The reason I wrote “Walking Israel” is that the view of Israel in the media is too narrow. So many people ask whether it is safe to visit Israel. Then a week after arriving they call and say, Wow, this is such a great place, I had no idea. That’s what I wanted to write about: that great place about which people have no idea.
You may know actress/singer Gloria Loring from her character Liz Chandler on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, or as the singer in the number-one hit song “Friends and Lovers” or as the mother of singer Robin Thicke. But what you may not know is that Gloria has wrestled with real-life dramas throughout her life. Her oldest child was diagnosed with a chronic illness, she struggled through an unraveling marriage and faced countless professional challenges. But Gloria also experienced the saving grace of timely coincidences.
This months World Footprints Book Club selection “Coincidence is God’s Way of Remaining Anonymous” is a detailed account of Gloria’s compelling life’s journing and her exploration of the mystery of divine intervention. Gloria experienced many ‘accidental miracles’ that occurred at just the right time. One example was her discovery of a business card with the words “expect a miracle” that someone or something placed on her makeup table. That event and those simple words have since become her mantra.
This show will also be available on the World Footprints website.
It’s no secret. Music has always been a passionate harbinger of change and social activism. From Woody Guthrie’s “This machine kills fascists” message emblazoned on his beat-up acoustic guitar, to Bob Dylan’s stunning political messages perhaps most unequivocally stated in his timeless anthem “The Times They Are A Changin’”, to the Woodstock era’s desperate and eloquent pleas for peace during the Vietnam war, even up to Bruce Springsteen leading the charge on a couple of Vote For Change tours here in the 21st century, the musical community has forever used it’s bully pulpit to sing loud the possibilities of making the world a better place, or at least reminding us of what’s wrong and offering some ways to fix it via song. But perhaps no single musician has had a bigger influence on a bigger audience than the brilliant Senegalese musician/percussionist/activist Youssou N’Dour.