The Well Being of the American People

I attended two concerts recently in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  Only one did I choose to attend.  I attend most of these concerts to accompany my mother, and often I watch her sleep through them.  I ask myself why she goes, and I am not sure.  It completely is foreign to me as a son, because I myself never would choose to attend any of these concerts.  My mother is a patron of the arts, and I support that.  Never have I enjoyed attending symphony concerts, but ironically I am an orchestral composer.  Music history is a long affair, and many hundreds of years have transpired.  Choosing an effective program is daunting and possibly could be considered the life or death of an orchestra.  Fully I understand that today, just like during the classic period, there are patrons of the arts.  The majority of people either cannot afford to patron the arts or they have no interest in them.  As I sat through the recent concert of Fayetteville's Symphony, only could I ask myself why would people attend?  Should not this be an absurd question with the knowledge that I am an orchestral composer?  We listened to Schubert's third symphony, and while short the very nature of the music will make you tired.  It is so slow and so expressive it really is a challenge through which to sit, especially after dinner.  Always I have questioned this symphony construct.  The practice of dressing up and sitting in a large auditorium listening to instrumentalists dressed in formal attire really is archaic, and yet we promote it.  We continue in the American South to promote racist practices   There were few blacks at this concert, and I use the word black, because historically we have used this word to describe Negros.  Only recently has America chosen to adopt the term African-American.  It is easier to type the word black, and listening to the dialogue of African-Americans, they seem not to be offended by the use of this word.  Before it slips my mind often I forget that slavery truly is the soul of America.  This heinous tradition has provided America with a soul possibly at the insistence of African-Americans.  The second concert I attended was called "Raising Cane."  It was an expose of the Harlem Renaissance of the l920's.  There were few whites at this concert.  My mother and I were two.  I would speculate our percentage to the whole was about .5%.  It was startling to see only African-Americans attending this show.  Again I guess this is an absurdity on my part seeing as the subject matter solely was about the Negro race and their forced artistic evolution during the roaring twenties in New York city.  For me it was a chance to hear jazz-oriented music.  They had a formidable trio performing the music.  It was worth it, because not often can you hear African-influenced music this good.  I have studied and played jazz most of my life, so it was not a surprise to me.  The African polyrhythms, the calypso riffs, and the blues-oriented improvisation all were second nature to my ears.  The great enigma to me was after having been exposed to this music most of my life how only blacks would attend this concert?  The answer lies in the mystery of one of America's true art forms.  It reinforced what I all ready knew, and that is we have regressed as a nation in racial integration.  I do know that racial segregation was not nearly as prevalent in Columbus, Ohio as it is here in Fayetteville.  Always I have known that life in Fayetteville is not representative.  It is not.  It is unlike any other place in America, and not in a good way for most.  Classism is rampant, and the rich prey upon U.S. soldiers and underprivileged blacks.  It is one of few places where you will see million dollar homes dot an urban junk yard.  Fayetteville is a freight rail terminal, and it is unfortunate that no matter how hard well-intentioned real estate developers try invigorate our downtown area, it never will be anything other than a freight rail terminal.  I applaud their effort, and for the first time in decades our downtown is aesthetically pleasing.  Menno Pennink And Ralph Huff have made great strides in making Fayetteville's downtown honest.  Still the unknowing buyers of downtown housing will have a rude awakening upon realizing that rail activity including the assembling of two mile long military trains occurs around the clock.  Specifically three discreet rail companies operate simultaneously providing what must be a much needed tax base for the city.  I would hope so, seeing as these railroads as part of STRACNET operate with impunity.  They care not who they effect.  Because they Federal Railroad Administration is subsidized by the federal government, they like the EPA are instructed to turn a blind eye to probable infractions a rail provider can amass.  America today is a mystery to me bearing no resemblance to her past.  We have become extreme, brutal, and deadly like our ISIL counterparts.  I see more of this methodology in the media than I do in real life, while what I do see each day is extreme, brutal, and deadly.  It is shocking to me that into what I have developed is not applicable to what has become every day life.  Every day life is not much different than the life the pioneers championed, except their values had integrity.  Today we are struggling penny to penny with little to no cultural reward.  The American culture that once made life bearable in the face of inescapable hardship no longer exists.  Truly we are at wits end, and there is no choice but simply to ignore our past.  The present and the future have no chance when pitted against such an adversary.  I am not one living in the second half of a century ready and willing to give up my traditions, yet that seems to be what is in order.  Always throughout my life I have known that America and the world has two paths of which to follow.  We will resurrect the values of the past, or we will become modern discarding these anachronistic practices.  Finally I have realized our only hope of survival is the latter of the two choices.  Humanity has no chance.