Musical Wanderer

When my mom and dad were born, a woman couldn't vote in the US.  A black man theoretically could vote, but his right to do so was usually denied, usually, alas, by Democrats in the south.  A woman and man of different races could not marry in most of the US.  Folks from poor backgrounds like my folks didn't really have much chance of going to college to change their lot in life.  If someone without money got seriously ill, they usually died, like my grand-uncle's young wife and their two-year old child in the flu epidemic of 1918. A little over 40 years later when I was born, a woman could vote in the US.  Barriers to black folk voting would be torn down a few years later with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, laws pushed through by more visionary Democrats.  A few years later Medicare and Medicaid programs were enacted by Democrats so people without means had access to health care.    My father, who grew up on a tenant farm in Missouri, went to college after Wo

There is hope, a little.  Ok, it seems like the world collapsed Tuesday night.  But age provides some perspective.  My despair as a college sophomore after Reagan was elected in 1980 was nearly bottomless and it even deepened with his reelection and his VP's election in 1988.  My votes for president did not contribute to a victory until Bill Clinton was elected when I was 31.  I have some sympathy for folks who grew up voting for Obama twice only to see Trump elected this week, but frankly you didn't have to wait a dozen years before you had someone in the White House you could have faith in.  But I offer a few things to consider to   bring solace and perhaps hope. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, Congress would have spent the next 4 years investigating everything in her life from her real estate dealings in Arkansas 40 years ago through her over-tipping a barista at a NY Starbucks who looked vaguely Muslim in 2014.  With two houses united against her, nothing would b

This year, I found myself in the unusual situation of shopping around for ensembles to sing with in DC.  I've been lucky over the last 30 years as I've had the opportunity to perform a lot of wonderful music with professional choirs and volunteer ensembles .  A year ago, I left a church position I'd held for a number of years and was unsuccessful in finding a new position.  Around the same time, I was let go from a professional position with another chorus, so I was without a singing position for only the second time in 20 years (Fortunately, I got a position this year with an professional octet singing Sunday services, with some pretty good singers--I like being the sucky singer in a group).  It was rather painful because, as any artist knows, part of one's identity is wrapped up in pursuit of one's art and, without it,  I was bereft of part of my identity.  I am rational and logical enough to know that eventually nobody would think I'm worth being paid to sin