major, although very different in many cities and areas. I believe the answer, to the your question, is different for every person. Pirimaly depending on where you live. To some, police id there to harash you, put blame on you, and sometimes just plain “Fuck wit You.” For others, there their to help you, make thigs safer for you, and even consider the “higher power.” I can say that at one time or another the police was your best and/or worst friend. Some may even say they come aroud at the wrong, and sometimes the right times. The Black Panthers didn’t like or believe in police. At the time they, the police, was being races and very injustices towards the poor communties and that wasn’t cool with the Party.
 
In the article " Do thug niggaz go to heaven?"that Ernest Hardy wrote it talks about how Tupac struggled in his short life with being himself and being easily persuadedto go with the flow of the people he was around. The illusion of what he portrayed in his raps was different than the actual person he was in real life. Although he was labeled as a ganster and a thug it has been said that he was a gentle and caring man. Tupac was a real person who spoke the truth in his raps of situations that everyone can relate to and thats why his fans loved him. Which makes me think about how we will never see what a great poet,actor or rapper he would have become.
 
Police in America society are suppose to be there to serve and protect the people. Unfortanately in the black communites many of the people dont trust the police abd say they are crooked and corrupt. Instead of the police doing their jobs helping to reduce the crime rate and going into the areas where there is more crime they dont. I believe the treatment of how the police respond to calls depends on what neighborhood you live in.

This is one of the reasons the Black Panther Party wanted nothing to do with them in the poor black communities because they didn't trust or believe in them. The police treats the blsck communites as if they are a threat to society. Which lead to alot of racism and police brutality.
 
Paraphrase:

Original quote:
As Sonia Sanchez says, the country tries to asphyxiate our daughters in a state of undress, and convince them that they're hos.

Its saying that they're trying to kill all the belief of what our women believe they are in life by brainwashing and make them think that they can't be anyting other than a ho.
 
1-3pm class
Mr Ernest Hardy summary, is boring but i know what he's talking about.,.maybe

Tupac or not, it's the people in the ghetto that thier life can easily be affected by others.
its amazing how people lives can be driven by the likes of strangers/critics. Thier saying...,this and that, makes you act around it. Thus making oneself forget his real goal in life. You accept or fight for whats given to you. Its a fight you cant win, since it's far off your goal. The chioce that been made, it cant be reset. Who we end up to be, is just a shell protecting us from the streetz.
While some can relate to Tupac, while some relates to his life,
while some see, young dreams unfulfilled.

`````````````````````
Police in this world are nothing more but hard/lazy workers.
depending on where you want to look at them, theres the good and the bad.
My vision of them,,..,,
lazy fat pigs, donuts eater, no good cops pulling good people over for "unsafe" driving.
i seen people in the street getting rob/mugg all the time.
Police never around when you need em but i know where they be at tho,
eatting donuts behind the bushes with a radar gun ready to catch people who go 1/mph over the limit.
---------
Paraphasing
"Tupac's manic devotion to tracing the anatomy of the real nigga ineviably invites the question of whether this vision of authenticity is enabling or destructive"
-----------me-phasing
"Tupac strong ways of using the word "nigga" had people wondering is it good or bad way to do so."
 
Police, in other words cops, there role is to protect the people and their property. In America, I have seen some of the bad cops too. Instead of protecting people, they are threatening them without any cause. But police are necessary to all the people because they are the first to come in any kind of accident. They are the one to protect the country from being crimes. Police are ready to help the people at any time. The Black Panther party thinks that the police are the one to start the violence because the police were beat the blacks without any cause.
 
“Does that young man know he’s at risk?”
Paraphrase:
All the Shakurs are being killed , put in jail so she was afraid about the Tupac too.
 
Do thug niggaz go to heaven?
It speaks about the battle of tupac, how he struggle in his life? His every song was related with his life. He was the real man in the hip-hop culture. He was person like us but he seems as tough person .he was thug n gangsta in front of people but from inside he is very gentle. Every person loved him caz he was the person to sing from his heart n shows his feelings towards the song. But this battle was ended due to tupac death...he lost the battle...But he is always the king of the hip-hop …
 
1. The role of the police in our society

Due to their function as keeping social order, police are necessary condition, but, they sometimes work as necessary evil when they don’t perform their original duty and misuse their authorities. Black Panther Party thought that ‘white racist government’ (including police) has been abused poor and Black community with their authorities, so they founded this organization to promote self-defense.

2. Paraphrase
“It was a consciousness that threaded through Tupac’s art, no matter the forms it took or how much it appeared to be sacrificed on the alter of his commercial ambition (62)”
: His sensibility of revolutionary mind soaked through all over the Tupac’s works even though he chased after commercial success.

3. Summary of “Do thug niggaz go to heaven?”
: From his personal experience, the writer recalled Tupac as a common, vulnerable person than a big icon of thug rapper. Whatever the critic created his persona - an important figure in hip-hop, he was a normal rap star who tried to impress others with his symbolic presence. His most significant influence for his followers was his role as a watchman who persistently sought what he recognized and indicated. However, the writer think it as an impossible, consuming role for man who also controlled by limited reality. Tupac’s self-destructive behavior resulted in his death and sorrow. The regret was about whom he is not what he did. The writer felt sorry about Tupac’s rash life.
 
Original Sentence

The embrace of black pride
was not for compensatory or therapeutic ends.

Paraphrase

The embrace of black pride was not for one's self or personal gain.
 
(Police In America)

Police are here to serve and protect our comunity. you have some good officers and bad one's but overall they are here to protect and serve. This nation think they are necesary to help our coty and streets, without them it would be alot of violence, and our society would be like living in the country. The Black Panther Party did'nt think much of the police, because they were known for police brutality amongst the black afro american, and the police did'nt think highly of the Black Panthers because they were trying to stop the violence, racism,and help the younger generation get educated.
 
Thanks to the students who put the page numbers where the paraphrase came from. There are a lot of responses which were not spell checked or even read through before they were posted. It’s hard to understand what such posts mean. Some I could wade through, others I could not. Use Standard English when paraphrasing, not slang, certainly not profanity. In academic writing we do not write the way we speak. Write your comments in a Microsoft Word document, spell check the comments, read them aloud and ten post them on the blog. I’d also suggest that students read each other’s responses and respond to each other.

I liked Elesha, Frank, Myia, and Karl’s responses. The writing was clear and the argument was well-developed. Karl’s paraphrase was right on, as were the other two students. Deon and Sophia both your paraphrases were good.

Don’t forget students when you are paraphrasing, read the quote in the context of what proceeds and follows it. When you have a pronoun, name the reference in the paraphrase. This is called the antecedent, the word pronoun references. (See Diana Hacker.) Students tell me they don’t understand how to use the handbook and leave them in their cars, on kitchen tables. Bring the books to class. You can ask teachers and tutors in the Writing Center (L-234) to help you also. I know many of you only have a half hour between classes, so most of you can’t come to my office hours, but only a few have made other arrangements with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A visit can really help demystify quite a bit. 15 minutes can save you hours of time.

That said, for the most part, I think students understood Hardy’s premise, that Tupac was conflicted. Should he give the people what they want, even if the market demanded something he was morally uncomfortable with supplying. Tupac was a commodity, and as such he had market value; however, unlike a car or a TV he could step out of the store—refuse to play the game. He was more than an end, he knew he was a means (Marxism). Perhaps this is what precipitated his demise. Think about it. Shug Knight went to prison, it’s true, but Shug was more a guest of the state than a man serving time. Recall how the warden let him finish his conversation on the cell phone in the film, “Biggie and Tupac.” He didn’t interrupt the inmate. Recall how relaxed Shug was smoking his cigar—also look at how from prison he was able to get someone to hurt Snoop. Those that cooperate with the police rarely get hurt. Shug was in the car when Tupac was killed but the bullets missed him. The East Coast West Coast thing was his beef—not Tupac’s and then that was more a publicity stunt.

I think Shug was in prison so the government could protect him. I can’t figure out why Afeni was doing business with him, unless as one student suggested, Shug had many of Tupac’s masters and she wanted them. I read today that the Tupac Amaru Foundation was vandalized.

Similar to Oakland Post Editor, Chauncey Bailey’s murder in August which was solved in a day, these unsolved murders, where the suspect is at large and there are witnesses, prove that Tupac was set up by the people he trusted the most. Remember the guy on security could pull the suspect out of a line-up. The suspect is still free because the state doesn’t want him caught. I wonder why his mother isn’t pursuing her son’s murderer, or is she? This question is answered in “The Making of a Revolutionary.” If I see her again, I will ask her this question.

Tupac was talented, brilliant even. He was also naïve. It’s too bad his step-father or even god-father weren’t around to protect and guide him. He didn’t know how to navigate the streets. Prison only made him more frightened, perhaps this was one of the reasons why he stayed high. Sobriety made things to vivid. The drugs, as they say, “took the edge of reality just enough to be able to get up each day.”

Hardy’s piece was a glimpse of a young man steeped in mystery. Perhaps this is another reason why Dyson and others are still trying to crack the code.
 
Jack Cheung

Police helps the community feel safer and calm. They don't have to worry about violence that much even though violence still occurs daily. Without police its going to be a big problem, I might even go rob the bank if theres really no cops around. Police is very important in our community, for example a speeding ticket that a cop gives you will help you learn a lesson to not to speed next time. If you didnt get that ticket then why not drive 60 mph in local where ever you go?
 
I feel that the police is full of crap. The role of the police officers in todays society is to enforce law and protect us from danger and stand against todays violence. We as american won't life as free will, and the police is not encouraging that. The black Panther Party seen how the police discriminate and the brutality in they cause. They believe that police officer shouldent be trusted.
 
I don't really completely understand why the power of police in U.S is strongly without measure.
In the Black communities, i understand why many people undergo great hardships by police. The reasons i get from my thinking that is from the U.S history:
First, U.S as a country was built in the slavery of colony. Blacks were treated by inhuman and savage ways by Whites or the colonist.They lived in their own countries of Africa were captived or sell into U.S as slaves.
Second, the whites still discriminate blacks,Native Indians or other small, weak races.
Third, police has too strong power in the government under the Constitution.
Therefore, fix the Constitution to reduce the police power of government so that to protect small races such as Blacks ,Native Indians have their human rights and democracy in U.S.
Also, small races should do their own job to against the governmental power under the Constitution.
 
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