The peace march that took place in Boston and ten other cities Saturday drew a total of 100,000 people. That’s not very many for the whole country but there was music in Boston— The Leftist Marching Band from New Hampshire and The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society from Cambridge, MA. The slogan for The Leftist Marching Band, God bless them, is—’Our music is better than it sounds.’ There’s hope.

At the drawing class on Saturday I told the ladies about James Carroll. We are all liberal in the class but I sensed a little discomfort. We’re there to study art, of course, not to talk about politics and war but I really wanted to share Carroll’s sense of America’s historical trajectory and especially his analysis of how change really happens when people step up and ask for what they truly desire—peace and prosperity for all. At first, I wondered if I’d overstepped the mark by bringing politics to the class then one of our members asked if Carroll’s talk was depressing. No! No, it wasn’t! We’ve all felt so resigned and hopeless in the face of this government that I think the class was girding for more hopelessness. They were cheered though by President Kennedy’s words about Robert Frost—’When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.’

So we did our drawing again in good cheer, not daunted by events seemingly beyond our control. Growing ourselves as artists matters. Not that we are great artists, some of us will be, some of us won’t, depending on the kind of devotion and risks we’re willing to take and other things too perhaps—but it still matters that we connect with artist within, which is with our spirit and humanity.

I did not make it to the peace march because I went to dinner with my wondrous friend, Kelly, who was in town from Ohio for the weekend. With opportunities to visit infrequent it seemed just as important to nurture a friendship as to attend the march this time. We need to create all the good cheer we can and Kelly and I did our part on Saturday.

I must note here too that absolutely no mention was made of the march in The Boston Globe on Sunday. The media seem interested only in bad news. Part of the paradigm shift that needs to happen, I think, is that we begin to pay real attention to the good. What we focus on grows. So I am deeply happy to learn that The Leftist Marching Band and The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society were out in force. This is the way forward.