Minnesota and Kent State

I couldn’t work at all yesterday. The execution of an ICU nurse by government thugs completely threw me. The murder of a stay-at-home mom a few days before had done the same. I do have work to do, but it seems hopelessly stupid to be writing fiction right now.

But I remember feeling the same after 9/11. No one, artists, writers, musicians, none of us knew what to do.

And I’m old enough to remember Kent State. I was at Oberlin. It was May. We shut down. Some of us, me included, started working on the logistics — truck rentals, signs, etc. — for a big demonstration planned for Washington DC a few days later.

Oberlin has a music conservatory in addition to a liberal arts college. There’s no separation; students in both live in the same dorms, eat in the same dining halls, can take any course in either institution. As we were planning for the demonstration a group of conservatory students began to wonder how they could respond as musicians. How their art could respond.

In four days, with the great Robert Fountain as conductor, they put together the Mozart Requiem. Four days. Orchestra, chorus, soloists. Then they took their instruments and climbed in cars and buses and UHaul trucks with the rest of us and drove overnight from Ohio to DC. We all slept in church basements. Then we went out and marched and chanted and they rehearsed.

That evening they performed it at the National Cathedral.

We all went, straight from marching and chanting. Not only us. The place was full; as I recall at was standing room only. It was cathartic; it was beautiful; it was inspirational. It offered strength, courage, and perspective. Art gave us a way to go on.

So I’ll get back to work. The book I’m working on can’t express what I’m feeling. I did that after 9/11 with a novel (ABSENT FRIENDS) but I don’t think I can do it again, at least right now. But if I can give someone a distraction, a little time off before they get back into the fight, that’s enough for me.

Here, for you, is a recording of the Kent State Mozart Requiem, made at that performance. It’s about an hour. It might be the perfect thing for a snowy day.