This is Your Land

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, THIS LAND IS NOT MY LAND By, Naomi Humphrey

To most 2nd graders, going to 3rd grade is a HUGE deal. Well, in elementary school transitioning from one grade to another is seen as a great accomplishment by students and parents alike. To commend students and honor parents for ushering their children into the next grade my elementary school hosted graduation showcases, special events where students from each class sang and danced to some good ole American classics like John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, Yankee Doodle Dandy, She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain and my personal favorite Tis Land is Your Land. My peers and I worked tirelessly to execute the choreography for these “masterfully composed” musical works. Now this showcase wasn’t necessarily a talent competition and no awards were being handed out for the quality of your theatrical performance, nonetheless...we cream-ed the competition. Gleefully waving red, white, and blue striped American fags we enthusiastically screamed “Tis Land is Your Land/ Tis Land is My Land/ From California to New York Island/ From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters/ Tis Land was Made for you and me”. Woody Guthery wrote this song to bring together all Americans through feel good patriotism and highlight a communal responsibility and ownership of the country. Guthery’s rendition of this song was considered to be progressive Example 1, 2, and 3 tell me this land doesn’t belong to people like me. History has told me that. Tis song is considered to be progressive and upheld in the and my peers and I are practicing the end of the year songs and dance routines that we would perform at the graduation showcase. Yankee Doodle Dandy, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt To say the least, we were hands down the best performing second grade class at the graduation showcase.