This is an amazing occurrence, for me. And I have mixed feelings about it. I'm honored, I'm excited, I'm worried I'll start talking and then won't stop. You may not be able to imagine this, but I can seriously go on and on. Especially on topics in which I can find some nugget of righteous indignation. The State of Governor Daniels' New Deal on Indiana Education, for example. For some reason, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the guy he's decided to follow into infamy. California, here we come.
Wait.
See. There I go. I promised myself that, should I get near a podium, I absolutely won't start talking about the budget. Because, today -
This isn't about that - it isn't about Their Man Mitch - this is about Wilderness Plots, and Scott Russell Sanders, and Tim Grimm, Carrie Newcomer, Tom Roznowski & Michael White. It's about a thing that came out of the air and landed in my lap... a labor of love and time, a piece of Ohio River Valley History - and a thing I'm so proud to have been a part of.
It's about one man's vision and then brilliant historical vignettes - and a handful of amazing songwriters, all of whom I'm proud to count as friends.
So you wake up with an idea, and the idea moves forward - and someone catches a line, and another idea comes forward, and before you know it, you're standing in the State House with a handful of your friends and there are possibly roses being thrown at your feet by Senators and Representatives. They might even wear togas, like in the old days. They probably will.
Now THAT's a pretty damn good Monday!
What will I wear? You're probably thinking.
Brown. It's the new brown. Besides, I don't want to show up the Senators in those snazzy togas.
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I cannot tell why some things hold for me
ReplyDeleteA sense of unplumbed marvels to befall,
Or of a rift in the horizon's wall
Opening to worlds where only gods can be.
There is a breathless, vague expectancy,
As of vast ancient pomps I half recall,
Or wild adventures, uncorporeal,
Ecstasy-fraught, and as a day-dream free.
It is in sunsets and strange city spires,
Old villages and woods and misty downs,
South winds, the sea, low hills, and lighted towns,
Old gardens, half-heard songs, and the moon's fires.
But though its lure alone makes life worth living,
None gains or guesses what it hints at giving.
Let it rip. Talk about education. Please. Throw spitballs. Somebody doesn't cop onto this education stuff, there won't be anybody left in Indiana to READ Wilderness Plots. Hell, they might be honoring you for just that reason: Listening to Songs on CD: It's the New Reading.
ReplyDelete--Seán
A native American friend once asked me where I was from and I told him Indiana; "Oh" He said. "The big res" and I had to laugh cause, in all my 27 years living there I only met two natives and one was from Delaware. I think the state seal might need an update as well, anyone seen a Buffalo jumping a fence lately?
ReplyDeleteChessley