Scott Price wrote:
>
> <<The songs can be interpreted
> in several ways, >>
the stirring of some of my thoughts on the meaning of joni's words, some
personal things and Thanksgiving Day:
this is what i love about Joni's music...and part of why I am here; to share
life longings, ideas, thoughts and feelings about what a particular song or
phrase means to me. To find a community of kindred spirits where I feel safe.
welcome and a part of (no longer on the outside of, which has been much of my
past life experience) has been one of the greatest blessings of all in my life.
It has opened not only windows but doors to places I only dreamed about. At the
centre of all of this, resides the love of my life, Brian. On this Thanksgiving
Day...I am so very grateful for you Brian.
>
> and scott added:
> << Is there some hidden meaning to
> "Magdalene Laundries?" Isn't that song about a real place in Ireland and
> its history of atrocities?>>
to which i could not help but respond:
for me, one of the draws to joni's music and lyrics is her story telling about
the experiences of being a woman who bore a child out of "wedlock". the
magdalene laundries is the story of a place of horror for those women whose
only "crime" was to get "caught" having sex, suffer the consequences and have
nowhere to go, except perhaps stand on a step outside of a cold hotel doorway
at 2 am and wait, paralyzed by fear, unable to move, or get swept away into the
oblivion of someone else's shame. sad to say, it was real. all too real.
this is when i take that giant step outside of my protective inner self and
share a piece of me. i went through that too. i remember listening from my
tiny attic apartment in london ontario..to blue, to little green and river in
particular. oh i surely wished for a river to skate away on. joni's music was
very much a part of my survival then. and now. and in all hard times.
i know from the inside out that the truths, the shame and blaming that she
speaks of rings loud and clear. i am glad she has the courage to give voice to
her experiences, and whether our beloved joni realizes it or not, she has given
voice to those of us who were rendered speechless.
Mags, one of the jezebels, who is real tired of her accomodating silence.
np: Magdalene Laundries
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