Comments on: Uncle Sam Goddamn

By: Hazel Lamb, UK-22

Hazel Lamb, UK-22 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 15:35:57 +0000

So Jesse, I’m an older white Englishwoman and I tried listening to “Letter to my countrymen” and the experience taught me something really important. I, too, love music and feel it takes us straight to the heart of matters. In my case, it’s classical choral stuff. We use the same muscles for singing as we use for screaming (lamenting, complaining, begging for help….) However, I couldn’t catch the words and I wasn’t keen on the melody so I went and looked up the lyrics and then I began to understand, though only as a privileged person who’s never had to scream about this level of injustice for myself. My choice of music shows my culture, and since it’s different from yours I need to approach the possibility of relationship by recognising our mutual humanity, by asking about the things I don’t understand and taking the trouble to listen, using my curiosity. The thing is, if the music had been sending a hateful message, I might have given up trying to understand, but that would probably have been the very point at which I needed to make a greater effort to see what was behind it….sorry if this is all blindingly obvious, but I wanted to thank you for making me take the trouble….

By: Jan McIntyre, NA-22

Jan McIntyre, NA-22 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:21:58 +0000

Jesse, thank you for sharing this. I confess that I am unfamiliar with this particular genre of music, but know the power of music to speak to our hearts in profound ways. You have led me to start to think about how music can be used as a tool of reconciliation – or perhaps even an awareness making tool to help bring people to a place of reconciliation. I look forward to learning from you.

By: Lin Preiss NA-22

Lin Preiss NA-22 — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 20:17:36 +0000

Hello, Lin Preiss here (see above comment from Jer). Jesse, I am not going to say much here as all I know is your piece is sitting like a ball of energy bouncing between my mind and heart. And i have a new playlist I want to sit with for a little while. I am not fluent in this world of music, but know the power of image, body (rhythm, movement, dance) and creative word to speak deeper truths than can be shared in text alone. I hear your passion and am inspired. What has this being a student of Brother Ali (and Curtiss DeYoung) provided as entrance into communities of reconciliation as well as barriers of culture/misunderstanding/representation?

By: Jer Swigart

Jer Swigart — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:32:44 +0000

Jesse. The artists are the prophets inviting us through their mediums to gaze honestly at what is and imagine what could be. Thank you for the invitation to peer through the portals of the artisans and see the world that could be. I hope that you and Lin Preiss can explore these ideas in more detail as her passion is to intersect restorative theology with art in ways that catalyze embodied repair.

By: Amy Kasari, NA-22

Amy Kasari, NA-22 — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 02:03:45 +0000

Jesse – Thank you for sharing a bit of your journey and for the playlist! I appreciate your reminder to tune our ears and to really listen, especially to the creative voices speaking out.