Welcome Kobus, and thanks for sharing your very moving
story. I'm humbled by your moral and physical courage.
I prey that peace and healing come soon to your
beautiful country.
Soooooo glad to hear that Joni's music has helped to
sustain you in your time of strife as it has for many
on this list.
Welcome again, Ian
--- Kobus Louwrens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >> Anyone else have crucial "Joni got me through it
> songs?" Let us
> >know!
> >
>
>
> Hi
>
> I'm relatively new to the list and have lurked till
> now.
>
> I live in Cape Town, South Africa. I discovered Joni
> through the The Wall
> concert recording. That made me buy Night ride home
> from a sale bin a year
> or so after it came out. The lyrics struck me, but I
> don't thing I was
> musically mature enough to really get into it.
>
> Only after reading many reverential articles about
> her and seeing so many
> other artists praise her, I got Hits on impulse.
> Hearing the first notes of
> Urge for going for the first time is a moment I'll
> never forget: it just
> immediately penetrated me like the music should have
> been part of my life
> forever.
>
> anyway, back to the topic. . . (warning: this is
> quite long)
>
> I was in quite an overwhelming situation a couple of
> months ago. Joni's
> clarity of thought and courage to confront (and the
> lyrics of Hejira that
> kept looping in my mind) helped get me through that.
>
> I am a journalist and 4 years ago in the line of
> duty I got a bit too close
> to the conflict between gangs and vigilantes in this
> city. (I also got too
> close to a bullet, but that's another story...) That
> conflict has since
> blossomed into full-blown urban terror with some
> high profile bombings you
> might have heard of.
>
> To make a long story short: I am one of a number of
> members of the media
> that are being subpoenaed to testify against the
> people suspected of being
> the vigilante and urban terror ringleaders. The
> media is being called to
> testify because the police who were on the scene are
> so discredited that
> they would likely harm the state's case if called as
> witnesses. And of
> course it is a tricky ethical dilemma for a
> journalist to let himself be
> used as the state's eyes and ears. . .
>
> So in November of last year I ended up facing jail
> time for refusing to
> testify. At the same time my wife and I had to spend
> a month on the run for
> fear of being assassinated by the people who thought
> I might testify.
> (despite all that: Cape Town is a great place to
> visit. no, really.)
>
> During this paranoid time of travel, not even
> trusting telephones for fear
> of bugs and only telling one close friend our
> whereabouts, Hejira: (fleeing
> with grace, to fight another day, as I understand
> it) really helped me
> through. 'a defector from the petty wars/that
> shellshock love away. . .'
>
> I had to think through some really intense stuff.
> The sort of things I could
> until then never even conceive of really happening
> outside of movies. I
> really felt the sense of Joni I got from her music
> helped me see my choices
> in among that mess. Helped me to not feel like a
> victim of circumstance and
> find and use what little power I had left.
>
> (the fact that Hejira is an Arabic word and that my
> faceless enemies were
> Muslim extremists - and the fact that I'm turning 30
> this year - also
> resonated with that song - 'there is the hope and
> the hopelessness')
>
> that situation has still not been resolved: it is
> just dormant at the moment
> and due to intensify again next month when the court
> case continues. But I'm
> sure the wisdom of the old familiar songs will be
> with me then too (okay,
> that last one is a Janis Ian paraphrase, but she is
> cool too).
>
> Sorry for the long post (and I hope it all makes
> sense, since English is my
> second language), but it felt good sharing that.
>
> Kobus Louwrens
>
>
> NP: Like a rolling stone - Bob Dylan
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