Sometime earlier this year, I read the book, The Soloist. Since my reading it, it has been made into a movie and gotten quite good reviews. As of right now, I have not seen it but desperately want to.
Anyway, the book is the true life story of the relationship between Steve Lopez, LA Times columnist and Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a schizphrenic homeless man in LA. Steve happens upon Nathaniel playing his 2 stringed cello in the presence of a statue of Beethoven in LA. It is a book of tears, joy, music and friendship.
This weekend, I was in San Diego for the national music therapy conference. During the opening session, we were surprised with a performance by Nathaniel, along with one of our fabulous colleagues, Al Bumanis. I have never in my life heard such beauty and joy in music, improvised music. Nathaniel played the cello and the trumpet and it was over far too soon. I was so disappointed to not have my camera with me and I knew I was too far away to use my phone camera. So, I was content to sit and listen and wipe away my tears. I could not get over the timing of this man appearing within a week or two of my poignant discussion on homelessness with the prisoners at work.
On Friday morning, I went to a roundtable to discuss the Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation. Steve, Nathaniel's sister Jennifer and Ted, the Executive Director of the foundation were on the panel. What an amazing group of people and words could not describe how I felt when listening to the work they are doing with artistically gifted mentally ill clients. Toward the end, Nathaniel came and played for us again. Many people left when the session was over but several of us were so drawn to this man and his gift that we had to stay to listen to his music. Christine Stevens, a renowned and gifted MT, began improvising with him on the piano. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, Nathaniel played the piano, cello and trumpet, once again improvising as only he knows how to do. I could not believe the beauty of his music and the expressions on his face as he did what he loved so much. When it seemed our time had to end, Nathaniel stood up and said "This is what I was born for. These few notes." WOW! Later on in the day, I had a chance to talk to Jennifer and thank her for coming to share their story with us. She kept saying over and over that she was so grateful to have this opportunity to see her brother "happy and having a great time". I can only imagine.
I feel that words will never come close to describing what I witnessed in this man but I had to process it somehow. To share this with my good friend, Shannon, only made it more memorable. I think it took me these last few days to get around to blogging about it because I just wanted to keep it to myself on some level. Just to reflect and remember the man who has somehow, in some small way, changed my life.
As Shannon and I sat out in the sunshine talking about what we had witnessed, I described it as pure joy and beauty. She said it was pure inspiration. I think we're both right.
It should be mentioned that the Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation is doing amazing work, helping the artistically gifted mentally ill and trying desperately to stamp out the stigma of mental illness. They have a website and I encourage anyone and everyone to check it out and support this amazing group of people. I know I have and will continue to do so.
Tigers game July 2010
Monday, November 16, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
The sun above the clouds
Isn’t it amazing that on cloudy, dreary, rainy days, we forget that the sun is still there? I don't know if we so much forget or we just don't think about it. I remember in Hilton Head when we went down to watch the sun come up we were so excited to see it. We kinda did the whole "Look, here it comes..isn't it amazing and beautiful?" Really, why the surprise? Doesn't the sun always come up? Well, on the cloudy days we can't always see it and I suppose we can "question" if it's still there.
When I took off in the plane yesterday morning, it was still dark. We took off and all of a sudden, there was the sun, above the clouds. It was shining through my window, bright and warm. It struck me as ironic and super cool and got me thinking about a few things. I realized it's a perfect analogy for our relationship with God and His SON, Jesus. We can't always see Him and so, sometimes I think we "forget" He's there. We can get to thinking that because we can't "see" Him, He must not be there. That’s never the case. He never leaves us. I know that for me personally, I can get into a rut and when things are going well and everything is taken care of and on an even keel, I tend to think about Him or communicate with Him less. The irony is that sometimes it takes our storms and clouds to search and call out to Him.
Shouldn’t we be constantly searching for Him and His will for our lives? Of course we should.
I keep singing my song of the month over and over again. I’m calling it that because currently, it’s one I can’t get enough of. It’s a gospel song by Israel Houghton called “Just Gotta Say”. It starts with my new favorite thought….”Never have I seen the righteous forsaken!” I AM NOT FORSAKEN!!!! It goes on to say that He will never leave us lonely.
Sometimes, in my singleness, I forget that I am not alone. Is my life what I thought or planned it would be? Absolutely not. But, it’s what He planned it would be. And truly, doesn’t God know much better than I?
When I took off in the plane yesterday morning, it was still dark. We took off and all of a sudden, there was the sun, above the clouds. It was shining through my window, bright and warm. It struck me as ironic and super cool and got me thinking about a few things. I realized it's a perfect analogy for our relationship with God and His SON, Jesus. We can't always see Him and so, sometimes I think we "forget" He's there. We can get to thinking that because we can't "see" Him, He must not be there. That’s never the case. He never leaves us. I know that for me personally, I can get into a rut and when things are going well and everything is taken care of and on an even keel, I tend to think about Him or communicate with Him less. The irony is that sometimes it takes our storms and clouds to search and call out to Him.
Shouldn’t we be constantly searching for Him and His will for our lives? Of course we should.
I keep singing my song of the month over and over again. I’m calling it that because currently, it’s one I can’t get enough of. It’s a gospel song by Israel Houghton called “Just Gotta Say”. It starts with my new favorite thought….”Never have I seen the righteous forsaken!” I AM NOT FORSAKEN!!!! It goes on to say that He will never leave us lonely.
Sometimes, in my singleness, I forget that I am not alone. Is my life what I thought or planned it would be? Absolutely not. But, it’s what He planned it would be. And truly, doesn’t God know much better than I?
Friday, November 6, 2009
From the mouths of prisoners...
So, one of the groups I run at work is Lyric Discussion. Quite honestly, it's my most favorite group. When they talk, of course. So, I guess sometimes it depends on the make up of the crew. But, I love listening to their points of view and justification and experiences and just whatever comes out of their mouths.
Yesterday was a stellar day. I had 2 fabulous groups of lyrics and I was really excited about it. Just wanted to express 2 of the things that got me thinking. Well really, only one got me thinking, the other one got me laughing.
When I was at Maxey doing a lyric group, we got on the topic of drug dealing. I will never forget the day that dear, precious DeAndre said "Ms. Scott, I'm a drug dealer with morals. I would never sell to kids under the age of 16." I about fell off my chair. A drug dealer with morals? Really. Well, today, I heard it again. Two of the fellas were giving me their definitions for drug dealing being "work" or a job. I conceded to it being work but had to argue on the job front. And, the younger of the two said "I don't sell to anyone under 16. You have to have a line somewhere." I couldn't believe it. Twice in my career have I heard this. When the elder statesmen of the group asked him if asked to see their ID, I had to laugh out loud. Of course, this same young guy is the one who says that his kids need a role model, like Ice-T and later on says that you have to pray with your kids and give them some stability and foundation. Wow. Sometimes it's hard for me to wrap my head around the opinions and ideas that they have floating around in theirs. Which, leads me to my next story. The poignant one for the day, the one that really got me thinking.
Same group, different guys, different lyrics. We got on the topic of homelessness. Of course, some of them have been homeless and lived on the streets. This young kid says that he was "chasing that dope" and all he wanted was $20 to stay high. Said it was so bad he was using water from a mud puddle to put in his needle. Wow. But, we were sharing how homeless, or panhandlers get treated. He shared some of the things he saw and did when begging for money and then he asked if he could ask me how I reacted to people who beg. I told him that I've done several things, including giving someone $20 but mostly, I ignore them. He looked at me, can't think of a word to describe his face (maybe hurt) and he said, "I'd rather have someone tell me no than ignore me." Stopped me in my tracks. Of course, I knew immediately what he meant but I wanted him to share it with the group so I asked. His answer? "If you ignore me, it's like I don't exist. I'm nothing. If you tell me no, or sorry, at least you've acknowledged that you hear me and I'm a person."
I thanked this young man for sharing that and I told him that I was going to consider his words from here on out. Even if it's just how I handle the young kid at Meijer selling candy bars and I wonder to myself, "really, a school trip, how do I know you're not conning me?" I think now, I will take a minute to smile at them and acknoledge them, regardless of what I give or don't give.
Just for those of you who may wonder...lyrics used today were "Dear Mama" by Tupac and "What It's Like" by Everlast.
Yesterday was a stellar day. I had 2 fabulous groups of lyrics and I was really excited about it. Just wanted to express 2 of the things that got me thinking. Well really, only one got me thinking, the other one got me laughing.
When I was at Maxey doing a lyric group, we got on the topic of drug dealing. I will never forget the day that dear, precious DeAndre said "Ms. Scott, I'm a drug dealer with morals. I would never sell to kids under the age of 16." I about fell off my chair. A drug dealer with morals? Really. Well, today, I heard it again. Two of the fellas were giving me their definitions for drug dealing being "work" or a job. I conceded to it being work but had to argue on the job front. And, the younger of the two said "I don't sell to anyone under 16. You have to have a line somewhere." I couldn't believe it. Twice in my career have I heard this. When the elder statesmen of the group asked him if asked to see their ID, I had to laugh out loud. Of course, this same young guy is the one who says that his kids need a role model, like Ice-T and later on says that you have to pray with your kids and give them some stability and foundation. Wow. Sometimes it's hard for me to wrap my head around the opinions and ideas that they have floating around in theirs. Which, leads me to my next story. The poignant one for the day, the one that really got me thinking.
Same group, different guys, different lyrics. We got on the topic of homelessness. Of course, some of them have been homeless and lived on the streets. This young kid says that he was "chasing that dope" and all he wanted was $20 to stay high. Said it was so bad he was using water from a mud puddle to put in his needle. Wow. But, we were sharing how homeless, or panhandlers get treated. He shared some of the things he saw and did when begging for money and then he asked if he could ask me how I reacted to people who beg. I told him that I've done several things, including giving someone $20 but mostly, I ignore them. He looked at me, can't think of a word to describe his face (maybe hurt) and he said, "I'd rather have someone tell me no than ignore me." Stopped me in my tracks. Of course, I knew immediately what he meant but I wanted him to share it with the group so I asked. His answer? "If you ignore me, it's like I don't exist. I'm nothing. If you tell me no, or sorry, at least you've acknowledged that you hear me and I'm a person."
I thanked this young man for sharing that and I told him that I was going to consider his words from here on out. Even if it's just how I handle the young kid at Meijer selling candy bars and I wonder to myself, "really, a school trip, how do I know you're not conning me?" I think now, I will take a minute to smile at them and acknoledge them, regardless of what I give or don't give.
Just for those of you who may wonder...lyrics used today were "Dear Mama" by Tupac and "What It's Like" by Everlast.
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