December 25, 2009

  •  60 things I learned at cornucopia.

    A giver cannot be fulfilled without a receiver. I don’t receive well and need to work on that.

     

    T-shirt saying for my friends who imbibe

     

    In wine there is warmth, in beer there is fun, in water there is bacteria.

    Merry Christmas everyone.

    Lover gave me a DVD for Christmas that completely awakened my love for the philosophies of the 60s and 70s. The video was about how the Kingston Trio brought folk music back to life. As I watched the video I was thinking how much folk music defined my values. My favorites were the Chad Mitchell Trio who sang incredibly powerful songs about lack of consciousness in human rights, Judy Collins, Joan Mitchell, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Cynthia Gooding, Peter Paul and Mary, Theodore Bikel, John Denver in his early years, along with the poetry of Robert Bly who is still remembered for his antiwar poetry in the Vietnam area. It also brought to light how cruel the system can be to people who want to change it. A case in point is that there was a program in the late 50s called hootenanny which showcased a lot of the folk music talent. Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Woody Guthrie and others were blacklisted and not allowed to perform because of their reported communist affiliations. In response to that, the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez,  and many more singers refused to participate in the program and many of their followers would not watch hootnany for that reason. Very few people remember McCarthyism and the devastating toll his zealousness took on human lives, I remember it well. Anyway, it awakened lots of feelings in me and a pleathoria of wonderful memories. I remember John Denver coming to our campus and singing a song called Jimmy Newman which was about an officer killed in Vietnam but when he signed his contract to go famous he never sang those songs again which we considered a waste and a copout. The popularity of the Chad Mitchell Trio took a nosedive when they started singing explicit songs about people tolerating the intolerable. If you want an example you might find a copy of their album “slightly irreverent”. I treasured those days and the things they taught me.

     

    Keep the faith

     

    david

Comments (1)

  • This is a fantastic Christmas New Year blog. Fantastic. Merry Christmas David. You are a fantastic inspiration to me. I mean that and wish I could relay the thank you I offer you. You make me want to be better and do better. You have this way about you, and I am thankful to know you here. You rock. Holly Jolly, Cassi

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