Description
JO JANOSKI resides in Pittsburgh, PA, USA with her husband, Ron.
My Links
»
»
»
»
|
Folk Festival - The World in a Day
Ethnic music amidst a rainbow swirl of costumes and wafting aromas of delicacies from around the world, I enjoyed a wonderful weekend working our Pittsburgh Photography booth at this year's Folk Festival. I'm ashamed to say I'd never been to this event before this weekend. I always meant to go. When I was a student at Robert Morris, the college at that time sponsored the Folk Festival. I wanted to go then since it was part of Robert Morris. Alas, I never did.
It took me by surprise. Walking in from modern life, one of always rushing, too busy to pause and ponder, the Festival stopped me in my tracks and made me think, savor, and wonder at the disparate elements that make up not only America, but Pittsburgh. In my daily life, huddled away on a country road, this city-dweller has lost touch with the ethnicities that walk city streets every day. And I've lost touch with my Pittsburgh steel town roots brimming with immigrant history, flavors, and legends.
Shame on me!
I was touched by the magic of our differences, each country with different foods and dances and sounds. More importantly, the Folk Festival was like a magician lifting his cape and revealing the abounding community of immigrants who flourish in Pittsburgh, communities not visible on a daily basis, but bursting with sights and sounds, purpose and beauty. I feel blessed to be part of a community that shows the world, in microcosm, how everyday people can live and work together while still maintaining their individual cultures.
And a word about the children, how wonderful to see kids descended from all nationalities donning their ancestor's clothes to dance as they danced ... to music from long ago. It's overwhelming to see in this day of throwaway culture where cheap music makes the chart for mere weeks and never withstanding the test of centuries. All the children who danced were proud of their heritage, evidenced by their enthusiasm. I didn't know there were young people out there working to keep these cultures alive. God bless them.
I forgot the way I love to walk Pittsburgh's old neighborhoods and swoon at their significance etched in every bumpy old sidewalk, every church steeple erected by solid, hardworking hands from around the world with all their heart, every architectural wonder that makes up this great city. And I forgot the magic of America, the great land where cultures collide, find their commonality in the need to be free, and build a destiny better for their differences.
Finally, it came together for me how wonderful this event is for Memorial Day Weekend, a time to celebrate being Americans together, to honor our loved ones from all ethnicities who came to this great country to build their destinies and in the process gave their lives to keep those destinies true for their families. Who is America anyway--it's every nationality, not any particular one. For certainly that is what this weekend is all about, a country of people from every land on earth, showing the world how to live together in peace and to keep their dreams alive.
Copyright 2007 Jo Janoski |
Posted: 09:36 AM, May 28, 2007 in In the News |
|
Untitled Comment
| A very well-written and thought out piece, Jo... even for an old cynic like myself. |
Posted by Anonymous at 06:59 AM, May 29, 2007 |
Link |
|
|
|