Raise Your Hopeful Voice

Katie Phang’s lesson: “Every single one of us gets a smaller version of Josephine Baker’s choice…to speak up or to stay quiet…. You don’t need permission to be brave.”

dropbox or mailing / register…check polling place / early voting nears

MariettaSeptember 1, 2026hope, vote, clarity, tranquility, simplicity, nature, Henry David Thoreau, Josephine Baker, Katie Phang, Glen Hansard, Fix the News, Marketa Irglova, New York Vocal Collective, Christina AguileraComment

Come Rain or Come Shine

From French philosopher and activist Simone Weil’s Gravity and Grace, published posthumously in 1947: “…Real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring…. Real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

cloudy or sunny / in or out of the money / come rain or come shine

MariettaAugust 3, 2026Indie media, Voting rights, democracy, Simone Weil, Wimbledon, Melanie Stansbury, Heather Cox Richardson, Don Henley, Lewis Cato, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Scott MacFarlane, Denise LevertovComment

Declaration of Dependence

we need each other / in homes and communities / believing we can /

A Document and a Poem / Replacing the Star-Spangled Banner / All About We /

Dependence Day Bonus Tracks

MariettaJuly 2, 2026Juneteenth, Declaration of Independence, No Kings, Obama Presidential Center, Community, Unity, New York Knicks, Christina Aguilera, Joshua Henry, Jon Batiste, Ada Limon, Tracy K. Smith, Mumford & SonsComment

You Had Me at “Hello”

Hello, Eye-Openers—Marshawn Camese and Ada Limón

Follow the Leaders—Elina Svitolina, Stephen Colbert, and Sherrilyn Ifill

Hello, Childhood—Nikki Giovanni

Dancing to the Music—Stevie Wonder and Elliot James Reay

MariettaJune 1, 2026Voting rights, Activism, Stephen Colbert, Sherrilyn Ifill, UNITED24, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, Elina Svitolina, Ada Limon, Nikki Giovani, Stevie WonderComment

Circling Back to Joy

Revelers in Joy

NASA’s Moonship and Hungary’s Democracy—Artemis II Crew and Dancing Voters

two full moons in May / we are all Hungarians / circling back for home

MariettaMay 4, 2026joy, Artemis II Mission, NASA, moon joy, Hungary election, Peter Magyar, Rachel Maddow, Garret Graff, Harry Litman, Zohran Mamdani, Cory Henry, Joy HarjoComment

Don't You (Dare) Give Up

planet earth dwellers / forgive us our trespasses / we will right this ship

Marching Forward—Pete Buttigieg at Selma and Protestors Everywhere

Getting the Scoop—Aaron Parnas and Project Salt Box

Art for the Heart—“Sinners” and Olivia Dean sing, Mary Oliver laughs

bowing to beauty / oh-oh-oh, mm-hm-mm (hey!) / April’s a’flaunting

MariettaApril 2, 2026Voting rights, Pete Buttigieg, March 28th Protests, democracy, hope, Aaron Parnas, Indie media, Project Salt Box, Harrison Ford, Hozier, Olivia Dean, Mary OliverComment

Living with a Smile

Buddhist and Baptist Walkers For Peace…Singing Protest Songs…Tilling Seeds of Love…Celebrating Puerto Rico…Piano Keys to the Sky

MariettaMarch 2, 2026Lady Gaga, Jesse Jackson, peace, protest, Nils Lofren, Robert Duvall, Bad Bunny, Jean Guerrero, Alysa Liu, Dolly PartonComment

You Have to Imagine It

stay, Valentine, stay / No Kings rally end of March / strength grows in numbers

remember their names: Everlasting Poetry—Renée Good / Intensive Care—Alex Pretti

MariettaFebruary 1, 2026No Kings, Zohran Mamdani Inauguration, Cornelius Eady, Valentine Museum, Bill Martin, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Bruce Springsteen, Streets of Minneapolis, Billy Strings, Bob Weir, TC Carson, My Funny ValentineComment

Above Us Only Sky

twenty twenty-six / heapings of heart and humor / full steam straight ahead

indie news for truth / songs and poems for beauty / lizard kiss for love

MariettaJanuary 2, 2026Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, Jon Batiste, Andre Carson, Elsa Mendoza, Fernando Mendoza, Delia Ramirez, Angus Hervey, Rob Reiner, Ellen Bass, John Keene, John Lennon, Florence and the Machine, Abigail SpanbergerComment

Turning Over New Leaves

Hoagie and hardball no-hitters. Khanna and Grijalva no-quitters.

times are a-changin’ / turning the page on this year / more love and more joy

MariettaDecember 4, 2025Beatles, Sandwhich Guy, Mo'ne Davis, Women's Professional Baseball League, Jennifer Hudson, Sam Cooke, Denzel Washington, Ro Khanna, Adelita Grijalva, Lawrence O'Donnel, Neil Diamond, Herbie Hancock, Mary OliverComment

Thank You Notes

sniff November’s rose / march on for democracy / time for giving thanks

MariettaNovember 6, 2025gratitude, democracy, Abigail Spanberger, Mikey Sherrill, Jane Goodall, Diane Keaton, Yasmin Williams, Mark Knopfler, Ross Gay, activismComment

Shine On Us, Harvest Moon

The same omens that alarmed Lincoln petrify us now. October 18th protests—November 4th elections—60 years of Neil Young. “There’s a full moon risin’ / Let’s go dancin’ in the light.”

MariettaOctober 6, 2025Abraham Lincoln, Sara Bareilles, Anand Giridharadas, Jason Crow, Sonia Sotomayor, Adelita Grijalva, Consitution, Robert Redford, Neil Young, Laufey, Farm Aid, Democracy, Protest, Vote, Marie Howe, Pablo NerudaComment

Sweet Nectar of Hope

lighthouse for exiles

Statue of Liberty glows

let’s keep her promise

MariettaSeptember 9, 2025Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus, Marc Elias, Robert Reich, Nicole Collier, Tammy Duckworth, Michelle Wu, Lettuce, Billy Collins, David Gilmour, hope, activismComment

But Wait, There's More

Abraham Lincoln: “We must rise—with the occasion. As our case is new, some must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

MariettaAugust 12, 2025Abraham Lincoln, Kacey Musgraves, Ben Folds, Michael Feinberg, Julie K Brown, Billie Jean King, Venus Williams, Loren Allred, Independent News, Poetry, DemocracyComment

Pickin' Up Good Vibrations

MariettaJuly 9, 2025No Kings, Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger, Ghazali Hashmi, Jacob Soboroff, Tracy K. Smith, Brian Wilson, John Legend, Elvis Costello, Independent News, democracyComment

Keeping Our Balance

Well-worth the time-travel hearing from 13th century Persian poet Rumi that “Your Laughter Turns the World to Paradise.” A budding flower cuddles in the ground and “its hidden smile opens to a laugh that / lasts a lifetime.” Like grateful athletes, we laugh whether winning or losing. Love and laughter sing a duet: “I have a heart of sunlight.”

MariettaJune 6, 2025optimism, music, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'donnel, Rafa Nadal, Rumi, Gillian Welch, Synthia Eriva, Herbie Hancock, AmericaComment

Maybe Love Can End the Madness

Judges hold the line. We the people come together. Bullies slither.

We love turnarounds. Steady as we go.

MariettaMay 9, 2025Carole King, Seamus Heaney, JB Pritzger, 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley, Marc Elias, Democracy Docket, Allison Riggs, MeidasTouch, Katie Phang, Muriel Rukeyser, Leonid and FriendsComment

Everyone is Welcome Here

We’re present—together now.

Post a sign. Ask a question. Run for office.

When Sarah Inama started teaching world civilization four years ago at an Idaho middle school, she hung a sign in her classroom featuring hands of different skin tones with hearts in their palms, highlighted by these words scripted in varying colors: “Everyone Is Welcome Here.”

MariettaApril 11, 2025diversity, activism, democracy, Cher, Cory Booker, Bob Marley, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Sarah Inama, Charlotte PaoneComment

So Let's Be Brave

We sit together. Jane Fonda and JB Pritzger deliver joint addresses for everyone everywhere. Their grasp of this dangerous moment and their abilities to communicate it—their mutual belief in the power of kindness and empathy to both endure and defeat tyranny. Fonda: “We are in our documentary moment. It is not a rehearsal…. So let’s be brave.” Pritzger: “The root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed…. Seeds of Nazis started with everyday Germans looking for someone to blame.”

Blog: From the Philoso...MariettaMarch 14, 2025Fonda, Pritzger, bravery, unity, love, democracy, activismComment

Warming This Winter's Chill

The beauty of human hands. Hearing is believing. His fingers and voice in flight, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham vows that he’s “Never Going Back Again.” Hey now, enough, he reiterates, “been down one time / been down two time.” Haven’t we been down one time, now two times, too? Want to find out what it means to win? “Yeahhhhhhhh.” Stevie Nicks blends her voice with Buckingham’s. Yeah.

hints that springtime nears

democracy calls our names

as we swim birds sing

Blog: From the Philoso...MariettaFebruary 18, 2025Activism, democracy, bishop Budde, Rachel Maddow, the Contrarian, Indivisible, Borowitz Report, Lindsey Buckingham, Aretha Franklin, Timothy Snyder, hopeComment

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