In teaching high school history, especially the things I lived through, I’ve often used a simple rule when choosing primary sources: don’t use things you love. In other words, avoid being hurt, intentionally or otherwise, when everyone else is unimpressed by that which changed your life. And so, it’s hesitantly and humbly that I offer up John Prine today. A few years ago, the 3hive writers came up with a “dream post” list, and Prine was high up on mine. I don’t know where I’d be without having internalized a degree of the optimistic outlook on life expressed in songs like “Please Don’t Bury Me,” or that remembrance of what matters in “Storm Windows,” or the embrace of passion and self in “Angel from Montgomery.” You know I could go on and on. John Prine is a legend, a treasure, a gift. I know I’m breaking my rule, but I also know I’m right.
Sharing the sharing.