So, before I march off to my Community Service in Italian, I have to rehash the amazingness which was the conversation with Patti Smith held in the Limonaia of the Villa La Pietra.
She performed a few songs for us. Including the one that Randi was recently obsessed with--the one with the line, "She is sublimation." And she sang "People have the power." Oh, so good.
But being that it was a conversation, Patti mainly just talked as spurred on by student questions. She talked about enthusiasm and her favorite line from that book The Alchemist that the "the universe conspired to help the shepherd because of his enthusiasm." And talked about all that it takes to be a sincere Christian is to obey Christ's "eleventh" commandment--"love one another." She talked about Christianity being just that simple. People get too caught up in the esoteric and in the power games forget that Christ's message was point-blank.
We couldn't let her go without bring up questions of political activism and she said she learned a very important lesson from Ralph Nader, "When you fight corruption and the institution, you have to be prepared to lose." But Patti went on that this doesn't mean you become all cynical and throw yourself prostrate to the system. You just be a little thorn and hopefully you can make the system bleed. And maybe if enough of us are little thorns, it will bleed out.
But she went on to say that she isn't an activist. She's just a citizen. And she wishes she didn't have to waste her immagination writing songs about Guantanamo and bombings in Lebanon, but sometimes you just have to.
Patti Smith, you're awesome.
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