Right and the family part - and interpersonal dynamics sometimes reflecting wider society and its problems - is often addressed more deeply through art than nonfiction. Thanks Emily.
You are Correct, Ms Jayne! The Fumes from this guy's hate are enough to start a Major Conflagration! I wouldn't be surprised if he was visible at night from the ISS!
Are we going to be alright? I have to believe we will be, without hope what is left? Without fighting for what is right then what is left? When we answer no we will not be alright then what is left? I believe in “ keep on keeping on” then we will be alright. Never stop fighting for what is right then we will be alright. 🤗 We will prevail
I’ve faced adversity in the form of both physical and mental abuse.
But I kept on moving forward in life. I have solid good friends where there is mutual respect. And I have a wonderful daughter with daughters of her own and if she weren’t my daughter, I’d wish her to be my sister. We love life together and cherish what we have in life.
Primum, Non Nocere, PC! We humans are still (subconciously) living on the African Veldt and most of us are sure that that lion or leopard is going to spring out from the bushes and kill us. Why do you think guns are so popular? Do you think Policing would be more equitable if police were given mandatory Anger Management Therapy? Just Askin'.
Hey Ari:) I always enjoy your deep dives into music and so appreciate your perspectives and analysis. I can’t remember a time in my family, for generations, that we have not embraced and continue to reach for love, appreciation and joy, no matter what. You feel your feelings genuinely, you deal with what you must, and then you find your way back to appreciating things again, as difficult as that journey can be sometimes. It’s ingrained in my culture, black culture, to overcome adversity with faith in something bigger than ourselves. Whether it be religious or spiritual. There is just a sheer determination, and you have a definite knowing that you’re blessed, no matter what things look like right now, and “everything is gonna be alright.” Turning adversity into strength is a powerful tool that many people in my family, and our culture have deeply mastered, and they connect this to a deep faith. The mantra for me has always been: Don’t let anyone or anything take your joy! There’s always something to appreciate, right here and now, but you have to look for it, if you wanna see it.
Favorite Protest song: Sam Cooke, A Change Is Gonna Come. 🎶❤️
Indeed! The Cooke is always good:)👩🏽🍳 Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful and happy holiday:) Hoping you get a chance to brew some coffee, listen to some good music and chill:) You’re awesome! Appreciate you:) Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy!✌🏽🦃🍁❤️
Ari through your writing we, or I should say at least I, can feel his resolve, determination, to be okay. Personally I feel we’ll be alright if only we can “stick together “. That seems to be getting so hard to do since our Country is so divided. I hope we can get it together for the sake of our democracy. We have to remember the old saying “there is power in numbers”......then we’ll be alright. Thanks for this newsletter Ari, great and inspiring as usual. 🔥🙏💕🤷🏼♀️
Oh, my Queen, I am trying to set up a Group of Like Minded Individuals so that We can provide each other with Mutual Support. Thus far, I believe that I have been very Selective. I'm still angling for Tasha, Sandra O, and V. You will ALWAYS be my Queen!😉💘💕
I was listening to Teddy Pedergrass, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes “Wake Up Everybody “ earlier today-a cry within really for swift action and change. Justice seems to be real slow or not happening at all.
Good afternoon Santiago....Teddy singing “Somebody told me to deliver this letter.....’m pretty ‘sho’ you know who!!!🥲😍..... to add scripture to this song.
Thank you Ari for that beautiful analysis. Despite everything that life throws at us, we are going to be alright. And we need to push back against hate, adversity, and injustice. But we have to fight individually and we have to fight as a society against these things that are destroying our country. We will survive!❤️❤️❤️
Thank you Ari for being you. I appreciate you very much and hope I get to meet you in person one day. MSNBC watcher and Hip hop enthusiast on L.I. from the Bronx.
Wow Ari -- talk about deep questions... you really asked one here. One of the thoughts that crossed my mind was Joyce Vance's closing line of all her newsletters: "We're all in this together." And we definitely are. It's just that there are so many fractures in our society right now... how much of it as a whole is "together"? How many are capable of thinking of the USA as a beautiful country, beautiful in its diversity of landscapes, languages, people that comprise it, and how many can think back to its founding ideals, see and appreciate how far it has come in what, 238 years?
Yes, we've faced threats, big ones, military ones, the intrusion of Fascism before and during WW II, the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan. But this threat that has originated by an individual that never should have occupied the White House as #45, but conned his way in, and now wants to be "elected" Dictator for Life, can literally mean life or death for the country as we know it. What's actually worse, as if anything could be, his existence is tearing apart the progress and what unity in diversity we have built over these two centuries.
We now have less than a year to truly come together with the faith, hope, optimism, organizational abilities and fighting spirit to keep our democratic republic and continue to build on it, We have in the past and are now relying on our Constitution and the Rule of Law to make things right. We have brilliant minds in these fields, and they need to be listened to, read, watched and the truth absorbed into our very beings. We have to KNOW that what is happening in the country is wrong, is counter to everything most of us believe in, not necessarily from a "religious" point of view, but from a basic acceptance of a scientific fact that "we're all made of star-stuff" (Carl Sagan) and as such we are all human beings on a very small planet, yet are part of this vast Universe, which reveals surprises to us every day. We have to KNOW that we are worth the fight, and worthy of the potentially amazing future that awaits us.
Bottom line: "Are we gonna be alright? " In my little opinion, if we as a unified force get our sh*t together, organize, support the honest candidates, kick the "Maggots" butts out of our government, and have a unified Democratic government... We will not just be alright... we will THRIVE as a people and be able to live together peacefully and with love. VOTE BLUE !! (It is a beautiful color -look at the sky!)
OH, Ari I didn't forget, you asked if we had a "protest" song that particularly resonated, well how about Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman"?
Hi Ari, seeing this newsletter, lets me know that YOU are alright! Blessings! I’ve been concerned. These are difficult times: Anger abounds from country to country, in Congressional House and Senate Hearings, in City Council Meetings, to the plain ol’ driver, speeding in the next lane. So, John Lennon’s “IMAGINE,” is my political song for these times. Perhaps a conversation with Yoko Ono would be great, to explore Lennon’s thinking and process for the song. Imagine is certainly apropos for today.
He felt that the Church and religious beliefs were part of the problem and not part of the solution. He felt that Religion was on the wane and that may have led to his assertion that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. He apologized and clarified this statement in later interviews, but his assassin, Mark David Chapman. cited the comment as one of the motives for killing him.
MAN is the problem! Any way you look at it! Unless your life is in imminent danger, and you’re applying self-defense, there’s never a reason to kill another.
You are 💯% correct, my Queen, but, since we are Rational Beings, that means that we are capable of rationalizing anything at all. War is Government Sanctioned (Sic) Killing. We are very adept at finding ways to transgress any limits and very adroit at finding ways to justify said behavior. Let's face it, my Queen, we, as a species. are still so immature that many of us still think that violence is the only solution. Any General worth his salt will tell You that You can't kill Your way out of most situations. Diplomacy is the only answer. We MUST learn to communicate in order to solve our Problems and stop killing each other just to prove a point! #TOXICTESTOSTERONE
😂 that is a battle I keep on changing sides about. Not a fan If Charles - or his wife, or William - but think Kathryn is a lot like Di but she follows all those antiquated rules. I can see how Harry felt like the Spare - talk about family dysfunction!!!
They’re dysfunctional, because you can’t live underneath all those unrealistic rules. That’s why they all break them. You see the younger kids are opting out of that fake, royal crap and moving to other countries. I admire Harry! He was a cover for Wm. Truth be told, that’s the origin for all that anger, along with the fact that Harry married someone he loved, while he married someone who fit in. That’s my diagnoses! You’re welcome 😂
This is a question my ancestors have been asking for hundreds of years but with the understanding that yes we can make it; we just have to go through it. The Black Lives Matter movement is still going.. This fight, plight, is all of ours. Denying democracy, due process, etc all, for one group is denying it for all of us.
Marvin Gaye and John Coltrane are always excellent choices. Lately, I have been listening to Nina Simone daily. She’s another to consider.
I almost forgot to comment on your post. Nicely done, Ari.
I watched Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear on Jen Psaki broadcast yesterday and he was well spoken about Democratic accomplishment and about Joe Biden's many gains in the face of adversity. He needs a bigger platform and more exposure. Check him out, Ari...
Hi Ray, Beshear gave an excellent speech, after winning, a few weeks ago. Isn’t it amazing how well he can speak on Biden’s policies, when Biden can’t? I just don’t get the people around him! Leaves me SMH!
Growing up in Western Kentucky- I’ve always wanted the best for the state. So many years of the bullshit - will give credit where it is due -McConnell did do some good in that area iIn the last couple of years but that doesn’t cover the years of inaction
I’ll be honest, I always have a somewhat difficult time capturing all the phrases (bars) in rap music so I often times miss all the symbolism.
Ari, I appreciate so much your careful explanation and interpretation of the Artist’s thoughts because I so much want to put the entire piece together and understand the intended meaning and message within the Artist’s chosen words.
I especially love it when you interview the Artist on your show and you both discuss the bars and their intention. It’s a gift because for me it’s like learning a language. I understand the basics and you and the Artist introduce me to the advanced level.
Are we going to be alright? I think we are. There is still so much more goodness than wrongheadedness in the world…and every act of goodness has power!
Thanks, Ari, for your goodness and for helping us to better understand these complex challenges we face. You make a difference!
Ari , bravo, the depth in this essay is compelling and drives the heart light to beat furiously and passionately. Without hope there is nothing left, we become empty and impotent. Powerless.
I am always galvanized by your “deep dives” into the culture of this music community, the gender issues,the struggles separate and very different for each. The talent seems to erupt by the fierce desire in people to not only survive but flourish. The personal journeys evocative and frightening. I marvel in the recovery and strength to push forward and the commitment making it “ Alright”
Right and the family part - and interpersonal dynamics sometimes reflecting wider society and its problems - is often addressed more deeply through art than nonfiction. Thanks Emily.
Clarence, have you ever considered seeking Professional Help for all of your Issues?
I'm a Nordic woman veteran Christian pro zionist person with a brain. I'm sorry for you. You are mired in hate. How miserable is that?
You are Correct, Ms Jayne! The Fumes from this guy's hate are enough to start a Major Conflagration! I wouldn't be surprised if he was visible at night from the ISS!
Hi Emily. Your reply makes me think of Maya Angelou 🙏
Well stated, Emily!
If your intention is to sow discord and divisiveness, then I suggest you do it elsewhere, citizen.
Are we going to be alright? I have to believe we will be, without hope what is left? Without fighting for what is right then what is left? When we answer no we will not be alright then what is left? I believe in “ keep on keeping on” then we will be alright. Never stop fighting for what is right then we will be alright. 🤗 We will prevail
That’s the idea...keep on keeping on!
I’ve faced adversity in the form of both physical and mental abuse.
But I kept on moving forward in life. I have solid good friends where there is mutual respect. And I have a wonderful daughter with daughters of her own and if she weren’t my daughter, I’d wish her to be my sister. We love life together and cherish what we have in life.
No one is paying attention to you, so I suggest you seek the attention you so desperately crave elsewhere, citizen.
Primum, Non Nocere, PC! We humans are still (subconciously) living on the African Veldt and most of us are sure that that lion or leopard is going to spring out from the bushes and kill us. Why do you think guns are so popular? Do you think Policing would be more equitable if police were given mandatory Anger Management Therapy? Just Askin'.
Unfortunately, PC, I am financially embarassed and, although I'd love to serve on your Focus Group, I fear that I must decline. Perhaps in the Future.
You must have experienced a disturbed youth, because you have obviously become a disturbed adult, citizen.
Yes Indeed! We will be alright!! Good over evil. 🌹
Thank you 🌹
You are persistant but now you're becoming annoying, citizen
Hey Ari:) I always enjoy your deep dives into music and so appreciate your perspectives and analysis. I can’t remember a time in my family, for generations, that we have not embraced and continue to reach for love, appreciation and joy, no matter what. You feel your feelings genuinely, you deal with what you must, and then you find your way back to appreciating things again, as difficult as that journey can be sometimes. It’s ingrained in my culture, black culture, to overcome adversity with faith in something bigger than ourselves. Whether it be religious or spiritual. There is just a sheer determination, and you have a definite knowing that you’re blessed, no matter what things look like right now, and “everything is gonna be alright.” Turning adversity into strength is a powerful tool that many people in my family, and our culture have deeply mastered, and they connect this to a deep faith. The mantra for me has always been: Don’t let anyone or anything take your joy! There’s always something to appreciate, right here and now, but you have to look for it, if you wanna see it.
Favorite Protest song: Sam Cooke, A Change Is Gonna Come. 🎶❤️
truly can't go wrong with Cooke!
Indeed! The Cooke is always good:)👩🏽🍳 Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful and happy holiday:) Hoping you get a chance to brew some coffee, listen to some good music and chill:) You’re awesome! Appreciate you:) Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy!✌🏽🦃🍁❤️
Yes, we hear you, but we just aren't interested, citizen.
Ms Tasha, I know you are busy but I shall extend the invitation once again. My email is: dawells55@gmail.com I would love to hear from you!
FYI, I think this creep is actually a bot.
Nah, Ms Nicole, he's probably some 300 lb kid who still lives at home in the basement and Mommy still picks up after him!
Tasha - Hey Darlin good to see you!
Hey Pam:)✌🏽
✌🏻
Ari through your writing we, or I should say at least I, can feel his resolve, determination, to be okay. Personally I feel we’ll be alright if only we can “stick together “. That seems to be getting so hard to do since our Country is so divided. I hope we can get it together for the sake of our democracy. We have to remember the old saying “there is power in numbers”......then we’ll be alright. Thanks for this newsletter Ari, great and inspiring as usual. 🔥🙏💕🤷🏼♀️
Ms Donna, my email is: dawells55@gmail.com I would love to hear from you!
Dave, how can you be my guy, handing out your email address to other ladies😤.
Treat him well, Ms Donna😂! HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you both!❤️🦃
Oh, my Queen, I am trying to set up a Group of Like Minded Individuals so that We can provide each other with Mutual Support. Thus far, I believe that I have been very Selective. I'm still angling for Tasha, Sandra O, and V. You will ALWAYS be my Queen!😉💘💕
Oh, they are great gals…Then I’ll gladly share😂
You just desperately want somebody to argue with you, don't you? The people on this newsletter are not interested, citizen
I was listening to Teddy Pedergrass, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes “Wake Up Everybody “ earlier today-a cry within really for swift action and change. Justice seems to be real slow or not happening at all.
Sing it with me Ari family:
The world won’t get no better
If we just let it be……
Wake up everybody
We got to make a new way 🩵
Much love
Happy holidays❗️
good ones!
Ari, FYI, there’s a psychotic evil Russian bot spewing bile on this thread.
Check it out please.
The thing doesn’t belong in your good-hearted thread.
Aww Teddy was such a wonderful singer - he just made things better when he sang...
Hi Iris, one of my favorite, political songs, too
Good afternoon Santiago....Teddy singing “Somebody told me to deliver this letter.....’m pretty ‘sho’ you know who!!!🥲😍..... to add scripture to this song.
Love that song❤️
Even in espanol, you don't make any sense. ciudadano. Tonteria!
Thank you Ari for that beautiful analysis. Despite everything that life throws at us, we are going to be alright. And we need to push back against hate, adversity, and injustice. But we have to fight individually and we have to fight as a society against these things that are destroying our country. We will survive!❤️❤️❤️
Perfect newsletter for these trying times we’re living in. Are we gonna be ok? I have to believe we’ll be ok!
Just breathe and have faith and everything gonna be ok!
That’s what my momma always said! Thank you Ari for this inspiring newsletter, your positivity and optimism shines through in you❤️
"Momma said they'll be days like this....."
Momma said that too😊
Thank you Ari for being you. I appreciate you very much and hope I get to meet you in person one day. MSNBC watcher and Hip hop enthusiast on L.I. from the Bronx.
shoutout Bronx! Hi Stevie
No matter how many times you post, we're STILL not interested, citizen.
‘Alright’ is the perfect rallying cry for BLM in a time when finding optimism may feel almost impossible 💪🏼
Wow Ari -- talk about deep questions... you really asked one here. One of the thoughts that crossed my mind was Joyce Vance's closing line of all her newsletters: "We're all in this together." And we definitely are. It's just that there are so many fractures in our society right now... how much of it as a whole is "together"? How many are capable of thinking of the USA as a beautiful country, beautiful in its diversity of landscapes, languages, people that comprise it, and how many can think back to its founding ideals, see and appreciate how far it has come in what, 238 years?
Yes, we've faced threats, big ones, military ones, the intrusion of Fascism before and during WW II, the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan. But this threat that has originated by an individual that never should have occupied the White House as #45, but conned his way in, and now wants to be "elected" Dictator for Life, can literally mean life or death for the country as we know it. What's actually worse, as if anything could be, his existence is tearing apart the progress and what unity in diversity we have built over these two centuries.
We now have less than a year to truly come together with the faith, hope, optimism, organizational abilities and fighting spirit to keep our democratic republic and continue to build on it, We have in the past and are now relying on our Constitution and the Rule of Law to make things right. We have brilliant minds in these fields, and they need to be listened to, read, watched and the truth absorbed into our very beings. We have to KNOW that what is happening in the country is wrong, is counter to everything most of us believe in, not necessarily from a "religious" point of view, but from a basic acceptance of a scientific fact that "we're all made of star-stuff" (Carl Sagan) and as such we are all human beings on a very small planet, yet are part of this vast Universe, which reveals surprises to us every day. We have to KNOW that we are worth the fight, and worthy of the potentially amazing future that awaits us.
Bottom line: "Are we gonna be alright? " In my little opinion, if we as a unified force get our sh*t together, organize, support the honest candidates, kick the "Maggots" butts out of our government, and have a unified Democratic government... We will not just be alright... we will THRIVE as a people and be able to live together peacefully and with love. VOTE BLUE !! (It is a beautiful color -look at the sky!)
OH, Ari I didn't forget, you asked if we had a "protest" song that particularly resonated, well how about Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman"?
Hi Ari, seeing this newsletter, lets me know that YOU are alright! Blessings! I’ve been concerned. These are difficult times: Anger abounds from country to country, in Congressional House and Senate Hearings, in City Council Meetings, to the plain ol’ driver, speeding in the next lane. So, John Lennon’s “IMAGINE,” is my political song for these times. Perhaps a conversation with Yoko Ono would be great, to explore Lennon’s thinking and process for the song. Imagine is certainly apropos for today.
John was an avowed Atheist, my Queen. Steely Dan mocked the song with 'Only A Fool Would Say That'. They have since recanted.
Avowed Atheist?!” I always wonder-just what is that? It appears, an acknowledgment of God to me, but our small brains just can’t comprehend it all.😳
He felt that the Church and religious beliefs were part of the problem and not part of the solution. He felt that Religion was on the wane and that may have led to his assertion that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. He apologized and clarified this statement in later interviews, but his assassin, Mark David Chapman. cited the comment as one of the motives for killing him.
MAN is the problem! Any way you look at it! Unless your life is in imminent danger, and you’re applying self-defense, there’s never a reason to kill another.
You are 💯% correct, my Queen, but, since we are Rational Beings, that means that we are capable of rationalizing anything at all. War is Government Sanctioned (Sic) Killing. We are very adept at finding ways to transgress any limits and very adroit at finding ways to justify said behavior. Let's face it, my Queen, we, as a species. are still so immature that many of us still think that violence is the only solution. Any General worth his salt will tell You that You can't kill Your way out of most situations. Diplomacy is the only answer. We MUST learn to communicate in order to solve our Problems and stop killing each other just to prove a point! #TOXICTESTOSTERONE
Excellent thought! She was called many names all because she fell in love with John Lennon.
Well, I think that was the first British version of Harry and Meghan😳😀
So so true!! I would have been kicked out of that family at age 13!! (Maybe younger!)
😂😂😂In infancy
Lmfao!!!! You know me quite well!!
😂 that is a battle I keep on changing sides about. Not a fan If Charles - or his wife, or William - but think Kathryn is a lot like Di but she follows all those antiquated rules. I can see how Harry felt like the Spare - talk about family dysfunction!!!
They’re dysfunctional, because you can’t live underneath all those unrealistic rules. That’s why they all break them. You see the younger kids are opting out of that fake, royal crap and moving to other countries. I admire Harry! He was a cover for Wm. Truth be told, that’s the origin for all that anger, along with the fact that Harry married someone he loved, while he married someone who fit in. That’s my diagnoses! You’re welcome 😂
Bill, give it a rest.
This is a question my ancestors have been asking for hundreds of years but with the understanding that yes we can make it; we just have to go through it. The Black Lives Matter movement is still going.. This fight, plight, is all of ours. Denying democracy, due process, etc all, for one group is denying it for all of us.
Marvin Gaye and John Coltrane are always excellent choices. Lately, I have been listening to Nina Simone daily. She’s another to consider.
I almost forgot to comment on your post. Nicely done, Ari.
Simone and Coltrane both great. thanks for your points here
I watched Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear on Jen Psaki broadcast yesterday and he was well spoken about Democratic accomplishment and about Joe Biden's many gains in the face of adversity. He needs a bigger platform and more exposure. Check him out, Ari...
Hi Ray, Beshear gave an excellent speech, after winning, a few weeks ago. Isn’t it amazing how well he can speak on Biden’s policies, when Biden can’t? I just don’t get the people around him! Leaves me SMH!
Damned straight Ms Diva!! We need tO HEAR WHAT IS GOOD AND STOP their hatred!
Joe Biden has become the Rodney Dangerfield of Politicians! He Don't Get No Respect! Help him out, Aretha!
Billy Boy, No one wants to hear your Feverish Conspiracy Theories. Learn to play nice or GO HOME!
Growing up in Western Kentucky- I’ve always wanted the best for the state. So many years of the bullshit - will give credit where it is due -McConnell did do some good in that area iIn the last couple of years but that doesn’t cover the years of inaction
I’ll be honest, I always have a somewhat difficult time capturing all the phrases (bars) in rap music so I often times miss all the symbolism.
Ari, I appreciate so much your careful explanation and interpretation of the Artist’s thoughts because I so much want to put the entire piece together and understand the intended meaning and message within the Artist’s chosen words.
I especially love it when you interview the Artist on your show and you both discuss the bars and their intention. It’s a gift because for me it’s like learning a language. I understand the basics and you and the Artist introduce me to the advanced level.
Are we going to be alright? I think we are. There is still so much more goodness than wrongheadedness in the world…and every act of goodness has power!
Thanks, Ari, for your goodness and for helping us to better understand these complex challenges we face. You make a difference!
Ari , bravo, the depth in this essay is compelling and drives the heart light to beat furiously and passionately. Without hope there is nothing left, we become empty and impotent. Powerless.
I am always galvanized by your “deep dives” into the culture of this music community, the gender issues,the struggles separate and very different for each. The talent seems to erupt by the fierce desire in people to not only survive but flourish. The personal journeys evocative and frightening. I marvel in the recovery and strength to push forward and the commitment making it “ Alright”
Well done Sir🔥💫🔥