Swimming to the Other Side

For the second time, I participated in a creative arts workshop led by Niela Miller—a 91-year old force of nature who is also a member of my church. The workshop is held monthly on Zoom. We were given a prompt to find a song lyric (1-2 lines) that moved us, write it in a fanciful way, and then illustrate it. I went with one of my favorite songs by Pat Humphries of Emma’s Revolution: Swimming to the Other Side. I once heard Pat say that this song tends to come to people when they need it most.

Chorus: We are living ‘neath the great big dipper
We are washed by the very same rain
We are swimming in this stream together
Some in power and some in pain
We can worship this ground we walk on
Cherishing the beings that we live beside
Loving spirits will live forever
We’re all swimming to the other side

I am alone and I am searching
Hungering for answers in my time
I am balanced at the brink of wisdom
I’m impatient to receive a sign
I move forward with my senses open
Imperfection, it be my crime
In humility I will listen
We’re all swimming to the other side

Chorus

On this journey through thoughts and feelings
Binding intuition, my head, my heart
I am gathering the tools together
I’m preparing to do my part
All of those who have come before me
Band together and be my guide
Loving lessons that I will follow
We’re all swimming to the other side

Chorus

When we get there, we’ll discover
All of the gifts we’ve been given to share
Have been with us since life’s beginning
And we never noticed they were there
We can balance at the brink of wisdom
Never recognizing that we’ve arrived
Loving spirits will live together
We’re all swimming to the other side

Chorus

Swimming to the Other Side
© 1990 Pat Humphries
Moving Forward Music, BMI

Missing white lady!!!!

I’m sorry that Savannah Guthrie’s mother has gone missing, but GOOD GOD. The media coverage is ridiculous. They actually broke into primetime Olympics coverage of the men’s figure skating—with “Quad God” Ilia Malinin on deck—to tell us that absolutely nothing had changed.

How many Native American women go missing every single year and we never hear a peep from the media about them?

While Nancy Guthrie has been receiving 24/7 coverage, it sounds like things are still really bad in Minneapolis.

Copied and pasted from “The Other 98%” Facebook page:

Minnesota is still very much under assault by Trump’s private ICE army, even after the headline friendly withdrawal of 700 agents. You would not know it scrolling through your feed, where posts from Minneapolis residents about raids, beatings and shootings keep getting flagged or buried while the national press treats the state like a backdrop instead of a crime scene. And now there are early reports that ICE agents may have killed yet another person, adding to the sense that this crackdown is only getting deadlier, not winding down…On the ground this does not feel like “enforcement,” it feels like an occupation that has simply swapped helmets. The numbers have not really drawn down, they have just changed tactics, leaning harder on pre-dawn home raids, unmarked vans, so called “collateral” arrests of bystanders and courthouse stakeouts meant to snatch people when they show up to comply with the law.

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On the bright side:

Randy Rainbow’s latest is a real gem—a perfect Ode to the Sycophants. 😂

Last weekend my church raised over $2,500 for a local non-profit social service organization that supports refugees and immigrants with a fantastic concert by Emma’s Revolution. We also raised $4,500 to buy a used car for a hardworking immigrant family from Afghanistan that several church members know.

A unique brand

What are your favorite brands and why?

I got to see Emma’s Revolution perform live last night. They’re a duo (Pat Humphries and Sandy O) with a long history of combining performance and activism for various causes particularly anti-war movements, climate and environment, and women’s and LGBTQ rights. Last night they were performing with two other women (about ten years older than them) who are also folk music icons: Claudia Schmidt and Sally Rogers. They all sounded great. It was a powerful quartet. Their songs are poignant, yet hopeful. We (the audience) learned that a documentary is currently in production about Emma’s Revolution. I can’t wait to see it. Pat Humphries is a tremendous songwriter and last night she played the song that “changed everything” for them—Swimming to the Other Side.

They sell their own merchandise at intermission and have no obvious corporate sponsorships or affiliations of any kind. They perform mostly in Unitarian churches, coffeehouses, and small nonprofit venues.

So, what’s their “brand”?

I don’t really know (just trying to bring it back to the prompt).

Clearly, they’re on the left politically.

They’re white and so is their audience (mostly), but they frequently reference icons of the civil rights movement like John Lewis and nonwhite immigration/refugee activists.

They’re acoustic (although they come with a lot of amps and sound equipment).

They’re good. Like really good. They’re total pros. They sing and play beautifully. They make it look easy, but it’s not. In addition to playing songs, folk musicians build a true rapport with their live audiences. They tell personal stories and anecdotes while they tune their instruments between songs. Again, not easy.

That’s all I got. Go see them on their next tour, if you can. Actually, you can see them tonight (from Schenectady) if you buy a ticket to the livestream.

Keep on Moving Forward

Daily writing prompt
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

Sometimes failure is just failure. The plays I didn’t get cast in, the rejection from my first-choice college, the math class I dropped because it was too hard, and the fellowship and jobs I didn’t get, are all examples of times I objectively failed.

People talk a lot about “grit and resilience,” usually in the context of blaming today’s parents for being too protective and helicopter-y. Well, failure forces you to build those qualities, even if your parents somehow messed-up.

What other choice do you have in the face of failure? You gotta keep going.

Keep on Moving Forward” by Emma’s Revolution is my all-time favorite protest song. I think it inspires personal fortitude, as well as strength to keep fighting for a better world.

KEEP ON MOVING FORWARD
© 1984 Pat Humphries
Moving Forward Music, BMI
www.emmasrevolution.com

Gonna keep on moving forward
Keep on moving forward
Keep on moving forward
Never turning back
Never turning back

Gonna keep on moving proudly
Gonna keep on singing loudly
Gonna keep on loving boldly
Gonna reach across our borders
Gonna end the occupations
Gonna stop these wars together
Gonna keep on moving forward

Pat Humphries and Sandy O (Emma’s Revolution)

IT’S SUPER TUESDAY in the USA. Don’t waste your right to vote.

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