6.2.18 Yep. We're still standing. Still tending to a Safe Place. Come set a spell. We book no Trump here.
This evening we present for your heart and soul's solace the legendary Peruvian singer, Susana Baca, and her wonderful group performing a folk tale of a young Peruvian slave girl named "Maria Lando". One World.
Dawn breaks shattering like a statue
Like a statue of wings that scatter throughout the city
And noon sings like a bell made of water
A bell made of golden water that keeps us from loneliness
And the night lifts its tall goblet
Its tall, tall goblet, early moon over the sea
But for Maria there is no dawn
But for Maria there is no midday
But for Maria there is no moon
Lifting its red goblet over the waters
Maria has no time to lift her eyes
Maria to lift her eyes, broken by lack of sleep
Maria broken by lack of sleep from so much suffering
Maria from so much suffering, all she does is work
Maria just works and works
Maria only works
And her work enriches others
Songwriters: Cesar Calvo / Chabuca Granda
Maria Lando lyrics © Tintoretto Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8xuRPIdDjc
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This evening, as we contemplate Justice at the Abyss, some among us thumb through policy prescriptions while others seek balm from elves, sprites and angels, and still more offer clasped hands toward a Beneficent Omnipresence and his pals, The Heavenly Do-Gooders.
And then, there is music. Always music to remind us all that in another time and another place, another's heart understood your own.
And so, without further ado, presenting Broadway star Bryan Stokes Mitchell doing his dream thing.
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11.11.17
C'mon in.
This is a safe place.
We book no Trump here.
The United States is not known for honoring high artistic achievement. A notable exception is the The Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to those who have made "especially meritorious contributions to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural of other significant public or private endeavors.
On November 24, 2014, Alvin Ailey was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama for his cultural contributions in the area of modern dance.
I am not knowledgeable about dance, but I know great art when I see it and appreciate being reminded what a truly visionary artist Mr. Ailey, and his protege and sucessor as artistic director, Judith Jamison.
The clips below are a reminder not only of what has gone before, but a reminder of how very important it is that we encourage the growth of artists such as these.
Judith Jamison 1992 recipient of Kennedy Center honors.
Cry - Donna Wood, 1982
Music by Alice Coltrane
Music by Alice Coltrane
To better days. 11.11.17
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8.10.17
C'mon in.
This is a safe place.
We book no Trump here.
If you are among the many millions who once upon a time a long time started reading James Joyce's Ulysses and are not among the dozens who actually finished reading the whole ding-dong thing, here is your chance.
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7.30.17
C'mon in.
This is A Safe Place. We book no Trump here.
This evening's guest In A Safe Place is the thoroughly infuriating, always captivating, lamentably late and great author, essayist, raconteur, and religious critic Christopher Hitchens. In this episode, Hitch goes off on those who call upon him to take his disbelieving ball and go home. Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the always thought provoking and a whole helluva lot smarter than me and most, Christopher Hitchens.
Hi C'mon in.
This is A Safe Place. We book no Trump here.
This evening's guest In A Safe Place is retired Supreme Court Justice, David Souter, discussing the role of schools in combating the dangers of what he refers to as, "pervasive civic ignorance of the Constitution of the United States and the structure of government."
This is a thoughtful rumination from a wise man who deserves a wider hearing. He's even good for a chuckle or two.
To Better Days.
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This is Jack Kerouac. This is A Safe Place. We book no Trump here. C'mon in.
7.26.17
Tonight's Safe Place presentation stars Jack Kerouac as himself, in a 1959 appearance on the Steve Allen Show, reading from his On the Road as Steve tinkles the ivories. Smooth scotch steadily pouring over urgent jingle jangle. To Better Days.
#ToBetterDays
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DONALD TRUMP INVOKED ABRAHAM LINCOLN TONIGHT
7.25.27
C'mon in. Just finding my way around here myself, but I have something to share with you.
Still, I would like a safe place to store and warehouse the aesthetically, artistically, intellectually pleasing, removed from the strum und drang and hoopin' holler of The Blight.
Tonight, Donald Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln.
I find that to be among the most repulsive, stomach churning moments from this Thug since the last time that four-flushing, hoodlum assured US that he knows what it it to "act Presidential".
I don't want to get too distracted by this nonsense, but I really need to separate the notion of that desecrating, slithering reptile from my own memory of Lincoln.
So, I went straight to the source. Honest Abe, hisself and this is what I found.
Below is an 1862 letter written by President Lincoln to Horace Greeley, then publisher of the New York Tribune, in response to an editorial in which the newspaperman complained the administration lacked focus and resolve.
Read the Letter.
To Better Days.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 22, 1862.
Hon. Horace Greeley:
Dear Sir.
I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is noteither to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.
Yours,
A. Lincoln
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