John Philip Sousa was born on November 6, 1854, in Washington, DC. It's easy to say he was the most famous composer of marches of all time. His music is the exact opposite of depressing; even Monty Python used Sousa for their opening music.
David had this nice thing to say: You can put John Philip Sousa's music right up there with Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and the fourth movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony: It seems to belong to the universe.
And, it's not religious!
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Ella has been blossoming lately into much more of a penetrating thinker than she used to be. Last night at the dinner table, she was full of serious questions, and listened carefully to the answers. Why did more people vote for Barack Obama than for John McCain? What does Obama want to do as President? What is the war in Iraq all about? What will happen to the good people in Iraq if our soldiers leave? What is individual liberty all about? Will there be more or less liberty under Obama? Was McCain or Obama more in favor of freedom?
When Tony and Tatiana come for Thanksgiving, she wants to ask them a lot of questions about what it was like to grow up in Cuba, a country where the government places a low value indeed on individual freedom. I'm sure they'll fall over themselves telling her all she wants to know.
Last night after Ella was in bed, David turned to me and said, "I just want nakedly to admit how proud I am of our baby." I knew just what he meant.
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2 comments:
It is great that Ella is so interested in what is going on.
I like a good march, too.
Interestingly, unlike her sister who wants to pierce an issue like a lightning bolt and then move on to discussing all of the implications, Ella is taking time really to think and to process the information. Great to watch those wheels turning.
Madison is so extremely passionate and empathetic that she realizes the implications of what it might mean in real life to be a nice Iraqi person right now. So she finds it really difficult to manage any discussion of the war, and what it might mean for us to stay or leave--she gets bogged down in feeling horrible for the Iraqis.
Ella doesn't go down so deep so quickly, so she is able--and, now, it seems, eager--to discuss the issues theoretically.
Fascinating.
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