Letter to Students

Revised First Drafts

August 20, 2008


Dear Students:

I’ve been writing this letter in my head for a few months now and here we are, the first week of school , the last weeks of summer. I hope you had a chance to enjoy the season now that it’s nearly gone. I had the opportunity to attend a family reunion in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was our first. We all met at Great Aunt Bea’s funeral in January and decided that as a family, we really needed to stop meeting like this…funerals are so depressing.

The weather in Ocean Spring, Mississippi, was 92 degrees daily with 100 percent humidity. My hair still hasn’t lost its natural curl and my skin…it was a facial delight, like being in a sauna…great for getting rid of toxins. We had the usual family drama—I was standed in New Orleans when the one Greyhound bus back to Chicago had no seats, but another cousin rescued me, so I spent the week in New Orleans and was able to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday at Ashe Community Center, attend a great African film festival featuing the work or Kola Maseko, visit relatives, walk the levess in Algiers, interview Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Relief, an all volunteer organization that was a first responder to Hurricane Katrina victims about his bid for the Louisiana Congress on the Green Party ticket. I was also able to catch up with some ex-pats—just kidding, friends who went to New Orleans to help, who now live there like Sakura Kone and Don Paul. (Sakura and I will be interviewed on KPFA, 94.1 FM, on Chris Welch’s show Friday, 12-1 p.m. I am co-host of a Hurricane Katrina benefit and report back at Rebecca’s Books in Berkeley. Visit www.wandaspicks.com for the details. It starts at 7 p.m. We’re asking for a $5 donation.)

When I walked out into the Oakland evening a week later—July 22, I actually felt cold. It had been about two weeks since I’d flow to Chicago, to ride/drive with my cousin, Wlydflour to Mississippi. She has a new RV that she wanted to take on the road. Cousin Ronald also went. He’s a professional driver—he drives trucks. Between my uninhibited cousin and the more laid back Ronald, who’d never driven the Mississippi from Chicago, it took 16 hours—sixteen long hours. I do not recommend this trip unless you make stops in between, such as in Memphis to see the sites, Alabama and elsewhere.

I was sleepy almost my entire time away, but I never got a chance to sleep well. You see, there were these huge roaches that one finds in the oddest places. I didn’t want to keep the lights on and attract unnecessary attention to myself, and then I didn’t want to step on one or get into the bed next to one either. Oh, need I mention the misquitoes?

It was scary at times, but my cousin Ronald would remove the offending bug whenever I spotted one. And I found some anti-itch cream that worked when I was bitten by a gnat or other predatory bug.

Everything seems to grow bigger where there is wetness, heat and open space.

In New Orleans where the houses were demolished in the Lower Ninth Ward, all that’s left of the hundreds of families displaced by the broken levees, are weeds which grow taller than a man if not contained. There are signs of life…an occupied house here and there. However, miles of abandoned land lie between—the levee still not complete.

Okay, so back to the letter. Yes, everything you heard is true. I am tough— I treat my students like the adults they are or will be soon, which means, I do not take responsibility for those tasks students need to stay on top of themselves, like doing one's homework, having good study habits, getting proper sleep, staying on top of assignments, such as, the reading.

I try to be clear, but if I’m not, please ask questions for clarity—often I have so much on my mind, I speak really fast and native speakers can’t keep up. Also, if you are in an early class, or have my class after lunch, you might be sleepy. Bring water to class, stand up, if necessary and stretch, step to the side by the wall and touch your toes.

You can try your hand at negotiating…I’m fair and reasonable. I realize that life-happens, but you need to be serious about what you have committed yourself to when you enrolled in this course. If you haven’t taken College Success, I highly recommend the course (3 units). If you don’t have time, keep you ears open for the Super Saturday when some of the same information is decimated. Visit counseling and ask for the date(s). At the Back to School Bash, Sept. 2 and 4, pick up a student organizer. It’s free and you can put important assignments in it.

The only things I will not compromise on are the objectives and goals of the course. Whether you remember all the specific language of the discourse we will have this semester or not, is not the point—but I do suggest keeping a vocabulary log, beginning with this letter which I want you to respond to for the next meeting—this is your first blog assignment— the point is that each of the students in this class grow to understand their unique purpose. You’re honoring your gifts. Every one of you has something unique and precious to offer the world. I am the coach. We’re going to identify it and help you polish it.

Language is communication, whether this is written or verbal or nonverbal. We are all sharing a story. Just the clothes you decided to wear this morning or afternoon, indicates something about you.

Human beings are judgmental and because we jump to conclusions often without weighing the evidence, separating bigotry and ignorance, from other biases, we make mistakes, some costly. A critical thinker brackets his or her biases and tries to look at each communicative event or genre as openly and freely as he or she can. It’s hard being unbiased because we all unconsciously bring our entire life, all our experiences, both good and bad to the table whenever we have to make a decision. Advertisers know this, so they complicate the choices with lies called propaganda (logical fallacies, is the technical term). Nothing is clear, everyone is suspect in the market place whether the salesman is the presidential hopeful or the clerk at the dress shop or the photograph in your favorite magazine.

We will try to be as honest as we can in our writing. Don’t confuse honesty with truth. Truth is subjective and as I mention above, if all of us has an agenda, then there really is no such thing as objectivity only shades of gray in a black and white world.

Let’s just say, if we leave this 18 week experience, better listeners, this would be a start toward opening ourselves up to the larger more human dialogue we need to have with each other and by extension the planet because as I said, all communication is not verbal. If we are to survive as a species, we need to learn to speak other languages—fluently, and respect the voices of those creatures whom we have a tendency to disrespect or look down on like children, animals and other species like trees, rocks and toads.

Too philosophical? Well my undergraduate degree is in philosophy, which I call a degree in learning how to articulate those values which determine one’s direction in life and avoid those arguments which are incongruent with one’s soul’s journey. I’m talking about the stalkers or propagandists lurking everywhere trying to sell you false ideas, trip you up and confuse you so that you purchase with your soul their ideas, often to your determent, not always, but most often.

In the academy, or the halls of higher education—translate, college, the goal is to become freer, and to do this one has to notice everything and learn the language of query. We have to enjoy asking questions because only then will we locate the answers—the most important answers inside each of you.

All I can do is guide the process. I know a bit more about writing than you so. I know a bit more about life than most of you because I am a bit older than most of you. I’ve raised two daughters and have tried to live consciously in the world and there are some tools I can share with you to make the journey a little less treacherous.

What does this have to do with the writing process? Everything. Remember when I told you the great writer is honest. Well to be honest, one must first know oneself.

Writing is one of the disciplines that encourages honesty and revelation. Whatever you read or share in the class needs to stay here. You can’t tell anyone unless you get permission from your classmate who wrote the paper first. If I say it, feel free to publish it :-)

By the end of the first month, we will have established a writing community and in the next week or so, we will have to develop ground rules so everyone will feel comfortable sharing their thoughts about the topics we will discuss.

Hip hop culture is the lens we will be using to explore the writing process. We will look at the history of hip hop, how it has developed and most of all the controversy, especially involving women. However, the purpose of the class is not to become experts in hip hop culture. This is just the hook to keep you in the room, on the floor, in the club, buying drinks, staying high.

You will become scholars and learn to talk about a culture many of you participate in unconsciously without really knowing its history…your participation, depending on how old you are is a result of subtle brainwashing or inheritance—if this word sounds better. In any case, you have swallowed these ideas about women or girls, fashion and career goals—the bling bling of life, without a blink or any analysis.

Scholars do not do this. Scholars evaluate the evidence and motives behind the argument before making a decision about its validity or value.

I am rambling and will get to the point now. You need to be awake when you come to class and prepared. Visit me in my office hours at least three times this semester, more if I ask you to. We will have a study hour—attend a few of those, especially if you are weak in certain areas like reading comprehension.

Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D. is difficult, a lot more difficult than my English 201 students will find, Jasmine Guy or even Tupac. Jeff Chang is not hard, per se, but Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, is dense. There is a lot of information here, so students need to apply certain reading strategies, so that the material which is most important is identified.

A good writer is a good planner. A good writer is also a good reader. If you don’t like to read, if you are lazy and don’t like to look up words when you can't pronounce them, let alone, don’t know what they mean—you are in the wrong class.

Some of you are here because this is the only time you could fit an English class into your schedule. You’ll just have to make the best of it; however, if you have a choice and find, after this class or subsequent ones, you and I are not a good match, transfer to another section.

A this level its all about personality. I am seemingly laid back, easy going, and kind of scattered—blame that on my Gemini nature, no seriously, we’re peers and then we’re not. I have something you want—information, knowledge, skill. But so do my other colleague teaching this same course—the objectives and goals and students learning outcomes are consistent across the department, so you will not loose anything if you transfer to another class.

I encourage you to shop around and not buy the rhetoric or arguments of this salesperson standing before you without understanding that you have options. You are not stuck; you can make choices.

I try to keep track of your grades, but if you’d like an A, I’d suggest you keep track of all your papers, especially the graded ones. This is a portfolio class and your final grade is cumulative. Do not throw anything away. I am serious. If you are careless, then at the end of the 18 weeks you will not have any evidence of your progress in the class and so I will not be able to substantiate the grade you say you deserve.

Attendance is important, so come to class and come on time. Get a classmate's phone number and email address so if something is unclear when you get home, you can get help. You can always ask me; however, I think we are all thinking beings and your ideas and thoughts are just as valid as mine when it comes to interpretation.

Respect for each other’s ideas is paramount for this class to function optimally. It’s easy to slip into dysfunction when we allow those unexamined values to intrude on authenticity. We need to disclose, if to no one other than ourselves who we are and what baggage or unexamined ideas we have carried for so long that we need to let go.

This cleansing process is on-going. Look at our nation, seven years post-9/11. Look at how our views of Muslims and the Middle East shifted that early morning in September 2001. Look at the world now, and the world, pre-Sept. 11. Look at the policies tied directly to Sept. 11. Look at what you believe and what you know about Arabs and war, and how that effects your consumption, of both ideologies and commodities.

The possibility of a first black president is a reality, as was the possibility of a first woman president. We will look at the presidential election and how the hip hop community is responding. I hope all of you who can vote are registered. If you are not on parole and are an American citizen, you can and should vote, otherwise you can’t complain.

What else? We will be going on fieldtrips, so stay tuned to the blog or on-line diary. If you don’t have access to a computer with Internet at home, do your assignments in the Writing Center, L-234 suite. It is open six days a week, five of them until 7:45 p.m. it opens at 9 a.m. which is not convenient if you have an 8 a.m. class.


Oh, I am a professional writer. Over the summer the San Francisco Bay View, after 20 years of publishing, stopped printing the paper. We have a web presence, but my editor doesn't know how to maintain the website and has no money to pay someone to do so. If you can help her or know someone who can visit www.sfbayview.com and drop her a line at editor@sfbayview.com

Good luck on everything. Writing is a discipline where your life leaks into the process; try to separate the assignment from your narrative. Of course, everything you write is your story, but there are ways to appeal to different audiences. Remember you are a scholar, and the language of the discourse here is not the same as the one in the streets, locker room, or on the dance floor—even if the topic or theme—hip hop culture—it’s poetics if you are in my English 201; it’s politics especially regarding women, if you are in my English 1A or the global movement of this form of discourse, if you are in my English 1B.

Peace and Blessings,

Wanda Sabir
English, Basic Skills Instructor
L-236 office
(510) 748-2131

PS Let me know if there is anything happening which you might recommend we watch or attend that will broaden our knowledge of these themes and the topic we are exploring. Did anyone attend Rock the Bells last weekend? I wish I’d gone, but I couldn’t find anyone in my peer group who wanted to attend :-) Next time though, I’m going anyway. If any of you is a performance artist or visual artist, also let us know so we can support you and attend your exhibitions.

PSS My email address is professorwandasposse@gmail.com

The blog site for English 201 is http://professorsabirsposse.blogspot.com
English 1A is http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com
English 1B is http://poeticsrapandtothersocialdiscourses.blogspot.com