Sept. 27

Homework: quiz on unit 2 tomorrow. Sections 3,6,7 have to make flashcards.

I am being blown away by the study of the song "Only a Pawn in Their Game." If you get the chance, give it a listen. The song looks like it is about the assassin who killed Medgar Evers, but on closer inspection, it is really about the larger picture. When Dylan says, "But it ain't him to blame," he is really talking about the larger influences that created the man who killed Medgar Evers. The influences are listed in the song: politicians, school, poverty, the KKK, and governors. They are the ones to blame. They are the ones who influenced him.

That made me think. The collages the students made were just the good influences in their lives. However, we are influenced by both good and bad in our lives! We are pulled both ways. I am thinking that our convictions come from that pull. Why do we feel strongly about something? Isn't it because we are being told that we are wrong? We have to hold fast to our beliefs so they don't change. We also try to convince others because we see that they are being pulled so strongly by bad influences.

Do they (do we) even know how we are influenced? Do we need someone to tell us? Are we introspective enough to see our own faults? The people Dylan sang about weren't. They believed racism was good.

I wonder what my paper will be about. What am I convicted of that I believe I must speak about? I said that we are not writing for others, but others will read what I write. So I must write for myself first knowing others must hear it? Or do I figure out a topic that others need to hear that is important to me? Dylan wrote about racism in the South in this song. He saw that many people were too influenced by the evil of racism. The man in the song was so lost that he thought killing a black man was actually the right thing to do.