b.    This isn’t the first time I’ve heard the song, but actually the first time I’ve sat down to take a look at the lyrics. I didn’t realize how intense the struggle the author was going through. Not just an intense battle with himself, but also being knocked down by people around him. He’s fighting a fight for as long as he can remember, asking for help, but manages to seek light at the end of the tunnel. I have honestly had a few moments like these, where I wanted to just give up but managed to keep looking at the brighter side. 

c.    The artist is Sam Cooke, a singer and singer writer during the civil rights movement. His stakes were simply to create music, but I don’t think his intentions for the song to take off as well as it did, considering he put the song on the “B” side of the tape.

d.    This song was always attributed and connected to the Civil Rights Movement when I thought of it. However, I did learn the exact instance that inspired the song. Its like being able to put a face to a name. My responses from part A and B helped to evolve my response for C. All together they show how my thought process on this one song has evolved through listening, researching, and reading. You can connect the two artists and their retentions of the song just by listening to it. It sounds so powerful coming from both artists, which is the goal to display the struggle through music. 

e.    This activity has stretched my way of thinking. I’ve had to synthesize and think hard over a song. I have to interpret feelings and expressions through a tone in voice. I’ve had to do outside research to come to further conclusions. I like to think I’m practicing my rhetoric skills.

C.  The artist Sam Cooke was familiar to me because I have some knowledge about the Civil Rights movement. After doing some research, I know that this was a significant piece during the horrid time period. It is almost naive, believing change will come, although it's far from it. 

D. Knowing what time period it's been written helped me understand the contexts and deeper meaning of the piece. Cooke is writing about change and the future, but he never got to witness it as many other influential people of that time. FInding out that he never performed the piece after the first time also shows me that the idea of change was premature and naive.  Understanding the historical context helps to synthesize the information on a deeper level as compared to just part A or B. Lauryn Hill and Sam Cooke both begin the piece relating to the trials of their lives but also of many African Americans. Lauryn singing this now demonstrates the naivety of the piece. No matter how long we say it, change may come, but in very miniscule pieces. They sing it while having experienced it, it's not trivial. 

E.   We learned about rhetorically analyzing text and to be constructive as opposed to just regurgitating it. This activity helped use pop culture as a means for us to indulge in the text and use the information to live out the text. Part A and B went through the content reading which we try to avoid alone. Once part C and D were completed, we got to the point where it nears the level of rhetorical analysis we should be aiming towards. Seeing the process laid out through this activity helped me understand the difference in sophistication of analysis. 

B.    Initially, I see a man that has been relentlessly beat on by the world. A man who continues to fight to no avail but will not give up. It did not really deepen my initial feelings, but it did reinforce them. Personally, I relate to the sense of pressure and weight that the artist feels. For me it may not be as deep, but it is still a battle that I fight daily.

C.    The original artist is Sam Cooke, a civil rights activist. His stakes resided in giving hope to other fighting the same fight. With no hope there is no fight, and without a fight there would be no future for African Americans; Sam Cooke new this.

D.    My feelings have not changed much, but my knowledge and interpretation have taken a slight turn. Even though Lauryn Hill ultimately has the same vision for her people, Sam Cooke physically was in the fire while creating the song. It comes from a deeper place within Cooke. It is important because those two interpretations are still valid. My interpretation on those two pieces still stand, because that is what I retained from the two songs. They are connected through the black experience. Even though their individuals battles may have been different, they still are fighting to accomplish the same goal.

E.     In Jamila Lyiscott’s lecture she talks about using hip-hop literacies to reform learning. By listening to these song we can rhetorically analyze them. We learned to constructively build upon what we are listening and reading so that we can come to our own conclusions. Part A and B are more direct analysis, while C and D are connecting the concepts. 

 

  B. After reading the lyrics, my initial interpretation of the song is that from a young age Lauryn had been going through hardships and can’t take it anymore. I understand a little more that she is coming from a place of pain and desperately desires some kind of transformation. The song is a form of her expressing or letting out her agony. I relate to the song because I also didn't grow up in the most lavish neighborhood and it was a struggle. I know that it takes time and work to turn things around for yourself, therefore I must stay hopeful through the process. There may have been times I wanted to just quit, but I kept going because it won’t be like this forever. 

C. The artist is Sam Cooke, who was inspired to write the song through his life experiences around the Civil RIghts Movement. By writing this piece, Cooke puts himself in danger because at the time exposing a public facility like a hotel, as a black man would get him in trouble. He knew that by releasing the song, there was a possibility of losing his fans and his career. 

D. My feelings, knowledge, and interpretation of the song has changed because I have heard of the struggle that people have gone through during the Civil RIghts Movement on numerous occasions. Now, I fully understand why the song was made and the type of urgency and courage it may have taken to even make the song in the first place. My original responses are just as important because they still apply. The song relates to people of many many generations. People of color are indeed tired of being mistreated and don’t deserve to experience such hatred anymore. The people desperately need and want change and are hopeful that it will come. This connection between artists and songs are important because they show that there are multiple accounts of people being tired of being treated poorly since birth. 

E. The activity is related to the lecture of this week because at first we did a content read or just getting a gist of what we read. Then, we went into more detail of the text in order to gain more awareness about what exactly was written in the song. We also connected our own feelings and knowledge to the text while thinking about why the artist would have chosen to rewrite the song. At some point, we integrated our own life experiences into the reading which challenges how I viewed the song. By doing multiple reads of the same text,  I am able to acknowledge the message and dig deeper into the author’s purpose behind writing. 

Part A: Initially I felt a sense of frustration to believe that we are still having the same fight our ancestors did when it came to fighting for change. Because of the tone of her voice it gives me a sense of hope that maybe one day we will see a change. Lauryn Hill is a well recognized artist who always puts a message behind any and everything she sings. 

Part B: Hearing this song before I never really took the time to listen and understand what he was saying. From what I’m hearing he's battling through something within himself and struggling to manage it. Instead of him giving up and calling it quits he is deciding to use encouraging words to keep himself motivated. Knowing the meaning of the song, I can personally relate because I have once felt like life wasn’t going my way and everything was really challenging and wanted to give up. But looking back at it I'm glad I didn’t give up because I probably wouldn’t be where I am today with my dreams and goals slowly becoming accomplished.

Part C: Sam Cooke was an artist I have heard of before. But this video helps bring awareness to the Civil Rights movement and the fight for equal rights. In doing this video he hoped to see a change.

Part D: I don't think there was really a change for me, I could always tell the message was about changing it never really clicked until I actually sat and listened to the lyrics as to what the change really was. Part A and B are important because without that understanding of those two your reaction could mean completely different things. Hearing the similarities in the lyrics of Lauryn Hill and Sam Cooke you can make an inference as to what change they are referring to. All three parts connect together by sharing the same fight for justice and equality. Fighting for justice and equal rights shows that they aren’t going to give up till they receive the change they hope for. Coming together makes all voices stronger than just one. The more voices that are heard to win this fight has a better outcome of making a difference. Still to this day we are still hearing these songs and using our voices to make a difference and unite. 

Part E: This assignment reflects what we are learning in class by being able to have a concrete understanding of what it is we are listening to. In the Hass and Flowers article it's all ability being able to decipher the importance of what you are reading or listening to to focus on the bigger picture.This activity is also important with what we did in class the other day because we were using the 3 strategies of reading to draw a more important message than the one we see. With that being said we heard Lauryn Hill and have to make a concrete inference as to what the song was related to, same with Sam Cooke. In doing so we could see what the last part of the assignment had to do with the first two. 

B: I interpret the lyrics to be about the hardship many people face in life start at birth and how although simply living life, particularly as a black person, presents a struggle, it is better than facing the enigma of death so we keep going with the hope of future change. When I read the lyrics I realized it was the original version by Sam Cooke and it helped me understand Hill’s version better because she tweaks the song to let it have more meaning for her and her life. I imagine she wanted to put a spin on it that a younger audience could relate to, giving the song a rebirth for an entirely new generation to enjoy. For example, I can’t relate to being born in a tent but I can relate to being born to a family that struggles to pay the rent.

C: The artist of the song is Sam Cooke and I would argue his stakes in writing this song were considerably high; this is not only because he could potentially lose his majority-white audience, but more so because in the 1960s in America it was quite rare for a black man to have so much fame in the first place. This means by writing and recording A Change Is Gonna Come, Cooke could have potentially thrown his career away during a time when famous and successful black people practically did not exist. However, to Cooke, it was likely not a choice but rather a necessary statement that his life depended on considering the night of his arrest that inspired the song could have ended far worse than it did, which is far more valuable than appeasing a Black audience.

D: My feelings about the song remain the same except I value and appreciate it more than I did while initially listening; I like the original song and when I first listened to Lauryn Hill’s version I was confused about why she decided to change the lyrics. I realize, however, that it is more revolutionary to sing about the injustices and hardships of current times since it can reach a broader audience. By listening to her version, a person struggling with the issues she sings about could develop a newfound hope and may find comfort in knowing that they are not alone. There is extreme value in that and therefore I believe that by changing the lyrics Hill fulfills Sam Cooke’s original purpose for writing the song which was to console and inspire black audiences to persevere. Both artists are letting the black public know that they not only stand with them but that they too know what it is like dealing with the hardship associated with being a black person in America. This is important to note since there is the notion that black celebrities no longer experience this hardship and that fame upgrades them to a higher level where they are immune to racial perception. However, beyond inspiring black people to carry on, these songs make it clear that this notion is not true and black celebrities are not afforded the luxury of being out of touch with that side of their blackness. By understanding how the song made me feel while first listening and then reading the lyrics, I not only know more about the artists and their stakes in writing these songs but I also understand the value of researching artists and what inspires their songwriting.

E: By having a deeper knowledge of the background and history behind the songs and the artists, I was able to create a new understanding of the meaning rather than just a superficial one. I am familiar with Cooke’s song, however, by listening to Hill’s version, I began wondering why she would change the lyrics and what this change implies about the original. This eventually led me to the conclusion that the two artists are attempting to bridge the gap between themselves and their community that was created by the notion that black celebrities are somehow above the effects of racism. This may not have been the main point either artist was trying to make, but I believe it is still a significant point that goes beyond my initial interpretation of the song as being a way to encourage black people to persist. Cooke and Hill are saying that despite their celebrity status, they too were born from dire circumstances and are waiting for change just like the rest of us.

B. Initially, I thought the gist of the song was describing strength and perseverance, but after reading the lyrics, I realized that’s not what's being described here at all. What I really read were lyrics describing vulnerability and weakness. This can definitely lead to strength later on but the entire message of the song has shifted in my eyes. What I thought was a song to instill hope in the listener is actually the artist’s cry for help. Hill is truly singing about pain that is followed by more pain and the cycle seemingly never ending. She writes this song to say that despite her trials and tribulations, she feels that she can move on and finally experience change that is no longer associated with pain and suffering. 
C. The original artist of the song was a man named Sam Cooke. He was popular around the time of the Civil Rights movement and due to the tense race relations at the time, he risked his entire career releasing a song about the black struggle and potentially losing his entire white fan base. Cooke risked his life as well by releasing a song that could evidently anger radical and racist white supremacists who could easily target and kill him for trying to take a stance on the side of an issue they were in opposition to. 
D. Compared to the first time I heard the song sung by Lauren Hill, my entire understanding of its message has completely evolved. What I initially thought of as a song of strength and empowerment, actually turns out to be a song of sadness and dismay. Now understanding the historical context behind the lyrics, the tone and almost hopeless aura of the song all makes so much more sense to me. I think it’s kind of sad and unfortunate that a song that was made in 1964 to describe feelings associated with the black struggle in America could still be valid today. All the emotions and wishes of a better future are sadly still admissible in describing the feelings that are felt by black people living in the United States. I think my original response in parts A and B are just as important here as part C because they demonstrate a level of progression in thought. If I would have only accepted the song at face value, I would have missed out on the deeper and more meaningful message behind it. Being able to change my interpretations as the activities progressed was the only reason I now feel like I was able to get a good grasp and understanding of its message. I can connect both artists and their renditions of the song to overall struggle and desire for a better life. The pain they both describe is accompanied by hope for change and the possibility that the suffering is only temporary. This connection is important because it shows off the versatility of the song. While one rendition can be used to describe one’s personal struggles and the other be used to sum up the struggles of an entire race, they both can effectively send a message that regardless of the pain felt now, it won’t last forever and better days are coming. 

E. The activity is related to the lecture from this week because in a way, it walked us through the process of utilizing the ladder of abstraction. Instead of letting us only listen to the song by Lauren Hill then demanding a 3 page response, we were taken on a journey of exposure to the history of the lyrics. As we dug deeper into the meaning behind the song, we were able to approach answering the questions differently. This shift in perspective was a way to understand and use rhetorical thinking and problem solving with a real time example and not one that's traditional. We are used to picking apart readings or articles of some sorts and making connections that way. In this case, we were instructed to use our ears and listen to a work of art, which goes outside of the norm. All in all, I felt this activity was definitely effective in showing us how we can move down the ladder of abstraction and closer to concrete claims when we have more awareness and understanding of a topic or circumstance and don’t settle for the face value of something.