Apr
The Ghosts of War
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On Friday, April 11, we had a tornado here that tragically killed a young mother and baby, injured many others and left a lot of people without homes. My husband and I were just leaving the Murfreesboro Sportscom where we swim, when the television in the lobby issued a tornado warning, with severe storms headed our way. We drove home under threatening skies, with a pelting thunderstorm hitting as we came in through the door. The warning sirens started and about three miles from our house a tornado touched down with winds reported at 165 miles an hour. The aftermath of one of these things is the true meaning of the word devastation. Trees snapped in half, buildings flattened as if by a bomb, twisted power line poles, metal roofs that resemble discarded aluminum foil. And, after the weather cleared, came the abundance of friends and church members, ready to help; looking for scattered pictures, saving any and all possible treasures and picking up the crazy abundance of bits of insulation that seemed to be everywhere. At our house, calls came in from around the country, making sure we had escaped the damage, which, thankfully, we had. In talking to my friend, the editor of the Macon County Times, we recalled his experience a couple of years ago when Macon County was hit by a much more destructive storm. We both remarked how similar it must feel to surviving a battle. About a month ago I posted a blog about working with the Words and Music program at The Country Music Hall of Fame. Words and Music works with teachers and students, pairing the students’ writings with songwriters, resulting in songs that the songwriters then present to the class. My friend Janne Henshaw and I have been working with this program for a number of years, and this year we participated in both the fall semester and the spring session. Our friend Al Goll came along with his dobro to give the songs we presented a little more polish. One of the songs this year that caught my attention was entitled The Civil War Song. |
 After The Storm
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Two fifth grade boys, Jeremy McConville and Jarrell Reeves, chose the war as the topic for their song. The town that they live in was once rocked by a terrible battle there, literally in their backyard. This week, 148 years ago, the South fired on Fort Sumter, effectively starting the American Civil War. Jeremy and Jarrel’s lyrics talked about Fort Sumter, as well as battles throughout the South. The resulting finished song is, I think, honest and profound.
This week, I took the live performance recording of the Civil War Song and downloaded some Civil War photographs. I put them together in iMovie. Nothing fancy, just some images of the war, including a defiant 67 year old white-haired Edmund Ruffin, who claimed to have fired the first shot at Fort Sumter, as well as a war weary General Ulysses S. Grant whose eyes saw all the horror that Shiloh had to offer.
I find them all so compelling. As always I hope you enjoy it.
