Poet Appeals for Peaceful Fight
On a day that commemorates an important political fighter in the country's battle for civil rights, Elizabeth Alexander chose not to focus on politics and interracial discord – instead, she focused on love.
The speaker at Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation stressed the importance of the tougher kinds of love – love of labor, love of justice, love of one's country – "the kind of love that takes work, but moves us toward the future." Alexander, who is chair of the Department of African American Studies at Yale University, spoke about Dr. King's legacy as a legacy of love that was first instilled in the hearts of Americans fighting for justice when Dr. King was alive - a legacy that is still prevalent to this day.
Alexander cited Dr. King numerous times in her speech, occasionally repeating phrases of his various speeches to emphasize their importance to the audience. Like Dr. King, Alexander maintained that peace will most effectively preserve its place in society if a focus on love and tolerance triumphs over negative worries about war and political conflicts.
Alexander borrowed a phrase from one of King's many speeches to emphasize to the crowd that in order to bring about this positive change, we must "transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment." This balance between the struggles of reality and the encouraging prospects of peace is, according to Alexander, the responsibility taken on by poets to convey their message to a larger audience.
She introduced used various excerpts of the poetry of June Jordan, another female writer who believes strongly in the power of love as a weapon for peace. Referring to Jordan as "simultaneously a pacifist and a fighter," Alexander not only praised the poet's ideals but also her method of transferring them to paper. Stating that poetry has the responsibility to create "images that compel through the specificity of language," Alexander praised Jordan for her moving words, which she credits as inspiration for her own poetry.
Alexander's poetic ability garnered enough national recognition in recent years to earn her the honor of delivering the invocation at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009. The speaker ended her address with a reading of her poem "Praise Song for the Day," which was written specifically for the inauguration. She mentioned that she thought she would never read this poem in a public setting after the inauguration, assuming it had already served its purpose. However, on the holiday that Alexander called "a happy measure of progress" for the civil rights movement, the poem was decisively full of "words to consider and reconsider."
The air of the crowded Weaver Chapel remained still and silent while Alexander gracefully delivered "Praise Song for the Day" until stepping down from the pulpit, when the audience responded with loud applause and a standing ovation.
Gretchen Dellner
Elizabeth Alexander Convocation
Final
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Convocation Speaker - Draft 1
Poet Appeals for Peaceful Fight
On a day that commemorates the enormous sacrifice and ongoing struggles in the battle against injustice that has long been fought by African-Americans, Elizabeth Alexander chose not to focus on politics and interracial discord – instead, she focused on love.
The speaker at Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation stressed the importance of the tougher kinds of love – love of labor, love of justice, love of one's country – "the kind of love that takes work, but moves us toward the future." Alexander spoke about Dr. King's legacy as a legacy of love that was first instilled in the hearts of Americans fighting for justice when Dr. King was alive, a legacy that is still prevalent to this day.
Alexander cited Dr. King numerous times in her speech, occasionally repeating phrases of his various speeches to emphasize their importance to the audience. Like Dr. King, Alexander maintained that peace will most effectively preserve its place in society if a focus on love and tolerance triumphs over negative worries about war and political conflicts.
Quoting Dr. King, Alexander told the crowd that in order to bring about this positive change, we must "transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment." This balance between the struggles of reality and the encouraging prospects of peace is, according to Alexander, the responsibility taken on by poets to convey their message to a larger audience.
In addition to quotes by King, Alexander also inserted various excerpts of the poetry of June Jordan, another female writer who believes strongly in the power of love as a weapon for peace. Referring to Jordan as "simultaneously a pacifist and a fighter," Alexander not only praised the poet's ideals but also her method of transferring them to paper. Stating that poetry has the responsibility to create "images that compel through the specificity of language," Alexander praised Jordan for her inspirational words, which she credits as inspiration for her own poetry.
Alexander's poetic ability garnered enough national recognition in recent years to earn her the honor of delivering the invocation at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009. The speaker ended her address with a reading of her poem "Praise Song for the Day," which was written specifically for the Inauguration. She mentioned that she thought she would never read this poem in a public setting after the inauguration, assuming it had already served its purpose. However, on the holiday that Alexander called a symbol of "a happy measure of progress" for the civil rights movement, the poem was decisively full of "words to consider and reconsider."
The air of the crowded Weaver Chapel remained still and silent while Alexander gracefully delivered "Praise Song for the Day" until stepping down from the pulpit, when the audience responded with loud applause and a standing ovation.
Gretchen Dellner
Elizabeth Alexander Convocation
Draft 1
On a day that commemorates the enormous sacrifice and ongoing struggles in the battle against injustice that has long been fought by African-Americans, Elizabeth Alexander chose not to focus on politics and interracial discord – instead, she focused on love.
The speaker at Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation stressed the importance of the tougher kinds of love – love of labor, love of justice, love of one's country – "the kind of love that takes work, but moves us toward the future." Alexander spoke about Dr. King's legacy as a legacy of love that was first instilled in the hearts of Americans fighting for justice when Dr. King was alive, a legacy that is still prevalent to this day.
Alexander cited Dr. King numerous times in her speech, occasionally repeating phrases of his various speeches to emphasize their importance to the audience. Like Dr. King, Alexander maintained that peace will most effectively preserve its place in society if a focus on love and tolerance triumphs over negative worries about war and political conflicts.
Quoting Dr. King, Alexander told the crowd that in order to bring about this positive change, we must "transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment." This balance between the struggles of reality and the encouraging prospects of peace is, according to Alexander, the responsibility taken on by poets to convey their message to a larger audience.
In addition to quotes by King, Alexander also inserted various excerpts of the poetry of June Jordan, another female writer who believes strongly in the power of love as a weapon for peace. Referring to Jordan as "simultaneously a pacifist and a fighter," Alexander not only praised the poet's ideals but also her method of transferring them to paper. Stating that poetry has the responsibility to create "images that compel through the specificity of language," Alexander praised Jordan for her inspirational words, which she credits as inspiration for her own poetry.
Alexander's poetic ability garnered enough national recognition in recent years to earn her the honor of delivering the invocation at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009. The speaker ended her address with a reading of her poem "Praise Song for the Day," which was written specifically for the Inauguration. She mentioned that she thought she would never read this poem in a public setting after the inauguration, assuming it had already served its purpose. However, on the holiday that Alexander called a symbol of "a happy measure of progress" for the civil rights movement, the poem was decisively full of "words to consider and reconsider."
The air of the crowded Weaver Chapel remained still and silent while Alexander gracefully delivered "Praise Song for the Day" until stepping down from the pulpit, when the audience responded with loud applause and a standing ovation.
Gretchen Dellner
Elizabeth Alexander Convocation
Draft 1
Classmate Interview
Karen Schwartzman is a senior English major at Wittenberg University, just like me. She lives in a house that I can see from my own front porch, and she and I are exceptions to the wide assumption that Wittenberg guarantees the small-campus atmosphere where "everybody knows everybody else." We had never met before sitting next to each other in Journalism class on Monday.
An unfamiliar face is hard to come by in this place, and the more I get to know Karen, the more I wonder how it's possible that we have never crossed paths until this point. From our initial conversation, it's hard to differentiate exactly which one of us asked which questions, because we answered each one the same way - in agreement.
"Have you taken a class with D'Arcy before?"
"Yeah, I had her for Creative Non-fiction."
"Me too! Non-fiction is my favorite genre of writing."
"Me too! What are your plans for after graduation?"
"I don't really have any yet."
"Me too!"
Wearing a gray hoodie and drinking out of a pink plastic water bottle, Karen appears to be a pretty average college student. Her hobbies include reading, writing, and playing the guitar, which she taught herself to do. She admits that this musical skill may have led to her current obsession with the video game Guitar Hero. She also enjoys Thai food and horseback riding, and she hates wooden popsicle sticks.
She's a fan of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series' (me too!), and she read the Twilight books "before the whole thing got popular," and admits that the Stephenie Myers books aren't exactly well-written, but just "really, really addicting."
Karen has lived in
In spite of our many similarities, I did find one difference between myself and Karen. "I can't do Mexican food. I don't like cilantro," Karen tells me. I'm baffled. Mexican food happens to be my very favorite. But I don't take any offense to this confession, especially after we both revert back to our state of accord, this time agreeing on the fact that cheese is, indeed, awesome.
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