This Land is Your Land with WIll Geer & Woody Guthrie
I had the multilayered joy of singing along to this song with a crowd of people led by Ellen playing banjo.
Listen to the song above, and if you wish to purchase it, clicking on the iTunes badge below the play-bar will take you directly to the song on the iTunes store..
"Sometimes our flame goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being."
--Albert Schweitzer
One of these exception individuals is Ellen Geer, the Executive Artistic Director of Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga. The history and continuing vision and growth of Theatricum deserves experiencing firsthand, and I will not shortchange it here, but if you click here, you will be directed to a page which describes how Will Geer, actor and friend of Woody Guthrie, founded a theater and farmstand in Topanga after his blacklisting.
I met Ellen at their "Friendraiser" last Spring and I was rekindled, as Schweitzer would say, by her amazing beauty, intelligence and passion. Her strength is apparent from her voice, the set of her shoulders, the way she plants herself onto the earth. Her joy flashes from her eyes and her face, smile-lines of deep humor and warmth. And her wisdom comes as you listen to her, a sharp intellect and discernment honed through time, experience and a mighty heart.