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    Home » Meeting The Muse ~ If You Have To Ask
    Melanie Lee

    Meeting The Muse ~ If You Have To Ask

    September 10, 2018Updated:September 7, 2018No Comments5 Mins Read
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    By Melanie Lee
    Author, “A Year In Sedona~Meeting The Muse At Wisdom’s Edge”

    (September 10, 2018)

    photo_melanielee2x216Like most everybody else in these crazy, wacky times we live in, I periodically find myself in pieces. Then I set out to find ways to collect myself into wholeness again. When I feel I’m not all ‘here,’ I remember the old joke about being not all ‘there.’ Times like these call for serious soul medicine and my go to Rx includes a deep, transcendental experience of meeting the muse via a good jazz concert. Happily, not long after arriving in Sedona, I discovered Jazz At The Church, a monthly concert once a month on a Sunday afternoon at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. (www.episcopalnet.org).

    My husband Louis and I became regulars at the monthly event because, as services at church go, this one has a special kind of inspiration. I laughed out loud when the presiding priest David McMannes, a jazz musician himself, joked that “on the eighth day God created jazz.” I happen to think that’s true and I’ve found great comfort and joy at this little church in Sedona with its afternoon service devoted to the true language of the soul, music. It’s enormously comforting to be with a family of kindred spirits gathered together on that higher plane where the angels sing and the devils don’t dare come round. Through music, the universal language of healing, it’s much easier to find the way back to a deep and abiding place within where wholeness resides.

    One of our first concerts at the church happened on Valentine’s Day a couple of years ago, when flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny and his group were featured (www.dmitrimatheny.com). The church was full to overflowing, maybe 75 people crammed into the spare little sanctuary, which has hard benches but sterling acoustics. The crowd warmed up immediately to Dmitiri as he shared his tiny performance space near the altar with bassist Ted ‘T-Bone’ Sistrunk, and piano/vocals man, Steve Sandner. They were at ease as a trio and at home with the music, and we all could feel it. At concert’s end, Dmitri made his way through the crowd, greeting appreciative listeners, posing for photos, and revealing himself to be a genuine sweetheart, the perfect choice for a Valentine’s Day jazz concert with musical standards from the Great American Songbook.

    20180910_dmitrimatheny

    I liked this gentle man and when I spoke to him after the concert, told him I enjoyed his music immensely (even though until that concert, I’m not sure I even knew what a flugelhorn was). Possessed of a remarkable degree of talent, Dmitiri had worked hard to give us a rousing good time, during and after the show. Of course he was charming and friendly, but beyond that he had a certain steely authenticity that so often the really good jazz musicians have. His soft ‘hello’ was heartfelt, offered generously as he gazed deeply and directly into my eyes, letting me know without any doubt just how much he valued my appreciation of his music. It made me glad to have met and toasted a fine musician like this, maybe something I might not have been able to do before embarking on the road to wisdom’s edge.

    I20180910_JazzattheChurch wasn’t always in love with jazz-as-muse, it’s something that  happened only after I’d lived long enough to learn and appreciate the truth of what it means to improvise, surrender, flow, and let go.  Only then could I succumb to the sublime audible representations of those actual life experiences. 

    So what to make of all this meandering and musing about jazz-as-muse, jazz-as-healer?  Conventional wisdom says that if you have to ask what jazz means, you’ll never know. But I think there’s a little wiggle room here for further conversation. I like what a prominent musicologist once said about the meaning of jazz, (which if I may say so, also applies to meeting the muse at wisdom’s edge):

    Jazz is a language, sometimes intimate, often boisterous, but always layered with experience and life profoundly lived.  It is in the act of creating the form itself, that we truly find Jazz. (Jazz etymology). 

    I’m grateful we found jazz at the church, reminding me yet again of the old saying that “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” We’ve been lucky here in Sedona, we found a place to commune with the music, the musicians, and fellow music aficionados whose spirits understood and were made whole by the seductive charms and spells of jazz. 

    And thus endeth the lesson for today.

    Melanie Lee is an award-winning writer, editor, artist and author. Growing up in Texas, she read mostly biography and autobiography and dreamed of being a writer who could help inspire others to meet their muse by honoring beauty in everyday life. She holds degrees in languages and journalism and was a features editor and columnist, writing everything from lifestyle stories and business news to profiles of entrepreneurs, artists and inventors engaged in the creative pursuit of right livelihood. She lived for ten years in Northern New Mexico where she was creator and director of Sojourns Writing Workshops of Santa Fe.

    At the second half of life she moved to Sedona with her husband Louis Michalski. She met her muse anew, took up painting, became a yoga teacher and avid hiker and wrote “A Year in Sedona~Meeting the Muse at Wisdom’s Edge“,  available on Amazon.com or from the author. She can be contacted at 
    P.O. Box 1419   Sedona, AZ  86339 or  atwisdomsedge@gmail.com

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    Paid Political Announcement by Samaire For Mayor

     THE MOMENT IS UPON US

    Dear Sedona,

    The moment is upon us. The time for a united effort to shift the focus back to our community is now.

    The ability to thrive in our community, our environment, our workforce, and the tourist industry, is entirely possible because we have all the resources needed for success.

    Still, we need a council that isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions, that makes decisions based on data and facts, and through discussion, rather than moving and voting in group unison as they so regularly do.

    This is my home. I have been a part of the Sedona community for 28 years. I witnessed the road debacle, the lack of planning, the city circumventing the local businesses ability to thrive, while making choices to expand the local government and be in direct competition with private industry.

    I am a unique candidate because unlike the incumbents, I don’t believe the government should expand in size, nor in operations, nor would I attempt to micromanage every aspect of our community.

    City government should stay in its lane and allow the competitive market of local private industry to prosper. And it should defend our community from corporate takeover and infiltration of our town.

    I do not agree that we should sign onto International Building Codes and regulations by signing Sedona up to the ICC. It is imperative that we remain a sweet, rural community.

    Where are the arts? Where is this organic thriving element that we allege to be animated by. Where is our culture? Where is our community?

    The discord between the decision making process and the desires of the community have never been more clear. It has been nearly a decade in the making.

    It is time for a new era of energy to take charge. An energy that is reflective in the ability to succeed rather than be trapped in out of date consciousness.

    It has been a great honor meeting with each of you. I hear your concerns over the insane and out of control spending and I echo them. A budget of $105,000,000 in a town of 9700 residents is completely unacceptable. A parking structure (that looks like a shoe box) originally slated to cost 11 million, now projected to cost 18 million, is incomprehensible. Especially, considering there is no intention of charging for parking.

    For those who are concerned that I lack the political experience within our established system- that is precisely what Sedona needs… Not another politician, but instead a person who understands people, who listens to the voices within the community, and who will act in service on their behalf with accountability, for the highest good of Sedona. What I am not, will prove to be an asset as I navigate the entrenched bureaucracy with a fresh perspective. Business as usual, is over.

    Creative solutions require new energy.

    Every decision that is made by our local government, must contemplate Sedona first.

    • Does this decision benefit the residents?
    • Does this decision benefit the local businesses?
    • Does this decision actually help the environment?
    • Will this decision sustain benefit in the future, or will it bring more problems?

    What we have now is a city government that expands to 165 employees for 9700 residents. Palm Desert has 53,000 residents and 119 city employees. Majority of our city department heads are not even in town. I find this problematic.

    Efforts towards championing in and courting new solutions for our medical needs are imperative. We are losing our doctors. We must encourage competition with other facilities rather than be held hostage by NAH, who clearly have their own set of dysfunctions.

    We must remember that so many move to Sedona for its beauty, hiking, and small town charm. Bigger, faster, and more concrete does not, in broad strokes, fit the ethos of Sedona.

    The old world must remain strong here in balance, as that is what visitors want to experience. Too many have noted that Sedona has lost its edge and charm.

    As Mayor I will preserve the rural charm of our community, and push back against the urbanization that is planned for Sedona.

    As mayor I will make it a priority to create opportunities to support our youth.  After school healthy, enriching programs should be created for our kids, and available to the Sedona workforce regardless of residency and regardless of school they belong to.

    As Mayor, I will create an agenda to deliberately embody the consciousness of our collective needs here, allowing private industry to meet the needs of our community rather than bigger government.

    I hope to have your vote on Aug 2nd. I am excited and have the energy to take on this leadership role with new eyes, community perspective, and the thoughtful consciousness that reflects all ages of the human spectrum.

    Thank you deeply for your consideration.

    Sincerely,

    Samaire Armstrong


    Heads or Tails
    By Tommy Acosta
    Let’s face it. I love conspiracy theories. The more far-out the better. Yup. I’m one of those. Looking at the Trump raid fiasco there can only be two theories that I see fit perfectly into the scenario that’s being weaved for public consumption. The first is that what is happening is actually being engineered by the forces that want Trump to return to the White House. Just like with the Russia-Russia thing, what is going to happen after all the hoopla,Trump will be found completely innocent just like before and he will be loved even more by his fans and followers. Those who tried to put him down will be chagrinned while those who supported him politically will be exalted. Republicans will be revived, and they will go out and vote in a new Congress and Trump will rule once again. Then there is the other side of the coin. Read more→
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