Spring 2016
Humanities 1100
Humanities 1100
The risks I took this semester was getting my voice across. For a long time I have been doubting that my opinion matters, even wondering if having an opinion was important, because everyone already had such distinct opinions about things. Who was I to try to tell someone else how the world works when I myself am imperfect? Now I realize that having an opinion and sharing it is a vital part of the human experience. It's how we connect and learn. Everyone has their own truths and some of those may differ. The important part is tolerating and understanding why they accept the truths they do and how that differs from my very own belief system. I hope to be more definate in my future opinions, instead of doubting everything I do.
Before this course I took a lot for granted. I never understood the fight for civil rights or the bombing at Hiroshima, and it would be ignorant to say I do now. I can say now that I can learn from the past. It is the past I have taken for granted, the search for freedom and happiness. For the future I am going to seek truth and find for myself an opinion I believe is correct.
I find that as I ask questions I get more questions than I do answers. But that is apart of the human experience. I have come to this earth to learn and the best way to do that is to ask, even if no one has the answers. Eventually one of my questions will get answered, even if it leads to another, and another, and a never ending supply. I hope to be able for my future to use my answers to help others ask. In essence I want to write stories and create mediums that express a message. The message will be a truth that I have learned, or have had to ask and seek an answer to.
I find it facsinating how this course related to my life at just the right times. I was in a play, "Is He Dead?", it's about a man who dresses up as a woman so that he can sell his paintings. In class we were discussing identity, priviledge, discrimination and even gender roles. I was more deeply touched when we were discussing the tragedy of Hiroshima while I was preforming in a play "Hole in the Sky" about 9/11. Also during this time we were discussing world war II in my History class. There was a moment when I broke down. I cried for the people of Hiroshima, for the solders who lost their lives, for the event of 9/11 and even for myself. I cannot say that dropping the bomb was a good thing, nor can I say it was necessary. I'm not going to pretend to know that kind of pain. I can say though, that there is allowed some light in every dark situation. It is not dishonorable to find the real human love in tragedy. Doing that isn't taking the situation lightly but it's accepting the situation and moving past it. Feeling their pain is not my responsibility to remember them. To love those people that I may never know and to realize they created something out of the last moments of their lives is the most important part of moving on. This was something I had to learn and this class has helped me do just that. My next play is, "Into the Woods", I'm excited to see how happiness relates to it.
Before this section even started I had happiness defined as the acceptance, growth, and love of self. Everything we did in this section just made that belief stronger.
My end project.
Black Boy Brother
-By Emmalisa Horlacher
Verse 1:
A Dm
I met you on the page
Dm A
Of a cold document
A Dm
I learned of your pain
Dm A
It brought guilt to my soul
Em Em
Could I have been the one
Am Am
Who treated you like dirt
Dm Dm
Did I tell you off for fun
Dm Am7
Did I say you have no worth
Chorus:
Am
Black Boy Brother
Dm
Seeking for the truth
Am
Black Boy Brother
Am A5
How hard is was for you
Am
Black Boy Brother
Dm
Dreams you never knew
Am
Black Boy Brother
Am A5
Fearful dreams come true
Verse 2:
A Dm
Too hard for me to bear
Dm A
I’ll blame it on the past
A Dm
We’re too similar by heart
Dm A
We’re too separate by race
Em Em
The prejudice remains
Am Am
From a bloodied man’s distain
Dm Dm
I fear I am the same
Dm Am7
I fear for a change
Chorus
Bridge:
Em I claim we are kin
Em Yet I do not know
Am Of your struggle within
Am Or your struggle abode
Dm We search for firm faith
Dm We’re finding frail heart
E5 We take a new position,
E5 Having dreams having vision.
Em Leave those you know behind
Em That don’t have you in mind.
Am7 Reawake, reshape,
Am7 This reality
Dm Never violate,
Am The life that you lead.
Verse 3:
A Dm
Fight for a future
Dm A
Where my children and yours
A Dm
Will belong together
Dm A
In a future that’s ours
Em Em
In battle with doubt
Am Am
Our soul is at stake
Dm Dm
Though the voices shout
Dm Am7
Their shriek we forsake
Chorus + Chorus 2nd half