“Happiness is not simply material comfort, though access to basic necessities should be a right to all no matter where they are born. It is extending the protections and promises of this once bountiful land of hope and dreams to all. We strengthen and buttress our identity as a nation by being brave enough and big enough to include all who seek to join us with a seat at the table. Fulfillment comes from doing the next right thing; this works for both individuals and countries. That is what Woody Guthrie meant when he sang, ‘this land belongs to you and me’, the legendary folk singer who also penned ‘Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)’ about another regrettable chapter in our nation’s shameful treatment of immigrants. Woody was no pollyanna when it came to injustice but a true messenger of hope, bearing a reminder to the people, all the people, that our genesis as a nation includes them too - and not to let any cynical, greedy, in-it-for-themselves corrupt politician tell them otherwise. Ever. Stand up. Speak out. Share truth. Guthrie was also no fan of Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump Sr. and wrote two songs about his wretched landlord’s discriminatory practices in the early 1950s when he lived in a Trump building - Beach Haven, in Coney Island. But I digress. I’ll write about my years on the folk festival circuit as a road manager and my associations with the Guthrie family another time. But whether it was Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie or John Sebastian, my ears always perked up when the Woody songs and stories came out. One of my favorite memories from those days was a tribute concert to Woody Guthrie at the Kennedy Center to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday. Jackson Browne performed along with Rosanne Cash, John Mellencamp, Lucinda Williams, Tom Morello and many others. Back at the Foggy Bottom boutique hotel after the show with friend and folk singer Joel Rafael, who performed as well and is great ambassador of Guthrie’s legacy, we were in the tiny little elevator when none other than Ramblin’ Jack Elliot stepped in with us and started chatting. Ramblin’ Jack was one of Woody’s closest friends and traveling companions, falling under Woody’s spell when he was 19 years-old. He learned to play guitar and sing from Woody himself, spending nearly two decades under his tutelage, and also mentored a young Bob Dylan. Elliott was still going strong and carrying the torch back on this night in the fall of 2011. It reminded me of the resilience of what some might think of as a modest tradition. There’s a strength in an American music that very much belongs to the people who make and consume it. Much like jazz and blues, in folk there are elements of all sorts of cultures that get mixed up in a truly unique gumbo of graciousness and earthy illumination because, elementally, that is what speaking truth to power through the arts is: an act of gratitude in the face of enormous challenges and outright evil.” open.substack.com/pub/noelca…