What Others Bring to Us

Last night, I attended a concert by Songs of Hope at a senior center in Bloomington. My friends Jeanne and Tom founded SOH 34 years ago, and kids from all over the world come here for six weeks in the summer to live together, sing together, and perform all over the state. 

Not only is it life-changing for them to live together and learn about each others' countries and cultures, but it's equally important that they travel the state and meet people who may never have met ANYONE from, say, Turkey, much less seen a group of them perform a traditional dance.


As I left, the Hopers had spread out all over the community room and were talking to the residents, who had loved (and sung along with) the performance.


But here's the other thing. I've been on the board for several years, and supported SOH since just about the time it started. This year was an incredibly small group. Often there are 80 kids or more, from all over — a typical year includes China, Vietnam, Jamaica, Italy, Palestine, Israel, England, Turkey, Finland, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, the US, and more. This year, I'm not sure there are even 30 performers, and from about eight countries. People wanted to come, but could not get visas, or their families were reluctant to send them here — and that's before the new $250 "visa integrity" taught everyone coming into the US will soon need to pay.


Which is to say it was a great performance, but could have affected so many more people. 

In any case, they have a few more shows and I would highly recommend checking them out!


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But Songs of Hope was not the only reason I am on this theme.

My cousin Pete lives in Norway, with his wife Kari and their two sons. Their oldest, Edward, is a year younger get than Beatrix and just spent a month in the US at Lutheran Summer Music Camp. He pretty much took it by storm — he was the youngest cellist there, learned a lot, performed magically, and composed a sonata that took second place in the final competition (the grand prize winner was a multi-year attendee from Julliard, so...). Several colleges were eager to recruit him. He would probably be a major force in American music if he were to come here. But...

My friend Kate is hosting two young Uruguayan soccer players in a homestay after they participated in an international soccer tournament. The girls speak little English, but everyone is having fun and learning a lot.

It's all circus all the time over here, with Lumiere opening Friday night. I think of how much Beatrix has learned there, and how many international coaches she has had: Chimgee and Tamir from Mongolia (who take a circus show there every couple of years), Kristina and Zina and Irina and Dimitri from Russia (Dimitri's father literally invented Russian Cradle), Ania (and before her Patryk) from Poland, Hanqing and Sun from China, Juliana from Brazil, Lili from Chile, Mostapha from Morocco, and so many more.

I'm not going to get all heavy-handedly political here. But I am musing loss.

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