Professor Sabir's Posse

　　Shuluo Fu
　　Professor Sabir
　　English 201A
　　September 25, 2012
　　
　　The Announcement of Bid Farewell
　　I think this is a poem for saying goodbye to somebody when I am at the beginning of this poem. Maybe it is a goodbye for his family, friend, lover, or something else. What is the reason, however, for leaving and saying goodbye? The poet does not give me the answer but a decision that his thoughts have been discarded and the heart of poem will be his guidance. Even worst is that he even does not know the answer by himself at all. Therefore, I just realize that the main emotion in this poem is reluctant and sorrowful.
　　
　　However, there is only one belief leave in the poet's heart. That is:" it is better 2 have loved and lost than 2 not love at all". At least he sought for his love in his life, and ever got the loss from what he did. At least he had completely enjoyed his journey in his life before he said goodbye to everyone.
　　
　　Meanwhile, I just confused what enables the poet to smile and cry when he woke up each morning. What is he trying to tell us? Fortunately, I think I have found the answer from some words he says at the end of this poem. He deems that he is having a new beginning when he woke up each morning so that he must "say goodbye" to his past. Actually, I think this is the primarily theme what he want to tell us: he ought to say goodbye to his past everyday before he left this world.
Work Cited
Shakur, Tupac. “So I Say GOODBYE” The Rose that Grew From Concrete New York: MTV/pocket Hardcover printing. 1999.89 Print.
 

Melisa-Dna S. Love
Professor Sabir
English 201A
25 September 2012

Dream Come True

This poem seems as if Tupac is in love with a beautiful woman. He has seemed to have found that one special person that makes his “stomach quiver and his body shiver and his heart increases pace,” he quotes (line 11). It is amazing how much poetry can express the love of a single person. The slightest group of words in a poem can have so much meaning to it. Every line in a poem has a certain meaningful meaning. And in Tupac’s poetry there’s quite some strong feelings.

Tupac says “so many times I fantasize of feelings we can share.” This makes me wonder why he has not said anything to the lady yet. He has a great shot at getting women to fall for him easily. There is really no need to fantasize your future when you can just make it happen. He can make his fantasy a reality and tell the woman of his dreams how he truly feels. Or he can express himself through his poetry and present it to her.

He states “2 give me $ or lots of gold would not be the same 2 me.” It is great to know that money means nothing to him. It means a lot to a woman when a man shows his love for her who she is than what she has. Many women are gold diggers, meaning they only want the guy’s money. If a guy can show that he can take care of himself and be able to provide for his woman with love, that is a great man. Tupac is a great man and he always will be.

Work cited
Shakur,Tupac. "My Dearest One!!" The Rose That Grew From the Concrete New York: MTV/pocket Hardcover printing. 1999.89 Print
 

Caroline Lee
Professor Sabir
English 201A
26 September 2012

The Power of a smile

Smile, can be a big achievement to who are feeling bad. When people are full of sadness or sorrow, they will feel there is an encouragement from the one who are giving them a big smile. You will never know how a sweet smile can affect others. No matter there is having a disaster, earthquake or tsunami, when people see there is a smile, it will be the best thing to make people feel better. It is because they notice that there is still have hope in their life which can help them to stay strong.

The author says,”But the power of a smile, especially yours can heal a frozen heart.” This is also what I think to have a greatest and sweetest smile on their face most of the time. When someone has experienced a big change in their life, such as a relative died, break up with others or an accident, you will only see the sadness on their face when they are down. Therefore, if they can feel the happiness through communicate with you or they can see a big smile on your face, you will be the one who heal their heart.

Moreover, there is nothing can be that power to heal people from a sadness thing except a smile. A smile can reheat people’s heart, to make them feel joy again in their life. You will never know how a smile works when you have not tried once yet. So keep a smile every day on your face, and give a big smile to who is out of smile on their face.

Shakur, Tupac. “The power of a smile” The Rose that Grew From Concrete New York: MTV/pocket Hardcover printing. 1999.89 Print.

 

Jamon Barfield
Professor Sabir
English 201B
September 27, 2012

The power of a Smile

Even thought the poem is short it has so much meaning and is very strong. He gives examples of how the power of certain things can be very strong. “The power of a gun can kill and the power of Fire can Burn”(lines 1&2) I feel like he is right the power of a gun can kill and if the fire is strong enough it can burn you. Sometimes power can be tricky because we all have the power to do anything we set our minds on. Even if it’s bad and it can take someone’s life or our own life, but bottom line we have the power.
But the Power of a Smile especially yours can heal a frozen Heart. (Line 7&8) we have the power to smile and give people a warm feeling. For example if you’re at school having a bad ass day and you say to yourself. “I just want this day to be over” and nothing good seems to be happening. Then you see a person walk by you a give you a warm sincere smile it just might change your way of viewing the rest of that day. or it can take another turn if someone is planning on doing something stupid that they might regret later on and there not thinking straight, and someone passes by them and gives them a powerful smile it can make that person think twice on what they were about to do.
We as people should always smile because life is too short to live with hate and anger. We can life so much easier by just smiling and giving others that warm feeling because smiles can be contagious, so why not pay it forward. Also a smile from someone you love and care about can change your frown upside down it just takes that special person to make you realize it can’t be that bad just smile.


Shakur, Tupac. “The power of a smile” The Rose that Grew From Concrete New York: MTV/pocket Hardcover printing. 1999.89 Print.

 

Jamon Barfield
Professor Sabir
English 201B
September 27, 2012

The power of a Smile

Even thought the poem is short it has so much meaning and is very strong. He gives examples of how the power of certain things can be very strong. “The power of a gun can kill and the power of Fire can Burn”(lines 1&2) I feel like he is right the power of a gun can kill and if the fire is strong enough it can burn you. Sometimes power can be tricky because we all have the power to do anything we set our minds on. Even if it’s bad and it can take someone’s life or our own life, but bottom line we have the power.

But the Power of a Smile especially yours can heal a frozen Heart. (Line 7&8) we have the power to smile and give people a warm feeling. For example if you’re at school having a bad ass day and you say to yourself. “I just want this day to be over” and nothing good seems to be happening. Then you see a person walk by you a give you a warm sincere smile it just might change your way of viewing the rest of that day. or it can take another turn if someone is planning on doing something stupid that they might regret later on and there not thinking straight, and someone passes by them and gives them a powerful smile it can make that person think twice on what they were about to do.

We as people should always smile because life is too short to live with hate and anger. We can life so much easier by just smiling and giving others that warm feeling because smiles can be contagious, so why not pay it forward. Also a smile from someone you love and care about can change your frown upside down it just takes that special person to make you realize it can’t be that bad just smile.


Shakur, Tupac. “The power of a smile” The Rose that Grew From Concrete New York: MTV/pocket Hardcover printing. 1999.89 Print.

 

Tova Solomon
Professor Sabir
English 201B
September 27, 2012

Starry Night for Van Gogh

"Starry Night" by Tupac Shakur is dedicated to the memory of Vincent Van Gogh. It appears to be an apology to Van Gogh for no one appreciating him when he was alive. Maybe it's an apology from Tupac specifically instead of Tupac apologtizing for society because Tupac got recognized for his work while he was still alive and Van Gogh did not.
It is a very short poem and without context, it sounds like Van Gogh was very charitable but everyone was prejudiced against him for bad reasons. This shows in the line "...u have given them Bountiful Boquets of Sunflowers, But 4 you there is only contempt." This poem really shames society, calling it "dormant and uncaring" for ignoring a great artist.
The part that is most profound is the last two lines, "The one thing we never acknowledged, your life." Each line of the poem is shorter than the last, with a few exceptions. The last and shortest line is "your life" which I think is symbolic of Van Gogh. His life was much shorter than his fame, the admiration of his works, and the regret of ignoring him during his life.

Shakur, Tupac. “Starry Night” The Rose that Grew From Concrete New York: MTV/pocket Hardcover printing. 1999.89 Print.


 

Elijah Benton
Professor Sabir
English 201b
27 September 2012
Breaking Hearts

The poem When Hearts Break is a list of what makes persons harts break. But truly what makes Tupac’s hart break. ”pretty smiles” on gorgeous ladies leave men’s harts in two. “Deceiving laughs” of friends and family who talk about you behind your back leaves relatives hearts crushed. “fairy tails that never come true”, crumbles the harts of little kids who have never had a Santa.

What I like about the poem is it includes what makes my hart break: “lonely children”, “unanswered dreams”, and “souls that have given up hoping”. I was a lonely child in grade school. I didn’t have many friends, and my siblings moved out. For the longest I was a loner, until I learned to make friends. The unanswered cries of the starving and ill leaves my heart ripped. An souls that have given up hoping has ruined my family.

What I think inspired this poem is Tupac’s mother. Why is because of the last two lines that say, “selfish people that lie to me, selfish people just like you”. An in the book, evolution of a revolutionary, his mother says how she lied to Tupac about having her addiction under control. And that what hurt him the most, his mother’s first lie to him.

Works cited: Shakur, Tupac Amaru. Things that Makes Harts Break.
The Rose that Grew from Concrete. New York: MTV/ Pocket hand cover printing. 1999.89 print.

Guy, Jazmine.
Afeni Shakur: evolution of a revolutionary. New York. Amaru Entertainment Inc. 2004. Print.

 

Jack Chang
Wanda Sabir
English 201b
27 September 2012
The book "Evolution of a Revolutionary," is about Afeni Shakur's life struggles. She is a women that been in and out of hell. She goes through abuse,drugs and racism all her life. As a kid she was abused by her dad, but that made her a strong fighter. She would go head up and try to fight the toughest boy on the block. Shes been through so much stages in her life.
Afeni was a high ranking Black Panther. She became the section leader in Harlem when her boyfriend went to jail.She says that at the time, the Black Panthers gave her hope . Since she was a fighter full of anger, the panthers channeled her anger. "They educated my mind and gave me hope," Afeni says.
Even though Afeni progressed with the Panthers, it also put her in jail. She was in jail for eleven months. She got pregnant in jail with a baby boy who later grew up to be the rap megastar, Tupac Shakur.She later gave birth to another child. She met another man, got pregnant, but the guy was usign her only for drugs and sex so she wanted an abortion. She got addicted to crack but later recovered.
 

Ping Johnson
Professor Sabir
English 201A
2 October 2012

Response to the book of Evolution of a Revolutionary

This is a great book that talks about Afeni's life via conversational setting with author Jasmine Guy. Through these stories, I can somehow understand where Afeni come from and how she develops the type of character. She is full of anger, hatred and pain. Anger and hatred come from being treated unfairly and unequally as being black. Anger and hatred come from her witness and experience of domestic violence. Anger and hatred also were built up throughout her life due to the disloyalty and disrespect from the men surrounding her like her grandfather, father and friends. She constantly curses as expression of her anger. The book also talks about her family breakup as the consequence of drug addiction, her pregnancy and abortion, Shakur Tupac's death and her awareness of failure in the past. These stories are related to her painful life experience. Afeni chooses to fight for every single bit of her right. She is never afraid to speak up for herself and those vulnerable groups. Afeni went through a lot in her life but she managed to stay strong. Just as what Jasmine said:" with each moment of adversity, she came out the wiser and stronger". From failure to success, from pain to joy, Jasmine witness the dramatic changes in Afeni.

Work cited:
Guy, Jazmine.
Afeni Shakur: evolution of a revolutionary. New York. Amaru Entertainment Inc. 2004. Print.