« April 18, 2007, Alpha Delta Pi Global Warming lecture, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 40 sorority sisters |
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Approx. 30 people attended- elderly couples, several women groups and one grand parent couple with their teenage 13 year old grand daughter-the only teenager there. She wore an Ouija tee shirt with punk red blond hair and talked non-stop to me when she could about Punk-Eco music. Her name was Dianna and she made me a list of Punk-Eco music. I just downloaded the most popular songs from these albums from iTunes so that I can understand where kids are coming from. She said she watched a lot of videos on YouTube.com. She was an inspiration even if her point of view was naive.
Justin Sane – Life, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness
Anti-Flag – For Blood and Empire, Terror State
Pink – I’m Not Dead
Sum 41 – All Killer No Filler
Good Charlotte – The Young and the Hopeless, The Anthem, The Chronicles of Life and Death
Green Day – American Idiot
Simple Plan – Still Not Gettin’ Any – Crazy
SIMPLE PLAN LYRICS
"Crazy"
Tell me what's wrong with society
When everywhere I look, I see
Young girls dying to be on TV
They won't stop till they've reached their dreams
Diet pills, surgery
Photoshopped pictures in magazines
Telling them how they should be
It doesn't make sense to me
Is everybody going crazy?
Is anybody gonna save me?
Can anybody tell me what's going on?
Tell me what's going on?
If you open your eyes
You'll see that something is wrong
I guess things are not how they used to be
There's no more normal families
Parents act like enemies
Making kids feel like it's World War III
No one cares, no one's there
I guess we're all just too damn busy
And money's our first priority
It doesn't make sense to me
Is everybody going crazy?
Is anybody gonna save me?
Can anybody tell me what's going on?
Tell me what's going on?
If you open your eyes
You'll see that something is wrong
Is everybody going crazy?
Is everybody going crazy?
Tell me what's wrong with society
When everywhere I look I see
Rich guys driving big SUVs
While kids are starving in the streets
No one cares
No one likes to share
I guess life's unfair
Is everybody going crazy?
Is anybody gonna save me?
Can anybody tell me what's going on?
Tell me what's going on?
If you open your eyes
You'll see that something, something is wrong
Is everybody going crazy?
Can anybody tell me what's going on?
Tell me what's going on?
If you open your eyes
You'll see that something is wrong
==============================================================
This was originally my husband’s gig. He is a singer songwriter and was selected as part of the Soul Cafe’s music series. When Frank Newsome, the director, asked me to come along and speak before Randy’s performed, Randy and I worked up an Eco-Folk presentation. At each table, I distributed several solutions form. I presented the “Oprah” 40 minute version of the slide show, and afterward asked people to answer two questions:
1) What are your fears for yourself, your family and your community regarding global warming?
2) What gives you hope?
I asked Dianna’s conservative grandmother to read Dianna’s fears. “I am afraid of world chaos and that we’re all going to die,” was what Dianna had written. This was powerful if a bit staged. I said, “Kids are afraid.” I wish I had added “and we’re supposed to be the adults.” Dianna got up and spoke at this point and laid into this conservative crowd in a gentle but forceful way. “Why are there so many people still driving SUV’s?” You could hear the moans in the crowd. I tried to get control of the situation and asked someone else to read what fears they had. An elderly woman stood up and said she was afraid it was too late to do anything, that we had waited too long to get started. At this point I went through the part of the lecture-“We have the technology to stop the increase of green house gases now. We just need the political will to do it. We are a government for the people, by the people. We have to get involved. Get involved!” Then we took a break. People mingled, got more coffee and talked to Randy and I.
After a bout 15 minutes, Randy started into his music set and it was a splendid follow-up. He incorporated a wonderful Indian Brave rite-of–passage story as his opener for his own song “Unconditional Love” that had the crowd in tears. It was a magical evening if emotionally draining!
I gave Dianna my card but have not heard from her yet.
