Tag Archives: family

here we are caught in the wildfire…

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I’ve never played a song on repeat as much as Mandolin Orange’s Wildfire—lyrics by Andrew Marlin. This haunting piece weaves in and out of history through our nation’s fight for independence, the civil war, and the lyricist’s own present-day sorrows.

From the ashes grew sweet liberty
Like the seeds of the pines when the forest burns
They open up to grow and burn again

The harmonies of Andrew Martin and his wife Emily Frantz are truly head & heart-rattling.

This song and these lyrics need to be absorbed…the word my big sister used when she wanted me to lie in the dark and listen to a newly discovered song with her.

Brave men fought with the battle cry
Tears filled the eyes of their loved ones and their brothers in arms
And so it went, for Joseph Warren
It should have been different
It could have been easy
His rank could have saved him
But a country unborn needs bravery
And it spread like wildfire

Wildfire starts with the story of Boston physician and Revolutionary War patriot Joseph Warren, who was killed at Bunker Hill after insisting on fighting as a private, rather than serving as Major General, his recently commissioned rank. —Jody Mace, Glide Magazine (interview link below)

Wildfire

From the ashes grew sweet liberty
Like the seeds of the pines when the forest burns
They open up to grow and burn again
It should have been different
It could have been easy
But too much money rolled in to ever end slavery
The cry for war spread like wildfire

Wildfire
Wildfire

I created this image to show in stark reality the division we are experiencing in America. The calls for another civil war are so unsettling.

Civil War came, Civil War went
Brother fought the brother, the South was spent
But its true demise was hatred passed down through the years
It should have been different
It could have been easy
But pride has a way of holding too firm to history
And it burns like wildfire

Wildfire
Wildfire

I was a born a southern son
In a small southern town where the rebels run wild
They beat their chests and they swear we’re going to rise again
It should have been different
It could have been easy
The day that old Warren died hate should have gone with him
But here we are caught in the wildfire

Andrew Marlin was born in the small southern town of Warrenton, NC (pop. 862) it was named after Joseph Warren.

Wildfire
Wildfire
Wildfire
Wildfire

Andrew Marlin of Mandolin Orange Weaves Past & Present On ‘Blindfaller’ LP (INTERVIEW)

It should have been different
It could have been easy
But too much money rolled in to ever end slavery
The cry for war spread like wildfire

Social scientists have long understood race to be a social category invented to justify slavery and evolutionary biologists know the socially constructed racial categories do not align with our biological understanding of genetic variation. The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 confirmed humans are 99.9% identical at the DNA level and there is no genetic basis for race.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8604262/

NOTE: I created images to represent the way our nation was (or is) stitched together out of vastly different geographies, ideologies, philosophies, and experiences.

NOTE: Mandolin Orange now records and tours as Watchhouse https://www.instagram.com/watchhouseband?hl=en

the ripple effect of small moments shared…

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I recently traveled to South Dakota for my niece’s wedding. When I got home and reflected on the whole experience I realize that it was a bunch of small moments of connection or awe that stayed with me most.

With the constant thrum of big events invading our lives constantly through media and our handheld devices, how much attention are we devoting to collecting slivers of life that delight us?

What is the ripple effect on our human experience when small moments are shared with others?

I helped a farmer get a cow wrangled and held my grandnephew Louis.

I played piano in a quiet chapel, and had coffee on the deck of the cabin I rented at sunrise. Since I began playing piano I’ve only played on an electronic keyboard.

I helped my nieces with the table arrangements for the reception, and noted the lovely harvest message at the church during the wedding rehearsal.

We danced late into the night (or morning). I was dipped so far by a fabulous unknown fella that the back of my head touched the floor. Damn, I’d forgotten how those South Dakota guys know how to dance.

I delighted in the South Dakota sunset at the Choteau Creek Brewing Co. in Wagner, SD. Then on my way home I got stuck in Chicago and landed at the Gaslight near the Hilton in O’Hare. What could’ve been a bummer of an evening after my flight was cancelled turned into an amazing meal, live music, and dinner with a philosophy major farm kid from Michigan who now works as a Federal Border Agent in El Paso. We talked for three hours, what a gift to get perspective from someone with direct knowledge about issues I have little context or understanding about. And he got to hear all about Chloe and David’s wedding. Congratulations!

Other small & lovely unphotographed moments…

My two-year-old grandnephew when asked if I could help him down the steps shot me a look I’ll never forget. He did not need my help in any way.

Kip, the owner of Grind House coffee shop saw me helping with the reception and stopped to ask me if I liked my coffee.

My niece flew into the church parking lot with her van when we were about to go in for the rehearsal. She traveled from western Colorado without phone and we didn’t know where she was—old school, I truly admired her moxie.

I met a South African man who was spearfishing in the Missouri for walleye. He said the water was a little muddy and conditions were difficult.

My exhausted sister fell asleep on my shoulder the evening after her daughter’s wedding.

Two of my nieces, and my six-year-old grand nephew got to take a late Sunday afternoon swim in the river. The water was healing to our tired souls.

“Look back on your life and find something small that made a big difference.” ―Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life