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Ukraine and the myths of war

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I am on a writing break and have been taking the time to share some of my favorites from the More to Come archives. However, this new post — which consists of a few words and some pictures — wouldn’t stay inside me.

I woke up early this morning with Ukraine on my mind. President Joe Biden addressed the nation last evening and updated us on the threat of Russia’s launching another invasion of Ukraine. (See updates below.)

He emphasized that we and our allies stand behind Ukraine and pledge to continue diplomatic efforts to prevent a war, and yet will deliver “massive costs on Russia should it choose further conflict.” He urged Russia “to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table.”

Political scientist and journalist David Rothkopf tweeted that Biden is speaking as the leader of the free world. “It has been a long time since a U.S. president filled that role. His remarks were concise and pointed…and underscored Western resolve. But the headline: He is convinced [that] Putin has decided… to invade.”

Heather Cox Richardson, Letter from an American, February 18, 2020

The 42 million people of Ukraine will bear a heavy cost for Putin’s efforts to shore up his support in Russia while continuing to destabilize the west. In the words of Chris Hedges, a war in Ukraine will be a “mythic” war, where those involved will seek to imbue events with meanings they do not have.

In 2006, I visited the country, saw several places that have stayed with me ever since, and talked to Ukrainians as people with real hopes and dreams. A friend and former colleague did her Peace Corps stint in the country, leading us to talk on occasion about this special place, struggling to become a democracy as it is situated in an especially dangerous and strategic area.

Americans may not know much about Ukraine and even less about why we should care if Putin invades, but it matters for a host of reasons. As in all wars, loss of life, injury, and displacement top the list of terrible impacts. Cultural patrimony and beauty are also among the elements at risk.

The port city of Odessa on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine is full of charm. It’s known for its beaches and 19th-century architecture, including the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater.

A street scene in Odessa

Odessa’s monumental Potemkin Stairs, immortalized in the 1925 silent Soviet-era film The Battleship Potemkin, lead down to the waterfront with its Vorontsov Lighthouse.

Beautiful mosaics on an Odessa church

Sevastopol — along with the rest of Crimea — is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. However, de facto it is administered by Russia, which illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. The city’s population has an ethnic Russian majority, with a substantial minority of Ukrainians.

Ruins of an ancient theatre in Sevastopol
Saint Vladimir Cathedral, a Neo-Byzantine Russian Orthodox cathedral, in Sevastopol

Yalta is another of the cities in the disputed territory of Crimea. If Americans know it at all, it is because of the famous Yalta Conference of 1945, where FDR, Churchill, and Stalin came together to discuss the postwar peace.

Sailing into Yalta
Site of the 1945 Yalta conference
Yalta Conference Museum

Of all the wonders of Ukraine I saw on that trip, it was when we left the grand coastal resort cities and visited a small, rural village that the people of the country became much more to me than just workers in the hospitality/tourism industry. The images and memory of this small village are what remain most vividly in my mind today.

Scenes from a Ukrainian village
Houses, garden plots, fields, and boats for navigating the waterways.
The view of a typical village compound

As Russia moved toward an invasion, I returned to read Chris Hedges’ important 2003 book War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. Hedges “has seen war, and its effect upon those who wage it, at close range.” And in this book, he brings “fifteen years of experience reporting from the front lines to bear on the very nature of war itself, its causes and consequences, and the physical, emotional, and moral devastation it leaves in its wake.” Hedges writes that while humility, love, and compassion are the only chances for the human race, war is hard to shake.

That is not only true for authoritarian regimes like Putin’s, but also for large segments of our citizenry.

War is both a deadly addiction — a drug that offers an unmatchable intoxication, the thrill of being released from the moral strictures of everyday life — and a unifying force that provides a sense of meaning, purpose, and self-sacrifice that can wash away life’s trivial concerns. But the meaningfulness of combat depends upon the myth of war. In reality, no matter what grand cause it is supposed to support, war is simply the basest form of aggression: “organized murder.” Once war begins, the moral universe collapses and every manner of atrocity can be justified in the eyes of those who wage it, because the cause is just, the enemy is inhuman, and only war can restore balance to the world.

There is a hollowness in such thinking, yet that is what is behind Putin’s call for war in Ukraine, and — unfortunately — it is also what drives the response for many who both support and oppose him. That war will have real consequences on the people and places that deserve better.

More to come…

DJB

UPDATE: At 10:58 p.m. Eastern Time on February 23, 2022, Russia invaded a peaceful country, without provocation. As Heather Cox Richardson wrote on that day, the “invasion of democratic Ukraine by authoritarian Putin is important. It not only has broken a long period of peace in Europe, it has brought into the open that authoritarians are indeed trying to destroy democracy.” As of Saturday evening, February 26th, Ukrainians are still fighting and defending their country from this unprovoked and illegal assault, and Vladimir Putin is being increasingly isolated. Three days later, here is the historian’s further update.

Image: Ukranian villager gathering reeds in the waterways near his home to use on his thatched roof (by DJB).

There is always time for kindness

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While on a winter break, I’ll revisit some of my favorite stories and book reviews from More to Come. Hopefully you’ll find a new insight or something that you may have missed. 

We’ve recently talked a great deal about kindness in our family, so I looked for something in the archives that would resonate. A longer version of this story about the kindnesses I received upon announcing my retirement was originally posted on January 14, 2019, under the title Kindness. I also link to three additional posts on kindness and gratitude at the end. Valentine’s Day seems to be an especially appropriate time to remember the lessons found in these posts.

I expected to hear from a number of people after announcing that I was retiring. Two decades with the same organization gave me innumerable opportunities to connect and work with people across the country and around the world.  I wasn’t quite ready, however, for the nature of the notes, emails, phone calls, hallway conversations, and comments that came my way.  I felt a bit like a man who wakes up in the casket at his own funeral and decides to lie there for a while just to hear people say nice things about him.

The overwhelming kindness of the remarks truly caught me off guard. That led me to think about the nature and effects of kindness. I also found quotes about kindness — sappy, inspirational, nonsensical, insightful, and more — for every occasion. My favorite, from the poet Mary Oliver, reads:

I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.

Kindness — like good-natured mischief and spontaneous singing — can touch our souls in unexpected ways.

I also thought not just about the nature of the notes but also about the different types of responses I received.  These include:

  • The “pithy and poignant” note. A new friend who prepared copy for our appeal letters sent an 11-word note that spoke volumes. Messages of kindness can be very short and to the point while carrying extraordinary power.
  • The “playing against type” note. One famously cranky preservationist sent me a very gracious and thoughtful note. In my response I told this long-time friend that it was clear that his email account had been hacked and that the hacker was saying nice things about me. I suggested that if he didn’t regain control of his account quickly, I was afraid his curmudgeonly reputation would soon be in tatters.
  • The “voice from the past” note. People that I’ve known professionally over the past four decades reached out to me, some of whom I had not heard from in years. I was reminded that you can never lose touch, and a voice from the past can add context and richness to a time that can be bittersweet at best.
  • The “small acts of kindness” note. There is a whole inspirational industry built up around “small acts of kindness.” Small acts have ripple effects that we can’t even imagine. You never know who is watching your actions and where the ripples will reach.

Kindness often gets a bad rap for being soft. My experience is that it is possible to be kind and yet make the very difficult decisions required as we move through work and life.  Unfortunately, many people value so-called leaders who are never kind, granting a type of permission to bully those with whom they disagree.  John Steinbeck noted these contradictions when he said,

“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

As we deal with turbulent times, I am reminded that history has leaders who can show us a better way forward.  Through the Great Depression and World War II, few dealt with more challenges than Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Yet he recognized what mattered when he said, “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.”

I am very grateful for the many kindnesses shown to me over the years. Having been the recipient of extraordinary kindnesses as I retired, I know the positive effect kind words and gestures can have on an individual. Be kind to one another. It matters.

More to come…

DJB

NOTE: I have always found that kindness and gratitude are linked. Those who practice one tend to also practice the other. If you are interested in exploring further, here are other More to Come posts examining kindness and gratitude that you may find of interest.

Image of children walking by Annie Spratt from Pixabay. Fall scene from Devotion, North Carolina, by DJB

Smart Phones

Another look at boundaries

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While on a winter break, I’ll revisit some of my favorite stories and book reviews from More to Come. Hopefully you’ll find a new insight or something that you may have missed. This book review about setting limits in order to be great was originally shared here on November 5, 2018, as Boundaries.

Understanding the reality you face is often the first step toward personal and organizational growth.

Consider the oft-heard complaint about our lack of time in this period of ubiquitous technology.   While most of us think of this as the “Information Age,” the reality may be that it would be better characterized as the Age of Attention.  In an age of information abundance, the scare resource is attention.  Technology companies make money when they monopolize our time.  Netflix’s CEO has made this clear in noting that the company “is competing for our customers’ time, so our competitors include Snapchat, YouTube, sleep, etc.”

Let that last one sink in a bit…your sleep is seen as a competitor by Netflix.  If you had any idea that technology companies were looking out for your best interests, this should dissuade you of that notion.

Stand Out of Our Light
Stand Out of Our Light by James Williams

I’m currently reading Stand Out of Our Light, a book written by a former Google strategist turned Oxford-trained philosopher.  James Williams’ career arc was enough to get me to buy the book, but I was equally intrigued to read his take on how “technologies compete to capture and exploit our attention, rather than supporting the true goals we have for our lives.”  From endless games of solitaire to never-ending clickbait to Facebook news feeds to YouTube recommendations that entice us to watch just one more video…we’ve all seen how digital technology eats up our time by capturing more and more of our attention.

Williams believes that the goals of technology companies don’t match our best interests (individually and as citizens), making it imperative that we set our own boundaries.  He quotes the German writer and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who said, “Who will be great, must be able to limit himself.”  Williams is focused on the capacities that enable us to “want what we want to want,” capacities such as “reflection, memory, prediction, leisure, reasoning, and goal-setting.” We have to apply boundaries in order to “channel our activities toward our higher goals.”

While technology could help us deal with these challenges, that’s not the way of life in our current age.  As  you reflect on that, realize that,

“…notifications or addictive mobile apps may fill up those little moments in the day during which a person might have otherwise reflected on their goals and priorities.  Users check their phones an average of 150 times per day (and touch them over 2,600 times per day), so that would add up to a lot of potential reflection going unrealized.”

There is much we can do in response, and the book looks at steps we should take individually and collectively.  I decided some time ago not to use notifications with my technology, believing that leaving on the email notification feature is like letting the post office rush in and drop a letter on your desk every time you receive an email or text.  Start with the mindset that your email in-box – and essentially all technology – should be for your use, and then work from there.  Such a perspective may help you see the reality a bit more clearly and spend more time on what you want to want.

Have a good week.

More to come…

DJB

NOTE: I realize that by providing you with additional links, I could be accused of directing your thinking and asking for additional time similar to YouTube. So, I simply note — with absolutely no pressure — that should you want additional perspectives on this topic, feel free to take a look at the following from More to Come…

Revisiting serendipity and presence

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While I’m on a winter break, we’ll revisit some of my favorite stories and book reviews from More to Come. Hopefully you’ll find something that you may have missed in the earlier iteration. This wonderful story on a serendipitous encounter that I almost missed was originally shared here on July 8, 2018, as Be present when serendipity strikes.

It was a flight like dozens of others I’d taken in the summertime: delayed due to thunderstorms, with the prospect of climbing into bed much later than planned.

Harp Guitar
Harp Guitar

When I finally boarded the flight from Nashville after a day’s work on our campaign to save Music Row, it barely registered that my two seatmates had stashed guitars in the luggage bin. This was Nashville, after all. I mumbled a couple of hellos, and promptly fell into my customary power nap. Waking up thirty minutes later, my laptop was opened as I started work on a project that was overdue.

Only after returning to my seat later in the flight did I exchange real conversation with the woman seated in the middle seat, between her boyfriend and me.  I asked what type of guitar she played.  She replied, “One’s a harp guitar and the other is a flamenco guitar.”  Bing!  I suddenly woke up.  Harp guitars are pretty esoteric instruments, and those who play them approach their music with religious zeal.  They also tend to be very good musicians.

I mentioned the music of Stephen Bennett, a harp guitar devotee, whose music I happened to be listening to at that moment on my iPad.  She replied that she knew Stephen, and then seeing that the terrific guitarist and composer Alex De Grassi was next in my musical queue, she said “I’m playing with Alex next week.” She followed that by asking if I knew Tommy Emmanuel, another stellar guitarist.  I replied that I knew his music, but didn’t know him personally, upon which she handed me her headphones and played a video from a recent concert where he joined her for an impromptu—and beautiful—duet on one of her compositions.

At this point I stuck out my hand and said, “Hi, I’m David Brown.”  She replied, “I’m Muriel Anderson.”

Oh my goodness.  I was sitting next to the woman whom I’d proclaimed my love for to God and the internet, after hearing her version of the Beatles tune Day Tripper. And I had wandered all over BWI airport several years ago trying to find where she was going to play in a gig promoted as BWI Live.

Muriel Anderson
Muriel Anderson

Over the last half hour of the flight we talked guitar makers (her harp guitar was built by Mike Doolin and I showed her pictures of my two Running Dog guitars by luthier Rick Davis), harp guitar festivals, historic preservation and the importance of saving Music Row, and her newest album Nightlight Daylight, which is a two-CD set with music for the morning and music for the evening.  She was pleased that Guitar Player magazine named Nightlight Daylight among the top 10 CDs of the decade but even more pleased, I think, to show me the interactive fiber-optic lighted CD cover.  (Push on the moon and the night stars come out. Very cool!)

This is a musician who has collaborated with some of the best:  the late guitarists Chet Atkins and Les Paul, for example.  Yet she was as engaging, lively, down-to-earth, and interesting in person as she came across on stage and in her music.  When I mentioned the National Trust had a hand in saving RCA Studio A in Nashville, she immediately said, “And you saved Chet’s office!”  I told Muriel that I’d had the privilege of sitting in that very office, fingerpicking on a beautiful guitar owned by the man who bought the building at the 11th hour. As we were leaving I said, “I have a Gallagher guitar at home, and I bet you can guess why.”  After thinking a bit she said, “You’re a Doc Watson fan, and that was Doc’s guitar.”  Then she added, “He was my first guitar hero.”  I knew that having read it online at some point.  He was mine as well.

This experience reminded me—once again—of how much we need to wake up and focus on life. Not all encounters are so serendipitous or pleasurable, and yours—when they happen—will be different.  Perhaps you’ll get to meet the writer you’ve always admired, or gain an insight for work you’ve long sought but needed a serendipitous moment to find.  When it happens it can be wonderful.  Trouble is, you won’t have the chance if you don’t take your head away from the screen or out of the conversation in your head, and talk with real people.

Have a good week, and when a bit of serendipity comes your way, may you be present to receive it.

More to come…

DJB

Image: Muriel Anderson and Tommy Emmanuel — playing together at All Star Guitar Night 2018 as she showed me on my fateful airplane ride.

The books I read in January 2022

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Each month I have a goal to read five books on a variety of topics and from different genres. Here are the books I read in January 2022. If you click on the title, you’ll go to the longer post on More to Come. Because I have begun a winter break, the posts for February and perhaps March may not be up until April, but I continue to read and will eventually get around to them. Enjoy!

Entangled Life: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures (2020), is a vibrant and vision-changing work. As his name suggests, Merlin Sheldrake can conjure up delightful prose and mind-blowing connections that educate, charm, enlighten, and broaden the reader’s understanding of fungi — that indispensable part of life on earth. Sheldrake’s first book reads like a page-turning adventure story right from the beginning. He has managed to inject a sense of wonder — and more importantly, a wonder-filled joy — into his study. We are all the richer for it.

How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, democracy and the continuing fight for the soul of America (2020) is Heather Cox Richardson’s searing, provocative, and masterful history of how America’s competing claims of equality and subordination have been used by oligarchs to tap into the extraordinary strength of the ideology of American freedom to undermine freedom and liberty for anyone who is not white and male. After their defeat in the Civil War, they regrouped and aligned with business and extraction interests in the West to create a new political power based on hierarchies and exemplified by Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan that changed our country’s trajectory toward equality. How the South Won the Civil War is full of surprises, wisdom, and insight.

Historic Houses of Worship in Peril: Conserving Their Place in American Life (2020) is Thomas Edward Frank’s look at the meaning of these community landmarks and the implications of the rapid change that is reshaping the physical and cultural landscape around them. This is not a “how to” book of preservation but is written with the intention of helping the reader reconsider assumptions, learn more about the meaning for those who experience these places, and perceive more clearly their place in society. It led me to think of the historic houses of worship that have shaped my life, thoughts I share in the post.

Your True Home: The everyday wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh (2011 — compiled and edited by Melvin McLeod) has been part of my daily reading, so when the news came this month of the passing of this wise man, his work was very much on my mind. The 365 meditations in Your True Home are focused on the monk’s embrace of mindfulness. Each meditation is only a few sentences in length, but the brevity is part of what contributes to their power. Meditation #22, which coincides with the day of Thich Nhat Hanh’s passing, is entitled The Lamp of Mindfulness.

We have a lamp inside us, the lamp of mindfulness, which we can light anytime. The oil of that lamp is our breathing, our steps, and our peaceful smile. We have to light up that lamp of mindfulness so the light will shine out and the darkness will dissipate and cease. Our practice is to light the lamp.

What if Everybody Squeezed the Cat?
What if everybody squeezed the cat!

If Everybody Did (1960) by Jo Ann Stover is the first book I remember reading as a child. It had been on my mind recently, so I reread it this month and found that the quirky children’s book with the funky illustrations is a primer on how to live together. We are all a mess of contradictions so living in community is difficult enough in normal times. These are not normal times, in part because too many people in public life today clearly never internalized the lessons found in this classic.

Enjoy reading!

More to come…

DJB

The Weekly Reader series features links to recent books and articles that grabbed my interest or tickled my fancy. 

Bookshelves image by Lubos Houska from Pixabay.

Time for a winter break

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Phew! That’s the pithy observation the Wordle puzzle uses when I struggle before getting the correct answer with my sixth and final guess. It is as if the phone is telling me, “Barely made it there, pal.”

Too often I catch myself thinking and talking as if barely making it describes life as we reach the end of this January. When that happens, I look to find a different perspective and more hopeful words to describe the times we are in. Yes, there’s a lot going on in the world and we often feel swamped. However, taking the opportunity to step back can not only refresh our mind, soul, and body, but it offers us the chance to see that there is still much that is good in our lives and in the world.

February can easily seem like the longest month, so good news is especially welcomed this time of year. Although we dodged the blizzard that hit the northeast this weekend, the Washington region has had more than our share of snow, ice, freezing temperatures, and brisk winds. More of the same is expected in the coming weeks. We all have to work hard fighting off the winter blues.

Bundled up against the winter cold with my dapper new Maryland flag-themed scarf and hat.*

If flying to Cancún isn’t in your immediate future, perhaps you can join me in choosing to focus on the good news that’s around us.

I’m not being naive. But dwelling on the negative does not do anything constructive to address problems while looking to the positive gives us a way forward, supports others who are also looking to build community, and helps us understand and focus on the things that we can control (which defines effectiveness).

I always try and begin with the good news in my personal life.

When I look for good news, I don’t have to cast my gaze too far. My siblings are all well and my youngest sister just welcomed her first grandchild, a beautiful baby girl, into the family. Our children are enjoying their life and work. Candice and I are looking forward to hearing some great music in the coming months, including Bach’s St. John Passion in Providence and Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the Washington National Cathedral. We also have travel on the horizon with a National Trust tour to Scotland and the fjords of Norway. **

And yes, there are many good things that happened in the U.S. this past year.

We also hear a great deal about what’s wrong in the country, but there is good news if you care to look.

  • The economy had an amazing year, the best since 1984.
  • Sign-ups for the Affordable Care Act marketplaces reached a record 14.5 million, meaning health care is more affordable and more accessible than ever.
  • The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is delivering the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history — $21 billion to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites — while also bringing thousands of aging bridges up to par, with the help of $27.5 billion in new federal aid that was released this month.
  • For much of our history a Black woman didn’t even own her body. Now, the country will get its first ever Black female Supreme Court justice this year. After 95% of all previous appointments were white men (107 white men appointed among the first 113 justices), it is way past time to broaden the perspective on the highest court.
  • The rule of law is working to hold all those responsible for the attempted coup and insurrection in 2020/2021 accountable. Justice takes time.
  • As of today, the US has shipped 400 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for free to 112 countries around the world. The best news and biggest story by far for this year is the COVID-19 vaccines, where “ten billion doses were administered across 184 countries, and almost 60% of the planet has received at least one dose (in four months it’ll be 75%)”, making this, by far, the most successful global health initiative ever undertaken.

In terms of the pandemic, the death rate is still too high, but we are seeing that those who are fully vaccinated and follow common-sense public health guidelines are much less likely to get seriously sick, be hospitalized, or die. ***

I understand the challenges ahead. And we are making progress.

Challenges and progress are not mutually exclusive. As Teri Kanefield writes:

Yes, democracy is fragile. That is not new. It’s always been fragile, it’s just that a lot of people didn’t realize it before.

In fact, America really didn’t start becoming a true liberal democracy until after the modern civil rights and women’s rights movement. For most of our history, we were ruled by a small group of white Christian men. That wasn’t democracy. What is happening now (a move toward a true multi-racial democracy) is creating a powerful backlash.

We can all gripe about the media and the authoritarians who have taken over a once great political party. Or we can do positive things. Here’s a great list.

Time for a rest.

Taking a mental health break is #16 on that list. I recently heard a wise person say that if we don’t take a rest from time-to-time, a crisis will find us and force us to rest.

That’s the second part of this post.

I’m taking a break from the blog to focus on completing a manuscript. I’ve been working on this book since last summer, but progress has been slow. Winter seems like a great time to set aside all extraneous writing and get this project completed and to the editor. I’m also going through another digital declutter, to remove the temptation to fall down rabbit holes.

I hope to be back in early April, but I’m not setting any goal other than to complete this draft and get it out the door. In the meantime, feel free to catch up on book reviews from this month or my reading list from 2021. Those looking for music can browse the 2021 top ten music posts as chosen by readers. Take a look through the archives. Or read some people who speak truth to power, people like historian Heather Cox Richardson, columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., attorney Teri Kanefield, journalists Eric Boehlert and Dan Froomkin.

I’ve also decided that while I’m away, I’m going to repost some of my favorite stories from More to Come that focus on good news and community. They won’t require any new writing, but hopefully you’ll find something that you may have missed in its earlier iteration.

Whatever you do, be kind to others, stay sane, and stay safe this winter. I hope to see you back here again soon.

More to come…

DJB

*Yes, I do have earmuffs on underneath the cap. I’m not typically a belt-and-suspenders type of guy, but it was cold the day I took this selfie.

**If I was being too subtle, Andrew is singing the part of The Evangelist in the Bach St. John Passion and is one of the tenor soloists in Elijah.

***Again, I am not naive. There are people — liars and cheaters both inside and outside the country — trying to destroy our democracy. We are still in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. People who make a lot of money by our division are working hard to sow despair and make us demoralized. The media chooses to focus on the negative, in part because of social media responses that are driven to extremes by bots, as reported in the CJR and elsewhere. The Washington Post chose to lead its January 27th story on that amazing economic growth with a curious paragraph casting doubt on the accomplishments of the Biden administration. The press is getting its Covid coverage wrong in several important respects. And the coverage about Biden’s upcoming Supreme Court pick has been, in a word, dismal. Nonetheless, life goes on and we are seeing progress amidst the challenges.

REFERENCES: Heather Cox Richardson. Washington Post.  White House Information Sheet on Environmental Justice. CNN. Press Watch. Hunter Walker. Teri Kanefield. The Editorial Board. Bloomberg.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Music brings the light

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The pandemic has had a significant impact on musicians, especially those in the roots and folk categories that essentially need to tour to make money. Bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent caught the angst of the music community with her clever play on Johnny Cash’s famous hit I’ve Been Everywhere with the parody I Ain’t Been Nowhere (with a guest appearance in the music video by none other than Dolly Parton).

But musicians have been resilient, playing empty halls to live-streaming audiences, recording new music from their living rooms, and now…finally, hitting the road to make live music again. For this Saturday Soundtrack, I want to feature a few of my favorite musicians who are on the road this winter and early spring.

Aoife O’Donovan at Red Wing Music Festival (photo by DJB)

The gifted singer and songwriter Aoife O’Donovan begins her tour next month. It includes a February 25th date at the Kennedy Center in Washington along with the talented Yasmin Williams. O’Donovan’s new record, Age of Apathy, will also be released at that time, and a great New York Times review by music critic Jon Pareles captures where her music is at this moment two years into a pandemic.

O’Donovan’s songs are rooted in folk tradition but full of musical surprises: daring melodic leaps, unexpected chord progressions, subtle rhythmic shifts. “I’ve always just been drawn to melodies and chordal structures that were unexpected,” she said. “They’re just more fun. When you have the whole arsenal of the tone row in your head, you can just have a lot more freedom to mess around with it.”

A number of the tunes from the new album are out on You Tube. I especially like Phoenix, as the lyrics seem to fit the moment.

Everybody’s looking for somebody to blame
The stages of sadness how many can you name
I stopped at anger, never felt the same

They say it’ll fade my scars my tears will dry
And I’ll lie under the stars again
Not wondering where you are

Fever’s got me shaking it rises up like a road to meet me
Fever’s got me quaking like San Andreas fault

Just put a cloth to my brow I’ll soar like a phoenix from the ashes
Put a pretty blanket down I’m ready now

Here’s a very nice live version of the tune from a couple of months ago at FreshGrass 2021 at Mass MOCA.

Watchhouse (credit: Shervin Lainez)

Watchhouse (fka Mandolin Orange) is touring February through April beginning on the west coast then coming east. The folk duo plays at the 9:30 Club in Washington on April 15th and the Beacon Theatre in New York City the following evening. Here is New Star from their 2021 album, Watchhouse.

Punch Brothers (credit: Josh Goldman)

Punch Brothers began touring in January to support their new Hell on Church Street tribute album to Tony Rice. On February 26th the band will play the Lincoln Theatre in Washington. Here’s Hamilton Camp’s Pride of Man from the album.

Turn around go back down
Back the way you came
Babylon is laid to waste
Egypt’s buried in her shame
Their mighty men are all beaten down
Their kings are all fallin’ in the ways

Oh God, pride of man
Broken in the dust again

Molly Tuttle
Molly Tuttle – Cover of “When You’re Ready”

Molly Tuttle also has a new album on the way, and she is hitting the road to promote it. Tuttle is a multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter with a lifelong love of bluegrass.

On her new album Crooked Tree, Tuttle joyfully explores that rich history with bluegrass, bringing her imagination to tales of free spirits and outlaws, weed farmers and cowgirls resulting in a record that is both forward-thinking and steeped in bluegrass heritage.

The album was co-produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas, who also plays dobro on the recording. Other standouts in her studio band include Ron Block, Mike Bub, Jason Carter, and Dominick Leslie. Gillian Welch, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dan Tyminski, and Sierra Hull all perform on Crooked Tree. The new album “marks a departure from the eclecticism of Tuttle’s critically lauded 2019 full-length debut When You’re Ready.”

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway perform the title track in the video below. Their tour began last week on the west coast and will work its way east in the coming months.

Infamous Stringdusters (credit: infamousstringdusters.com)

The Infamous Stringdusters have a new album Into the Fray coming out in February, when they’ll take it on tour. The band is at The Anthem in Washington D.C. on February 4th and 5th.

The title track is a strong call for standing on the side of freedom, something we really need at this time.

Death unfolds before my eyes / A frightened man’s unheeded cries / People, oh people / Trapped beneath the knee / Of the law gone wrong / And the force of history

Another too soon laid to rest / Some folks weep, some beat their chests / People, oh people (Let us) stand on freedom’s side / For there can be no peace / Wherever justice is denied

As cities burn in summer heat / Temptation bids us to retreat / But people, my people / There’s is no other way / To love, except to turn / Our timid souls toward the fray.

Sierra Hull (credit: SierraHull.com)

Mandolinist Sierra Hull is on tour with a 2020 album entitled 25 Trips, taking her music into new areas of exploration.

25 trips around the sun / Is long enough to make a fool out of anyone / I’ve tried to keep my head on straight / To navigate the fate I’ve done my best to wait

But the clock is back up on the wall And even if I choose to look away / The hand will fall / And the time will just keep tickin’

Here’s the title tune from the album. Hull opens for Cory and the Wongnotes at the 9:30 Club in DC on February 5th and plays Charlottesville on the 7th.

Low Lily

And as is appropriate for winter and these times, Low Lily — which tours in Rhode Island and New Jersey beginning in March — reminds us that we can bring the light in times of darkness.

We bring the light in the dark / In the dark when all is cold / When all is cold and the earth is still / In the dark we bring the light

See the light, be the light, and enjoy the light of some live music this winter.

More to come…

DJB

Image by Jörg Vieli from Pixabay

If everybody did

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“When there’s only one, that’s just somebody. … But when there’s one… and one… and one… and one… and more……that’s EVERYBODY.

Did you ever think of what would happen if EVERYBODY did things like ……..”

Those three sentences open the first book I remember from childhood. If Everybody Did, written in 1960 by the late Jo Ann Stover, is a book that has been on my mind in recent days.

What if Everybody Squeezed the Cat?

The book’s premise is very easy to understand, and the illustration above encapsulates it perfectly. On the left page is a cute drawing of one kid doing something that probably — to him or her — looks perfectly harmless. Such as squeezing the cat. Or making a splash in the sink. Or dropping tacks on the floor (a personal favorite when I was five).  Then, on the opposite page is an illustration that shows what would happen if everybody did that particular thing. 

The book had a renaissance in the 1980s as my generation began having children. I read it again just this week. Most describe Stover’s work as focused on proper etiquette, and that’s certainly a part of its perspective. But I return to those first three sentences and see thoughts that go beyond simple etiquette. I see the beginnings of a primer on how we should live in community.

When we do something alone, we’re the only ones with tacks stuck in our feet or getting sick from eating too much fudge. But no one really lives alone. There’s always one… and one… and one… and one… and more… and suddenly everybody is together in a community. And as soon as we live in community, our words and actions have consequences beyond our personal feelings, desires, or health.

Those who understand that we live in community think of how their behavior affects others before they act. Those who place their personal freedom — as they define it — above all others usually take a different approach.

In his book Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy, author Stephen Carter identifies our loss of civility as coming from a focus on self, an over-reliance on markets, a forgetfulness of the obligations we owe each other, and the lack of a moral compass in decision-making. 

“…the language of the marketplace, the language of wanting, of winning, of simply taking — the language of self — is supplanting the language of community, of sharing, of fairness, of riding politely alongside our fellow citizens…”

Prioritizing our own desires leads us to slam the door and never think of what would happen if everybody did. Or jump in the mud. Or always cry. Or eat all the fudge.

Or make up our own facts about science and history and tell outrageous lies. Why, what if everybody did?

We are, in fact, seeing what happens when a large number of individuals act as if telling outrageous lies is perfectly fine. We are seeing what happens when politicians in positions of power — figuratively stomping around like five-year-olds — pass laws saying we cannot teach things which make them feel uncomfortable and that explicitly require teachers to lie to children.

Too many among us want to set their own reality and tell lies without suffering any consequences. They seek to retain protection from the law but without being bound by the law. They want those they disagree with or who are different from them to be bound by the law but not be protected by the law. They want special privileges to act without consequences, just like the child who wants to eat all the fudge.

We are all a great big mess of contradictions and living together in community is difficult enough in normal times. Today we are seeing what happens when large numbers of people speak in ways that harm others, refuse to consider the broader impact of their actions, and seek to carve out special privileges for those considered at the top of the hierarchy.

Perhaps Stephen Carter could add one other reason for our loss of civility: Too many of those in positions of power never internalized the lessons of If Everybody Did.

More to come…

DJB

The Weekly Reader series features links to recent books and articles that grabbed my interest or tickled my fancy. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The mindfulness of breath and steps

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Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk who was one of the world’s most influential Zen masters, passed at the age of 95 on Saturday at his home in the Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam.

I have been reading Your True Home: The everyday wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh this month, so this wise man and his work were very much on my mind when the news came. The 365 meditations in Your True Home are focused on the monk’s embrace of mindfulness. * Each meditation is only a few sentences in length, but the brevity is part of what contributes to their power.

If one reads these works on an annual calendar basis, Meditation #22 coincides with the day of Thich Nhat Hanh’s passing. It is entitled The Lamp of Mindfulness.

We have a lamp inside us, the lamp of mindfulness, which we can light anytime. The oil of that lamp is our breathing, our steps, and our peaceful smile. We have to light up that lamp of mindfulness so the light will shine out and the darkness will dissipate and cease. Our practice is to light the lamp.

Breathing and walking come through these readings again and again. Being aware of our breath brings us into a mindfulness of the things we can control, even — and maybe especially — when we are faced with a challenge. With mindful walking our steps are no longer a means to arrive at an end. We don’t walk mindfully to reach a goal. Each step, rather, is an end to itself if we are truly present. “There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.”

In a post from last October, I took another of the meditations from Your True Home to think about that practice of walking. Moving at the speed of life as we walk, we touch the earth, transforming and healing ourselves.

Walking is a form of touching the earth. We touch the earth with our feet, and we heal the earth, we heal ourselves, and we heal humankind. Whenever you have an extra five, ten, or fifteen minutes, enjoy walking. With every step it’s possible to bring healing and nourishment to our body and our mind. Every step taken in mindfulness and freedom can help us heal and transform, and the world will be healed and transformed together with us.

As a result of that posting, one of my readers used the comments section to send a link to a video called Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known that takes Thich Nhat Hanh’s words and applies them to a modern life in a powerful way. Early in the video, the subject of the video notes that, “When I was running it was easy to stay hidden. To avoid being known.” Walking at the speed of life helps us know ourselves, know others, and be known by others.

There is a lifetime of learning to be found in Your True Home. “In Buddhism, it is said that love and compassion are made out of one substance, which is called ‘understanding.’ … If understanding is not there, it is impossible for you to accept and love someone.” It is with understanding that we stop blaming and criticizing. “Your compassion is born of your understanding of the situation.”

The New York Times obituary captures the essentials of Thich Nhat Hanh’s life, including his work with The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s.

A prolific author, poet, teacher and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh was exiled from Vietnam after opposing the war in the 1960s and became a leading voice in a movement he called “engaged Buddhism,” the application of Buddhist principles to political and social reform.

The obituary writer also notes that Thich Nhat Hanh dismissed the idea of death.

“Birth and death are only notions,” he wrote in his book “No Death, No Fear.” “They are not real.”

Thich Nhat Hanh helped change this world for the better. More importantly, he showed millions how to do the same.

More to come…

DJB

* The link on mindfulness takes one to an interview with Thich Nhat Hanh by Oprah Winfrey.

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

The intimate and melodic mandolin stylings of John Reischman

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The most recent edition (#49) of The Fretboard Journal showed up in my mailbox earlier this month, and among other gems it contained a delightful little piece on how the tune Salt Spring had become a bluegrass jam favorite. I immediately checked out versions on You Tube, and this Saturday Soundtrack was born.

The tune was written by John Reischman, shown playing a delicious duet of Salt Spring in the 2019 video above with mandolinist Sierra Hull. Beyond a connection to a previously unknown tune that is clearly known to half the (bluegrass) world, the article was a re-introduction to Reischman and his music.

John Reischman first came to my attention as the mandolinist in the original configuration of the Tony Rice Unit on 1981’s Still Inside (later released as part of the compilation Devlin). Reischman’s original tune Birdland Breakdown was featured on both albums, as was the joyful Rice composition Devlin, with Reischman’s mandolin solo beginning at the 2:17 mark.

Also from that era, I came upon a rather rare audio of that band live at the iconic McCabe’s guitar shop in Santa Monica. The funny thing is that the picture is of the 1990s version on the TRU. Among those pictured, only Tony is playing on this recording. It is an amazing forty-five minutes of music, beginning with Reischman’s My Waltz. I especially enjoy the band’s version of the famous Wes Montgomery tune Four on Six beginning at 34:44.

To many ears, 1982’s sublime Backwaters album was the best of the Tony Rice Unit’s offerings from that era. On Green Dolphin Street, written by Bronisław Kaper and Ned Washington, is a personal favorite.

After leaving the Tony Rice Unit, Reischman moved north of the border to Vancouver, British Columbia in the 1990s and formed John Reischman & the Jaybirds, where he recruited the best acoustic musicians on each side of the border to realize his broad musical vision. John also explored more intimate musical styles playing mandolin on several duet records with fingerstyle guitarist John Miller.

Here is Reischman and The Jaybirds playing Hop High. Reischman’s mandolin solo on this bluegrass work, following a tasty acoustic guitar lead, begins around the 2:15 mark of the video. At 3:37 he doubles with the banjo to take the tune out.

Building on those milestones, Reischman has released a series of acclaimed solo recordings — North of the Border, Up In The Woods, and Walk Along John — that showcase his gifts as a composer and instrumentalist. Many of John’s signature “melodic mandolin” tunes such as “Salt Spring,” “Little Pine Siskin,” and “Birdland Breakdown,” also have been adopted as bluegrass standards and can be heard at jam sessions across the continent until the wee hours of the dawn. 

Filmed on August 26th, 2016, at the NimbleFingers Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Workshop and Festival in Sorrento, BC, this a showcase of John with the inventive guitarist Molly Tuttle and The Taterbugs playing the aforementioned Little Pine Siskin from his album Walk Along John.

Reischman’s newest album is New Time & Old Acoustic featuring 12 new Reischman originals and a reinterpretation of his classic Salt Spring. The Punch Brothers’ Chris Eldridge and long-time Rice bassist Todd Phillips join Reischman on the mesmerizing Old Road to Kingham. Horses of Dorrigo from the same album features Nick Hornbuckle and Trent Freeman on banjo and fiddle.

And let’s end where we began — with John’s melodic Salt Spring — this time performed by the Jaybirds while waves crash against the shore in the background. Lovely.

Enjoy!

More to come…

DJB

Image of John Reischman | JohnReishman.com by Trent Freeman