Upon my entry of the Engl.128 course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I had absolutely no idea what was in store for the semester. If you were to ask me at he beginning of class what kind of activities we were going to be participating in, I would have been far away from the truth. My assumption would have guessed that our work would have been typical of most college coursework at the university. I probably would have said read a few books, write a few papers, take a few tests, then call it a day. Contrary to that belief, this course has challenged the robotic normalcy that I was accustomed to in school. In this technologically advanced age, computers are an essential item to acquiring information. As time progresses, our dependency on the computer increases as it is now a vital part of our school and work environments. I have witnessed this firsthand as I re-entered college after a 6 year absence. When I left, school laptops were optional; the internet was recreational; and Napster was free. In my first semester back, I didn’t have one single class in which I didn’t have to use a computer. I walked into my classes with a pen and paper and felt primitive. It was like I was Fred Flintstone chipping words into a large stone tablet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from computer illiterate, I just wasn’t use to using computers interactively in the classroom. It was my learning experience in my Engl.128 course that prepared me for what is in store. Participating in a series of classroom assignments, we incorporated literature with modern day technological advances. No longer do we have to partake in the strenuous days of all-nighters trying to write a paper about something that we’ll forget about a week later. In this course, we creatively used different computer applications to reinforce our comprehension of literature. These were such applications like Windows Movie Maker, Photoshop, and etc that helped facilitate the process of learning. It was an intriguing course using these different mediums to learn, share, and discuss our knowledge. Empowered with the knowledge of literature past and present, we were asked to engage in these activities to present our own interpretations through a web based classroom.

Playlist

On our first assignment we were asked to create a playlist. This playlist was to represent a favorite character, person, or idea from a wide variety of mediums. The playlist is suppose to embody the life of that specific person, character or idea. We were asked to utilize certain media tools like YouTube, and ITunes for visual and audio representation.When we were first asked to participate in this assignment, my initial reaction was to panic. I was very unsure of the person I wanted to feature in my playlist, not to mention the type of songs I should feature. This is a matter that I felt would take a great deal of consideration. Should I go from a comedic aspect, and use Michael Vick? I thought it would be ingenius to have songs that represented his emotions or maybe even from the dog's perspective. I dismissed that idea with the issue being so recent, it was still a touchy subject for most. I brainstormed various individuals and characters, who I thought were worthy of making a playlist. These were such great American influneces on our society like Spongebob Squarepants, Flava Flav, He-Man, and the list goes on. My final decision I found while having a discussion with a very disillusioned family member. I think we have all met the young teenager that is rebelling against everything that requires authority and discipline. The one that tries so hard to be different and to stand out from everyone else, but joins a gang where they all wear one exclusive color. It was the ignorance of the gang's influence on his young mind that I began informing this teen about black pride. I began telling him about the knowledge I had gained from college and my own readings about our African American heritage. One of the stories that stuck with him was about the Black Panthers, because of their influence on hip-hop. It was the artist and gangmember, The Game, he heard mention Huey Newton, and began inquiring about the Black Panther leader. I knew limited information about Newton myself, so I researched more about him. It was in my own search to find out more about Newton that I chose him for my playlist. I knew that after I chose a person that the songs would eventually follow.

Huey P. Newton

Collages

The second assignment we were asked to complete during the semester were two photo collages. The photo collage was a visual interpretation of a particular poem and literary work.The collage assignment was alot easier to put together being that I had no deep insightful meaning behind the two. I thought that the assignment was interesting because your putting a visible image behind your interpretation of a reading. You can take everything that the story brings to mind and create a canvas of your imagination. I felt like a new age Michelangelo or Picasso, gathering various images to incorporate in my assignment. The first collage was of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", inwhich I wanted to show the mindstate of the young prince. I gathered alot of pictures that represented different emotions or mindstates that symbolised Hamlet's affliction. Hamlet was a complex character with varoius emotions throughout the play. His emotional inconsistencies made it easy for me to gather numerous pictures that illustrated how he felt. My poem Collage was "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. I really like the story behind the poem, so I tried to tell the story through the collage. I gathered pictures that were along the storyline inorder to grasp the poem's meaning.

Hamlet
We Real Cool

Annotations

The next assignment we participated in was the annotation of a few Emily Dickinson poems. If you have ever read Dickinson, then you know she was a poet that used alot of symbolism to illustrate her life. We were asked to use a webpage called Litwiki to create our own ideas about the symbolism she used in her poems. On this web site, we analyzed every possible word or phrase to gain a comprehensible meaning to what she was trying to portray. I found this assignment interesting because for once we were the critics. It was rather intriguing to see each of my classmates analysis of what the author is speaking about. There were no right or wrong answers, just our opinions in a site was organized like a internet round table discussion. Any question or insight that we had about a poem could be answered or debated by our peers.

Banish
Are you nobody too?
Somebody
Who Are you
House
And Immortality
Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Blog Postings

Throughout the duration of the semester, we were asked participate in a series of class readings. Instead of writing numerous reflection papers, we held online discussions through our blog postings. These postings were used to open a discussion about each of the readings in class. The blogs were similar to the annotation assignment because they allowed students to express their ideas. These ideas were contrived off the personal interpretations of member of the class. Each class member was given the opportunity to discuss their own opinions, as well as comment on the postings of our peers. This opened the classroom to various analysis of one particular reading. I enjoyed our blogs because I’m an introverted person. Usually in most classes, you are put on a soapbox to speak in front of several peers. The blogs decreased the pressure of having to speak in front of a classroom. I found it easier to speak my mind when I was able to think critically about the readings then post my answer. Any reservations I had about saying the wrong thing was thrown out the window as I was able to think more thoroughly about the material.

Readings
Hard Rock
Work and Identity
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
We Real Cool
Hardware

Podcast

Choice and Consequence

Video

Our final assignment for the semester was to create a video that symbolized a particular idea or movement. We used our knowledge of applications like Windows Movie Maker to create a movie clip to describe this idea. In order to express each of our ideas, we gathered various photo and audio clips that reinforced the theme of the movie. We embedded each item into our work to create a cohesive movie clip. I think this activity was probably the assignment that I enjoyed the most. It was an opportunity to use our own knowledge and incorporate that information into movie form. The activity was rather empowering, I felt like a poor man’s Ron Howard or Steven Spielberg. The end product was rewarding, being able to see a combination of ideas implemented effectively.

Harlem Renaissance

Here is my video

Playlist

When we were first asked to participate in this assignment, my initial reaction was to panic. I was very unsure of the person I wanted to feature in my playlist, not to mention the type of songs I should feature. This is a matter that I felt would take a great deal of consideration. Should I go from a comedic aspect, and use Michael Vick? I thought it would be ingenius to have songs that represented his emotions or maybe even from the dog's perspective. I dismissed that idea with the issue being so recent, it was still a touchy subject for most. I brainstormed various individuals and characters, who I thought were worthy of making a playlist. These were such great American influneces on our society like Spongebob Squarepants, Flava Flav, He-Man, and the list goes on. My final decision I found while having a discussion with a very disillusioned family member. I think we have all met the young teenager that is rebelling against everything that requires authority and discipline. The one that tries so hard to be different and to stand out from everyone else, but joins a gang where they all wear one exclusive color. It was the ignorance of the gang's influence on his young mind that I began informing this teen about black pride. I began telling him about the knowledge I had gained from college and my own readings about our African American heritage. One of the stories that stuck with him was about the Black Panthers, because of their influence on hip-hop. It was the artist and gangmember, The Game, he heard mention Huey Newton, and began inquiring about the Black Panther leader. I knew limited information about Newton myself, so I researched more about him. It was in my own search to find out more about Newton that I chose him for my playlist. I knew that after I chose a person that the songs would eventually follow.

Huey P. Newton

Collages

The collage assignment was alot easier to put together being that I had no deep insightful meaning behind the two. I thought that the assignment was interesting because your putting a visible image behind your interpretation of a reading. You can take everything that the story brings to mind and create a canvas of your imagination. I felt like a new age Michelangelo or Picasso, gathering various images to incorporate in my assignment. The first was my Hamlet collage, inwhich I wanted to show the mindstate of the young prince. I gathered alot of pictures that represented different emotions or mindstates. Hamlet was a complex character which made it easy for me to gather numerous pictures that illustrated how he felt. My Poem Collage was "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. I really like the story behind the poem, so I tried to tell the story through the collage. I gathered pictures that were along the storyline inorder to grasp the poem's meaning.

Hamlet
We Real Cool

Annotations
Banish
Are you nobody too?
Somebody
Who Are you
House
And Immortality
Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Blog Postings

Readings
Hard Rock
Work and Identity
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
We Real Cool
Hardware

I find this story intriguing, as well as the thousands of other stories of rehabilitation and change within the American justice system. It is obvious that while incarcerated, Jonathan Nobles took the time to regret and become remorseful of his actions. Unfortunately in America, this is irrelevant to most people in society. We often label individuals, who have made a mistakes in their lives. Their identity is associated with the crime that they committed; and hopefully, learned from while in prison. An example would be Stanley "Tookie" Williams, co-founder of the notorious street gang, The Crips. He was also executed for murder, disregarding the years of rehabilitation he went through. He negoitiated a truce with the Crips, and rival gang the Bloods; wrote children books; and was even nominated for a Nobel Prize while in prison. Not only in a Williams's case, but people closer to me. I have friends and family members, who have paid thier debt to society. When they arrive home, all they find is unemployment and discrimination. I dont believe the American society is accepting of change, unless it brings celebrity or fortune.

Huey P. Newton was a leader and co-founder of the militant Black Panther Party for Self Defense.
Newton was the intelligent, articulate, and wellspoken leader of one of the most controversial organizations in America. Armed with a extensive knowledge of California law, due to his studies at Oakland City College, Newton advocated martial law to the nearby African American communities. Influenced by the likes of Malcolm X and Che Guevara, Newton became actively involved in starting a revolution within the African American communities and surrounding areas
Newton openly spoke out against such issues concerning these communities like police brutality, discrimination, and poverty. His attempt was to attack the administrative and corporate structure of America that oppressed the poor and working class citizens of not only the black community, but other ethnicities as well. It was particulary Malcom X's "by any means necessary" mentality, that influenced Newton and the Black Panthers to bare arms as a means of protection resistance and intimidation.

Huey P. Newton Interview

I think that one of the most representative songs of that time period was the late James Brown's "Say it Loud". This song was one of the central ideas of the Black Panther Movement: restoring pride in the African American communities. James Brown not only inspired the African American community but embodied the voices of many African Americans feeling the struggles of growing up in America. It captured the very essence of the principles that Huey Newton was trying to instill in many African Americans.

James Brown "Say it Loud"

The first verse in the song is the perfect example of the ideas of Huey P. Newton, as Brown sings:

Some people say we've got a lot of malice
Some say it’s a lot of nerve
But I say we won't quit moving until we get what we deserve
We have been bucked and we have been scorned
We have been treated bad, talked about as just bones
But just as it takes two eyes to make a pair, ha
Brother we can’t quit until we get our share

Lyrics
"Say it Loud"

Gil Scott Heron's "Revolution Will Not Be Televised" was a sarcastic, but frank call-to-arms for a change in the America. Heron uses this song as a means to ignite a spark to any of the skeptical, lackadaisical, or stagnant individuals. It cleverly name drops many of the popular brand names in retail, and entertainment. Heron is trying inspire people to get up and take action, instead of waiting for something to happen. This is the same idealism that Huey P. Newton shared when he encouraged the people to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting on government assistance. I can see this song almost as an inside look into Newton's head when he began trying to get people involved with the Black Panther Movement.

Gil Scott Heron "Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

The sarcastic, yet inspiring tone of Heron can be seen in such lines like this one:

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised

Lyrics
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

I think that if Huey P. Newton was still alive Greenday's "American Idiot" would without a doubt be one of his favorite songs. Greenday discusses thier displeasure with the current administration of American government. The song emphasizes a nation paranoid from being controlled by the influence of the media. These ideas share a similar concept with Newton, in encouraging the American public to think for themselves. It attacks an authoritative influence on our lives much like the Panthers did with the corporate structure. It challenges the integrity of the American media just like Newton did of the government.

GreenDay "American Idiot"

The verse that best exemplifies the attack on authority is here:

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.

Lyrics
"American Idiot"

If you were to tell Huey P. Newton to record music, I think he probably would have come up with the group, Public Enemy. Many people are now recognizing the group because the antics of its popular hype-man: Flava Flav. Before his stint on his reality series "Flavor of Love", Flav was a MC for one of the most controversial groups in hip hop music. Public Enemy was a group that discussed political, social, and economic issues that related to the black community. Their presence in rap music was similar to the Black Panthers in the community. Public Enemy even had members dressed in military uniforms that marched uniformly in the name of black power. It would be accurate to assume that much of their act was based on the Black Panther movement. The song, "Fight The Power", would be like an anthem to Newton's movement.

Public Enemy "Fight the Power"

I think that just an excerpt from this song would not do you any justice. I highly suggest you click on the following link:
Lyrics
"Fight The Power"

Many people already know about one of the most popular figures in not only hip hop, but world music was Tupac Shakur. A decade after his death, his presence is felt in every ghetto, barrio, and etc because of his music. He represented the poor and working class, writing songs that were diverse in their range of issues. He discussed topics like teenage pregnancy, gang violence, politics and the list goes on. I would consider Tupac, a direct descendant of the Black Panther Movement and the ideas of Huey P. Newton. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was a member of the Black Panthers, and even served prison time due to her involvement. His godmother was the exiled Black Panther, Assata Shakur, and his godfather was the incarcerated Geronimo Pratt. As you can see Netwon's influence was heavy in the life of the deceased rapper. The song "White Man'z World" is a perfect example of the influence that Newton had on Tupac's life. The song discusses the difficulties of growing up in a world of racism and discrimination.

Tupac "White Man'z World"

You can see Newton's influence in the following lyrics:

Bein born with less I must confess only adds on to the stress
Two gunshots to my homie's head, dyed in his vest
Shot him to death and left him bleedin for his family to see
I pass his casket gently askin, is there heaven for G's?
My homeboy's doin life, his baby momma be stressin
Sheddin tears when her son, finally ask that questions
Where my daddy at? Mama why we live so poor?
Why you cryin? Heard you late night through my bedroom door
Now do you love me mama? Whitey keep on callin me nigga?
Get my weight up with my hate and pay 'em back when I'm bigger
And still thuggin in this jail cell, missin my block
Hearin brothers screamin all night, wishin they'd stop
Proud to be black but why we act like we don't love ourselves
Don't look around busta (you sucka) check yourselves
Know what it MEANS to be black, whether a man or girl
We still strugglin, in this white man's world

Lyrics
"White Man'z World"

We all know Marvin Gaye as the soulful crooner from the 60's and 70's. He was popular for his melodious tunes that were heartwarming and sensual. He has often been acknowledge for his songs of love and affection; however, few people remember him for his music that reflects on the times. He was also an artist that embraced the African American community and its problems. The song, "Innercity Blues(Make Me Wanna Holler)", is an example of his compassion for the African American neighborhoods. It is this sympathetic evaluation into the innercity life that he shares with Newton. I think this song represents the same feelings of Huey P. Newton as he observed the status of the African American community in America.

Marvin Gaye "Innercity Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"

Much like Newton, Gaye discusses the problems with America:

Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God know where we're heading
Oh, make me wanna holler
They don't understand

Lyrics
"Innercity Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"