12:12 pm, 1/19/2 Delta Air Little Rock - Atlanta It's an overcast, chilly, drizzly, gloomy day in Little Rock, from which this plane just took off, and it looks like this up here. Something to keep in mind, I guess, on gloomy days of the sky or spirit. I'm headed to DC after a quick stop in Batesville, AR to play at Lyon College, after dropping off what I'm sure is the ugliest rental car I've ever seen early this morning. To be fair, I guess the car itself wasn't too bad, but the paint on it was something to behold. If feeling polite, one might call it 'mustard.' If feeling less polite I might leave the first syllable off of that description. At any rate, it carried me safely to Batesville and back, and I find myself now on a flight to Atlanta, where I'll change planes and head to DC for a show tomorrow in Bethesda, MD, flying right over my house on the way, I suppose. It does seem sometimes that I live inside a gyroscope, but the still points of connection with folks along the way are worth all the motion and commotion. With holidays and one thing and another, I've been remiss in writing for a while. That means there is lots of news to share. If you're on the postal mailing list, you'll be getting a paper newsletter sometime soon. We sent 6500 of those out on Monday to fill folks in on the latest happenings, and that's not counting the folks who are just on the email list. It's amazing and encouraging to find that the mailing list has grown to that size. I've never merged any other mailing lists into my own, since I hate junkmail as much as anybody, so that's 6500 folks who've signed up over the years. By the way, also on the topic of junk mail, we ate some extra cost to print the newsletter on tree-free paper. It's 100% post-consumer recycled. If you didn't get one, and would like to, sign up on the mailing list and include a note that says you want the newsletter. Also along those lines, if you did get one, and would rather just be on the email list, we're happy to hear that too (printing and mailing this newsletter cost more than my first car!). And speaking of the years, this month I'm celebrating eleven of them as a full-time musician. Hard to believe, but true. Thanks for the support which gives me that news to share. Lots of people have been asking about the SIBL project CD. It has gone to press and should be available in a week or two. Sadly, Emmy Lou Harris had to drop out at the last minute because the song whe was going to contribute was a duet with Dave Matthews, and his biz people wouldn't release the rights. That leaves Bruce Springsteen, Aimee Mann, Suzanne Vega, Ray Manzarek, Grace Slick and several others. And, of course, me! I'm honored to be on this CD, needless to say, and glad to be a part of the project, which is expected to raise a great deal of money for, and awareness of, adult literacy work. It's actually one of four compilations I'm going to be on in the next few weeks.. The National Folk Festival of Australia, where I'll be one of the headliners in March, has put out a compilation CD that is being distributed to all the radio stations in Australia; I just received a few copies of "A Cloud of Witnesses," a CD magazine on the topic of 'Suffering and Hope,' put out by Princeton Theological Seminary, which closes with my version of "A Song For Peace." And music promoter and general good guy Ray Guenthner is producing a CD sampler of Carolina songwriters, which will include most of my regional favorite songwriters. I hope life is rich and full for you these days. 2001 was quite a year for all of us, it seems; full of joy and pain and questioning and all the things that paint our lives into color. And now it seems that so many friends are experiencing the winter in powerful ways. So much seems to be dying and falling away, both treasured and extraneous. That's a healthy part of the cycle, I guess, but winter has never been my favorite season. There are so many challenges that remain for us, and I hope we will rise to them. Monday night I will sing at the closing ceremony for a weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events. He is certainly one of my heroes, and I continue to agree with him that the problem with violent 'solutions' is that they only breed more violence. Pacifism is hardly passive, as was clearly demonstrated in his life, and there is much for us to do. Of course, the rejection of violence taught and practiced by King, Ghandi and Jesus is no more popular today than it was in their days. I remain convinced, though, that violence is not the answer. These antipathies have been centuries in the making, and will not be healed quickly. It is my sincere hope, though, that we will make real moves toward healing, and not toward more hatred. It's also true that one of my core beliefs is that people of integrity, wisdom and intelligence may be taught very different things by their lives. I don't claim to have a corner on the truth, but I think it is important for all of us to be speaking the truth as we see it. That's not unpatriotic, it's what democracy looks like. In the end, though, I respect people who are willing to stand up for what they believe, in spite of very real risks and costs. That includes the soldiers who have gone to war because they believe it is the right thing to do, and Martin Luther King, Jr., who repeatedly put himself in harm's way by speaking truth to power, but refused to raise a hand or weapon against another person. And in the end, King and his followers showed us that right makes might, and not the other way around. If you're interested in more musings along these lines, one of the best articles I've read lately is from Michael Ventura, of the Austin Chronicle. So my wish for you as the new year gains momentum is that peace will be within, around and through you, and that we may all be safe, which is the only way that any of us will ever be truly safe. Happy New Year, and keep in touch, David