The power of music to inspire is unmatched. Perhaps its potency is equaled by the beauty of the earth: a purple sunset, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Waialeale, a school of dolphins, or hummingbirds at rest in mid-air. But then, these are the things which inspire the creation of music. The reason music exists is because of these beauties, because of the human experience and interpretation of it. Music also exists because of unpretty experiences of life, serving as a lifeboat to rescue the psyche from drowning in our selfish id's center of the universe worldview; so irrational, I sometimes wonder how I could have once really believed I was that important.
Last night, from the depth of thousands of miles and decades of life, solos on mandolin resounded from the inner poetry of Peter Ostroushko. To gush would dishonor him, and his music, and give that id thing way too much attention. Not his, but mine.
Sometimes it is enough to just know something inspired happened. Beyond words and explanations, life solos are unique to each one of us. Sing it to the world or cradle it within; we are all related by the touching.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
This Morning 1/21/13 Is He Really One of Us?
Listening to the second inaugural speech of President Obama, I am left with this one searing question:
Is he really one of us?
He looks like us: Mid-aged, and greying.
He talks like one of us: His social justice rhetoric seems sincere, smart and inclusive.
He seems to think like one of us: Equity of access to healthcare is essential.
He appears to share our values: Family and protection of constitutional and human rights.
Okay, that said: why is it that I've got a gnawing feeling that something is amiss?
About three days into his first term, something happened to the Barack Obama we had elected. It was a subtle, but visible tension in his facial muscles, a not-quite palpable feeling of restraint in his stride, perhaps a sense that he was now facing the reality of government in its truth from inside the walls instead of the view from outside. Whatever it was, it changed him on a very visceral level and he has never been the same. I have suspicions of my own, but his first term proved without a doubt that he was more a puppet than a puppet master of government and military agendas formerly issued.
Yesterday, his tone was clicked back four years while simultaneously shooting forward five or ten. The inclusion of an openly gay Cubano poet, an Episcopal pastor who spoke Spanish in his blessing, and the swearing in of Vice President Biden by Justice Sotomayor were all indications that not only was the president reaching back to his own values, but reaching forward to a new kind of America.
I can't forget that this is the same president that has outwardly encouraged the feverish, deadly drone program which has become the new normal in this new era of digitized war. I can't forget that we still have poverty, disparity, and unemployment at unconscionable levels. I can't forget that this president ordered pay raises for Congress at the end of a year when millions of students can't afford college and elementary schools are being closed for lack of funding. I can't forget these things. These things do not feel like the "one of us" president President Obama appears to be.
However, I have a stronger sense that his second term will reveal a renewed enthusiasm for the "one of us" president President Obama is. For that, to my original question, I am left with a resounding, hopeful "oh yes, please!"
Is he really one of us?
He looks like us: Mid-aged, and greying.
He talks like one of us: His social justice rhetoric seems sincere, smart and inclusive.
He seems to think like one of us: Equity of access to healthcare is essential.
He appears to share our values: Family and protection of constitutional and human rights.
Okay, that said: why is it that I've got a gnawing feeling that something is amiss?
About three days into his first term, something happened to the Barack Obama we had elected. It was a subtle, but visible tension in his facial muscles, a not-quite palpable feeling of restraint in his stride, perhaps a sense that he was now facing the reality of government in its truth from inside the walls instead of the view from outside. Whatever it was, it changed him on a very visceral level and he has never been the same. I have suspicions of my own, but his first term proved without a doubt that he was more a puppet than a puppet master of government and military agendas formerly issued.
Yesterday, his tone was clicked back four years while simultaneously shooting forward five or ten. The inclusion of an openly gay Cubano poet, an Episcopal pastor who spoke Spanish in his blessing, and the swearing in of Vice President Biden by Justice Sotomayor were all indications that not only was the president reaching back to his own values, but reaching forward to a new kind of America.
I can't forget that this is the same president that has outwardly encouraged the feverish, deadly drone program which has become the new normal in this new era of digitized war. I can't forget that we still have poverty, disparity, and unemployment at unconscionable levels. I can't forget that this president ordered pay raises for Congress at the end of a year when millions of students can't afford college and elementary schools are being closed for lack of funding. I can't forget these things. These things do not feel like the "one of us" president President Obama appears to be.
However, I have a stronger sense that his second term will reveal a renewed enthusiasm for the "one of us" president President Obama is. For that, to my original question, I am left with a resounding, hopeful "oh yes, please!"
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