Nova Ahead 23
Pat Ireton, energy photographer, scene historian, teacher, master of quilts, and the true Queen of Brattleboro, started sending me Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters From An American”, an amazing, almost daily, essay about contemporary issues in America. Her essays have talked folks through the insane lineup of trauma and tragedies of the past year, and they lay out truths journalistically, but not without a touch of commentary. I highly recommend signing up to receive these emails. Anyway, I’ve begun almost every day of this past year the same, reading my NY Times newsletter, and then reading the essay forwarded from Pat. One thing that is abundantly clear is that there is a concerted effort happening out there to remove information, context, and history from our purview. There is a bill, HB544, in the NH House that is seeking to stop state schools, elementary through college, from teaching about racism and sexism. Its proponents argue that these issues are “divisive” and that learning about privilege and the history of violence that America is built on is some kind of liberal fantasy. I’ve said it before, but inventing something that makes you feel more comfortable and demanding that everyone else reinforce your false narrative, is not a right. It is a delusion, one that is, and has been, damaging the collective health of this country for far too long. Heather Cox Richardson consistently calls attention to the fact that the entire platform of the Republican party right now is built around the lie of election fraud, and they are using the further lie that they are “protecting democracy” to pass legislation that limits voting access, and ignores somber truths in order to court their base, and remain in power.
I’d be happy to list all of these issues that the right seems unable to wrap their minds around, but it feels so predictable and trite to talk to you all about police reform and pronouns and systemic racism. I’m just a white guy in a small town in New Hampshire, and I’m certainly angry, but I can move through life virtually unaffected by these things. Being white, being a cis man, and being in NH are all things that keep me insulated from any immediate danger, though as you can see from the state of things in America, it’s all starting to spread; soon nowhere will be safe and we will all have to face it head on. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to have access to a healthy and supported life of learning and expression and love, free of unprocessed trauma and the sneering white goblins who have stalked this country for far too long? How are we ever going to get to this place if we can’t discuss racism and sexism in our schools? For a lot of kids, it might be the first place that they are exposed to a different ideology. Both racism and sexism are learned, passed down generation to generation overtly, even with pride, or passively through inaction, uncaring, or ignorance. Some people might catch a glimpse that things could be different, that maybe the decisions that they made could have been better, but to admit that would cast regret back through life perhaps, invalidating choices, and nobody likes being wrong.
Thinking about looking back, while also looking forward to this week’s livestream, I’ve got piano on my mind. My mom had an old upright in the house, which is where I started plucking out notes of the first songs I learned. The fellow who came around to tune it, come to find out, was Bill Faller, who introduced me to the world of ECM records; I may have mentioned him sometime in this last year of essays. A Temple guy, emanating kindness and generosity, with a wonderfully dry sense of humor. We became friends and I learned that he had tuned that piano when I was a kid, and later he would tune my piano, and the two of us would mask up and travel to a music school in Manchester to grab the Chickering baby grand that is now on the Nova stage. Bill is also who introduced me to Mike Puleo, who now tends the piano here, and who will be playing this Friday night, under the moniker False Whorl. Mike, Bill, and I, are all admirers of the great tradition, often referred to as jazz, that was born of the adversity, beauty, and genius of the Black experience in America. Can you imagine teaching someone about this music without being able to reference the world that it comes from? There are people in power that would deny an entire population the dignity of their story, so not to shatter the fragile, and patently untrue, mythology of whiteness. I’m proud to stand against that, and I feel that the music of False Whorl also stands against it. So action items for you: 1. Write to your representatives and tell them they’re off base; 2. While you’re at it, tell them to protect trans kids, and express your disdain for all of the hateful bills that are on the docket aimed at erasing another marginalized population; and 3. Join us on Friday for the livestream, and remember, all music can be revolutionary music.
Eric Gagne is the Programming Director at Nova Arts, and has spent the last thirteen years booking The Thing in the Spring. He also played many shows over the past decades with Death to Tyrants, Sisters and Brothers, and Redwing Blackbird, and is actively recording and performing with his band Footings.