World War II ended in the late summer of 1945, three months before I turned 8. I remember seeing maps about troop movements in the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun. I remember sitting by our radio with my dad when news came that the U.S had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I had no awareness of the human costs of war. What I remember best is playing war games with my friends near my home in Dorsey, Maryland. It was fun. In (forgiving) retrospect, I wouldn’t presume that 8-year-olds know about “‘just war” criteria or the “rules of war,” but certainly I would expect the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States to know them before starting a war and treating it as a video game!

Writing in The Bulwark, Harvard Law Professor David Opderbeck shows how “Operation Epic Fury” fails almost all the tests of righteous warfare.” These ethical principles date back to ancient times and influenced the thought of theologians St. Augustine and St. Aquinas. In turn, their work became the framework for Roman Catholic Just War Theory, which has influenced the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Conventions. Such rules of war mean nothing to Trump, who has made this threat on social media:

. . . if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalination plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’ This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror.’ Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Heather Cox Richardson pointed out in her March 30 Letters from an American that “Trump appears to be trying to force his will on the Iranians by threatening to commit war crimes. International law recognizes attacks on civilian infrastructure as … war crimes.The Geneva Convention specifically prohibits attacks on drinking water .” Attacking desalination plants is a war crime.

Over the years, exploring any kind of justification for the taking of human life led me to take a deeper dive into the concept of evil and the human propensity to cast that description on whatever “enemy” is at hand. Ultimately that led me to the writing of “The Come Away Suite,” a trilogy of songs about war and peace. The first one is “Global Destiny.”

Peering from the Captain’s deck
Of the “Global Destiny”
(Off her course for many of these years)
An isolated few, by economic piracy
Have boarded up the entry way, I fear

I.e., The “isolated few” have seized control of the “Global Destiny” and are using the imbalance of economic power to frustrate the people’s access to the levers of government.

While down below the passengers
(Once free) now must recall
How revolution forged the links that chain them to this wall
That bears the writings of the prophets; “As we live so we must die”
But mercy tempers justice and the spirit needs to fly

I.e., on the wall is a message from the prophets; people who live violently are likely to die violently. Ah, but there’s a caveat: mercy provides exceptions, and there is a larger calling happening to the spirit. How’s that possible? Could Love be the answer?

The enemy is bigger
Than the one who pulls the trigger
The enemy is quicker
Than the order they obeyed
The enemy is older
Than all the unknown soldiers
And the only thing to fear is fear itself they say
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear

(But still) they jettison provisions
To make room for larger guns
Preparing for an enemy who has already com
And stands beside them as they stare
Into the emptiness of space (never knowing)
The evil that they seek now wears their face
And dulls their heart

I.e., But wait! Who is jettisoning provisions to make room for larger guns? True, those on the Captain’s deck are currently making these unilateral decisions that affect us all, but the dulling of our hearts would apply to any of us who make choices based on fear. For in that process, alas, we are preparing for an “enemy who has already come.”

They’re gearing up for war
Though it’s all behind the scenes
You can see it on the covers
Of the fashion magazines
The kids are at the arcade
Playing “Missile Command”
And the world is laying on the rock
Like the son of Abraham

They’re gearing up for war again
And calling on the Lord
Phasing out the plowshare
And developing the sword
Though we are pastorally encouraged
To love them as we pray
We’ll evidently take a break
And blow them all away

During his Palm Sunday sermon on March 29, 2026 Pope Leo XIV said that no one can use Jesus “to justify war” and that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” The Pope specifically countered recent statements from Trump administration officials who have used religion to claim that the war with Iran as “holy” or divinely sanctioned.

Much of the use of religious rhetoric to justify the Iran war comes from a movement called New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). which often refers to the Iran war as a “crusade.” Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners magazine, gives this brief description:

The NAR, with its self-appointed apostles and prophets is their new form of the old dominionist theology where Christians take dominion or control over key sectors of society through the abuse of power. At its core, dominionism is not truly Christian and stands in direct contrast to the gospel of Jesus which is grounded in love and compassion, and humility. In their framework empire and power intertwine with a deeply distorted and manipulated version of our Christian faith to excuse harm.

Historian Jemar Tisby—whose work centers on the intersection of religion and politics explains, “This is not merely conservative theology; this is Christian dominionism—the advocacy of theocracy. Let’s just call it what it is—religious extremism in a Brooks Brothers suit.” At the core of this ideology is the Seven Mountains Mandate, which seeks to take control over the seven pillars of society—government, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, religion and family—and shape them according to their rigid and literalistic interpretation of the Bible.

What do dominionists fear and why? Who or what is the bigger enemy in the war with Iran? And how might this war affect our “global destiny”?

Connections

Read Pope Leo’s Palm Sunday sermon in the National Catholic Observer.

Jim Wallis writes about the growing influence of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and their agenda of “spiritual warfare” in his Substack post “When War Becomes Holy.”

Vibrations

In 1985 I released an album called State of the Heart with Bodyworks, a band featuring the talents of Jimmy Nalls, Denny Bouchard, Karla Thibodeau and Kent Palmer. The title song also appeared on the 1986 PP&M album No Easy Walk to Freedom. “The Come Away Suite” plus a number of other songs from State of the Heart were later released on Circuit Rider, another Bodyworks more recently released. Watch this video of The Come Away Suite. Part 1 is “Global Destiny”; Part 2, “Nation in Love,”; and Part 3, “Come Away.”

Resonance

After reading the lyrics of “Global Destiny” and watching the video of the Come Away Suite, what comes to mind when you read or hear this part of the chorus?

The enemy is bigger
Than the one who pulls the trigger
The enemy is quicker
Than the order they obeyed
The enemy is older
Than all the unknown soldiers
And the only thing to fear is fear itself they say
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear

---

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Noel at last Saturday’s No Kings Day in Ojai, CA. Photo by Cindy Pitou Burton. See more of Cindy’s beautiful work at Ojai Studio Artists.

His sign is a creation of cartoonist Liza Donnelly, who writes and draws a wonderful Substack called Seeing Things. Check out her photos No Kings Day In NYC.

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Since the January shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, resistance to the presence of the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has grown rapidly both locally and nationally. On a recent broadcast of On Point, host Meghna Chakrabarti interviewed volunteers from several of the grassroots groups in Minneapolis who are standing up to ICE. These groups are helping their neighbors in a variety of ways—leading workshops on constitutional rights, patrolling neighborhoods in order to send out alerts when federal agents are in the area. and delivering groceries to people afraid to leave their homes to go to work, to houses of worship, and to medical appointments. Many parents no longer send their kids to school. When folks are afraid to go outside their homes, not only families but businesses and churches suffer.

One of Chakrabarti’s interviewees was the pastor of a predominantly Latino church that last December decided to provide groceries to 20 local families. Within a day after putting a link about the program on the churchs social media, 2,000 people had registered. Soon the service expanded from households to schools and other organizations, and the program has over 4,000 volunteers trained to exercise caution. If they’re being followed while delivering food to a church for distribution, they leave without making the stop.

Volunteers also patrol the areas around schools and hospitals with whistles to warn people when ICE comes into a neighborhood. Some volunteers are ICE watch dispatchers who receive reports from residents. Then they send out volunteers to verify the reports. If the verifiers see agents or identify their license plates, the dispatchers send out an alert to hundreds of people in the area. When there’s an attempt at abduction, neighbors blow whistles, honk their horns, and create a ruckus.

Care network groups meet a variety of community needs such, as shoveling sidewalks and taking a family’s laundry to the laundromat. They find midwife or doula services for pregnant women afraid to give birth in hospitals. Some provide legal counsel, rides to medical appointments, and rides to and from schools. They are all neighbors helping neighbors.

We can’t leave this subject of neighbors helping neighbors without mentioning the “singing resistance” movement. Here’s a video clip of thousands singing outside a hotel where ICE agents were staying:

It’s okay to change your mind
Show us your courage, leave this behind
It’s okay to change your mind
Then you can join us, join us here anytime.

This “deference” song was written by Minneapolis community song circle leader Annie Schlaefer. Its intent is more than protest—it’s a serious invitation to ICE, an appeal to their humanity.

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Anti-ICE protestors sing outside ICE hotel rooms | Screenshot

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Singer songwriter Brian Claflin brings together folk-rock with traditional Appalachian roots music. As a solo act, and as a duo with singing and songwriting partner Ellie Grace, Claflin is a part of the lively Asheville, N.C., music scene. Brian describes why he wrote “ ICE on the Road”:

On January 7th, my heart broke at the news of Renee Nicole Good’s senseless, tragic death at the hands of ICE agents. I imagined Ms. Good’s youngest child wondering where she is, and writing her a note--or perhaps just talking to her in his head. I had seen photos of the plush toys this young mother kept in the glove compartment of her car for this child, so I referenced those toys in the lyric. There was no plan for the song, no intention to choose a child’s perspective, it just poured out of me over the course of about an hour. My heart goes out to those close to Renee, and to all those being unfairly targeted by ICE.

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Vibrations:

Here’s the link to Brian’s “ICE on the Road” (For Renee Nicole Good)

Resonance:

If you were a resident of Minneapolis, how would you be one of the neighbors in the streets?

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote down the lyrics for “Auld Lang Syne” in1788 and claimed that they came from “an old man’s singing.” He may have heard other poems and folk songs with similar words or meanings. Since traditional folk songs were transmitted from one generation to another and from one place to another through the oral tradition, Burns was building on what he had heard.

Similarly Noel and his friend George Emlen were acting in the folk tradition when they created a lyric and counterpoint melody as a musical complement to “Auld Lang Syne.” Their version of “Last Night / Auld Lang Syne,” accompanied by Michael McInnis on synthed saxophone/keyboard, is a song that invites memories of good times with old friends—not just in the past year, but throughout our lives— and anticipation of new friends in the years to come.1

Connections:

Read about the history and words of “Auld Lang Syne.”

Vibrations:

Enjoy the video of “Last Night / Auld Lang Syne.”

Five years ago during the holiday season many of us did not travel to visit family or friends. We did our shopping online. We ordered oranges, ham, eggnog, poinsettias, and cranberries and picked them up in grocery store lots. We skipped Christmas Eve services and missed performances of the Nutcracker. We were more likely to suffer holiday blues. Our doors were shuttered, keeping others out and us inside. We felt disconnected and afraid.

This year is different. Many Americans have the freedom to travel, shop, greet neighbors, and feast at tables filled with “turkeys and ducks and geese and cherry pies,” but many don’t. Not because COVID is keeping them in, but because an anti-democratic movement is attempting to shutter them out.

This December Noel was able to perform at what has become a traditional holiday event in the Blue Hill, Maine, library. But in December of 2020 he sang to empty chairs, his IPhone, and a lone video camera. COVID had kept his audience at home, behind closed doors. One of the songs included in the resultant video that day was “Christmas Dinner.” The setting is a city street perhaps in the late19th or early 20th century. The characters are strangers—an older woman and a boy. It’s a parable of sharing and hospitality for a time when greed and lust for power by the few attempt to destroy the freedom and flourishing of the many.

Connections

Thanks so much for your support of our Substack posts this past year. In hopes for a publication date sometime in 2026, Jeanne and I continue to “assemble” the story of the many lives that have touched and continue to inform my life. I think it was Tale of Two Cities that began with these words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ,” and we are witnessing again the testing of the very fabric of what it means to be a loving neighbor to one another. We wish you a most Loving holiday season, offering this parting “connection,” as Bob Dylan said in one of his songs of the 60’s, “I’ll letcha be in my dream, if I can be in yours.”

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! N&J

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Vibrations

Watch Christmas Dinner music video.1

Resonance

Enjoy the entire NPS 2020 library holiday concert video and relfect on “Christmas Dinner “ as a parable for today.

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Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

On this Thanksgiving Day are you feeling less thankful than usual because there is so much happening in the news and in your life for which you are decidedly NOT thankful? Could you use a different take on the meaning of gratitude? We’ve found a fresh perspective in this 2024 interview of Diana Butler Bass by Paul Rauschenbusch. Paul is the president of Interfaith Alliance, continuing the tradition of his great grandfather theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, a central leader of the Social Gospel movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Diana is a historian, theologian, writer of The Cottage on Substack, and one of the most trusted public commentators on faith and politics in the U.S. today. This provocative interview centers on her 2018 book Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks.

When Paul asks Diana to explain the subtitle, she replies that gratitude is a spiritual practice that “rearranges how we understand our own lives, and, even further, our place in the world.” She explains that gratitude is more than reciting a list of things that make us happy. Rather, it is “a disposition whereby we understand that all of life is a gift; and that every moment, the good ones and the bad ones, actually hold something for us that can be perceived differently.”

Instead of saying more, we invite you to listen to that conversation on the website of the Interfaith Alliance. In case you’re not one who listens to podcasts as you prepare Thanksgiving dinner, the episode also offers a transcription.

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Connections:

This interview between Walter and Diana refers to three prayers / poems of thanksgiving to enrich your day. The first was written by Paul’s great-grandfather, Walter Rauschenbusch. Here it is in updated language.

O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills,
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

By Walter Rauschenbusch, 19th-20th century theologian

The second is recited by Benedictine brother and interfaith scholar David Steindl-Rast within his Ted Talk on gratitude—Want To Be Happy? Be Grateful.

A third is a thanksgiving prayer by Diana Butler Bass on The Cottage.

Vibrations:

“The Big Picture”

“Every Flower”

Resonance:

Choose one of our offerings—the prayers, the interview, the TED talk, and Noel’s songs—and tell what it means to you on this Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Thanksgiving from Noel and Jeanne

Photo by Олег Мороз on Unsplash

We live in the same house, on different floors
I got my window. and you got yours
We’ve each got a door that leads to the hall
But the rooms are so cozy and the door is so small

One and Many,” Noel Paul Stookey, Elizabeth B. Stookey, and Sam Lardner
©2008 Neworld Multimedia Publishing

In our first meeting to talk about the book, both of us expressed having a heart for “nones,” those people who check the “none” box (or answer “nothing in particular”) on questionnaires that ask about religious affiliation. They include the “spiritual but not religious,” atheists, agnostics, and Christian but not “churched.” The religiously unaffiliated is the largest “religious” group in America, making up 28% of Americans and growing in number since 2013. They outnumber white evangelical protestant (13%); white mainline/non-evangelical protestant (13%); white Catholic (12%); black protestant (7%); and Hispanic Catholic.(1) Their reasons for claiming that category are varied, but 67% of them say they left their faith tradition because they stopped believing its teachings.(2) That’s not to say that they have stopped believing in God or in a higher power. Most still do.

At that first meeting, both of us knew the meaning of “nones,” but neither had heard of the term “Christian nationalism.” Even if we had, we wouldn’t have been asking what “nones” had to do with it and with its blurring of the separation of church and state. The website of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State explains that connection well. The rise of nones proves that the “First Amendment is doing exactly what it was intended to do—give Americans the choice to be religious to explore spirituality within the confines of a house of worship or do it ourselves.” We have the right “to blend traditions, explore theology or reject faith entirely.” In addition, Americans United contends that “the rise of the Nones infuriates Christian Nationalists,” who remain convinced that that everyone should attend a church (one approved by them, of course).” Therein lies the problem.

Christian nationalism is a manipulation of Christian faith to fulfill a political aim—to use the power of the state to force a rigid form of Christianity on the whole population. For some, the means of force includes violence, which they justify by seeing themselves as soldiers in a battle between God and Satan, good and evil. Since Trump’s first term in office, Christian nationalists have supported banning books; restricting curriculum in public schools, colleges, and universities; withholding research grants in climate science or medicine; using tax revenue for public schools; taking away funding for services that help the poor, and marginalized; and destroying parts of government that have taken both major parties decades to build. Some Christian nationalists believe that it’s ethical to use violence to carry out their goals. For them, the end justifies the means. One strain of Christian nationalism, the Seven Mountain Mandate, names seven spheres of cultural influence that their kind of believers should dominate: religion, government, family, education, media, arts/entertainment, and business. Pretty much everything.

Christian nationalism does a huge disservice to the “nones” and others who stand on the borderline of faith only to encounter a form of Christianity that takes up an outsized place in media and strives to take an outsized place in government, indeed, in society. Most of all, Christian nationalism ignores the diversity of ways human beings seek to understand the nature of God (or not) and practice faith. It also harms the public perception of Christianity when it disregards the realities that Christianity has within its history many theological perspectives and that genuine faith cannot be dictated or imposed.

(1) https://prri.org/spotlight/2024-prri-census-of-american-religion/

(2) https://prri.org/spotlight/partisanship-and-political-engagement-among-religiously-unaffiliated-voters-ahead-of-the-2024-presidential-election/

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Connections

In their official statements, mainline protestant denominations, the U.S. Catholic Bishops, and many interdenominational and interfaith groups oppose Christian nationalism and strongly support the separation of church and state. Here are official statements from some of them: Evangelical Lutheran Church, United Church of Christ (a.k.a. Congregational), United Methodist Church, National Council of Churches, and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Vibrations

Noel’s “One and Many” has played a central role in One Light, Many Candles, a multifaith program created by the Rev. Elizabeth Stookey, which she and Noel have presented in churches, synagogues, other settings across the nation for over 15 years. Betty’s vision has been to help audiences learn to appreciate, honor and respect the communal truth of another’s faith tradition and guide persons of varying spiritual traditons toward a peaceful coexistence within those differences.

Resonance

We invite you to share a story about what the separation of church and state has meant to you.

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Photo by Pierre Blaché on Unsplash

This week in a shadow docket, the Supreme Court ruled that ICE can use racial profiling in immigration arrests. Here is the the court’s order on Nome v. Pedro Vasquez Perdomo. Dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the decision “unconscionably irreconcilable with our nation’s constitutional guarantees.”

When Jeanne wrote the following post over the weekend, we had no idea how timely it would be.

I remember two things about my one semester in high school chorus. First, the director placed the two students who couldn’t carry a tune together in the back row. I was one of them. The second memory is of song that gave me chill bumps then--and still does--Irving Berlin’s “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” with lyrics taken from Emma Lazurus’ sonnet, The New Colossus, engraved on a bronze plaque inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

As Noel and I work on the first draft of a chapter called “One and All,” about the years 2009 to 2015, we’re looking at some of the songs on the 2015 album At Home: The Maine Tour. Among them is “Familia del Corazon (family of the heart),” which alludes to the Lazurus sonnet

We have sailed this sea of dreams forever
Una familia del corazón
Brother and sister together
Believing in that promise set in stone
The lady of liberty still calls us
Lifts her lamp beside the golden door
“Send to me your huddled masses
Give to me your tired, your poor”

I hear this verse from two points of view--the obvious one is that of immigrants and refugees, but also the subtle voices of citizens who seek to live out the “promise set in stone.”

And so...we've come to build a nation
Forged by many hands through many years
With justice as a firm foundation
And compassion to rescue us from fear
And who among us is not thankful?
Who among us would not choose
To share what we've been given freely...
Who among us would refuse?

Again I hear two sets of voices, equally clear. Those of present day immigrants and refugees who have hoped to find hospitality and safe haven and would be willing to offer the same to others and the voices of citizens who remember that their ancestors were immigrants and want to share their abundance.

And, as still another reminder of our country’s dedicated purpose, one of Noel’s two new verses written for “America the Beautiful” perhaps says it best:

Oh nation of the immigrant, the slave, the native son
Whose loyal families labor still that we may live as one
America, America - renew thy founder’s call
Let Liberty and Justice be the right of one and all…

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Connections

Rabbi Jonathan Kligler tells the story of the Lazurus sonnet and the Berlin song in his recent Substack post “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor.” In addition, he makes this point:

During this time when immigrants are being treated so cruelly, when the ruling powers make up racist nonsense about “real Americans,” I want to remind us that, with the exception of the First Nations peoples, literally all of us are recent arrivals. Some of us came willingly, fleeing persecution or seeking a better life. Others came against their will, in chains. But we all came from somewhere else, and our nation is built on the ever-expanding premise that regardless of origin, all of us are created equal, and endowed with unalienable rights. It is this sublime idea that truly makes America great.

Vibrations

NPS video of “Familia del Corazón”

NPS video of “America the Beautiful”

Resonance

Have you taken the opportunity to visit the Statue of Liberty? Or learned the history of Ellis Island where many immigrants are still ‘processed’ when they arrive in New York City’s harbor? Have you seen the National Park Service’s website about the Statue of Liberty? What is the statue’s message for today?

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Several weeks ago Noel posted “T.A.C.O.,” a musical video cartoon created with an AI app, on his Facebook page, and at this posting, it has received over eight thousand views. It’s both a parody of Roger Miller’s 1965 hit, “King of the Road” and a satire on the Trump administration.

Literary scholar William Holman writes, “The parody is in literature what the caricature and the cartoon are in art.” Not all parodies are satire and not all satire is parody. Both satire and parody may come in the form of a story, a poem, a lyric, a play, a cartoon, or some other work of art. Satire is usually comical, but its larger purpose is social criticism or reform. In his book God Mocks: A History of Religious Satire from the Hebrew Prophets to Steven Colbert, Terry Linvall argues that “the heart of true satire is recognition of a moral discrepancy between what is proclaimed and what is practiced, often with an attempt to remedy it. It ranges from moral outrage to mischievous exposing of the Emperor’s new clothes.”.

As a former college English teacher, I view parody and satire as overlapping literary genres. A parody is an imitation that may simply be entertainment, but it can have a social message. Often it’s written to ridicule the original or the author’s style, but sometimes it’s an appreciative tribute.

Noel’s published list of musical satire started with “Please Porridge Peace”, a musical review of Nixon’s presidency. “Virtual Party” poked fun at life on the Internet and at the surprises of domestic relationships. When Noel created “Impeachable” a month into Trump’s first term, he may have been right that the 45th president was impeachable, but was wrong about Trump’s “going away” any time soon. Set to the tune of “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole, Noel’s rendition sounded as sweet as any love song can, but when you pay attention to the lyrics, you know it’s hardly a love song and the sweetness juxtaposed with the lyrics is part of what makes it satire.

“T.A.C.O.,” is an acronym for the phrase “Trump always chickens out,” which Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong created to critique Trump’s tariffs and trade policies. He repeatedly announces stiff tariff’s and reduces them just before they supposedly will go into effect. Maybe he doesn’t chicken out. Maybe it’s all for the gaming of Wall Street. On Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated that the EU had agreed to a 15% tariff on its imports to the U.S. However, as Robert Hubbell points out in his July 29 newsletter, her statement included “soft qualifiers” that intentionally did not reveal details. In other words, the deal was not done. Maybe the acronym really means Trump always creates obfuscation—that is, he obscures on purpose.

For folks who notice how much the Trump administration and 2025 have already done long-lasting damage to democracy both in the U.S. and beyond, these are trying times. We are sad, angry, filled with grief, overwhelmed, and tired. Hapefully, Noel’s “T.A.C.O.” provides us with comic relief and a sense of solidarity with a larger community of resistance, and you can play it again and again.

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Connections:

Charlie Angus—a Canadian journalist, musician and former member of the Canadian Parliament—writes the Substack “The Resistance.” In “Explaining Egg Prices to a Gangster,” Angus urges Prime Minister Mark Carney to hold the line in trade negotiations with Trump. This July 3rd post provides citizens of the U.S. a look at how Canadians view Trump’s policies. For a more recent view, check out “Canada’s Boycott Is Freaking MAGA Out.”

Vibrations: “T.A.C.O: Felon for Sale or Rent

“Impeachable” (Feb. 14, 2017)

Resonance:

Think of songs that are parody or satire. How does the musical setting work with or emphasize their effect or message?

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(photo - cgpt4 - npstookey 2025)

Noel’s Backyard—Dorsey, Maryland (1943)

With a plastic helmet liner strapped under my chin, a World War II Nazi ammunition belt (brought back by my godfather from Anzio) clipped around my waist and a homemade wooden replica of a submachine gun in my hand, I stand in a circle of similarly equipped buddies. There are four of us. We are on the forested side of open wire fencing that is covered in honeysuckle. The “enemy” is beginning to “fire” from their position behind the picket fence on the other side of the newly mown lawn. We fall to our respective tasks.

“P’dow, p’dow … p’wing!” a vocal bullet ricochets nearby.

“Bang. You’re dead, Tipton.”

“Am not!” comes the reply from a crawling figure on the lawn.

“Are so. I’ve got you right in my sights. Bang, bang, gotcha!”

“Uh, uh!” the maddeningly persistent soldier yells back. “I’m in this big gully.”

“No fair!” A cry goes up from our side as we realize they’re trying to use the same imaginary trench we ourselves invented in the last game.

“That gully was further back near the house.”

“It bends this way when it gets up here!” the voice returns.

“No fair!” the howl goes up again.

Finally, both sides tie white cloths to the barrels of their toy weapons, and a representative of each army steps out upon the battlefield while their comrades keep the proceedings covered.

The soldier in question lies patiently in his imaginary ditch as his commanding officer and a member of the enemy forces engage in a debate as to the proper location of this newly invented geography.

“OK, it can bend here,” agrees one, “but it can’t run up to the fence.”

His opposite, recognizing that insistence upon his envisioned layout would remove all sport from the contest, relents and the action is renewed.

“Pow! Pap-pap-pap-pap-pap-pap!”

Over the sound effects from the machine gun installation, the unmistakable whistle of a pretend mortar is heard.

“Bawoom!” There is a notable pause in the activity.

“That was a mortar shell, Tipton! We gotcha!”

“Did not … ,” comes the valiant, though hesitant, reply.

“What?!” the question asked in outraged unbelievability.

“Are you kidding?! You were in the ditch weren’t ya?”

“Yeah, but I found this cave and I crawled in just…”

“No fair!” The familiar retort takes on a more intense pitch.

I begin to see a pattern here.

“I’m gonna loop around behind them … ,” I whisper to Rob Dorsey, “Keep ‘em busy.”

He looks a little puzzled, but nods; and I’m off through the brambles that grow on the outskirts of my backyard. While under a flag of truce, the discussion about the placement of the cave location rages on. I emerge in about seven minutes’ time directly behind the enemy position. The battle has resumed and no one here has noticed my maneuver. And with one long raking burst of “pap, pap, pap, pap, pap, pap, pap, pap, pap … ,” this particular battle is settled beyond question.

It would be almost forty years later when I realized that it was not in the winning but in the negotiating that I would have learned the finer arts of relationship. Giving…Taking…

Compromising … the recognition of competitive ethics. No wonder Rob Dorsey looked at me strangely. He knew. The idea was to have fun, not to win.

Democracy Preserved

In 1942, living in Dorsey, Maryland, a small town halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC, Noel had “discovered” World War II through the maps and illustrations on the front pages of the Baltimore Sun. He would trace the advances and retreats of the Allies and the Nazi enemy on the European front. The enormity of the conflict was far larger than he could understand at the time. Though the arrows and black lines indicated movement, he really was not aware of what the action cost in terms of lives—both of the combatants and the native population. Indeed, even as late as 1944, he admits to being a child with great imagination but little sense of war’s inherent devastation.

And though Lassie and Treasure Island were high on his reading list at the time, there were of course the comic book heroes. A new batch of stalwarts like Blackhawk and Captain America (to name just two) had joined Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel—taking time out from their day-to-day victories over crime in the streets to take on Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito—upholding democracy and fighting tyranny. When evil was so prevalent and the need to defend freedom so obvious, who wouldn’t fight to preserve the American Way”? We were all in this together, weren’t we?

Small wonder then that the anti-war movement, no matter how well-intentioned, was greeted with suspicion and ridicule. After all, wasn’t it just that kind of compromise and weakness that had allowed Hitler to rise? Positions were explained with a sort of intellectual righteousness. “Of course,” we thought, “war is bad … but conflict is a part of life, and we just have to hope that a greater good will ultimately prevail—even if sometimes we find ourselves choosing the lesser of two evils.”

Sitting with his father on the edge of his bed, Noel recalls listening to the explosion of the first A-bomb in July of 1945. He was eight years old with no appreciation of what the test meant other than the likelihood of a victory in Japan, and that the end of the Second World War was probable. Just a month later, when nuclear bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was no doubt. Although many innocent civilian lives were taken in the final days, the war did end. And, as Americans, we seemed assured that not only had we prevailed, but democracy and freedom had been preserved.

Democracy challenged

D-Day is traditionally honored as a remembrance of the Allied invasion of Normandy and the beginning of Allied operations that led to the liberation of Western Europe, the defeat of the Nazi regime in Germany, and ultimately the end of World War II. Few of the survivors of that day are still alive to tell the stories of the sacrifices that were made.

One wonders how they must feel when they see some Americans challenge the value of democracy—and even celebrate the kind of fascism and authoritarianism that these veterans fought to defeat? On this June 6, some of us remembered . . . and sadly, some of us have continued to forget.

In the late 40’s, Lee Hayes of the Weavers wrote a song titled “Wasn’t That A Time?” recorded by the trio in the mid-sixties and containing a final verse that spoke to the constancy required to maintain freedom and democracy.

“And now again the madmen come

And should our vic'try fail?

There is no vic'try in a land

Where free men go to jail

Isn't this a time! Isn't this a time!

A time to try the soul of man

Isn't this a terrible time?”

And as so often happens with folk music, over seventy years after its composition, the warning contained in the lyrics found relevance once again. In 2016, with the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America and the subsequent rise of the MAGA movement, concerns about the definitions of “freedom”embedded in our Constitution and its Amendments began to surface. Now, some eight years later, many Americans are deeply worried about the future of democracy and civil rights as the Trump administration attempts to implement Project 2025. Inherent in folk music is not only the naming of the problem, but a call to action. What must we do to resist?

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Connections

Read about D-Day in the last half of Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter for June 5.

Vibrations

PP&M Newport Folk Festival performance of “Wasn’t That a Time?”

Resonance

What are you doing to resist the threats to democracy in these times? What would you like to do?

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jeffrey banksdesign / instagram

Though history has revealed that the violin was an instrument created long after Emperor Nero “fiddled” while Rome burned, the metaphor lives. This drawing by Jeffrey Banks of our capitol building being symbolically consumed by fire as our current president is “twitter-x-ing” recalls Nero’s indifference and suggests a similar disregard of political overreach while the resulting chaos rages through Washington and the world.

Since the arrival of the unelected Elon Musk at the White House and the creation of D-O-G-E has raised even more concerns for the stability of our democracy, I opened my set at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas, Texas, recently with a tip of the hat to Bob Newhart, the brilliant comedian who made a speciality out of one-sided telephone conversations—revealing an amazing amount of information humorously—merely by reacting to what we, the audience, would assume was being said on the other end of the line.

“Good evening, Acronyms ‘R’ Us!

And who might I be having the pleasure of speaking to?

Oh, like the perfume?

Uh-huh…and may I call you Elon?

And how can we help you today?

You’re starting an agency? Uh-huh…

And your use of the word “agency” implies it’s, uh, governmental in nature?

I see…And…and you already selected a name…

Uh-huh…and what did you settle on?

(pause)

Oh that’s too bad…

Nothing personal—but we certainly would have liked to have helped you there…

Well, you see the name pretty much determines the acronym.

Uh-huh…Well, perhaps we can at least help you with the pronunciation issue…

Uh-huh…

You’re pretty sure people will call it DOJE?

And you’re good with that?

I see. (Chuckle) Wouldn’t you like something a little classier?

(long pause)

Well, I was thinking perhaps a more established “old world” reference.

Uh, something on the order of…DOE-JAIS?

Oh, of course…I understand…you have a concern about the MAGA reaction.

Yes, I understand. It’s not “MAKE EUROPE GREAT AGAIN,” is it?

(Laugh - stops self-consciously)

But say, here’s an idea. Since you already mentioned MAGA.

Well, how about combining both acronyms and call yourself D-O-G-M-A.

Yeah, DOGMA! Kind of a catchy ring to it, doncha think?

Uh-huh…well yes, there is THAT other meaning…

But…if I might give you some advice—if you’re thinking of merchandising with those letters, be sure you don’t do canvas bags.

Why? Well, the animal rights groups, they’ll start calling them DOGGIE bags….

And you know what goes in…

Uh-huh…

Maybe we should dig a little deeper into what your agency is hoping to accomplish…

Eliminate a lot of jobs…

Uh, cut Social Security.

Uh-huh. Cut health care. Oh, and education, foreign aid?

And then fire a lot of folks the president doesn’t like?

(long pause)

All those cuts and all those people, eh?

Y’know, honestly, I don’t think you're gonna have to concern yourself with pronunciation choices…

Well, I’d say your D-O-G-E is gonna get known pretty quickly as DODGY.

(Laughter)

Uh, hello? Hello?”

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Vibrations

Noel’s “front porch” rendering of ACRONYMS ‘R’ US in Ojai, California:

Connections

Watch the Bob Newhart “style” in this guest appearance on the Dean Martin television show many years ago:

Resonance

Both the Jeffrey Banks’ image and Noel’s one-sided telephone routine are examples of satire. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using satire rather than an op-ed for protest?

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News

Noel in Dallas April 5-6, 2025

The Hands Off Rally was the first of three Dallas events in which Noel participated in three weeks ago. Here’s a video clip from Dealey Plaza.

On that Saturday evening, he performed at Poor David’s and the next day led a family sing-along for a nonprofit organization in Dallas called KidLinks. Since the mid-80s Noel has volunteered his time and talents with the organization, founded by Jim Newton, who, along with Paul Hill, began by composing and performing music to meet the needs of hospitalized children. Over the years it has broadened its reach and its staff—its mission statement today expresses its commitment “to linking kids to healing, hope and happiness through music and media.”

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‘Ecce Homo’ (Behold the Man), Antonio Ciseri, circa 1860-1880

April Fool

April Fool
You wear your heart on your sleeve
And though they laugh when they leave
You call it Love and I believe (you)

April Fool
Why must you always play the clown?
You had the edge you laid it down
You gave it up without a sound ...

Oh April Fool
How can they say "love is cruel"?
They catch the ring but drop the jewel.
Like a teardrop in a pool ...

April Fool
As the heart shows through the eyes
Before you were born you were recognized
And unto the losers comes their Prize.

Oh April Fool
Even as the hands were washed, you knew
We'd free the thief instead of you

April Fool
You said the Father was in You
You said we know not what we do
Forgive us ... April Fool.

“April Fool” is one of Noel’s most intriguing songs, contrasting the “foolishness” of Jesus’ kind of power—the power of love—and the kind of power that empires use and often abuse. In her reflection for Palm Sunday mentioned below in “Connections,” Diana Butler Bass explains this contrast as being between Caesar’s empire and God’s “empire”: “On Palm Sunday “Pilate rides a powerful horse into the west gate [of Jerusalem] in a military procession to assert imperial power and quell the possibility of protest. Jesus rides a borrowed donkey into the east gate in a popular parade of hope to empower oppressed Israel.”

This year Easter falls on April 20 for Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians as well as Orthodox Christians, who ordinarily follow a different calendar. “April Fool” is a song for these last two and a half weeks of Lent and importantly, it’s also a song for anyone, religiously observant or not, who courageously speaks truth about injustice and abuse of power and calls upon the ultimate and redemptive power of Love.

How appropriate that Senator Cory Booker should take a stand on on April Fools’ Day, delivering a “Good Trouble” filibuster in Washington! He said (among many other things), “In this democracy,” he said, “the power of people is greater than the people in power.”

If you are in north Texas next Saturday, April 5, perhaps you may see Noel at the Dealey Plaza protest in Dallas, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Dallas and part of the nation-wide protest against the tyrannical abuses of the Trump administration. Later that evening Noel will be performing with Tish Hinojosa at Poor David’s Pub.

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Connections

Read Diana Butler Bass’s, ”Sunday Musings” for Palm Sunday 2022, which contrasts the power of empire with that of the Kingdom of God (which some Christians call the “kin-dom” of God)—the power of love, mutuality, compassion, and justice.

In her essay, “The Holy Fool,” in the journal Image, Christiana Peterson writes, “Unless we are . . . willing to adopt a life that looks foolish to others, holiness and a mystical relationship to God remains elusive.” In this essay she explores the concept of the “holy fool” in literature and church history.

Vibrations

Watch this video of Noel’s “April Fool.”

Resonance

What does Noel’s “April Fool” say to you about the nature of Love?

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Earth, National Aeronautics Space Administration, Public Domain

“We Are the World” by U.S.A. for Africa

Forty years ago this month (March 7, 1985) a group of singers got together to record “We Are the World” to raise money for famine relief in Africa. Singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte had come up with the idea for the song, which was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. Forty-five of the best-selling recording artists of the day gathered to record it. They included Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, and Dionne Warwick. The song was released as a single, which sold 800,000 copies in 3 days, and became the first ever single to be certified multi-platinum. It won four Grammy Awards and raised more than $60 million for African famine relief. The song is credited to United Support of Artists for Africa, the humanitarian organization created to distribute the funds. U.S.A. for Africa has continued to raise funds to help alleviate poverty in Africa and in the United States.

A Zoom Dialogue between Noel and Jeanne

N: Did you see the parody video of “We Are the World” I just sent you? Artificial Intelligence has “borrowed” the images and actual voices of the foreign leaders—in some instances English not being their first language—to emulate their participation in the classic rendering of the song.

J: Yeah, it’s startling, a bit creepy, and ludicrous, but the “what-if message” is pretty clear.

N: Some might find the piece offensive, but I LOVE this AI hack ... presenting the emotional riddle of a “come together” song being performed by those who would “pull us apart.” My takeaway is that the laughter it elicits in the beginning opens the heart and the mind to viewing the dichotomy as something that SHOULD be healed and COULD lead to world peace.

J: It’s not a typical parody or satire that is lampooning a person or critiquing an artistic work. It seems more like hope for a vision of a better world brought about by better leadership. Still, I have questions. As social critique, is it addressed to world leaders or to us? And if to us, what can we do to persuade power-hungry leaders to work for peace and justice?

N: Those are great questions. The fact that the video is a technological contrivance and that they're not actually singing together becomes a double-edged sword: on one hand the lyric of the song abstractly presents the call and hope for a unified world while at the same time the artificiality is a sobering reminder of an absence of good will between nations. Still, as unsettling as it might be to some, I found it totally disarming and thought-provoking.

J: And then there are ethical questions about the use of AI. It’s an easy tool to use to spread false information, to discount human creativity, and to devalue human effort.

N: So many people decry AI, and yes, there is a potential abusive quality to it insofar as people may lose jobs because LLMs (Large Language Modules) are able to coherently present concepts by reviewing massive amounts of information. But there may be a long range hidden benefit. Oh, you mean that was AI? Oh, gee, it seems so real. Oh, you mean that was AI?

Ironically, I think those reflections are leading to a general mistrust of artificially created media altogether and renewing a thirst for the reawakening of person-to-person communication in small groups and informal settings. Perhaps coffee houses will come back because the glamour and glitter of massive events become less meaningful. I think as we thirst for human connection in communal settings, friendships, and families, we will seek out deeper relationships as a result of being disappointed in the artificial ones.

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Connections

View the original video. U.S.A. For Africa - “We Are the World.”

Vibrations

View the AI generated parody “We Are World.” The AI parody is anonymous as far as we can tell. The NPS title and photo indicate only that the video being accessed from Noel's Vimeo account to avoid the interruptive ads that appear on YouTube videos.

View the AI generated parody “We Are the World.”

The word “parody” comes from the Greek paroidia, “a song sung alongside another.” A parody is an imitation of some aspect a work of art --a song, a novel, a play, a poem, a painting. Its purpose can be admiration, critique, or ridicule of the original. It may be simply comic entertainment or social and political commentary. The humor in parodies often relies on incongruity.

The parody of “We Are the World” uses the same words and lyrics as the original but posts—in the opening credits—the signatures of the AI-generated world leaders instead of those of the celebrity singers, further highlighting the incongruity between the “heads of state” and the ideal of the world “standing together as one.”

In “Impeachable” Noel changes the lyrics of “Unforgettable” but keeps the melody and emotional tone. The incongruity is between the lyrics and the emotional tone of the original song.

Resonance

We share this parody knowing that readers will respond in different ways. How does it strike you? Why? Even if you seriously doubt that even one world leader would be directly influenced by this video, what other value might it have?

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A few months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, folksingers / songwriters John McCutcheon and Tom Paxton wrote “Ukrainian Now. “ In response, Noel created a video inviting the participation of Peter Yarrow, Bill Miller, Tret Fure, Holly Near, Emma's Revolution, Rebel Voices, Crys Matthews, Carrie Newcomer, Christine Lavin and Joe Jencks—whose playing of the electric bouzouki adds a haunting compliment to the piano of McCutcheon. The lyrics scroll across the screen and the sheet music is at the end. Please share far and wide. As Holly says at the video's conclusion, "We are all Ukrainian, now..." It was on point for that time, and now that DT and JD have ambushed, bullied, and demeaned Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, it's even more appropriate now.

Please feel free to share this video (no ads) widely.

www.vimeo.com/704755828?share=copy

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I told my co-writer Jeanne Finley that I wanted to come up with a Valentine’s message that captured the spirit of the holiday—introducing some historical information about its origin—while at the same time condemning the heartlessness with which the present administration is moving forward with executive orders and nominations for important and far-reaching key positions that will ultimately govern—or eliminate — our democracy.

Perhaps it was the peach margarita (which I’ve been known to favor as a pre-dinner drink) or just the sense of malaise I’ve been carrying around in my heart this past week, but on the 14th of February, when faced with the task of bringing the concept of Love to bear on the current political dialogue, I realized it was a challenge that might call for the use of additional resources.

Therefore…

I asked the most neutral writing assistant I could think of to create a Valentine’s card that would speak to my frustration. Here then is a somewhat bizarre and distanced encouragement for the newly elected president of our country created by the AI website called ChatGPT

==========

Suggested Cover of card: "You're the Wall to My Heart"

Inside:

"Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I’d build a border,
To keep out anyone but you."

Message:

Dear Mr. Trump,

This Valentine’s Day, I just wanted to say… you truly take my breath away—just like your EPA rollbacks did for clean air. You’re the Big, Beautiful, Tremendous Love I never knew I needed, much like America never knew it needed your executive orders (but we sure felt them!).

Your leadership is like a non-consensual NDA—binding, restrictive, and leaving everyone with so many unanswered questions. But despite the chaos, the shutdowns, and the Twitter tirades, I know deep down that your love (for yourself) will never waver.

Hope you spend the day with your biggest love—your own reflection.

Yours in alternative facts,

Noel Paul Stookey

P.S. If this card doesn’t make it to you, I’ll just claim it was the most perfect, most romantic Valentine ever written, and anyone who says otherwise is fake news. ?

========

I was surprised at AI’s ability to be sarcastic—almost “snarky”—yet, at the same time I did take note of the 4th line in ChatGPT’s revision of the traditional roses-are-red poem that said “... keep out anyone but you.” Hmmmmm. That does suggest that perhaps an invitation for participation in dialogue should supersede any bitterness I might be storing.

This is an important point. And one that should remind us to keep the avenues of discourse open as we humans express what are bound to be some “heated” concerns in these next four years about what America is all about.

I can't help but think that in our day-to-day, there's another larger sphere of relationship that continues to be born. Somewhere in the Bible I think I read that “governments will come and go but the kingdom of God is forever.” So our personal autonomies might be challenged by agencies beyond our immediate control BUT attitudes of Love and Forgiveness that we faithfully exchange with one another continue to grow and are personally sustainable, regardless of which planet (with a nod to Musk) we're on.

So. That’s the long view. In the short view, I’m emailing every Republican congressperson that I can with a message of DON’T YOU FEEL A RESPONSIBILITY TO STEP UP AND STOP THIS MADNESS?!!!

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Connections

If you search the Internet to learn about St. Valentine, you’ll find a number of legends related to at least three saints by the same name and many attempts—some of them videos—to tell their stories, often with attached annoying ads. This essay from Rob Durocher, minister of worship and the arts at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, is as well researched and ad free as any I have found. If your interest is more literary and medieval, I recommend this short essay on Chaucer’s poem “The Parliament of Fowls.” JTF

Vibrations

REVOLUTION 1X1 video with graphics assembled by David Snyder

Resonance

We have filled this post with legend and lore, AI and politics, Biblical wisdom and a challenge to Republican members of Congress, and the Noel’s message about a peaceful and winnable revolution. What part of this collection speaks to you on this Valentine’s Day?

Happy Valentine’s Day from Noel and Jeanne

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Photo by Fabian Burghardt on Unsplash

We appreciate deeply the many heartfelt condolences from our readers after the passing of Peter Yarrow. In our collective loss, the relevance of many of his songs has become more apparent. Such is the case in the lyrics of “Don’t Ever Take Away Our Freedom,” which seems to have been written for this perilous time. In the version we use in this post, the trio is accompanied by a chorus of enthusiastic kids. When you hear the first verse, you’ll know why we chose a photo of three horses

Across the nation Americans are gathering to say no to Musk and Trump. Tuesday night 1,000 protestors gathered outside the Treasury Department to stand against Musk’s takeover of the U.S. Treasury payment system. On Wednesday thousands of people gathered at state capitols across the nation to voice their opposition to Project 2025 and to the administration’s attack on civil liberties, immigrants, personal privacy, and federal agencies, to name a few. Protests were held in cities from Austin,Texas, to Madison, Wisconsin, and from Sacramento, California, to Montpelier, Vermont. Posters at the various sites displayed such messages as “DOGE isn’t legit”; “Death of fascism”; “Defend democracy”; “No one voted for Elon Musk”; and “Why does Elon have your Social Security info???”

To name all the assaults on freedom is way beyond the scope of Strings, but we do share with you several recent Substack posts that we trust for information and analysis. In her Feb. 5th Letters from an American historian Heather Cox Richardson explains how “Musk’s takeover of the U.S. government to override Congress and dictate what programs he considers worthwhile is a logical outcome of forty years of Republican rhetoric.” In Wednesday's Connections Kristin Du Mez writes that “the pushback is starting” and points readers to Ezra Klein’s video “Don’t Believe Him: He Is Trying to Overwhelm.” In his January 6th Today’s Edition Newsletter attorney Robert Hubble writes, “The resistance to Trump’s slow-rolling coup is achieving lift-off,” and he provides links to pro-democracy grassroots organizations that are working to protect our freedom. Today Diana Butler Bass’s “Facing What We’ve Avoided” is an important read for mainline Protestant denominations and progressive Christians.

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****************************************************************************************

Connections:

The news overwhelms and resistance is exhausting. Diana Butler Bass’s January 8th post in The Cottage deals with the question of that many Americans are asking: “What am I going to do?” She has come up with “Ten Ws” to sustain “hope and resilience in the midst of the current political turmoil and crisis,” which has become the second most-read piece in The Cottage.

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Vibrations:

Listen to or better yet sing with PP&M, “Don’t Ever Take Away Our Freedom,” which is on Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too (1993).

Resonance:

What are you doing to take care of yourself in these fraught and frightening times?

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Being an only child, growing up without siblings may have afforded me the full attention of my parents, but with the formation of Peter, Paul and Mary, I suddenly had a brother named Peter Yarrow. He was best man at my wedding and I at his. He was a loving ‘uncle’ to my three daughters. And, while his comfort in the city and my love of the country tended to keep us apart geographically, our different perspectives were celebrated often in our friendship and our music. I was five months older than Peter - who became my creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother - yet at the same time, I grew to be grateful for, and to love, the mature-beyond-his-years wisdom and inspiring guidance he shared with me like an older brother. Politically astute and emotionally vulnerable, perhaps Peter was both of the brothers I never had…and I shall deeply miss both of him.

In the late sixties our family lived in Rye, NY, in a house large enough for me to build a recording studio for myself as well as for other performers, including saxophonist and composer Paul Winter, for whom I produced three albums. To record “Mr. Bojangles” for the Paul Winter Consort’s album Something in the Wind, Paul brought in tap dancer Chuck Green to provide the rhythm track. We spread sand on our living room floor and recorded him dancing to the sound track. Paul also came down to my basement studio to oversee the recording of Peter and me doing “Et Misericordia” fom Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat. The recording was challenging because Peter had a sore throat and had to sing almost the entire part in falsetto.

Guided by Paul Winter who, along with the consort had created the backing tracks and the multi-track capacity to be able to punch in and record sections at a time, Peter insisted on giving a complete performance which now, since his passing, seems particularly poignant AND so ‘perfectly Peter’ - insofar as he always gave himself to so many causes - regardless of personal cost.

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Vibrations:

Listen to the recording of “Et Misericordia” from Noel’s album Something New and Fresh here:

Latin Text

Et misericordia a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.

English Translation

And [his] mercy [is] on those who fear him, from generation to generation.

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote down the lyrics for “Auld Lang Syne” in1788 and claimed that they came from “an old man’s singing.” He may have heard other poems and folk songs with similar words or meanings. Since traditional folk songs were transmitted from one generation to another and from one place to another through the oral tradition, Burns was building on what he had heard.

Similarly Noel and his friend George Emlen were acting in the folk tradition when they created a lyric and counterpoint melody as a musical complement to “Auld Lang Syne.” Their version of “Last Night / Auld Lang Syne,” accompanied by Michael McInnis on synthed saxophone/keyboard,* is a song that invites memories of good times with old friends—not just in the past year, but throughout our lives— and anticipation of new friends in the years to come.

*We have corrected this sentence, which in the original attibuted the saxophone part to Paul Winter.

Connections:

Read about the history and meaning of “Auld Lang Syne” in the December 2024 Country Living Magazine.

Vibrations:

Enjoy “Last Night / Auld Lang Syne.”

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P.S. from Jeanne

• Today (December 30, 2024) Noel turns 87. Please join me in wishing him a happy birthday filled with joy, peace, and love.

• Since we published “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a reader requested that we provide the audio of Mary reading the poem, and we have. You can find it in the Vibrations portion of our December 24th post.

WE WISH YOU A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR

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Noel sings “The Night Before Christmas” in the 1988 Peter, Paul, & Mary PBS Holiday Concert at Carnegie Hall

One of the most memorable scenes from the PBS Peter, Paul and Mary’s The Holiday Concert at Carnegie Hall is that of Noel sitting in front of a gathering of children as he sings “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” If you’ve watched it, you can’t help but be aware of the poem’s ability to be both a song and an intimate story of a wondrous evening in the life of many families.

Here Noel recounts the writing of his musical version of the poem.

It's the autumn of 1986, in the Newport, Rhode Island, living room of my friend Matthew Quinn. We are shoulder to shoulder, he bent over an electronic keyboard translating (and sometimes replacing) chords that I've assembled on my guitar.

The lengthy poem has always been a challenge to anyone trying to place it within a melodic structure. Attempts by other composers to compress the information into fewer lines invariably disrupt the flow because the loss of any one section weakens the story line. Matthew and I have just timed our first rough sketch of the tune. It's nearly five minutes long—too long for most airplay—perhaps too long for anything but the most formal of classical presentations.”

"I'd hate to cut this...." I murmur reluctantly.

"Uh-huh...’ says Matthew pensively, leaning back in his chair. "He lived just up the block, you know."

"Huh?"

"Clement Moore ... just up the street."

"Really? Here in Newport?" I ask.

Matthew nods. A few seconds pass, and I hum a few bars from the Twilight Zone theme. Matthew grins, picks up his pencil, and we both look down again at the sheet music. Though nothing specific is said, we both know that there will be no edits to this text.

In 2010 Peter and Noel published a new edition of The Night Before Christmas, beautifully illustrated by Eric Puybaret. The book contained a CD of Mary reading the poem with Noel playing guitar in the background. After Mary’s death in September 2009, Noel and Peter performed a dozen or so concerts a year for several years as a way to say goodbye to Mary with an audience. The new edition was another part of their farewell.

In a 2010 interview Noel recalled, “Peter and a recording engineer visited Mary in her home in Connecticut to record the piece. Mary was in fragile health at that point. She was on oxygen.” He continued, “So rather than reading the poem in a proclamation voice, or an oratorical voice she read it almost as if she were confiding it to a child, as if she were telling the poem in a conspiratorial whisper before bedtime. Mary’s reading, accompanied by Noel’s noodling on the guitar, was the last recording she made.

Wishing you sweet memories, peace and joy in this holiday season,

Noel and Jeanne

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Connections:

See the cover of the Peter, Paul and Mary book and listen to the Holiday Concert here:

Hear Mary read “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” another of the CD tracks that accompany the book.

Vibrations:

See an animated version of the song:

Reflections:

The Night Before Christmas” is arguably the most famous American poem ever written. Mary of us have been able to recite it by heart since we were children. Its rhyme scheme and rhythm make it easy to memorize. Some essays on the poem have pointed out that it has, for better or worse, strongly shaped the way we celebrate Christmas in the United States. On the positive side, Clement Clark Moore, a professor of Greek and Hebrew at an Episcopal seminary in New York, originally wrote it for his own children, simply to entertain them on Christmas Eve, and it has brought wonder and joy to generations of children since. However, critics point out that the poem helped to create the version of Santa Claus that has fostered the commercialization of Christmas. How do you regard the influence it has had on the way we celebrate Christmas?

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Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

We begin this essay with individual stories of grief —"clear" personal losses of loved ones. Then we turn from "clear" losses to the huge, collective "ambiguous" one many of us have experienced since election day. It's ambigous because there is no death certificate, no definite ending in sight, no ritual to mark the beginning of a grief journey, and no means of corporate lament.

From Noel

I believe the expression is “It never rains, but it pours.” Sorrowful moments seem to pile upon one another, and any brightness or hope feels like some distant memory, a discarded picture postcard of surf and sun from another time and place. Could we have ever been that happy? That joyful? Is our innocence and belief in goodness being tested now by an intrusive cynicism that grows from our sadness?

However, the recent death of a close friend, Ed Mottau, a carpenter, a producer, a fellow musician and one the best blues guitarist/singers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with is causing me to reflect more upon the importance of his presence in my life during our sixty years of friendship than to dwell on his recent passing.

Eddie was in a group that opened for one of Peter, Paul and Mary’s first concerts on the Massachusetts cape. Over the years, our roles in each other’s lives changed constantly. He was one of the producers of my first solo album Paul and. I remember the day we recorded the “Wedding Song”—how he bolted out of the control room, crouching down in front of me as I was arpeggiating the chords, and declaring, “That’s it! That’s it! Just keep that thumb goin’.” Because of his encouragement, and despite being the only instrument used for the recording, the resultant double-tracked twelve-string with echo and overtones sounds as full as an orchestra even today.

But professional relationships aside, it was the immediacy and trust of each other that created our strongest bond. And music wasn’t the only opportunity we had to work together. In the early 70’s, my wife and I had found some property in a small town with a house that needed some work, and we invited Ed and his family to come stay with us while we updated the building. He was the carpenter, and I was the unskilled laborer. I remember one afternoon in particular.

“Hey Stookey,” he yelled, “stop carrying those rocks with your face!”—laughing at my contorted mouth as I lugged a 150-pound rock over to a trench we had laid out to describe the foundation of the kitchen we wanted to enlarge. Six months later, he had essentially single-handedly completed the renovation for us. And a year later, he bought land across the driveway to build his own family’s three bedroom house.

I miss him greatly.

As many of you may know, my singing partner, Peter Yarrow, is now in home care this holiday season, following hospitalization for inoperable bladder cancer. His daughter Bethany and son Christopher have created a site (https:// peteryarrow.net) where many thankful anecdotes from fans and friends are being posted recalling the impact of Peter’s life and career. As I visit weekly with my ailing musical brother, I’m realizing that the best take-away from any loss that one experiences is to recall the shared meaningful moments, as they provide the strength to move on positively.

But like I said “. . . it doesn’t rain, but it pours.”

And many of us who felt emotionally invested and subsequently greiving the results of the recent election will now find ourselves similarly drawing upon memories of better times. Recalling the societal advances of the past will bolster our resolve to combat those who are attempting to “Make America Great Again” by ignoring our constitution and gutting the checks and balances put in place by our founders.

From Jeanne

My husband and I lost our daughter Anne to cancer in early fall 2013. She left behind her husband and their six-month-old daughter. From the following Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, I dreaded going to the grocery and department stores because I didn’t want to hear the “Merry Christmas” songs. Each of the decorations and tree ornaments had a history which she had always helped us remember. When I came across the Swiss candle holder she had given us the Christmas she had studied abroad, I didn’t want to put it together. That year Bill and I were grateful that our church offered a “ longest night” (a.k.a. “Blue Christmas” or “solace” ) service on the evening of winter solstice. It was comforting to be in a gathering of mourners, an acknowledgement that grief goes on despite holiday festivities.

It’s been 11 years. I think of Anne everyday. Last week, as I was unpacking Christmas decorations, I came across the stockings that our family hung on our mantle every year, and I realized I don’t want to hang them this year. Occasionally, waves of grief wash over me when I notice some reminder of her. Those waves come less frequently now, but I don’t expect them to ever go away, and I wouldn’t want them to.

🙵🙵🙵

The personal stories we’ve shared are examples of clear losses. There are social rituals, both religious and secular, that acknowledge the beginning of the long journey of grief that follows the death of a loved one—sympathy cards and calls from friends, memorial services.

Many of you have been in emotional turmoil since the November election. You may be angry, depressed, sad, or fearful about the future of our country. You may be hoping to wake up from a nightmare. You know some of what Donald Trump has said what he will do during his second term: deportations of immigrants’ children born in the U.S, suspension of refugee resettlement, revenge against his enemies, dismantling the federal government, refusing to honor the Constitution. You’re already seeing his cabinet nominations. You fear what his administration will do to health care, education, the free press, public lands, the environment, and democracy itself. We simply do not know what we might lose in the next four years.

When psychotherapist Pauline Boss was working with spouses of soldiers missing in action in the 1970s, she coined the term “ambiguous loss” to name the kind of loss our society rarely acknowledges, the kind without closure or resolution. Later Boss applied it to responses to COVID 19 such as loss of trust in the world and loss of a sense of safety. She has also applied to the loss experienced by the caregivers and loved ones of persons with dementia.

In a recent interview Boss said,

Now we have a kind of loss that I think is causing some grief for people who wanted a different outcome in this election. It's really quite important to understand the feelings. It’s a normal response if you're in the midst of something you didn't expect and you don't want and it came suddenly and unexpectedly. It's a major loss.

Boss encourages those of us who are experiencing depression, anger, and grief over the election to accept our feelings and to write down a list of our losses. Ambiguous grief can leave us frozen, immobilized. To counter that helpless feeling, we need to do something active. She says, “Short term, you have to do something you can control when you are in a situation you can’t control. . . . Go running, listen to music, go to a movie, Do something that requires action that makes your body move. You'll feel better for that.” In the long term, she encourages getting involved “with whatever works for change the will bring us closer to the future, not take us backward.”

We want to add that it’s important to stay in touch with others who are grieving this election—by phone or Zoom or in person if possible. Community and connection are crucial in times of ambiguous grief. We need each other as we live with grief and as we take the steps to move us closer to a future that honors the Constitution, diversity, human rights, a free press, freedom of religion, and the earth itself.

Likewise, we’d encourage those who are grieving clear or ambiguous loss to listen to your own heart about what you need, to remember the grief process is different for different people, and to seek out the community and connection that is best for you, be that through friends and loved ones, professional counselors, or support groups. In addition, if you are grieving during this holiday season, we hope that you still will find some measure of peace, some reason for joy.

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Connections:

Read “Election Grief Is Real. Here’s How to Cope,” an interview with Pauline Boss in the November 6 Scientific American.

Learn more about Pauline Boss and ambiguous loss in this article in The New York Times Magazine.

Here are suggestions from the Mayo Clinic for dealing with grief and loss during the holidays.

This “Blue Christmas” service is based on an order developed and used at The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, Honolulu Hawaii.

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Vibrations:

Enjoy this seasonal slide video accompanying Noel’s recording of “There’s Still My Joy.”

Hear the inspirational call and the gift of community spirit in the video of “In These Times.”

Resonance:

Questions for reflection:

What kinds of ambiguous loss have you experienced and how have you dealt with them?

What practices have helped you cope with grief during the holidays?

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Participants in a campaign event pray for former President Trump in Doral, Florida
Credit: Alex Brandon, Associated Press

No matter how well-intentioned this prayerful moment may have been for the participants, the outstretched hands praying for Trump in the photograph above triggered in me disturbing memories of the salute exchanged by members of the Nazi party when I was growing up during the Second World War. Perhaps I would not have made that association so quickly if recent press coverage had not revealed the agenda of the former president to be frighteningly similar to fascists of that era.

Alas, much of the current support for an autocratic system of government comes from a Christian Nationalism movement that, in the name of “faith,” essentially uses their interpretation of the Bible to achieve their political ends—a hierarchical theocratic autocracy in which the adherents occupy top positions of power. In this rule-bound system, Jesus' teachings that "God is love" and that his followers should "love their neighbors" are mainly ignored. In its more extreme forms, the movement justifies hate and violence to achieve its vision of America as a promised land  for European Christians. One might argue—and perhaps the common assumption is—that "Love" is simply an emotional attachment reserved for family and friends. I beg to differ.

There’s a line from one of the songs I’ve written called “Love Rules” that says ”Love forgives but it is not blind.”  My use of the phrase is in reference to that often-quoted old romantic adage that “love is blind.”  As a result of awakening to the concept of a larger over-seeing Love in my life, I was attempting in my lyrical revision to say that Love sees the truth, not only of our interpersonal relationships which we bring into the flourishing of communities, but also our concerns for the welfare of cities and states, and even the health of democracy.  Simultaneously, Love is not blind to lying, greed, lust for power, racism, misogyny, hatred and violence but rather through us Love works for the common good and justice to prevail.    

Lately we’ve mentioned that we’re working on the last several chapters of our book, where the main themes of music, justice, and faith converge. Like many writers who deal with such topics, we often find ourselves writing for our own understanding as much as for our readers. We can relate to Flannery O’Conner’s confession “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” Like making music, growing in faith, and working for just causes, writing is taking a risk. Even though we've not finished, much of what we are writing explores the issues we all will be facing following this election.

Democracy has always been a messy project, but now the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. Many people have a sense of impending doom about a possible Trump presidency with no guardrails. How generous are we going to be to our neighbor if we feel—because of the flag flying in the back of their pickup truck or the sign on their front lawn—that they were directly responsible for electing someone who apparently has no moral compass, no concern for anyone other than himself, and no respect for the Constitution of the United States?

We're at a point in our nation's history where personal character seems to be the last bastion of hope for the human race. We might assume that elected political officials represent the will of the people, but unless we take care of our own hearts, our own self respect and companionship—and offer them to our neighbor—we're gonna be in trouble. Despite all our faults, failures, and flaws as human beings, we must be able to trust ourselves and others to find common ground. 

How are we to live going forward?  

I would suggest that there IS a meeting place: a place where a similarity of trust connects us beyond differences in biblical interpretation, doctrine and ritual. For some wondrous collective reason, we humankind seem to understand that while Love’s presence may be invisible, it is nonetheless universal. And though we’ve  been endowed with the capacity to ignore it, we are in the “presence” as often as we recognize it. That's our choice.  

And I find to be at one with this larger presence called Love calls for a visualization of an absorptive nature—to make oneself more accessible—connecting to something much larger than ourselves, our bodies, the floor that we’re standing on, or even the world that we’re in.  At those times, as we become aware of our connection to and our place within the larger whole, created and sustained by Love, I think we are most empowered to love our neighbors. 

In the days and months and years following this election, our country is going to need citizens who feel called to do the work of Love. We are going to need neighbors and leaders who believe these words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

We are also going to need Love’s constant companion, hope. Playwright and former Czech president Václav Havel has said, “Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something is worth doing regardless of how it turns out.… [This] hope … gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.” So might that, then, become our daily calling?  Waking from sleep and dedicating ourselves —in hope, in Love—to the day.  

Going forward, you might say…

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Connections

“Democracy Is Love,” by Holly Berkley Fletcher, is a meditative poem for these days around the election.  She writes a Substack newsletter called A Zebra without Stripes.

Watch “Julie Ingersoll at The Cottage: A Conversation about Project 2025, Christian Nationalism, and the Long Fight Ahead.” Most scholars of Christian Nationalism approach it as a belief system, but Julie treats it from a sociological perspective. Although the podcast is long, close to the beginning is a 10-minute slide presentation that will give you a good overview. 

The co-hosts of The Convocation—Diana Butler Bass, Jemar Tisby, and Kristin Du Mez, and Robert P. Jones — recently returned from their Faith and Democracy Tour  which took them to five cities in nine days. Watching  this video of their conversation in Tempe, AZ, was almost like overhearing  these four leading public commentators on white Christian nationalism as they were at the dinner table. Listen to what they say about “going forward.

Vibrations

Listen to the song mentioned in our essay: Love Rules!  

Resonance  

Here are several questions for your reflection:

What is your plan for staying grounded in uncertain times?

What does the quote from Havel mean in your circumstance?

How does Noel’s song speak to you this week?