Last night Eddie Vedder wept. As did I and many others. I truly had no idea what I was in for when I walked in the doors of the First Baptist Church in downtown Portland. I had no idea Eddie Vedder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Vedder) would be there. And I certainly did not know that Roslyn Zinn had died just four days earlier...
It is still amazing to me that there are Americans who do not know of Howard Zinn. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn) Many fewer people have known of his beautiful wife (of 60+ years?), Roslyn, and the depth of heart and caring that she brought to the world. It is a sad commentary on American deprivation in the midst of what is often thought to be a land of plenty. It is also unimaginable how different our world would be if visionaries like Howard Zinn filled the airwaves, the television screens, the talk shows rather than what goes for the normal American media of today. What I know of Howard Zinn is much more expansive than anything that could be summed up on some post. He is, to me and to countless others around the world, among the most courageous and beloved truthtellers and visionaries that America has known. I don't believe that that is an overstatement. Of course, Howard Zinn will strongly attest that our country is brim-full of extraordinary people... and always has been. The problem is that their stories are tragically seldom told.
Hence Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Anthony Arnove. Of course, first there came A People's History of the United States -
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/PeoplesHistory_Zinn.html
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
One of numerous pieces of hope is how this book is being used in high schools and universities in increasing numbers throughout our country.
Last night was so beyond extraordinary, beyond what any words can adequately speak to, because it brought the Voices of a People's History -- alive! Last night it was the stories of our American history which were told - glimpses into countless stories which need to be found in our history books, on our television sets and in our movies, on our news - and more! The oldest story went back to 1542. I heard the voices of Helen Keller, Malcolm X, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan (sung by Viggo Mortensen), Leonard Peltier, Cindy Sheehan, Howard Zinn - and more! Even just in this tiny glimpse of voices, it is simply an indescribable experience to hear and feel in the depths of my soul these heartfelt stories of these human beings and our true history. These voices, these stories need to ring out all over the land!
For more information on Voices of a People's History of the United States, you can go here: http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100666900
To hear one of the stories I heard (read by a different actor and at a different night and place of readings), please go here to hear read Howard Zinn's speech given in 1970 on Civil Obedience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGCLHBSzqLw. (You will see Howard Zinn sitting on stage at this event.) It can also be found printed here: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/CivilObedience_ZR.html. **If you only check out one thing from this post, check out this voice of Howard Zinn from nearly four decades ago.** It is still so relevant to today and brought the house to a roaring standing ovation last night.
For another story I heard, here is Viggo Mortensen reading Bartolomé de Las Casas, first in Spanish, then in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nxRvt5Rjx8.
To see Staceyann Chin give voice to the depth of a mother's outrage at the loss of her child, please go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQMYOXegdck. This particular youtube reading was done on a different night and at a different place, but it was done by the same actress I saw and it was with the same intensity and depth that I witnessed. This particular story, more than any other I heard last night, brought the most thunderous applause to this old Baptist Church as everyone rose to their feet. There is such a primal level of profound heartfelt understanding that this voice touches. (I have a photo both in my home and at my work of myself and Cindy Sheehan hugging. Her son Casey was born two days before my oldest son Brian...)
Stories can break our hearts open. It was well over 20 years ago - as I was first embarking on my own journey of awakening, healing, and transforming - that I heard these wise words: "Each time we allow our hearts to break open, more space is created for love." This is the great teaching of the alchemist - that a broken heart, with the right medicine, grows profoundly powerful. That medicine is love. What is needed is love. And sometimes it takes great courage to grow in love...
To see some of the 47 videos of voices read and sung by Alice Walker, Danny Glover, Josh Brolin, Steve Earl, and many others, please go here: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=arnove&p=v
For a full hour to select videos or transcripts of readings from, please go here to Amy Goodman bringing the voices alive on Democracy Now!:
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/26/readings_from_howard_zinns_voices_of
For more on Howard Zinn, including an animated video from his latest book, People's History of American Empire (voiceover by Viggo Mortensen), please go here:
http://howardzinn.org/default/
In closing, here is Eddie Vedder singing Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a Changing": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFGg9Z81dOk
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