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Essay About Houston

Decent Essays

Beatriz Gaona
Prof. Andrew Tolle
ENGL 1301-41028
17 September 2017 Houstonians A poem written by South Carolina pastor, Jeremy Rutledge has given readers a lot to think about. The poem was composed after the great Hurricane Harvey tragedy in Houston. In his poem Rutledge mentions the word pray many times but the meaning of it goes way beyond that. When praying for something it is important to know the aspects and struggles of it, and that is exactly what Rutledge is doing in this poem, stating all the things that make Houston unique, diverse, and capable to rise from it all. Throughout the entire poem Rutledge suggests just how diverse Houston is. For instance, the lines, “pray like you’re sitting over Soup at Spanish Flowers or pho at Mai’s steaming your glasses” are great examples of this. The difference between both cuisines is huge emphasizing diversity. For example, Spanish Flowers is a Mexican restaurant …show more content…

Beyoncé is a huge influencer well-known to be from Houston. In the poem Rutledge says, “Pray like Beyoncé when she was at HSPVA”. Beyoncé struggled to come up from nearly nothing to becoming one of music's top-selling artists with sold-out tours and a slew of awards. By putting Beyoncé in the poem Rutledge universalizes Houston and reaches out to a whole other group other than Houston itself. Rutledge also implies that like Beyoncé Houston can rise from nothing. Along the same lines, Rutledge says “you can fill up our bayou but you will never rain on our parade”. Meaning Hurricane Harvey can rain and flood their river but never lower their spirits. Just like Beyoncé fell many times but stayed strong and rose from it all. Beyoncé is an outstanding example to universalize and show just how strong Houston

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