Their founder/director, Episcopal priest, Becca Stevens’ latest book, “Find Your Way Home,” is an inspirational compilation of these remarkable women’s transitions from harsh street life to comforting mutual support.

Stevens’ publicist, Ashley Miller, expressed her appreciation for my previous Clarksville Online article about Magdalene House by sending me a complimentary copy, so — having read it — I can personally attest to its honest, courageous anecdotes and moving photographs. Its subtitle is “Words from the Street, Wisdom from the Heart” and the cover photo depicts a scrappy but beautiful purple thistle flower growing from a crack in the asphalt. They encourage all of us to . . . “take a picture of thistles growing in your city and send it to Thistle Farms to be used in our thistle gallery.”

Thistle Farm Candles

Visit thistlefarms.org for more information. Again, I highly encourage you to join us at 10:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clarksville (UUFC) this Sunday, January 25, at 3053 41-A South (Madison Street), about two miles from K-Mart and Wal-Mart on the left (next to a horse pasture). Any one of their soothing products, including lovely scented or unscented candles, would make an ideal gift for Valentines Day.

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Founder/Director & Episcopal Priest Becca Stevens

The spirit of the “holiday season,” which is kicked off by Thanksgiving, is buoyed by hopeful, upbeat music and encouragement to express good will to all, but is often squelched by frenetic desires to do too much. That overwhelming energy zap can be circumvented in at least three inspirational ways by the women of Magdalene House, who will speak on Sunday, December 7 at 10:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clarksville.

What can this program do for you?

1. You’ll give yourself the gift of absorbing astonishing stories of hope and even self-redemption. Even though I contend personally that we’re all already “redeemed” just as we are, I’ve noticed that a process of self-acceptance (“love” if you will) must be honored. Magdalene House offers women who have fallen into prostitution and drug abuse the opportunity to change those influences through group support. In a November 3 Nashville City paper article, Nate Rau quotes a Magdalene House participant, “. . . it’s the love, the support. . . They’re not judgmental.” The success rate of approximately ¾ of graduates never returning to prostitution or drugs speaks for itself. Founder/Director and Episcopal priest Becca Stevens told Rau, “We ask people to give in gratitude for all they have been given.”

2. You can give to this wonderful program by simultaneously enjoying Thistle Farms pampering products, made by women in the program, which include: candles, room spray, multi-fragranced or non-fragranced lotions and soaps, mini-sachets, salt scrubs and body and lip balms.

3. You can buy these excellent-quality products for others in the true spirit of the season, thereby radiating your generosity out even further.

After hearing two women share their heart-rending stories to our teary-eyed congregation last year, I strongly recommend that you join us in person, but if you can’t, you can order from this extraordinary organization at www.thistlefarms.org.

Stevens, who started “Thistle Farms” in 2002, has written two books. “Hither & Yon” is Stevens’ latest book encompassing her thoughts on steps you can take and preparations you can make on your own spiritual journey. “Sanctuary,” is about some unexpected places where she has encountered God – a trail in the Andes, her son’s bathtub, a Kroger parking lot. The book written by the Magdalene women – “Find Your Way Home” – sounds intriguing to me.

Hope to see you Sunday, December 7 at 3053 41-A South (Madison Street) about two miles from K-Mart and Walmart on the left (next to a horse pasture).

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I was first introduced to this Renaissance man’s extraordinary journey from near the Narrows of the Harpeth to New Orleans – in a canoe – while I was “killing time” in the Nashville airport.  Reading Joe Nolan’s feature of Guider in Nashville Arts Magazine revitalized my long-held preference to make time rather than kill it.  I remain so impressed with that article from October 2006, that it’s held a prominent place in my room and I’ve re-read it several times for inspiration!

Again, on November 19, I was “killing time” waiting for my fellow “local enthusiast” to meet me at the Tennessee State Museum.  It felt utterly serendipitous when I gazed up at a glorious shot of a canoe and sunburst clouds reflecting on the Mississippi River with this exciting announcement:  The River Inside: John Guilder’s Amazing Journey: October 3 through November 30.

Despite the show’s end being so imminent and Nashville being approximately a 50 mile drive from here, I’m compelled to recommend this brilliant exhibit for many reasons, including:

1.  The clarity of Guider’s photographs is awe-inspiring in itself.  As explained in Nolan’s article, Guider utilizes a unique platinum process rather than the more common use of silver as a light-sensitizing agent in traditional black/white photography.  The difference must be as striking as HDTV versus “rabbit ears” because the gradations of contrast allow for 100 shades of grey between black and white compared to only 10 with silver!

2.  The “human spirit” is unified in so many examples from aptly-named Guider’s river experience. He used so many words implying trepidation – “daunting,” “untenable,” “unexpected” – yet he not only completed that first vision, but returned to explore even more of the Mississippi!  All this after enduring a lifetime of respiratory ailments, including asthma, recurrent bouts of pneumonia and bronchitis and allergies so severe that he remained hospitalized for over a year at age 8.  That isolation from his family helped him realize that he could become accustomed to so much time alone, which paradoxically leads to the third and most important reason to see this show.

3.  It expresses the universal power of love.  Guider met his wife Mona Lisa after formulating his dream journey for many months, so he was initially reluctant to broach the subject to the love of his life. In Nolan’s article, he graciously credited her with being “. . . really good about it . . . I had never been in a relationship . . . where I was given that autonomy to be who I am.”  Guider echoes that sentiment in his book while acknowledging countless souls who contributed to his “amazing journey.”  “In part, I set out on this adventure to find myself.  In the end, I found something better:  community.”  That sense of community has been extended to the very young by the Tennessee State Museum with a newspaper insert called “Student Supplement” that’s also free.  Bonus displays include a short film, maps, shells, rocks and the estimated 600 pounds of supplies and photographic equipment filling the entire 16 ½ foot-Kevlar canoe, leaving just enough room for one intrepid man of great human spirit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“The River Inside” is presented in part by Ingram Barge Co. of Nashville.  Located at 5th and Deaderick Streets in Nashville, the Tennessee Museum is open 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Sunday and is free to the public.  It is closed on Thanksgiving.  The museum website is www.tnmuseum.org

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Beverly Fisher, caught up in the music

Playing and singing can be enjoyed for less than a song at Grace Lutheran’s “Music at Grace” concert series.

Beverly Fisher and I were once dubbed “local enthusiasts” by the editor of Clarksville Online and it continues to be apt, thanks to the diversity of arts to celebrate in this community. Our enthusiasm was thoroughly ignited again at the latest concert in the free series so generously provided by Grace Lutheran Church and those of us who wish to donate.

“Too Many Strings” performed“ their intertwining of Bluegrass and Celtic music” (as highlighted in the program).  Two of its members – Tom Saffell on an 8-string, 4 ½ – octave-range banjo of his own design and Travis Johnson, who maintains a joyful beat on the bodhran –  played there at March 30 with “Plaidgrass” violin virtuoso Gretchen Priest-May and her guitarist/songwriter husband, Tim May.

Tom Saffell remembered us, probably because one of their poignant airs moved me to tears.  I cried again at the November 16 concert when Travis Johnson crooned a plaintive ballad honoring his late father’s contribution to WWII called, “Those Times Will Not Come Again.”  Of course, he acknowledged its “therapeutic” value in his process of grieving for his Dad.

Travis Johnson also graces Nashville band, “The Fells” with his prodigious talents which include playing guitar.  I’ve always liked that mastering an instrument is called “playing.”  Tom Saffell’s joint “instrumental project “Forgotten Pictures” says on his CD, “It’s fun and it’s emotional.”

During the  performance Tom and Travis were joined by yet another fiddle virtuoso, Lynda Anderson, who moved to Nashville two years ago from the Scottish Shetland Islands.  Just as Gretchen does, she moves with her instrument as if it’s a part of her body and plays every note so impeccably that she’s a significant part of the transcendence of their music as a whole.

Frances Cunningham of Ashland City, endearingly gushed about her Irish bouzouki that it’s “the greatest thing ever.”  She sings and plays it with that same verve.  Its 12 strings bring the group’s grand total to 24, certainly not “Two Many Strings” for the raucously enthusiastic full church whose standing ovation prompted the rousing rendition of “Johnny, Don’t Get Drunk.”  Preceding it, Lynda stepped up to the microphone and playfully proclaimed, “In Scotland, it’s “Johnny, Get Drunk.”

If you’d like to mark your calendars for more inspirational music that could make you a “local enthusiast,” too, call Grace Lutheran at 647-6750 or just notice their marquee at 2041 Madison Street, as we did.  On January 11, they’re celebrating their “Epiphany Concert” “a Hymn Festival featuring the choir, organ and chamber orchestra . . .”  followed by Nashville Children’s Choir on February 8 with over 60 singers aged 8 –14 who have performed with Reba McEntire and the Nashville Symphony.All concerts are at 4:00 p.m., which we love, especially in waning light, so we can drive safely home.

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