RHETORIC, MEDIA AND THE CIVIC LIFE  In a post entitled “How Eloquence Made History Class Cool Again” in the blog Rhetoric, Media and the Civic Life, Samantha Biel notes that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s performance at the White House in 2009 was almost word-for-word from the opening song “Alexander Hamilton” in Hamilton: How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore, and a Scotsman, Dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in The Caribbean by providence impoverished, in squalor, Grow up to be a hero and a scholar? . . . Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain Well, the word got around, they said, this kid is insane, man Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland Get your education, don’t forget from whence you came and The world is gonna know your name, what’s your name, man? Alexander Hamilton (September 2016) |