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For this Independence Day special, Arnie Arnesen has assembled 3 readings of the work of notable American Women, interspersed with several versions of the Star Spangled Banner, and the poetry of Marilyn Nelson, former poet laureate of Connecticut, and daughter of one of the Tuskegee Airmen. The three readings are from Shirley Chisholm on the ERA, Gloria Steinem, from the Women’s March, and Justice Kagan’s dissent from the SCOTUS’ recent gerrymandering decision.
The poems are Lonely Eagles, Worth, Star-Fix, and Minor Miracle.
The music selections are The Star Spangled Banner from Duke Ellington, Jennifer Hudson, Louis Armstrong, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Jimi Hendrix, The Smith-Key String Quartet, then near the end, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.
Language Note: The final poem, following the Fanfare, is Minor Miracle. The poem uses a contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person, but the power of the poem is in the use of the word and the miracle it produces.
