First Post/ Coming to terms with the power of discourse

As, I considered what I would write about for this first entry, the events of my work week found some connection with the reading of Mellix that I left hanging in class because I did not articulate my thoughts.
Mellix discussed the father's telling of his tales as a way of communicate the power of language and discourse and language. She says, "I did not realize then-nor, I think, did my father-that he was teaching us, among other things, standard English and the relationship between language and power."
I found myself considering this in reflection as I recalled a discussion that I had with a trans-sexual male who came into my shop for a haircut last week.  First, as I asked him how he heard about my shop, he responded, "I just walked down the street and I figured I would run into a barbershop somewhere along here.  My response was, "that could be dangerous."  Immediately, he took a defensively questioning posture as if I were suggesting that he was unsafe because of his stature, race (white guy walking into black barbershop) or obvious nature of his identity.  However, after backpedaling my statement so he might understand that I was only saying, It was dangerous because he could end up with a jacked up haircut, we settled into a good conversation during the service.
The discussion centered around communication and understanding the significance of identity and how it is expressed.  We found ourselves at a crossroads when I asked rhetorically, "if I accept your maleness and accept you as a man, what then is a man?"
The connection with teaching composition is significant here because people are empowered when they are able to understand, define and freely express themselves in any form of discourse.  He and I found a comfortable, free, and open conversation as a platform to expand understanding and, in a simple way, empowered ourselves against fear and hate even though our conversation reached a point that neither of us had a clear response.
If this had been an environment, say English class, where the subject matter caused either audience or speaker (writer) to limit there expression, nothing would be gained.
Taking this reality into consideration, as writing teachers, it is imperative that we create and stimulate writing experiences that are as open and simple and free as a dialogue before we add the pressure of some academic or social mesurements.
As Rob and I exchanged service for money and dialogue for knowledge of human experience, our humanity was exponentially expanded.