21 March

Earth to Earth

by Jon Katz
Barn Window

We lost a lot of beautiful barns this winter, and I find that I know where each of the beautiful barns are, as I have photographed them so many times. And I feel a pang when I go by each one, as they are picked apart by scavengers for the valuable wood and carted away. I thought I heard this window calling out to me and bear witness.

Living with change is the most valuable spiritual tool I know. Earth to earth. The barns know that better than any human, and like animals, they accept their fate, and the nature of life and death. I hear them whispering to me, it’s no big deal, we’re all going to the same place. Maybe so.

21 March

My song, my voice, my pictures: Bedlam Diary. Wednesday

by Jon Katz
Singing my song

I’ve often believed the power of a story is the voice it gives to the person telling it. Now, as my 22nd books is about to be published, I am finding new ways to find my voice, to sing my song.

The moving image has stirred me, and pushed me forward, and bless it for that. I came to see yesterday that by adding my voice to video, rather than my face, I can narrate the story of Bedlam Farm is a completely comfortable and new way. People say I have a good voice, and I have no sense of that, but I like the sound of it on the videos. I don’t need to be in the picture, I do need to add my voice to the picture.

So on Wednesday, I am offering something new, something radical for me. Bedlam Farm Diary, words and moving images from the farm that are narrated by me and photographed. Wow, what a wonderful leap for me. I am very excited by it. I took a camera out yesterday and spent some time with the donkeys and Lenore, and I wrote about the donkeys and about me and other things.

My life as a writer and my life with animals goes well beyond dogs, and so the Diary is a powerful way to affirm my voice and remain very faithful to the notion of the Farm Journal, which inspired this blog and the photography.

My idea has always been to record my life here, and the blog has always been a living book to me. Now moving images add a completely different dimension. I was uncomfortable seeing myself in some of the early videos, and I will take those down shortly. That wasn’t right. The proper use is to add my voice to the images of the farm, and Lenore’s World was a good place to start and I will move on to the donkeys and the dogs and maybe some barns and farms as well. I’ve found a new way to sing my song, and that is joy. I’ll put the donkeys up Wednesday if I can get the ending right.

21 March

Singing Our Songs

by Jon Katz
Singing our songs

There are people who help us sing our songs and people who take our songs away from us.

It is important to sing our songs. My stories are my songs, my photos, my videos.

There are so many reasons people give us to stop our songs. The world is dangerous. The world is cruel.

We can’t afford it. We need big IRA’s. We are at war. There are tragedies in the world.

We need health care. And retirement funds. And wealth management courses. Maybe we need life fulfillment courses.

Nobody sings their songs while listening to their news. Or watching the stock market.

I believe we need our songs. Our souls live in our songs. They define our lives and give it purpose.

Maybe our songs are the things that  give life to the spirits inside of us.

Maria sings her songs every day. When she talks to the dogs. Or the donkeys. Or makes her quilts. Or her potholders. And I sing mine. With every word. Every photo. Every moving image.

For many years, neither of us sang our songs.

Songs are important. They are our voices, our connections to higher places, our aspirations.

Sometimes our songs are about music. But I suspect that mostly, our songs are about the things

we love.

The joy and hope we have for our lives.

Our songs want to come out. They deserve to live.

It is a small death when somebody’s song dies. Or is silenced.

I won’t let anyone take my songs away.

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