This section is dedicated to all voices echoing through the oral tradition – powerful counterstories honoring ancestors, mentoring the young, empowering future generations with resiliency and hope.
Some of the poems are musings providing the threads of softer and more fragile peripheries of Diversity. Moments to pause and think of times when to love and be loved was all there was, even if only for an instance. A moment when we were able and willing to sense each other’s vulnerabilities. Moments when awareness led to appreciation for our mutual humanness.
Poems are born in the marrow of our bones. They slowly work their way into a poet’s veins and flow through the heart where they palpitate and resonate. They wind their way into the lungs, inhaling experiences and identity. From the first primal gasp, to every breath thereafter, poems are exhaled to provoke and evoke emotions. They articulate the inarticulable freeing the mind, heart and spirit in order to stay alive. Poems are reflections of life itself.
Martin Espada provides his version of poetry ~ “Poetry gives a human face to a time life this. Poetry gives eyes and a mouth and a voice to a time like this. Poetry records a time like this for future generations who want to know about a time like this in terms of the five senses, and in terms of the soul.”
“How could this be happening in this safe, comfortable middle-class neighborhood, in a high school noted for academic excellence; where arts, music, and theater were prized; where parent involvement was without equal, and graduation rates were among the highest in the state. It was simply inconceivable, and yet it had happened . . . here, at Columbine.” Carolyn Lundsford Mears
The complete Columbine narratives are included in Experiences of Columbine Parents: Finding a Way to Tomorrow (available through ProQuest UMI AAT 3161558). Detailed explanation of my approach to research may be found in my text Interviewing for Education and Social Science Research: The Gateway Approach published by Palgrave Macmillan (2009, 2015).
I have made available stories of experiences of educators involved in mass violence events, including shootings, natural disaster, and terrorist attack, in my book Reclaiming School in the Aftermath of Trauma published by Palgrave-Macmillan (2012).
A look can carry the weight of intention in silence.
It all happens in an instance as eyes meet to deny or affirm humanity.
It is a decoded nuance when diversity as the other and difference is viewed.
The poetic “La Mirada” (The Look) provides such internalized interpretations.
Ah… Sweet, sweet 🎶 We play it, fill our ears with it, go to sleep and wake up to it, a cappella to it, whistle to it, hum to it, dance to it, do back flips on ice and mats to it, attend standing-room-only concerts to it, Alleluia and Amen to it, protest and march to it, doo wop to it, Motown to it, rap to it, lull babies to sleep to it, provide a lady’s/gentleman’s choice to it, snowball to it, hokey pokey to it, scream it out loud (off key) in the car to it, shower to it, horses and riders dance Freestyle to it.
Maybe one day we learn to harmonize with each other to it.
MUSIC – perhaps the best way to appreciate its significance is to think of it as being nonexistent or unavailable.
What would our lives be without music? What would our emotional diaries – read like – feel like?
Thank goodness MUSIC lives reminding us of our diversity, inclusivity and humanity.
The Concert of Color is all about that universal harmony.
Check it out and be there.
The summer schedule will soon be available but the 2022 program provides insights as to its annual depth and breadth.