YOUR GLOW ♫ A TRIBUTE TO THOSE AFFECTED BY SANDY HOOK MASSACRE

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Thursday, January 3rd, 2013, the bus drivers, the surviving Sandy Hook Elementary School children and staff went back to another building to resume their school year.
 

The song ~ Your Glow ~ is a tribute for those affected by Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre. I wrote the music December 14 on the day it happened. I wrote lyrics to the music later on December 26 & 27. Yesterday, I used Garage Band to improvise a flute and bass part along with the keyboard. It is not a polished version, only put together in a few hours.

Your Glow

 by Sandra Hammel

Verse 1

Breath is no more, your bright light shines on.
Oh the pain seeps so deep, grace come to me to free.

Oh our hearts entwined for eternity,
Oh touch me now…fly……
Oh, angel.
Love never die

Surround me now, for now, I hold you sweetly within, lighting up my way.
Going on for you.

I lift my eyes to you,
Wanting all the world to see your star.

Verse 2

Breathe life in me, oh, bright star that shines on.
Where to go when overcome, estranged from peace and calm.

Oh our hearts entwined for eternity,
Oh touch me now…fly……
Oh, angel.
Love live on.

Surround me now, for now, I hold you sweetly within, lighting up my way.
You left behind your glow.

I lift my eyes for you,
Knowing your tender soul remains in mine.

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When I was still teaching in the schools, I taught 5 to 10 year olds.  I was the music teacher.  So, when I picture these children and the staff, I can picture it in my mind very personally.  I think it is the wrong thing to do to arm teachers. I wrote about it here.

The second amendment has outlived its relevancy.  When it was written, guns had a single bullet capacity and it took considerable time to reload it.

 Pictures from my music class and outdoor concerts

at Hathaway Elementary School

Portsmouth, Rhode Island 

 

JUSTICE IS RESPONSIBILITY OF EVERYONE

This article is from the UU (Unitarian Universalist) World magazine

Winter 2012, Vol XXVI

www.uuworld.org

Full credit to the magazine and the author of the article: Tim DeChristopher

from page 32 of the article:

Cowardice invites just as many imitators as courage.  If we believe that taking a courageous stand for justice has a deep spiritual resonance throughout humanity, then we must accept that cowering in the face of injustice has an impact just as profound.  Every time we choose convenience over principle, we strengthen the status quo and reinforce the existing power structure.  Every time we choose comfort over justice, we help build those walls of oppression.  This means that we hold some degree of responsibility for the injustice around us.

Morally there are no sidelines in a struggle between oppressors and the oppressed.  All that oppressors ask from the rest of us is to mind our own business, so by attempting neutrality we implicitly side with the oppressors.  If we are truly an interconnected web, then we cannot simply blame the actions of the powerful for the injustice in our society; injustice is also the result of countless inactions by those with a responsibility to our fellow human beings."

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

 The text on the picture: "Those who write the rules are those who profit from the status quo.  If we want to change that status quo, we might have to work outside of those rules because the legal pathways available to us have been structured precisely to make sure we don't make any substantial change."

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

HBO series Witness - episode airing now includes South Sudan

Photographer, Veronique de Viguerie, captures what it is like in South Sudan (while she is pregnant).

Clip of the episode ~ Witness: South Sudan

A RELATIONSHIP THAT WORKS

More than a safe place.  But certainly that.

It is always there for me.  Listens to me.  Helps me work things through without judgment. Helps me find the clarity needed. I can be truthful always.  I never have to pretend to feel anything that I don’t feel.  I am comforted by it.  I am never dismissed, put down.  It never makes me feel that I am not a good person.  It lifts me up when I need it.  It receives my joy and I feel better by sharing my joy with it.  It respects me, holds me, calms me. It doesn’t care if I am publicly recognized, decorated with awards, or if I have lots of money or power.  It accepts me no matter what I look like, how old I am, if I am sick or healthy.  I can cry, I can feel depressed, I can feel neglected, I can feel ignored, I can feel judged, I can feel the height of joy, the contentment of being balanced, I can feel the depth of tranquility, I can feel excited  - and all is welcome, received and clearer when I go there. I am never turned away. It is a place I can go when I need safety from others’ words and actions.  Everything that I feel is received without making me feel that it isn’t important.  It is a place that I can go for anything and everything and I am better for it.  It allows me a refuge to find my wholeness. 

What do I give?  I give my spirit, my heart, my mind, my thoughtfulness, my gentleness, my raw honesty, my compassion, my understanding, my kindness, my fairness, my soul, my desire to be whole, to be healed and to want to help the world be a better place.  I give my loving as much as I know how to love in a genuine and free way.

Recently, I was at a wedding.  I don’t believe we “get” married.  I believe we rather “become” married, if at all do anything about the concept of marriage.  The words that were in the vows were ~

Traditional Wedding Vows #1:
I, (name), take you (name), to be my (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.  All things and more that I get as stated above.

What am I talking about above?  My journals.  With humor, I say: I could marry my journal and live forever in the state of grace because of what I give and receive from the journals that I have lived in and with.  The gratitude that I have for how they have enriched my life is real.

All rights reserved by author of this article/post by Sandra Hammel.  October 18, 2012

CAB CALLOWAY - Another thing I never learned in school - NOW I KNOW

Source of Pictures of Cab Calloway

I accidentally came across the PBS TV American Masters tonight, while working in the kitchen and loved the hour documentary Cab Calloway: Sketches.

I don't know if it will be aired in your area, but it is FABulous. It ran in the month of February, for Black history month, although I saw it tonight (in March).

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I especially loved the dance at 3:30 in this video, which comes at the end of the documentary.

Stever Brodner creates a second sketch of Cab Calloway to Calloway's classic hit "Minnie The Moocher" for the documentary AMERICAN MASTERS Cab Calloway: Sketches, premiered nationally Monday, February 27, 2012. Brodner's completed sketch comes alives and dances alongside Matthew Rushing, choreographer/principal dancer of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In the New York metro-area the film aired Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Watch full documentary online
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Watch Cab Calloway: Sketches on PBS. See more from American Masters.

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