Looking back across the Atlantic
My second week in America finished with a finale that gave me immense hope and optimism that ran counter to the kind of impressions articulated in last week’s blog.
I attend a ‘house concert’ for the Tidewater Arts Outreach charity in Norfolk VA that brings artistis into care home and to people with limited mobility. What I witnessed at this event was a real comimg together of people around a performance from MSG, a hugely talented acoustic blues trio, that was indicatives of the kind of civic associationalism that so inspired Alexis de Tocqueville in his seminal book, Democracy in America.
It was the kind of collective action that Robert Putnam argued had been waning in America in his book Bowling Alone. But here was a committed group of people enjoying music in a private house for a sigificant cause that brings joy and comfort to those those whose access to the arts is otherwise limited.
No fear mongering, no harsh commentary, no negativity. Just high spirits, laughter, celebration, and stripped down music evocative of the birth of the blues in America. The pentatonic foundations, Piedmont finger picking, washboard brushing, and souful crooning from the band communicated the heart of all that is good with America.
I hope that this kind of spirit in whatever small way transcends the bitter partisan bickering that dominates the airwaves as the county’s mid term elections approach.
As I return to work this week, I have a spring in my step and a satisfied conviction that collective action for positive change is alive and well in my country.
