Diane Vogel Ferri’s full-length poetry book is Everything is Rising (Luchador Press). Her latest novel is No Life But This: A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling (Atbosh Media) Her essays have been published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Scene Magazine, and Yellow Arrow Journal, among others. Her poems can be found in numerous journals such as Wend Poetry, Blue Heron Review, Rubbertop Review, and Poet Lore. Her previous publications are Liquid Rubies (poetry), The Volume of Our Incongruity (poetry), and The Desire Path (novel). She has done many poetry readings locally. Diane’s essay, “I Will Sing for You” was featured at the Cleveland Humanities Festival in 2018. A former teacher, she holds an M.Ed from Cleveland State University and is a founding member of Literary Cleveland. Her poem, For You, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net 2023

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Since I posted their faces I guess I should have a follow-up. I watched most of the rally. It was silly, light-hearted and I think every one of the estimated 250,000 people on the mall in Washington DC had smiles plastered on their faces the entire time. No one looked scared.

I was excited when Stewart introduced the former Cat Stevens (now a Muslim named Yusef) and he began singing "Peace Train", after a verse or so he was interrupted by Ozzy Osbourne singing "Crazy Train" and finally he was interrupted by The O'Jays singing "Love Train". The mere diversity of music and people was enough to make the point that this is what America is.

Stewart became somewhat serious at the end of the rally, singling out the media for magnifying minor differences instead of what binds people together.

"If we amplify everything ,we hear nothing."
He went on to say:

"We hear every damn day how fragile this country is. It's a shame we can't work together to get things done. The truth is, we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don't is here (meaning Washington DC) or on cable TV. But Americans don't live here or on cable TV. Where we live, our values, our principals form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done."

1 comment:

Rob-bear said...

Things are better when we work together. That is so obvious. Except to politicians.