Monday Morning Musings

Posted on October 30, 2017 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

Len and Kass reunited after 35 years

“ Peace, joy and love; freedom in my soul.”

As sung by Kass Gerro

The Antigonish International Film Festival wound up on the weekend. AIFF , as it is known, provides the viewer a dazzling array of educational and entertaining films and documentaries. I think I will rename AIFF: Antigonish Is Frigging Fantastic! Kudos to the dozens and dozens of volunteers and the sponsors for bringing this wonderful event to our community.

There is no possible way in this short space for me to comment and review the eight movies I watched. A few certainly resonated with me. “ Jesus Took My Burden and Left Me With a Song” is a brief film on the life of Kass Gerro. She was born in Guysborough County but spent most of her life in Upper Big Tracadie. Music, especially church music, has sustained her in good times and bad. Every pore in her body oozes music and much of it is to the glory of God.

I really wanted to see this film. It was personal. Thirty- five years ago in October, Kass sang at our wedding in the University Chapel. Her performance is forever etched in my memory as she brought the congregation to its feet, clapping and singing along. Part of the soundtrack to the movie was the hymn she sang at our wedding. I spent a few minutes with Kass after the screening. I haven’t seen her in the intervening years. She still looks youthful and has a sparkle in her eyes.

I watched shows about the environment, mental illness ,civil rights, music and much more. Hands down, my favorite ( besides Kass’s! ), was “ The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen.” According to the AIFF program, “ Angela grew up in inner city Boston during the Jim Crow era and went on to become a classical ballerina, a legendary dance teacher, a black lesbian feminist activist organizer, writer and professor.” Her work with the LGBT community is legendary. What a fascinating and inspiring woman. If and when our library gets a copy of the film, grab it and spend 73 minutes watching it. It will be 73 minutes very well spent.

One other movie resonated with me. “ An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” is the sequel to Al Gore’s ground breaking film, “ An Inconvenient Truth.” While there has been a lot of progress on the environmental front in the past decade, there continues to be serious challenges and obstacles. The film looks at the issue through the prism of the Paris conference on climate change and the Paris Accord which now seems in jeopardy with the United States threatening to back off of its commitments. What was of particular interest to me was the key role that India played in the negotiations. It looked like India might be a holdout until Gore brokered an arrangement with a major solar energy provider in the U.S. who agreed to supply India with a billion dollars’ worth of solar energy infrastructure and expertise. I am presently raising money for The Daughters of Mary to install solar power at their facility.

There was a lot of footage in the documentary from India and much of it I had seen with my own eyes. The pictures from Delhi were particularly poignant as I spent three weeks there during my visa problems. In case you missed it, here is my account of those travails. It’s a long piece ( 2 cups of coffee long! ). https://www.week45.com/delhi-dilemma/

Just a reminder of a film to be shown this Wednesday, November 1^st. at 7:00 p.m. at the small meeting room at People’s Place Library. Father Abhi Anand works with the railway children of Varanasi and will be in attendance. I spent Christmas Day with the children last year. The film is short ( 20 minutes ) followed by Q&A. Hope you can join us.

To the volunteers of AIFF…. take a bow!

Have a great week.

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