HOT

Where, when, how and why did you start writing? The first legible word I ever wrote was HOT on the back of my bedroom door in black crayon. I’m not going to lie on the couch and deconstruct that act for you, but I am going to bring light to the fact that even a toddler sees power in words.

Gilyard attempts to move from a critique of West’s debatable underlying connections to Marxism to assert that West’s interpretation of “tragicomic hope” is from the reference of African American Humanism and Christianity. West affirms that “tragicomic hope” was a tool (prophetic pragmatism) for African Americans to survive culturally, morally and, spiritually intact under oppression. Situating “tragicomic hope” in African American music, West suggests power is taken from the oppressor. In a sense always reminding the oppressor that its victims are fully aware of their mistreatment, hate it, but continue to survive intact. This assumption of voice gives to a people whose voice the oppressor is vehemently trying to mute a bullhorn. Composition is a venue for voice and as a teacher of composition one should then facilitate acquisition of the skills that would allow students to present their voice “come what may.”