On an unusually warm November day in Syracuse, New York; TRUSIC Music hosted a second workshop for the “Writing Our Lives” Conference at Nottingham High School. The conference focused on literary expressions of Unity and community. This was a perfect opportunity to highlight a TRUSIC song perfectly tailored for this theme. For the workshop we shared a powerful track from SES Da Great’s Duality Part III: Love/Hate entitled “Wake Up, Rise”.
Wake Up, Rise features the poetry of Newburgh poet and activist, Omari Shakur and of course strong lyrical content from SES. In their own styles, the two artists bring awareness to a number of social issues plaguing our country and urban communities, all while encouraging unity and civic action among the people. The song was presented and reviewed with our guests as an example of how writing can be used for positive change.
We had a good range of attendees who either aspire to become rappers or simply write as a way of relieving their minds. Among other topics, we discussed different motivations for writing and then provided a platform for freehand writing. To the tune of a Hip-Hop instrumental, the attendees had the opportunity to write their own rhymes that promote unity or address issues they would like to be fixed in the community. Although they were too shy to perform what they had written, it proved to be a fun and useful activity for them.
The conference was once again a positive experience that allowed us to share the values of TRUSIC and also show the power and influence that words can have on the lives of others. Special thanks and solute to Dr. Marcelle Haddix for leading another great community event.