Hi Jim, ooops, I forgot that attachments don't work for you. Let me know if this reads okay, or if changes are needed. Thanks Jim, Caroline

In these dangerous times it is necessary not to succumb to the ‘herding mentality’ that singer/songwriter Arlo Guthrie spoke and sang about when he appeared to a sold out house at The Columbia Theatre of The Performing Arts. Arlo’s father was Woody Guthrie. Look up Wood Guthrie if you don’t know him, you’ll find a wealth of our country’s history that ought not to be forgotten. Woody was the voice of the marginalized, the disenfranchised people of the Dust Bowl and the Depression. The songs are full of honesty and strength.

The ‘herding mentality’ is what happens when people give up their own thinking and take on the thinking of the herd. The herd becomes a 'thing' and forgets it's made up of people; it forgets its humanity, perhaps the very thing that brought the 'pre-herd' people together in the first place.

Is corruption new in our society or any society? No. But the answer is yes if you ask if we can do anything about the greedy and soulless whose hunger for wealth and power at the cost of the powerless and poor are causing great harm to our country of the brave and the free. We must demand our elected officials be accountable. We must not be afraid of the name calling threat of being labeled unpatriotic. Demanding accountability IS patriotic.

It's time for the folksingers to come back and tell us stories that are gathered and woven from the people of our wonderful country. Arlo Guthrie is that kind of story teller. The response from the audience that night at The Columbia Theatre tells me I’m not alone when I say we need these stories that cross political, racial and religious boundaries and set us free from the herd. It is time for individuals to gather together and speak truths that have come from their own minds. It is what great songs are made of, and great countries too.