Karaoke Confession

by JoAnne Spies
M a R c H 16, 2012

Thanks to all who made this event such a success!

I'm grateful to Jennifer Browdy and the team of organizers and volunteers who make the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers a month-long celebration.

Thank you to the John A. Sellon Charitable Trust for its sustaining contributions to International Women's Day and the Festival of Berkshire Women Writers, with particular gratitude to Mr. Michael Sellon for his commitment to promoting the rights and celebrating the achievements of women worldwide.

Special thanks to Melinda Georgeson and Tom Daly at the Rockwell Museum.
They gave me free reign and their willingness to let me lead a parade with an accordion through the galleries was appreciated.

photos by Tammis Coffin

Melinda and Tom provided everyone with camp chairs and were stage managers and instrument bearers.

Tom Daly's ability to step into the performance with just the right info needed for the paintings at a moment's notice was spot on.

...if you look closely you can see Tom Daly in doorway holding sunflower instrument

Nathan Smith with earth instrument; seated right, Ben Friedman

Mari Andrejo reading poems of Nathan Smith by the cobbler painting

Rodney Mashia leading through Four Freedoms with flute

Forgiveness Quotes
Many of these quotes were passed out to the audience and were read in the second gallery.

There is no revenge as complete as forgiveness
~Josh Billings

To carry a grudge is to be stung to death by one bee.

Love manifests towards those whom we like as love; towards those whom we do not like as forgiveness.
Hazrat Inayat Khan

Forgiveness is a funny thing
It warms the heart and cools the sting
~William Arthur Ward

Forgiveness is the oil, the WD40 to make life go more smoothly;
It fills the gap between expectations of others and the reality of what we deliver.

Do not choose a coward's explanation
that hides behind the cause and the effect
Do not say the moment was imagined.
Do not stoop to strategies like this.
~ Leonard Cohen

The greatest teachers of all inflict the most pain.

True forgiveness is not an action after the fact;
It is an attitude with which you enter each moment

Inhabit your truth without having to speak it.

There is more to a person than the worst thing he or she has done

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."
~Bernard Meltzer

A good marriage is the union of two good forgivers.

He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.
Thomas Fuller

One forgives to the degree that one loves.
Francois de LaRochefoucald

The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.
Marianne Williamson

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Mark Twain

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
Ghandi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forgiveness practice
This practice has its origins in a native Hawaiian healing practice, called Ho’oponopono, and involves taking responsibility for the hurt you have caused, asking for forgiveness, expressing love and gratitude. This practice is done internally and uses visualization. It is not done with your partner, though you may tell them about it. The practice can be adapted for many situations. You think of someone you have hurt, and visualize them. You then slowly say to yourself the following 4 statements:
“I’m so sorry.”
“Please forgive me.”
“Thank you.”
“I love you.”
Pause between the sentences, and allow feelings to arise, and release. You can learn more about this process in a book entitled Zero Limits by Joe Vitale.

ancient Hawaiian prayer, Ho’oponopono:
“I’m sorry, please forgive me, I thank you, and I love you.”

Natalie Shiras, pastor of Church on the Hill, by the Song of Bernadette