As part of the first-year seminar on protest music taught by Patricia Dixon, each student wrote a protest song. Brett Kaiser, a freshman from Sugar Land, TX, submitted the following song. "Protest songs are often raw. It's part of the music of this genre," says Dixon.

Talking With Our Ears

by Brett Kaiser (reprinted with permission)

Let influence emanate from my voice.
Let meaningful ink sink from my pen.
I'm providing a challenge, not a choice,
Cause it's not who or why but when.
When do we start and when do we stop,
Respecting others in this world from bottom to top?
Start now. Stop never. Surrender nothing in between,
Cause this life is hard enough if you know what I mean.
Open your eyes. Don't close your heart.
Cause it takes an instant. Forget past years.
Yeah, tolerance is the only start,
To talking with your ears.

Let's retreat to our youth,
And hopscotch party lines,
Cause the colors of chalk dilute,
When it rains wasteful warning signs.
We were children once and share that common thread.
We were all born, all live, until the day we're dead.
From donkey to elephant to platypus to mole,
Why continue to dig our partisan holes?
Try taking down your shields,
The Red and Blue ones so dear.
Let's quit creating those countless corrupt deals,
And try talking with our ears.

My God, let this be a prayer to you, God,
Cause G__ d_____ it's what we need,
Cause we're all numbers both even and odd,
With diverse decimals in between.
We're this and that from here to there.
We're all nothing and everything that's everywhere.
From bug to boy to bush to bird,
Let every worldly voice be heard.
My message is one of awareness,
From every spectrum far and near.
Let's cease to continue making a mess,
And try talking with our ears.

Let this poem act as a plea.
Let it be a spark to your fire.
Try closing your eyes to see.
It's the same as love without desire.
Same as kissing your lipless self,
Same as making a worthless wealth.
You can't pay dollars without sense.
You can't respect without tolerance.
Respect opinions, beliefs, and what's in the middle.
Our machine can't work without all fitting gears.
We're all parts of this life, this grand ol' riddle.
So let's try talking with our ears.