MUSIC BOTH REFLECTS AND SHAPES CULTURE AND POLITICS, AS WELL IT SHOULD!

Who knew that the Women's Movement has now entered its fourth iteration! Called fourth wave feminism, in retirement I'm now trying to catch up.

More power to that current movement, but I suffer growing apprehension and sorrow about the advent of the "tradwife" trend, bound and determined to take women back to the 60s and before, to my grandmother's limiting, oppressive life of servitude to men and her sons; my dear mom always got the end of the family stick. (Be sure you educate yourself about the surging push of women, particularly teen-aged girls, toward limited married-and-pregnant lives set forth in a beyond-ambitious 250-year Plan announced in January by the infamous Christian nationalist Heritage Foundation: Save America by Saving the Family)

Some think that music--and the arts of any kind--should remain "pure" and "above" the political fray. Not long ago I was astounded to read rules of the owner of writers.com (an online venture for writers and poets) for his facilitated weekly poetry meeting. One rule is "If what you’re writing about is politically contentious, is in the national or international news, or is something that people might be writing op-eds about, please refrain from sharing it in the group."

I tried my best to argue that his venture should promote the First Amendment rights of writers and poets and that we had a specific platform to contribute to the advancement of justice and inclusion and state the kind of society in which we wish to live. Plus, almost anything can be the topic of an Op Ed piece. "Op Ed" itself means opinion or viewpoint - not fact. However, he disagreed and refused to budge. Gratefully, Elle Marca, an awesome writer and poet, holds the same kind of group on another day and applies no rules at all! Curious, because she works at writers.com and has the type of freedom that he is not willing to grant to us participants. .

Musicians, poets, and all artists have a special responsibility to speak out for justice and against injustice, because of the power of their medium and their platform. That's why a lot of the themes of my poetry over the past year and a half have been what I call "rage poems" against the present US neo-mafioso regime; think Don Corleone, not Hitler, because The Don loves only himself and his family members and money while all other "friends and associates" are tolerated -- if they bend the knee and give him meaningless public awards. DJT could give a hoot about this country and its peoples.

The connection of music to effective protest in service of justice, is clear. The mid to late 60s, at work in upper New York State, I woke up to the repressive role and expectations for women. That happened in weekly, leaderless, consciousness raising groups. Pictured here is a favorite old 60s bumper sticker I never applied to my car but keep pinned to my closet wall to look at each day.

Accompanying that awakening, was music. I well remember Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore (note that she "spreads her loving arms across the land" -and does not wage war or diss men).

Reddy's amazing lyrics still thrill me. Her song was released in 1971 during my first year in law school, and thereafter helped propel me around a central focus of self-determination for all women, starting with my own education, work, avocation, relationship, and life goal choices.

Music accompanied most any 60s protest I joined, if we took to the streets. I remember most of all the unmatched voices of Joan Baez, ("We Shall Overcome"), Emmy Lou Harris, ("Born to Run"), Judy Collins ("Suzanne"), and Oakland-based Holly Near ("I am Willing")---all my hero folk singers accompanying these special times of my life.

Recently, Baez spoke at No Kings.2 rally in San Francisco in October, 2025, but sadly I missed seeing her because I was leading a Lament Walk for Lost Justice in my very own Glen Park neighborhood. At the next such Walk for Lost Justice for Women, we walkers ended up in our Glen Park neighborhood library to watch a wonderful movie about the life and times of Holly Near.

Listening to the songs to which I link each name above, still brings tears to my eyes with the memories of the times and my budding feminism. I'm amazed by the aptness of the lyrics and message to today's political, social, and gender challenges. I hope you enjoy them, too.

Hate to admit that only about a year or so ago I learned about country singer and guitarist, John Prine. He had just passed away from Covid complications. A friend told me about him and off I went exploring Prine's fabulous country songs and reveling in the lyrics he wrote with such perfect rhyming that as a poet, I'm now jealous. Among them this song is my favorite, a gentle but powerful protest against unkind, hypocritical, vengeful, stupid people: "Some Humans Ain't Human."

Seems like John was thinking especially about a former president from Texas, but I surely know who is the first person I think of when I revisit this song. I can't help but wish Prine were still here to send him a copy of my poem "The Checkout Line (or, Dear Leader)" set forth below, in case he might compose a tune to accompany the lyrics.

Since the advent of the "second coming" of No. 47, I have watched for notable protest songs for the times, which times I lament greatly. I surely don't lament this one by The Boss. But my happiest find was recently re-discovering Carsie Blanton who has been called the "Janis Ian of the 21st century, but better." I will never ever find a sexier version of what women want from men than Carsie's "Backbone", well worth viewing her gorgeous black and white video.

She's the very definition of edgy and sassy, and for some of her protest songs you had better have a strong stomach. She very properly skewers Elon Musk with her clever, always appropriate lyrics, but my favorite song is "Rich People." Reminds me of a recent clip of former Professor Robert Reich who shows us in a moving graph from 1950 to 2018 (statistics ed up about the same today) about how the amount of taxes has been falling for those rich people compared to the rest of us.

Among other things, Carsie suffered arrest in Israel for her support for Gaza, and joined the flotilla with environmentalist Greta Thunberg. Her latest is a song for all 30-something musicians about how to appreciate the times of capitalism's decline. She's a dedicated activist musician to be admired for using her talents and humor to comment on the cruelty and unfairness throughout our present world.

We can certainly find inspiration in her tunes and promote her talents by getting the word out. Like Carsie we can step up and out with our voices and our bodies when as as we can, to state clearly the kind of much improved and just world in which we want to live.

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The Checkout Line (or, Dear Leader) Pub. by Dissent Voice April 12, 2026)

A gasconader, a bantam brain

who can’t come in from the rain,

who thinks his taste Babylonian

when all it is, is vulgarian.

A midget man is his accoutrement,

that fits right in with his lowest brow,

but stands at attention without one doubt

for a gilded cod piece as his redoubt.

A master of slurs that roll easily off

a forked tongue, but like a sloth

is a mind that flails and mouth that froths

to dole out hurt like a Visigoth.

A widening girth and a shrinking mind,

‘til a lonely pea is what you’ll find

while all rejoice for our lifetimes

when he’s gone to his ultimate checkout line.

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