Thinking about music: Blog Action Day 2008

There are times for each of us and all of us when we have enough to be going on with, and times when we do not. This could be with money, with a place to live, with food, with health, with direction, with community, with family, with friends, with faith, with a kind word, with love. It’s good to remember that there are times -- sometimes at the same time -- when we all need to receive, and when we all need to give. That gift could be money; that could be an encouraging word; that could be a meal; that could be a smile; that could be a song.

Music, especially the sort of music we consider here along the Music Road, is a real connector, a place for giving and receiving and encouraging, regardless of circumstance. Through the words and music, there are also often ways to reflect on how, what, when and where to give, and to receive. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was a stranger, and you invited me in -- words from the New Testament which find resonances in many faiths, and through many understandings of music and how it connects us.

Today is Blog Action Day, when hundreds of thousands of bloggers over all the world, reaching millions of readers, writing on all sorts of areas, are asking their readers to think about a single topic. This year, that subject is poverty.


While you are reflecting on this, you may want to see these articles:

creative practice: generosity

Potato Music

late summer: two for the road

now playing: Amy Grant: Mosaic

an essay from singer and songwriter Carrie Newcomer about the politics of love and fear, and the politics of being an artist


now playing: The Environment, on Blog Action Day 2007

Lori Hall Steele: we're in this together

Writers, readers, musicians, audiences -- we’re all in this together, finding the unique ways to share our insights and our lives.

I’d like you to read this essay.
from the Washington Post. Lori Hall Steele wrote it about some of those insights she learned from her son, Jackson, when he was four.

Steele is a Michigan based freelance writer. Recently she was diagnosed with ALS -- Lou Gehrig’s disease. It’s gotten worse, and she’s no longer able to work, her insurance and grants from writers’ organizations have already been tapped. A group of friends, some who know her and some, like me, who have not met her, are getting the word out about her situation. Most of us who work in the arts work for ourselves. In that circumstance, when crisis strikes, it strikes your livelihood as well as your life. If you’d like to learn more about Lori’s situation and see if there are ways you could help, please go here.

We are all in this together.


you may also want to see

Music Road: creative practice: generosity

Music Road: now playing: The Best of Friends