Member Since: 8/13/2012
Posts: 32,832
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Ani Difranco for WSJ: "Things Peter Seeger taught me"
Quote:
I don’t remember the first time Pete Seeger wrote me a letter (the early 1990s?) but I remember thinking, “whoa, Pete Seeger wrote me a letter! And it’s like 2 pages long!” It was only over the course of many years, as he continued to write to me, in long hand, often in red ink… penmanship slowly deteriorating as the years passed… that I sort-of got used to the idea.
Pete was a great comrade to me and I tried to be a good comrade in return, to come when he called. The reason I can claim to be his comrade at all is because of his insistence on walking alongside people, not in front of them. Within our camaraderie was the essential relationship of teacher and student. I learned a heck of a lot from him about being a folksinger and an activist. In our every interaction there was a lesson and I payed close attention.
I remember meeting him at the first of many benefit concerts in which we would both participate. It was a typically well-meant but disorganized folk affair, and I was surrounded by stressed-out, agitated old lefties on the one hand, trying to keep the show moving along without losing their cool, and a lot of ego-driven performers on the other hand, jockeying for the limelight and who gets to headline. I was very young at the time and struck by all the unexpected and unfortunate vibes. And then in walked Pete. Within 15 minutes of his arrival he had everybody holding hands and singing in one big circle backstage. He said it was to “warm up” but I felt he was doing the work of grounding the event in the spirit in which it was intended. He instantly transformed the scene with his powerful presence and brought us all back to the purpose and joy of why we were there.
Pete taught me that it is not enough to do good work, you have to do it with the right spirit or it is no good at all.
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The rest:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/...ger-taught-me/
P.s.: can we post whole articles anymore?
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