Today on WPR, I am featuring a song I wrote a few years ago when I lived in Nashville called Carriage. (Watch me perform it on my ukulele above.) This music grew from a place that was wild and emotionally unhinged. It speaks of a “howling in the wind” and a “weakness in my bones.” Its mournful tone is a plea of resignation—surrendering one’s spirit in the aftermath of devastation.
If this sounds heavy, that’s because it is. My songs have always been a safe space to explore the depths of sorrow I have felt over the years. A truth I keep encountering is that the longer my life grows, the more there is to lose. I cannot ignore these losses and am better off living through the pain and feeling the hurt.
The other side of this grappling is the healing, and the healing is everything.
I have sung this song at shows, and it is one of the few pieces I can play on both the ukulele and the piano (even though, originally, it was intended for the cello). When I first wrote it, I always felt the pain that inspired its words, but now when I sing it, I feel the healing. It is an emotional release that relaxes my spirit and calms my breathing.
Carriage is a song that will always be a portal to a wilderness where I reckon with my emotions and surrender to my depression and grieving. It has been one of the hands that has helped me carry all this heaviness—a load too heavy to bear on my own.
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Last Sunday, I went to a multicultural event hosted by the Muslim Youth of Murfreesboro called Love Your Neighbor. It was a glorious occasion in which numerous countries were represented at individual tents where you could eat free food! I stuffed my face with cuisine from Palestine, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, China, Yemen, Bosnia, and many more! There was also a whole lot of traditional dancing from several groups! I loved being exposed to so many different cultures and flavors! It was one of the best free community events I have ever attended.
This annual event was created in response to a group of white nationalists who called for an anti-refugees rally in downtown Murfreesboro in 2017. According to its organizers, “Love Your Neighbor is an annual event to commemorate the unity and cooperation of the Murfreesboro Loves movement and help showcase the diversity of our community.”
I will be definitely go back next year!
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