WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE....
Hi there hellraisers
Hope you're finishing up the year with hope in your heart and surrounded by loving family and friends. That's what I'm doing this year, but I sure had to do some power-traveling to make it happen. I'm in Zimbabwe (!) where my son's wife has a job with USAID. Monique, my son Dan, and my grandson Sebastian have only been here for four months, but it seems like an eternity to me.
Sebastian was almost one year old when they left, just learning to stand and take a few steps. Now he's running, pitching, kicking soccer balls ... he knows about 40 signs in baby sign language, which makes it possible for him to communicate pretty effectively. My son says speech is often delayed in households where children are learning several languages. Sebastian is learning English, Spanish and Shona - besides his sign language skils.
The Garden of Eden could have been fashioned after Zimbabwe. Everything is so lush and verdant. We've only seen points of interest within a 45 minute drive of the house so far, and we're dazzled. My sister Kate came with me, and my daughter Amy and her boyfriend, Mike Meadows, are en route to Harare as I write this. Once they get here, we're heading off to where the wild things are... Bulawayo, Hwange National Park and on to Victoria Falls for New Year's Eve ...
I'm afraid I didn't have a vivid enough imagination to dream about doing anything like this when I was a child, so I can't say it's a dream come true... I guess it's proof that you never know where life might take you - so don't give up or give in - amazing, extraordinary things could be right around the corner.
For example, I'm thrilled that the 'Occupy' movement has achieved so much. It's wonderful to hear people talking about the 1% and going after the big banks. The dialog seems to have shifted somewhat in the US - and not a moment too soon.
Your generosity and kindness since cancer threw me out of work in August of 2010 have made this past year one of the most wonderful of my life. I'm really defying the odds for now. Both of my dear friends Jack Hardy and Tim Henderson were diagnosed with small cell lung cancer after I was, and both are dead. It would be easy to get depressed with odds like mine.
I cannot thank you enough for your support and love. You've enabled me to visit family and friends, to pay fairly substantial insurance premiums, copays and deductibles, to pursue holistic treatments that greatly enhanced my quality of life, and to continue living my life as much as possible as if I were still working - including leaving me able to continue supporting organizations (at a slightly lower level than before) that mean so much to me - Health Care NOW!, Democracy NOW!, SOAW, Labor Campaign for Single Payer, US Labor Against the War, NOW, the Fund for the Feminist Majority and many others.
Nothing would depress me more than being unable to support locked out and striking workers, and the organizations that do so much to promote social and economic justice. If you're still holding on to any extra money, please think about sending some to any of those wonderful organizations, or to the locked out workers at American Crystal Sugar.
I hope you'll continue to buy my recordings at CDBaby http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid - It means so much to me. And "The Corporate Welfare Song," "War on the Workers" and "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" are all great songs to take to your favorite OCCUPY site!
I will be at the Peoples Music Network Winter Gathering January 27-29th in Lawrence, MA. We'll be celebrating the great working class victory in the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912. Bev Grant, Evan Greer, Charlie King, Spirit Child, Rebel Voices, Jon Fromer and many other fabulous performers and agitators will be on hand for the weekend that starts with a terrific Friday night concert. You don't have to be registered for the weekend to come to the Friday night concert, but you'll love the weekend if you stick around. You don't have to be a performer to attend - just a music lover.
The internet is so slow here in Harare that I don't dare try to upload photos or any extra links in this newsletter. I hope you get it... and I look forward to hearing from you.
Let's hope that 2012 brings us great victories for the working class ... that we begin to look around and realize that WE are the leaders we've been waiting for. Let us cherish our friends and be grateful for all that they bring to our lives.
Love and Happy New Year -
Anne
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| Monique Murad, Daniel Berlin, Sebastian Edward Berlin, and the Lion |
Anne Feeney
http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid - Buy CDs!
412-877-6480 (cell)
"Anne Feeney is the greatest labor singer in North America." -- Utah Phillips
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