CHAPTER 4: The DEMOCRATIC (R)EVOLUTION We are better than we realize we are. For the first time, we can now create institutions of governance that elicit our best. Copyright 2026 by Paul L. LaClair
Value for Wednesday of Week 27 in the season of Ripening
Welcoming – Assisting – Offering: Being Open-handed
Openness culminates in action.
- “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” [Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”]
- A smile is the universal welcome. [Mariann LaFrance]
- My values, our values, aren’t about pointing fingers. They are about offering a helping hand. [Kathleen Blanco]
- There are people who help you in life. I’ve been given a helping hand, and that’s why I feel it’s my duty to help younger artists. [attributed to Hugo Pratt]
Becoming actively involved in the world and in the lives of others is the ethical-active component of openness. The attitude is one not only of generosity but of joy, born of an open heart and an open mind.
Real
True Narratives
People do not always extend a hearty welcome to others seeking to enter their country, even for the best of reasons. Immigration narratives illustrate some difficulties encountered along the way to welcoming others.
- Hiroshi Motomura, Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2006).
- Lucy E. Salyer, Laws Harsh as Tigers: Chinese Immigrants and the Shaping of Modern Immigration Law (University of North Carolina Press, 1995).
- Rachel Buff, Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of Citizenship (NYU Press, 2008).
- Jia Lynn Yang, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 (W.W. Norton & Company, 2020): focusing “on the opening of America’s doors in 1965 to those once excluded . . .”
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels:
- Sahar Mustafah, The Beauty of Your Face: A Novel (W.W. Norton, 2020): “The first 14 pages of Mustafah’s novel take place during a school shooting. We see the events unfold from two perspectives — the shooter’s (glancingly) and the school principal’s.” [on the acceptance of an immigrant in a school after a shooting]
- JoAnne Tompkins, What Comes After: A Novel (Riverhead, 2021): “. . . a powerful and inspiring reminder of how a close-knit community will rally around people in trouble, no matter their age . . . ”
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Franz Joseph Haydn’s two cello concerti drip with graciousness and generosity of spirit. Each set in a major key, and following a standard fast/moderate-slow-fast format, they bear the unmistakable ebullience of a Haydn composition. The value of welcoming, or open-handedness is clearly identifiable on listening. Top recorded performances of the two concerti together are by Rostropovich in 1975, Coin in 1982, Mørk in 1991, Isserlis in 1996, Chang in 1998, Gautier Capuçon in 2002, Queyras in 2003, Weilerstein in 2018, Croisé in 2019, and Poltéra in 2022.
- Haydn, Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Hob. VIIb:1 (1761-1765) (approx. 25’) (list of recorded performances), “is one of the most successful of Haydn’s works in the form, perhaps because it breaks through the limits of the Baroque concerto, enriching the ritornello with themes that are so full of subordinate ideas that they allow a greater variety of material.” “. . . Haydn composed this work to please the brilliant cellist, Joseph Franz Weigl, who was a member of Prince Esterházy’s excellent orchestra at Eisenstadt and the magnificent summer palace known as Esterházá, located now in Fertőd, Hungary.” “The main theme of the Moderato is the best sort of melody: cheerful, hummable, an earworm that one wouldn’t mind running through their head for most of the day. The Adagio is gorgeously ecclesiastic, reminiscent of Baroque-era slow movements in its harmonic progressions and breathy phrasing. The Finale: Allegro molto is light and enchanting.” Top recordings of the first concerto are by Sádlo in 1963, du Pré in 1967, and Gabetta in 2009.
- Haydn, Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Hob. VIIb:2 (1783) (approx. 27’) (list of recorded performances), less well-known, is similar in character to Concerto No. 1. A top recording of the second concerto is by du Pré in 1967.
Orchestra Boabab, “Pirates Choice” (1981) (94’) album, is Senegalese music influenced by Cuban and other Latin music. The way the players embrace music from across the ocean makes this a suitable entry for this topic. This disc is among the finest of all international recordings.
Youssou N’Dour is a Senegalese singer who describes his approach as Pan-African: “What all of us Africans share is more important than what we don’t share.” His album, “The Guide (Wonmat)” (1993) (72’), offers numerous enticements for listeners outside Senegal, the employment of several well-known artists from outside Africa being less important than the creative spirit and artistry of the music. He has an extensive set of releases. Live performances include Bercy le Grand Bal in 2008 (78’) and Grand Bal in 2020 (73’).
Another Senegalese artist, Ismaël Lô, has drawn on European and American influences. Here is a set of playlists.
Khadja Nin is a singer from Burundi whose releases display a similar openness of spirit.
Luciano Biondini is an Italian jazz accordionist who pairs with a wide variety of other instruments, welcoming each of them into his musical world – quite apart from his openness in bringing the accordion into the jazz world. His releases are linked here.
Compositions from the Western Classical idiom:
- Cesar Franck, Symphonic Variations (Variations symphoniques), M. 46 (1885) (approx. 13-17’) (list of recorded performances): trying new things, in the open where everyone can see and hear: “The work has a unique confidence and breeziness, with Franck bringing his virtuosic piano composition skills to the piano (as he had done earlier in two variation sets he had written in 1834) but now the piano and orchestra are interlined – the piano doesn’t always have to show off, sometimes it operates more as a commentator, an accompanist, or a decorator to the orchestra’s music.”
- Antonín Dvořák, Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 21, B. 51 (1880) (approx. 31-34’) (list of recorded performances), “is an ample work, well crafted for piano trio showing Dvořák's gifts for lyricism, color and vivid contrast within a fresh, natural style.”
- Aleksandr Borodin, Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major (1867) (approx. 32-35’) (list of recorded performances): “The drive and personality in much of this symphony come more from strong, inventive rhythms rather than a plethora of sweeping melodies . . .”
- Hugo Alfvén, Den forlorade sonen (The Prodigal Son) Suite, R. 214 (1957) (approx. 19-20’) (list of recorded performances)
- Luigi Boccherini, Flute Quintets, Op. 17, G. 419-424 (1773) (approx. 54’); and Flute Quintets, G. 437-442 (approx. 69’)
- Yannis Constantinidis, 8 Danses des Îsles Grecques (Eight Greek Island Dances for Piano) (1954) (approx. 10’) – perf. Katsaris: “. . . one can see Constantinidis’s ear for popular music on display—the music is highly accessible, even when dissonant, beautiful and playful. I found myself bobbing along with each short piece, or, in the case of the slower movements, lulled into a trance by the combination of harmony and rhythm.”
Albums:
- María Cristina Kehr, Krishnasol Jiménez & Roberto Koch, “Navigating Foreign Waters: Spanish Baroque Music and Mexican Folk Music” (2021) (51’) examines the two cultures, while ignoring the tragic history of Spanish-Mexican relations in the Baroque era.
- Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble, “Home Is Here” (2022) (74’): Salles “had extensive conversations with each of the guest musicians on the record before composing the pieces on which each would be featured, thus highlighting their own stylistic and personal characteristics.”
- Nicole Mitchell & Ballaké Sissoko, “Bamako Chicago Sound System” (2024) (63’): “Ballaké Sissoko plucks and strums his kora, his gently clipped phrases and lace-like patterns expressing both melody and countermelody. Fassery Diabaté strikes his wood-and-gourd balafon, building simple patterns and then subtle variations. Through this, Nicole Mitchell threads lovely, undulating flute tones.”
- Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’, “Room on the Porch” (2025) (44’): “With its layers of slide guitar, guitar, and fiddle cascading softly, the title track, which opens the album, washes over us warmly, inviting us into the ‘room on the porch’ where we can all share our troubles, dreams, and hopes. The track (features the lyrics) ‘Come on up/There’s room on the porch for everyone.’” “. . . warmth & feelings in the heart of rural homecoming love . . .” pervade the album.
- Tilaye Gebre, “Tilaye's Saxophone with the Dahlak Band” (2026) (67:00) sounds like an invitation to dance. “Tilaye was a central figure in Ethiopia's vibrant hotel music scene, where creativity and innovation flourished.” “Joining Tilaye for the session were some of the great names of Ethio-jazz. . . . Bringing so many crucial figures together helped create arrangements that encapsulate the sound of the scene: Mid-tempo Sub-Saharan rhythms, funky keys, detectable Caribbean lilts, a focus on solo expression.” “Tilaye’s dedication to mastering the country’s intricate rhythms and haunting melodies became the foundation of a sound that would ultimately be recognized far beyond Ethiopia’s borders.”
- Ilhan Erşahin, “Istanbul Sessions: Mahalle” (2026) (35:54) welcomes the listener into the restless, nocturnal spirit of Istanbul. New York jazz-club energy and Middle Eastern percussion meet as one. “Mahalle” is the Turkish word for neighborhood.
Music: songs and other short pieces
Visual Arts
- Norman Rockwell, And the Symbol of Welcome Is Light (1920)
- René Magritte, The Window (1925)
- Georges Braque, Harbor in Normandy (1909)
- Paul Gaugin, Breton Girls Dancing at Pont-Avon (1888)
- Georges Seurat, Harbor in Honfleur (1886)
Film and Stage
Catholic priests have been subjects of several films illustrating the virtue of welcoming in the negative.
- Diary of a Country Priest, abouta mentally tortured priest who tries to minister to a remote French village
- Priest, a lookat the “tortured soul of a gay priest”
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