First of all a big shout out of love and affection for those that donated to the Appalachian History Donor Challenge. The project was fully funded on October 15, 2008. No one has asked me the question but I'll answer it. Why would an African-American woman sponsor a history project for an Appalachian school?
Because I am an American. And all sectors of this country must know their history and then share that history. Knowing about the Irish in America is my history. Knowing about the Chinese experience in America is my history. It is not just about what happened in Independence Hall.
Look at this way. It is like always feeding a staving man a piece of bread. He will eat the bread. Now put some jam on the bread. There is now a choice. Knowing your history and other people's history gives you choices. It expands the ability to think beyond yourself.
Speaking of choices, I couldn't just pick one video so we got a double header this week with Miss Peaches herself, Miss Etta James. This first video is from 1966 and Etta rips it up with a live version of Something's Got A Hold of Me.
Like I said, I couldn't just pick one so we do a little time traveling a few years to 1980. My girl puts the hurt on the Tom Snyder show with her version of Take It To The Limit.
As for the coming days, all I can say is hang on. Scared people are slipping into the Wakadoo zone and saying all kinds of stuff. You don't have to follow them; just keep an eye on them from a distance.
Do the best you can. For those on the pray and affirmation tip I think we can spare some for a grandmother in Hawaii and her grandson. For those on the other side of the belief system a random act of kindness will do just fine.
For more information about Etta James you can visit her RCA/BMG web site where you can get glimmer of her biography and discography and if you go to the soundroom page you can sample some of her work from her 2006 album, All The Way. You can also read a tribute to Etta by Bonnie Raitt at RollingStone.com
Hey, Gene,
ReplyDeleteI'm visiting from Blogher. I've enjoyed reading your posts. Keep up the good work.
JC