As
a Beduin girl;
in European
guise; as the
patron saint
Mexico, the
image of
Mother Mary
abounds.
Though “Abuela
Jean,” as
my
mother was
know
throughout the
greater Puerto
Rican
community, for
her advocacy
on behalf of
their
independence
from colonial
rule, was no
saint, many
within her beloved
community
would aver
that she
richly earned
that
sobriquet. And
she was
beloved.
I
begin with a
paean to her,
each letter in
her name,
JEAN,
represented by
a note, to form
a
cascading
melody, then
on to two
of
my
compositions
on the traditional
Catholic
prayer,
Ave Maria,
between which,
as an intro to
Hail Mary, is
a tone row
piece based on
the letters in
the word “THANKSGIVING.”
For we give
thanks for the
many blessings
we enjoy.
This
is
dedicated to
my mother,
Jean Cameron
Wiley Zwickel
on this
Mother’s Day,
2020.
For an
historical
context, read below. I should be noted that both women who
originated
Mother's Day
did so to
furtherance
peace in the
world, and my
mother, like
my father, was
committed
pacifist.
G*D
knows, I
loved/love my
father, and
even
memorialized
him in song.
Twice, if you
count the
interior,
Hebrew piece
in Sing To the Heart! This Dynamic Duo made a wonderful
team, my
father out
vigiling with
his Drum, my
mother, at
home writing
articles and
keeping the
books,
supporting him
in every way.
But when I
succumbed to
pressure from
friends to
write a book
about them,
and I began by
sketching
their
adventures,
where my
father may
have been more
visible, my
mother's
impact was
enormous.
Please bear in
mind that this
is just a
sketch, a work
in progress.
But rather
than working
on it and
polishing it
further and
never really
getting it
done, I will
present it
here, so that
you may better
know my
mother. You
may download “Jean and Dr. Abe.”
A
Man and his
Drum get
Arrested; Rev.
Earl Johnson,
Moi,
David
Hartsough, and
the Dynamic
Duo; my father
with Martin on
his beret.
Click on the
image to view
full-size
The
modern holiday
of Mother's
Day was
first
celebrated in
1908, when Anna
Jarvis
held a
memorial for
her mother at
St Andrew's
Methodist
Church in
Grafton, West
Virginia.Her
campaign to
make Mother's
Day a
recognized
holiday in the
United States
began in 1905,
the year her
mother, Ann
Reeves Jarvis,
died. Ann
Jarvis had
been a peace
activist who
cared for
wounded
soldiers on
both sides of
the American
Civil War.
Anna Jarvis
wanted to
honor her
mother by
continuing the
work she
started, and
to set aside a
day to honor
all mothers
because she
believed a
mother is "the
person who has
done more for
you than
anyone in the
world."
This was not,
however, when
Mother's Day
was conceived.
That was
actually
thirty-six
years earlier.
Written in
1870, Julia Ward Howe's "Appeal to womanhood" was a pacifist reaction to the
carnage of the
American Civil
War and the
Franco-Prussian
War. The
appeal was
tied to Howe's
feminist
conviction
that women had
a
responsibility
to shape their
societies at
the political
level.
In 1872 Howe,
poet and
author, known
for writing
"The Battle
Hymn of the
Republic," an
advocate for
abolitionism
and a social
activist,
particularly
for women's
suffrage,
asked for the
celebration of
a "Mother's
Day for Peace"
on 2 June of
every year,
but though she
was
unsuccessful,
the modern
Mother's Day
was
established,
as was noted,
by Anna Jarvis
36 years
later. While
the day she
established
was different
in
significance
from what Howe
had proposed,
Anna Jarvis
was reportedly
inspired by
her mother's
work with
Howe.
