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THE TWILIGHT ZONE

from *From Hope To Cynicism by Steve Shapiro

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lyrics

The Twilight Zone is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition. It lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. It is the dimension of imagination - not only of sight and sound but of mind.

In August of 1955, Emmett Till, an African-American boy from Chicago was abducted, beaten, and shot while visiting family in Mississippi. An all-white jury acquitted the two killers, both white, of all charges.

This miscarriage of justice proved a galvanizing point in the Civil Rights Movement. Rod Serling watched the events play out in the news. He believed firmly in the burgeoning medium’s power for social justice.

“The writer’s role is to be a menacer of the public’s conscience,” Serling said. “He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus the issues of his time.”

He felt compelled to write a teleplay around the racism that led to Till’s murder. But the censorship that followed by advertisers and networks, fearful of blowback from white, Southern audiences, forced Serling to rethink his approach. His response, ultimately, was “The Twilight Zone,” the iconic anthology series that spoke truth to the era’s social ills and tackled themes of prejudice, bigotry, nuclear fears and war.

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from *From Hope To Cynicism, track released July 24, 2022

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Steve Shapiro Oakland, California

Steve Shapiro has composed music for hundreds of radio and TV commercials, documentary films, infomercials and other TV programs. He was the music director at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which produced hundreds of award-winning educational films and recordings. He has a BA in Music from Brown University and an MA in Music from the Manhattan School of Music. ... more

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