"In the squares of the city, in the shadow of a steeple,
by the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
'Is this land made for you and me?'

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me."

This Land is Your Land was written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 and is one of the most famous folk songs in the United States. Woody Guthrie wrote it in response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America which he considered too complacent. So I ask as Guthrie did, is this land made for you and me?

So, I was going to share with you my summer travels to the Finger Lakes and Niagara Falls, my trip to Maine, my Trailer Talk travels to the coalfields of West Virginia, my deep concern over the presence of the energy speculators in my neighborhood who are grabbing up land and threatening our lives here because of the Marcellus Shale in the Catskills and my Trailer Talks at the Natural Gas Drilling Forum in Liberty. I’m also excited to share with you the performance sound piece that I created last Saturday at the Denniston Hill Art Benefit in Glen Wild, New York, but this will have to wait because my head is bursting with the DNC.

 

As we approach the last official weekend of summer and the election gains momentum, I think of the people both in Denver and those like me glued to the television. The many identities of America are being talked about and I feel hopeful again.

 

Will grassroots activists and progressives have a voice in this election year? Will the Democratic Party platform include the concerns of more of those from the left? I’m remembering attending the primaries in New Hampshire in ‘04 and also the DNC and the RNC, about speaking with artists and activists, with Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Guerrilla Girls, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, concerned citizens and parents of our soldiers among many others who graciously shared their worries, their passions and their commitment to change as we wrestle with this messy working democracy of ours. Eight years later, do we have the energy to mobilize as we did then?

I’ve been watching the DNC with excitement because now is our chance to end the failed leadership of the Republican Party. As Hillary Clinton said last night, “The time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose… We are on the same team and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future and it’s a fight we must win together.” Indeed!

Last year I attended the Media Reform Conference in Memphis and spoke with a number of people, including Danny Glover and Phil Donahue, about their concern with the terrible direction the U.S.A. has taken during the Bush administration. So, faced with the biggest deficit in the nation’s history, it is our chance to be heard again and reenvision the direction the U.S.A. can go.

As said by Hillary on Tuesday night, quoting Harriet Tubman, we must, “… keep going if you want a taste of freedom, keep going…” It’s the bread and butter issues that I’m thinking about as the economy struggles in my town of Liberty and others, as the Main streets in Sullivan County are shutting down and as I worry about heating my home this winter being faced with fuel costs that have doubled since last year. So, here’s to listening to the voices of the invisible and bringing those bread and butter concerns to the table.