A memorable moment during the opening weeks of 2021was when two people who overcame speech impediments shared the national stage -- Joe Biden and Amanda Gorman. It was, of course, on Inauguration Day. They both stuttered as children, and if you listen to them carefully, you can still detect the letters they had trouble pronouncing when they were younger.
Biden's train of thought and his speech halt momentarily when he encounters one of those difficult sounds. He has trained himself to briefly close his eyes, look away and then start up again, by slightly altering the sequence of words that had confounded him.
As one who overcame speech problems myself, I am always fascinated by how others do it. In Biden's case, it seems likely that he did so by sheer force of character, by an all-powerful will and boundless ambition. I imagine that experience sealed his confidence that he can overcome *any* obstacle. And in politics, where people tend to freeze into oppositional positions that would appear unmovable, his confidence is a powerful tool.
Note to Republicans: Never underestimate his ability to "negotiate."
Don't underestimate Amanda Gorman either. Until very recently, she says, she couldn't pronounce the "r" sound. But with the help of a speech therapist and one of the recitations of "Hamilton" she overcame this impediment.
“I would listen to the song, ‘Aaron Burr, Sir,’ which is just packed with r’s, and I would try to keep up with Leslie Odom Jr. as he is doing this amazing rap. I would say, ‘if I can train myself to do this song, then I can train myself to say this letter.’ And so that has been a huge part of my own speech pathology. It’s why I included it in the inaugural poem.”
Listening to her closely, you can detect when she meets a word starting with "r." There is an almost imperceptible hesitation, then an overwhelming sense of willful confidence. She too has boundless ambition; she intends to be President someday.
Both of these people inspire me -- in different ways. Biden not at all as a speaker; he's pretty mediocre, but I admire his ability to empathize with those who disagree with him and indeed embrace them. If the people who stubbornly adhere to Trump's alienated version of America are ever to find their way back to the mainstream, Biden is the one who will be there to greet them.
Gorman, of course, is a poet but no ordinary poet, if there even is such a thing. She is a rapper, a preacher, a rebel and a dancer with words. She weaves her way across the stage without ever moving her feet. Her arms and hands weave her story through the air so rhythmically that she reminds me of a conductor, pulling the chords out of an orchestra.
Yet she is her own orchestra, playing all the verbal instruments at once.
Perhaps it was serendipity that while I was restlessly wandering through YouTube for music as I was organizing these thoughts that I settled onto a track by the late great Roy Orbison. Many of his fans probably assumed he was blind, but he wore those thick dark sunglasses to overcome an extreme case of stage fright and shyness in order to perform.
He mumbled very few words during his performances, but he sang like an angel. Over and over he epitomized male vulnerability when most male singers projected machismo -- the Elvis syndrome. There was nothing tough about Orbison, which is to say he was much tougher than the others.
Nobody from that era could sing songs about heartache, at least from a man's perspective, like he did. But it was his obsession with the subtle difference between dreams and reality that mesmerized me.
"In dreams I walk with you... In dreams I talk to you.... In dreams you're mine... all of the time...Only in dreams."
He co-founded the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. But he died at the age of 52 of a heart attack. And a month after his death, his song "You Got It" was released and it became his first hit in 25 years.
All of us who are blessed by people with disabilities in our circle of family and friends are familiar with how brave people overcome their constraints. The contributions of people who do not have their sight or hearing are legion, but these lesser conditions -- stuttering, speech impediments, shyness, stage fright -- are less commonly celebrated.
When it comes to art, and it comes to greatness, the human spirit always finds a way.
Pictured facemark: <https://www.etsy.com/listing/9
***
I just want to again highlight that the origin of the Covid-19 virus remains in doubt and that an accidental lab scenario at Wuhan is very much among the possible explanations. The NBC report below contains salient new details.
Today's headlines:
* Ancient Rome Has an Urgent Warning for Us -- The era of the Antonine Plague offers a reminder of what a powerful force nature has been throughout human history. (NYT)
* How Amanda Gorman Overcame Her Speech Impediments (CNBC) ,https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/
* Trump, Giuliani Accused of Conspiring to Incite Riot in Lawsuit -- The NAACP, on behalf of Rep. Bennie Thompson, filed a federal lawsuit against former President Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, accusing them of conspiring to incite the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol (WSJ)
* Trump’s rot has reached the GOP’s roots (WashPo)
* President Joe Biden is working to "recalibrate" the American relationship with Saudi Arabia, White House press secretary Jenn Psaki said Tuesday, and plans to communicate with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud instead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The approach marks another notable break from former President Donald Trump, who had been strongly supportive of bin Salman even after U.S. intelligence agencies' concluded that he had personally ordered the killing of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. (CNN)
* Lawyers in the Washington attorney general’s office are reportedly examining the legal viability of charging Trump for inciting the Capitol riot. [HuffPost]
* Adam Kinzinger’s Lonely Mission -- Censured by his party and shunned by family members, Mr. Kinzinger, a six-term Illinois congressman, is pressing Republicans to leave Donald Trump behind — and risking his career doing so. (NYT)
* The FBI still is seeking to identify hundreds of pro-Trump rioters who flooded into the Capitol on Jan. 6. The FBI has already identified and charged the most high-profile insurrectionists, but the agency is still sorting through literally hundreds of thousands of tips it received in the aftermath of the Capitol attack. There are still a ton of suspects with photos on the FBI’s website who have yet to be identified. [HuffPost]
* Democrats' stimulus plan would cut taxes by an average of $3,100, analysis shows (CNN)
* At least 19 have died as record cold strikes South (WashPo)
* Wildfire Smoke Could Be the Main Way Californians Experience Climate Change -- “In 2020, we saw roughly 60 days with wildfire smoke that was in the air that we breathed, up from 10 to 15 days just a decade ago.” (KQED)
* Biden and the Fed Leave 1970s Inflation Fears Behind -- Administration and Fed officials argue that workers not getting enough stimulus help is a larger concern than potential spikes in consumer prices. (NYT)
* NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, aims for dicey landing to search for ancient life (WashPo)
* U.S. airline passenger traffic fell 60.1% in 2020 (Reuters)
* If Work Is Going Remote, Why Is Big Tech Still Building?-- Google, Facebook, and others promise more flexibility to work from home. But they’re charging ahead with plans for more offices. (Wired)
* Brain Cells Blinking in Rhythm May Hold Clues to Alzheimer’s (Scientific American)
* Dinosaur-Killing Impact Came From Edge Of Solar System, New Theory Suggests -- Harvard researchers say a comet from deep space — not an asteroid from the belt past Mars — was responsible for the mass extinction. Others are skeptical. (NPR)
* Despite a finding by the World Health Organization that the Covid-19 outbreak in China most likely first infected humans through an animal host, the United States is still not ruling out the possibility of a laboratory accident, as officials continue to sort through intelligence about the Chinese government’s initial handling of the outbreak, American and Western officials say. (NBC)
* California is prioritizing people with disabilities aged 16 and older for Covid-19 inoculations. (California Today)
* Covid-Linked Syndrome in Children Is Growing and Cases Are More Severe (NYT)
* HealthCare.gov’s market for subsidized health plans reopened for a special three-month signup window as the Democratic-led Congress pushes a boost in financial help that could cut premiums by double digits. Access to health care is “especially critical in the midst of a deadly pandemic that has already taken the lives of more than 470,000 of our fellow Americans,” President Joe Biden said. [AP]
* National Republicans have gotten behind the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, pouring in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Supporters of the recall say they’ve gotten enough signatures to move forward. [Politico]
* Newsom polishes image as recall drive escalates (CalMatters)
* San Francisco has clung to a paper-based building permitting system, requiring in-person meetings even during the pandemic. Critics say it’s allowed corruption and cronyism to flourish unchecked in the Department of Building Inspection. [Mission Local]
* Some school districts are hoping that testing kids for the coronavirus before they arrive on campuses could allow them to return safely. [KQED]
* U.S. Mint Introduces New Seven-Cent Coin To Bolster Citizens’ Math Skills (The Onion)
***
Into the magic night, I softly say
A silent prayer like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you
In dreams I talk to you
In dreams you're mine all of the time
We're together in dreams, in dreams
I awake and find you gone
I can't help it
I can't help it
If I cry
I remember that you said goodbye
Can only happen in my dreams
Only in dreams
In beautiful dreams
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