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Video Note: If videos are "stuttering," let them play through one time (to get the data in memory for technophiles) and then choose "Replay" for a continuously smooth stream.
"... Beyond its mythology in the American imagination, Appalachia has long been a vanguard region in the United States -— a cradle of U.S. freedom and independence, and a hot bed for literature and music. Some of the most quintessential and daring American innovations, rebellions, and social movements have emerged from an area often stereotyped as a quaint backwater. In the process, immigrants from the Appalachian diaspora have become some of our nation's most famous leaders...." -- review of United States of Appalachia by Jeff Biggers "I think music is a great way to tell a story that breaks people's hearts and stirs them to action. My family has a history in underground mining, and I have a deep love of West Virginia from the years I spent playing and studying there...The least I could do is write a song." -- Musician Vince Herman, Great American Taxi, regarding Aurora Light's Mountain Empire anthology CD The Journey Home "I'm really interested in the relationship between language and society -- how documents become more than just nouns and verbs and adjectives. I'm interested in how they become a living, breathing social organism." -- Logan Lockner, Daniel Boone High School senior and 2010 winner of the academics-based Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship for Emory University (valued at around $200,000 and named after its benefactor, the President of Coca-Cola)
"... Jonesborough Visitors Center in Tennessee's Oldest Town greets over 100,000 visitors from around the world annually...." -- TravelHost Tricities, Spring 2010 "...As flood waters continued to climb, victims peeked out windows or watched from front porches for the team’s arrival. Marooned residents stepped gingerly into boats as rescue workers suited them in life jackets and checked them for injuries. And the Washington County rescue team made sure they had room for everyone. 'We let them bring their dogs or cats,' [Todd] Fleenor said. 'We don’t make them leave them behind.' The team was grateful to discover [May 1-3 Nashville] flood victims were not only well prepared for evacuation, but were also very orderly and polite as they made their escape. 'When you think of a big city, you think of people being rude and impatient, honking their horns and hollering, but nobody was like that,' Fleenor said. 'We had absolutely no problems with disorderly behavior because of scared people. Some people were scared, but not to the point they caused problems'..." -- Elizabeth Cloyd in Washington County Volunteers Set Out To Help, Herald & Tribune, 5/18/10 "The US 11 Antique Alley and Yard Sale is from May 14-17 and runs 502 miles from Meridian, MS to Bristol, VA. Historic Jonesborough will participate with an annual sale with over 70 vendors throughout the downtown." -- Historic Jonesborough "The Jonesborough Farmers Market is gearing up for its third season, one that will bring a few changes and some major growth to the local-only market. The market kicks off Saturday, May 15, from 8 a.m. to noon, in its new location on the east side of the old Jonesborough courthouse, along Dogwood Lane, said Curtis Buchanan. Opening day will feature the Jonesborough Novelty Band at 9 a.m., and coincides with the town-wide yard sale.... This year will feature four or five new permanent produce vendors, something market organizers are very excited about, Buchanan said. In addition, there will be two new meat vendors, one offering beef and another offering animal welfare certified lamb. Virtually all the vendors are from Washington County. 'The new vendor response has been really good this year,' Buchanan said. 'We’ve already got close to 30 vendors who are committed full-time, which is quite a bit more than last year.' Last year, the market had 70 vendors total throughout the whole year, with 30 the most vendors at a single market...." -- Kate Prahlid, Assistant Editor, Herald & Tribune, 5/11/10
at Johnson City Tennessee's Acoustic Coffee House (Click here for more Lightnin' Charlie music and info)
"Music is a balm most needed in dark days. Hard times are here, but we are in good hands with three artists who bring us a haunting and healing thing: 'Dear Companion,' music by Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore produced by Yim Yames...." -- Dear Companion
High Country (North Carolina Mountain) Webcams which range by viewer choice from changing scenery in the hiking and ski countries of Maggie Valley and Banner Elk to "The Paris of the South," downtown Asheville, and quaintly conserved Black Mountain's natural waters and hills and artful, historic village!!
East Tennessee's Milligan College offers its Fine Arts Summer Academy for high school students beginning June 27th with registration closed June 1st for workshops and other opportunities to explore music, multimedia, theatre, or storytelling in a spiritually uplifting and naturally inviting historic environment.
"...now began the wondrous splendors of the hidden world...we emerged into an immense passage, whose roof was far beyond the reach of the glare of our torches, except where the fantastic festoons of stalactites hang down within our touch. It looked like the arch of some grand old cathedral, yet it was too sublime, too perfect in all its beautiful proportions, to be anything of human, but a model which man might attempt to imitate. It was not a large, gross cavern,...pendants were of a delicate lightness, and a most beautiful hue..." --Henry E. Colton, 1858, explorer/discover of Linville Caverns within Humpback Mountain, Marion NC (~40 miles northeast of Asheville; ~35 miles southwest of High Country Boone, Banner Elk and Blowing Rock; half-hour tour adult $7, senior $5.50, child $5)
The Department of Appalachian Studies has early photographs -- from their extensive multi-media Archives of Appalachia historical record -- of this region's buildings and roadways and people on-line now, as well as in their ever-growing repository at ETSU's Library!
Graphic below: Appalachian Trail, from Maine to Georgia In the face of this consensus it is surprising to find no evidence in the surviving accounts of the De Soto expedition to support the claim that either the conquistador or any of his companions ever intended to designate the eastern mountain chain for the Apalachee Indians, who lived in what is now northern Florida, a considerable distance from the mountains. Whether the mountains actually were termed something like “Appalachian” by one or another Indian tribe may never be clear. The best explanation of the De Soto legend may be that the early mapmakers, confused by the vague accounts of locations and distances given by the Spanish explorers, transposed the territory of the Apalachee further north. Tracing the origin of the name requires that three distinct designations of “Appalachian” or its variants be distinguished: an Indian tribe, a village or province, and a mountain range. The first encounter of Europeans with the Apalachee tribe was recorded by the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, which landed in Florida in the vicinity of Tampa Bay in April 1528. The story is related by Alvar Núnez Cabeza de Vaca, who was one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition to return to Spain. Within a few days of Narváez' landing, a scouting party along the shore found pieces of cloth, items possibly of European origin, and traces of gold. “Having by signs asked the Indians whence these things came, they motioned to us that very far from there, was a province called Apalachen, where was much gold, and so the same abundance in Apalachcn of everything that we at all cared for.” Perhaps the riches of Apalachen were augmented by the Indians' eagerness to be rid of the Spaniards. Two months later the Narváez expedition reached the village of Apalachen, probably near Lake Miccosukee in northern Florida. The Spaniards found a land rich in corn and game, but instead of treasure they received only harassment from the native residents. Less than a month after their arrival, the members of the expedition had had enough, as Cabeza de Vaca describes: “In view of the poverty of the land, the unfavorable accounts of the population and of everything else we heard, the Indians making continual war upon us, wounding our people and horses at the places where they went to drink, shooting from the lakes with such safety to themselves that we could not retaliate ... we determined to leave that place and go in quest of the sea. . . . “ But the myth of the riches of Apalachen survived the rude reality of the place. In 1539 the expedition of Hernando De Soto spent the winter months at the village of “Apalache,” no doubt the same place visited by Cabeza de Vaca. Having heard stories of gold in a distant country, De Soto began a march north through present-day Georgia toward the mountains in March 1540. From the accounts that survive, neither De Soto nor any members of his party designated the areas in or near the mountains as Appalachian. The Gentleman of Elvas is clear that the mountainous regions were called the provinces of Chalaque and Qualla by the native inhabitants. Similar terms appear in the accounts of Luys Hernández de Biedma and Rodrigo Ranjel, factor and secretary respectively to the De Soto expedition. Surprisingly, no such term as Apalache appears at any point on the so-called De Soto map, on which are inscribed 127 names and legends. Diego Gutierrez is the first mapmaker to record a variation of Appalachian. On his map of America, published in 1562, “Apalchen” appears to the north of mountains which are shown stretching from east to west inland from a rather inaccurate coastline. This map may have been made before 1554, in which case the account of Cabeza de Vaca must have been the source of the term. In any case, the region is far removed from the home of the Apalachee tribe near the Gulf of Mexico in northwestern Florida. Zaltieri's “Map of the Discovery of New France,” published in 1566, follows Gutierrez in locating the region of Apalchen roughly in the center of a truncated continent, some distance from Florida. Honors for designating the mountain range Appalachian must go to Jacques Ie Moyne de Morgues, an artist who traveled with the French Huguenot expedition of René de Laudonniere to Florida in 1564. The expedition constructed Ft. Caroline at the mouth of the St. John's River (named the River of May by Jean Ribaut) on the east coast of Florida. Stories of precious metals from the mountains led to several attempts to forge alliances with Indian tribes that would give the French access to the mountains. Le Moyne never actually travelled north to the mountains, but he did paint a scene of Indians collecting gold from the streams running from the “Apalatcy Mountains.” The description with the engraving of the scene notes: “A great way from the place where our fort was built, are great mountains, called in the Indian language Apalatcy; in which, as the map shows, arise three great rivers, in the sands of which are found much gold, silver, and brass, mixed together. Accordingly, the natives dig ditches in these streams, into which the sand brought down by the current falls by gravity. Then they collect it out, and carry it away to a place by itself, and after a time collect again what continues to fall in. Then they convey it in canoes down the great river which we named the River of May, and which empties into the sea. The Spaniards have been able to use for their advantage the wealth thus obtained.” -- excerpt "On the Naming of Appalachia" from An Appalachian Symposium: Essays written in honor of Cratis D. Williams, edited by J. W. Williamson (Boone, NC: Appalachian State University Press, 1977).
 Graphic above: Photograph of winter scene at river
Celebrating Herbs and Lavender and everything Organic, Jonesborough's Love Lavender Festival, May 22 & 23, features an herb-bedecked Historic Eureka Inn with workshops, tastings, live music in the Gazebo, and an herbal luncheon featuring lavender cheesecake at Bistro 105.The ever-popular and multiply-awarded Music on the Square weekly performances, every Friday night starting at 7 p.m. in front of Jonesborough's Old Courthouse on Main Street, begin in May and run through October. Bring your chair! You're in for a treat!
"A principal within the Washington County school system was awarded recently for being one of the most effective principals in the state. Teresa Leonard, principal at Boones Creek Elementary School, won third place for elementary schools in East Tennessee, marking the third time the school has won the award.... 'These 18 principals have produced superior results among their entire student bodies, regardless of factors like wealth or poverty,' ECF [Education Consumers Foundation] President Dr. J. E. Stone said. 'They're taking every student, no matter their starting point, and helping them fulfill their learning potential.' According to the foundation, these school leaders are considered 'the best of the best' when it comes to advancing their students academically, as measured by Tennessee's Value-Added Assessment System.... 'Teachers have a deep knowledge of the content, the order in which it should be taught, various methods in which to teach the skill, and how the students should be grouped for this instruction,' Leonard told the ECF, also noting the importance of parents in the process. 'In some cases, parents are deeply involved by meeting with the teacher and together developing a plan to allow their child to be successful. This process provides the opportunity for ownership in the school program.' In all 18 winners were selected from among the state's 1,300-plus elementary and middle schools.... The foundation presented the awards to the winners at a ceremony held in Nashville last week. The winning principals each received a certificate, a banner and a cash award." -- Herald & Tribune, 5/4/10
"Nashville -- Chief Executive magazine named Tennessee one of the top three states in the nation for business today in its sixth annual survey of Best and Worst States for Business. More than 650 executive officers rated states in three general categories: taxation and regulation, workforce quality and living environment. Tennessee moved up two spots from fifth in 2009.... The CEOs' most highly-valued attributes included employee work ethic, lower tax rates, perceived attitudes toward business and living environment considerations such as real estate costs and education.... Tennessee also won Area Development magazine's prestigious Gold Shovel Award, which is presented annually to the state achieving the most success in terms of job creation and economic impact." -- Herald & Tribune, 5/4/10
"... 'Being at home during the storm, I honestly could not believe what was happening to the city and the people I love so dearly,' said [Taylor] Swift in an e-mail to The AP. Swift will be helping to raise more money on June 22 at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena by performing at 'Nashville Rising,' a benefit concert hosted by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. The lineup includes Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood, Lynyrd Skynrd, Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Jason Aldean, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Luke Bryan.
Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins and others will be participating in the first national telethon for flood relief on Sunday on the GAC network, from Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. No matter how long it takes to repair the physical damage, Ke$ha is certain that Nashville won't lose its vibe. 'Our sense of community is very strong, and I feel like everyone's committed to helping each other. That itself can maintain a positive energy,' she said. Followill of Kings of Leon agrees. 'Nashvillians are strong so I definitely think we will recover stronger than ever,' he said. 'So tourists get ... to Music City and help us get back to normal.'" -- Music City to Rebuild on Shoulders of its Stars, Caitlan R. King for the Associated Press, 5/10/10
God bless and help the people and place ofour wonderfully historic to innovatively new state capitol inundated with rain and flood waters Music City, Nashville Tennessee
Multi-Gallery Slide Shows
WSMV-TV Channel 4 broadcast Working 4 You: Flood Relief with Vince Gill & Friends on Thursday, May 6, in prime time from 7 to 10 p.m. The telethon was streamed live on WSMV.com and carried by some national networks also with donations from as far away as Canada and California.
after the final choral of Go Rest High On That Mountain by all the fundraiser's participating musicians and singers [WSMV 5/7/10: "Channel 4's telethon, 'Flood Relief with Vince Gill & Friends' helped raise more than $1.7 million for the Salvation Army, The Red Cross and The Second Harvest Food Bank."]
Cool People Care
"It’s coming from everywhere. It's coming up from the ground, through the floor. It's coming in, basically through any opening at the ground level." -- Alan Bostick, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 5/3/10
Video above: Go Rest High on that Mountain, written and performed by Vince Gill
Nashville's Vanderbilt University, a private educational and research endeavor historically rated as one of best in the nation, pitches in to help, along with so many others locally, regionally and inter/nationally
"Disguised as a university campus, East Tennessee State University Arboretum in Johnson City is home to more than 250 species of trees, some of them sprouting with history, charm and mystery.
For around 200 years, the Sherrod white oak has seen everything from Andrew Jackson to a whole campus constructed around it. This 103-foot-tall giant was standing when Johnson City was not yet Johnson City.
Trees were brought from Asia and planted next to their closest-of-kin in the Asian-American 'sister species' display. Several species of trees, including some maples, tulip poplars and magnolias, are indigenous only to eastern Asia and the southeastern United States.
Not all trees have definite roots. No one knows how one particular Toona tree ended up on campus. No record of the tree exists, and Toonas are not native to North America....
A variety of trees scattered throughout campus creates a rustic, scenic setting. Picnic tables and benches rest under the shade of branches. From giant trees to dwarf conifers, the arboretum creates a diverse atmosphere that encompasses the whole campus....
The arboretum memorial program lets anyone affiliated with ETSU plant a tree in memory of a loved one...." -- ETSU student Sloane Trentham in Campus of Trees, TravelHost Tricities
Bluegrass Underground is a monthly bluegrass concert series, recorded live at Cumberland Caverns. Those performances are streamed world-wide on wsmonline.com. Between Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville, McMinnville's Cumberland Caverns is "Tennessee's largest show cave and a U.S. National Natural Landmark. The cave displays some of the largest underground rooms and most spectacular formations in America." More than 32 miles of underground caves have been explored now there. Discovered in 1810, the site also includes an historic 1812 saltpeter mine, whose essential ingredient for gun powder was procured here during the War of 1812 and the Civil War. There is "a spectacular one and a half mile tour that allows you to view a beautiful waterfall and gleaming pools. The Underground Ballroom features a unique and beautiful 3/4-ton crystal chandelier. The Chandelier was originally installed in 1928 in the Loews Metropolitan Theatre in Brooklyn, NY. We were lucky enough to rescue it when the theatre was being renovated. It now hangs in one of our largest rooms, the Volcano Room. The Volcano Room is often used for meetings, banquets, and we have even had weddings there. The Chandelier itself is 15’ tall and 8.5’ wide. It contains 150 various color bulbs and countless hand cut crystals. Every tour also is highlighted by the original underground pageant of light and sound, 'God of the Mountain,' an awe-inspiring retelling of the creation." The tour takes about an hour and a half to complete. For hardy explorers, the caverns also offer group daytime and overnight spelunking adventures. -- Cumberland Caverns TN "The Frist Center opened in April 2001, and since that time has hosted a spectacular array of art from the region, the country, and around the world. Unlike any traditional museum you’ve ever visited, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts has become a magnet for Nashville’s rapidly expanding visual arts scene. With an exhibitions schedule that has new art flowing through the magnificent Art Deco building every 6 to 8 weeks, no matter how often you visit, there is always something new and exciting to see in the spacious galleries.... The Frist Center was conceived as a family-friendly place and one of the most popular locations in the center is the innovative Martin ArtQuest Gallery. It’s a colorful space alive with the sounds of learning through making art! ArtQuest activities abound for people of all ages. With 30 interactive stations, and the assistance of knowledgeable staff and volunteers, ArtQuest teaches through activity. Make a print, paint your own original watercolor, create your own colorful sculpture! It’s all there in ArtQuest, and it’s free with gallery admission for adults and always free for students 18 and under...." -- Frist Center, Nashville TN
The award will help Connected Tennessee, the organization that helps accelerate the availability of broadband in Tennessee, deliver a comprehensive map of existing broadband service to the state. 'Expanding access to high-speed Internet services across our state is key to economic development in today’s environment,' Governor Phil Bredesen said. 'About half the state’s geographic area is underserved for broadband, representing about 10 percent of Tennesseans. This Recovery Act funding will put Tennessee in a better position to compete in the new global economy.' In conjunction with broadband providers in the state, Connected Tennessee will periodically update service maps to reflect broadband availability and other relevant information such as household size, topographical information and civil infrastructure data. Connected Tennessee is a public-private partnership launched by the state in 2007 to unite local governments, businesses and citizens in the goal of increasing broadband service in the state’s underserved areas. The state has contracted with Connected Nation, a national leader in broadband issues and technology, to help with mapping and planning...." -- Tennessee Anytime, 12/09 "Governor Phil Bredesen and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber announced today that 100 Tennessee cities and counties were awarded more than $9.2 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grants will enable communities to implement cost-effective strategies that reduce total energy expenses and save taxpayer money through improved energy efficiency in buildings and transportation systems, creating an estimated 100 new jobs in the process.... The grants will fund a variety of energy efficiency and conservation programs in local communities across the state, including projects that will replace inefficient lighting in government buildings, streetlamps and traffic signals. Many programs include traditional energy-efficient building retrofit measures, such as the replacement of inefficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, water heaters, windows and insulation materials with more efficient models. In addition, three grants will fund the installation of solar panels on government buildings.... The EECBG program is expected to support more than 100 Tennessee jobs and produce more than 65 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy savings annually, resulting in a cost-savings in excess of $5.5 million per year for Tennessee communities. The grants will also allow installers and retrofitters to gain valuable training and experience which will serve private sector companies as they expand their energy efficiency programs.... [Jonesborough $100,000.00 Lighting retrofits and solar panel installation at historic school]" -- Tennessee Anytime, 4/10
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"The Herald & Tribune earned nine awards at the Tennessee Press Association Advertising Conference held in Chattanooga last week. The TPA Ideas Contest recognizes excellence and creativity in advertising and promotions by newspapers from throughout Tennessee.... H&T staff members involved in creating the winning entries include Lynn Richardson, Publisher; Bea Casey, Director of Advertising; Kristen Swing, Executive Editor; Kate Prahlad, Assistant Editor; and Charlie Mauk, Photographer" -- 
!Old-Time Country Music Streaming!
The circumstances surrounding the naming of Appalachia are as hazy as a mid-summer's day in the Blue Ridge. A widespread legend has it that Hernando De Soto or the surviving members of his expedition named the mountains. Henry Gannett in The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, published in 1905, writes, “The name was given by the Spaniards under De Soto, who derived it from the name of a neighboring tribe, the Apalachi.” He also notes that one Brinton “holds its radical to be the Muscogee apala, 'great sea,' or 'great ocean,' and that apalache is a compound of this word with the Muscogee personal participle 'chi' and means 'those by the sea.'” The North Carolina Gazetteer by William S. Powell uses almost the same words, but offers a different translation: “The name was given by Spaniards under De Soto in 1539 for the Apalachee Indians whose name meant 'people on the other side' (of a river presumably).” The second edition of Webster's Dictionary is similar: “The mountains were called Appalachian by the Spaniards under De Soto, after the Apalachee Indians.” Richard Drake, in a survey of the emergence of the concept of Appalachia, also accepts this account: "De Soto became lost in the maze of the southern Blue Ridge in 1540, and named the mountains for the Indians who dominated their approach.” 
"Tourism poured more than $197 million into Washington County in 2008, according to a report by Dr. Steven Moore, director and economist at the tourism institute at the University of Tennessee. That ranks the county 10th highest out of the 95 counties in Tennessee for that year. The Northeast Tennessee region also had the highest percent growth in tourism spending statewide, at 6.3 percent in 2008.... Washington County has 12.7 percent of its total employment in the tourism and hospitality field. Tourism generated $11.47 million in state taxes and $4.57 million in local county taxes, according to the report. The money generated saves Washington County residents more than $300 per year in taxes.... Festivals and niche tourism in Jonesborough helps boost restaurant spending in the county, one telltale sign of tourism, Morse said...." -- Kate Prahlad, Assistant Editor, 
"NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The blazing fiddles and screaming guitars at Nashville's famed downtown honky-tonks are a little quieter as the city recovers from flash flooding and storms blamed for at least 29 deaths in three states. Elsewhere in Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame has closed and the Grand Ole Opry — the most famous country music show in the world — had to move its performances.
The Cumberland River, which winds through the heart of the city, spilled over its banks as Nashville received more than 13 inches of pounding rain over the weekend. The flash floods were blamed in the deaths of at least 18 people in Tennessee alone, including nine in Nashville.... None of the deaths were in the city's entertainment district, a five-block square of honky-tonks and restaurants downtown where animated barkers often stand outside at night encouraging patrons to step inside.... The city has more than 11 million visitors annually.... The water at the Country Music Hall of Fame was mostly confined to a mechanical room and did not get in the exhibit area where 112 of country's greatest stars are chronicled in down-home tributes. At the Opry, five miles northeast of the entertainment district, performer Marty Stuart said he feared water had destroyed instruments, costumes, audio tapes, boots and 'just everything that goes along with the Opry and Opry stars.' Singer Chris Young said a special Opry show Tuesday night at the War Memorial Auditorium was a welcome diversion for many residents.... Gaylord Entertainment CEO Colin Reed says it will be at least three months before the massive entertainment complex that also includes the Opryland Hotel and the Opry Mills Mall has guests again.... One of the downtown honky-tonks still open is Robert's Western World — 'Nashville's undisputed home of traditional country music' as it proclaims on its website. There's not much that can shut us down,' bartender Sammy Barrett said in a telephone interview as country music blared in the background. The entertainment district is generally filled with a mix of tourists and locals — all out for a hand-clapping good time.... 'They like the vibe they get here,' said Jimmy (The Governor) Hill, who works for a downtown bar and a restaurant. 'The bands start playing at 10 in the morning; you don't have things like that in every town.' Mayor Karl Dean also was undeterred. 'We will go on being a center of tourism and drawing people to our city,' he said. Some entertainment venues weren't damaged, including the former home of the Grand Ole Opry, the 118-year-old Ryman Auditorium. A Barenaked Ladies concert there next Monday is still scheduled...." -- Joe Edwards in Quieted By Flooding for |
"... We came to love her stories. And we loved her smile. And we loved those hats -- that she wore like a crown -- regal. In the White House, she was a regular. She came by not once, not twice -- 21 times she stopped by the White House. Took part in our discussions around health care reform in her final months.... year after year, decade in, decade out, Dr. Height went about her work quietly, without fanfare, without self-promotion. She never cared about who got the credit. She didn’t need to see her picture in the papers. She understood that the movement gathered strength from the bottom up, those unheralded men and women who don't always make it into the history books but who steadily insisted on their dignity, on their manhood and womanhood. She wasn’t interested in credit. What she cared about was the cause. The cause of justice. The cause of equality. The cause of opportunity. Freedom’s cause. And that willingness to subsume herself, that humility and that grace, is why we honor Dr. Dorothy Height. As it is written in the Gospel of Matthew: 'For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.'... One of my favorite moments with Dr. Height -- this was just a few months ago -- we had decided to put up the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office, and we invited some elders to share reflections of the movement. And she came and it was a inter-generational event, so we had young children there, as well as elders, and the elders were asked to share stories. And she talked about attending a dinner in the 1940s at the home of Dr. Benjamin Mays, then president of Morehouse College. And seated at the table that evening was a 15-year-old student, 'a gifted child,' as she described him, filled with a sense of purpose, who was trying to decide whether to enter medicine, or law, or the ministry. And many years later, after that gifted child had become a gifted preacher -- I’m sure he had been told to be on his best behavior -- after he led a bus boycott in Montgomery, and inspired a nation with his dreams, he delivered a sermon on what he called 'the drum major instinct' -- a sermon that said we all have the desire to be first, we all want to be at the front of the line. The great test of a life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, is to harness that instinct; to redirect it towards advancing the greater good; toward changing a community and a country for the better; toward doing the Lord’s work.... Dorothy Height was a drum major for justice. A drum major for equality. A drum major for freedom. A drum major for service. And the lesson she would want us to leave with today -- a lesson she lived out each and every day -- is that we can all be first in service. We can all be drum majors for a righteous cause. So let us live out that lesson. Let us honor her life by changing this country for the better as long as we are blessed to live...." -- U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama speaking at the funeral of Dr. Dorothy Irene Height (1912-2010), who'd been President of the National Council of Negro Women, Director of the YWCA's Center for Racial Justice, the "Godmother of Civil Rights," recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom, at Washington National Cathedral April 29, 2010 |
(Click on dragons for explication of symbolism)
"Don't meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with chocolate." |
 Click for APPALACHIAN ECOLOGY
"Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), co-sponsors of The Appalachia Restoration Act, weighed in on the EPA’s announcement Thursday of a new policy to crack down on valley fills associated with mountaintop removal coal mining. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." -- 1 Corinthians 13
I am signaling you through the flames.The North Pole is not where it used to be. Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest. Civilization self-destructs. The goddess Nemesis is knocking at the door. What are poets for, in such an age? What is the use of poetry? ... If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this means sounding apocalyptic. ... If you would be a poet, write living newspapers. Be a reporter from outer space, filing dispatches to some supreme managing editor who believes in full disclosure and has a low tolerance for bullshit. ... If you call yourself a poet, don't just sit there. Poetry is not a sedentary occupation, not a 'take your seat' practice. Stand up and let them have it. ... You must decide if bird cries are cries of ecstasy or cries of despair, by which you will know if you are a tragic or a lyric poet. If you would be a poet, discover a new way for mortals to inhabit the earth. If you would be a poet, invent a new language anyone can understand. If you would be a poet, speak new truths that the world can't deny. If you would be a great poet, strive to transcribe the consciousness of the race. ... Write beyond time. Reinvent the idea of truth. Reinvent the idea of beauty. ... Listen to the lisp of leaves and the ripple of rain. ... Conceive of love beyond sex. ... Be subversive, constantly questioning reality and the status quo. Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident. Hip Hop and Rap your way to liberation. ... Read between the lives, and write between the lines. Your poems must be more than want ads for broken hearts. A poem must sing and fly away with you, or it's a dead duck with a prose soul. A lyric poem must rise above sounds found in alphabet soup. ... Remember that 'The night, a few stars' has more poetic force than a whole catalog of the heavens. ... Words can save you where guns can't. ... Reinvent America and the world. ... Instead of trying to escape reality, plunge into the flesh of the world. ... Bring together again the telling of a tale and the living voice. Be a teller of great tales, even the darkest. Give a voice to the tongueless street. Make common words uncommon. Have a lover's quarrel with man's fate. ... Poet, be God's spy, if God exists. Painter, paint his eye, if He has one. ... See the rose through world-colored glasses. ... Dance with wolves and count the stars, including the ones whose light hasn't gotten here yet. ... The sunshine of poetry casts shadows. Paint them too. You can never see or hear or feel too much. If you can stand it. Strive to recover the innocence of eye you had in childhood. Compose on the tongue, not on the page. Like a Buddhist, listen to your own breathing. ... When the poet lets down his pants, his 'arse poetica' should be evident, giving rise to lyric erections. ... Wake up, the world's on fire! Have a nice day. -- Dr. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, co-founder/owner of San Francisco's legendary City Lights Bookstore and poet/author/activist, in Poetry as Insurgent Art, 1975 Video above is Maksim Mrvica playing "Exodus" by Ernest Gold
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