12/4/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I am listening to “Batá,”, one of Tania León’s compositions. I had never heard of her until this morning when I noticed she was one of the Kennedy Center Honorees that you hosted yesterday. She’s the kind of the person we should be uplifting, a pioneering talent who persisted despite barriers put in her way due to her gender, race & ethnic background. According to the NYT, she worked as music director with Dance Theater of Harlem & rose to prominence. Then, a trip back to visit her dad in Cuba brought her back to her roots when he asked her, “where are you in your music?” From that point her compositions became polyrhythmic incorporating beats from Africa & Latina America into her classical scores.

Did you get a chance to talk to her? Did she share her sentiments about the problem with labels & identity politics?

            Did the members of U2 join the party? As an Irish band, I was surprised they were on the list of honorees. I don’t see them as being among American culture's most influential artists. Do you?

            Did you see that Duwa Lashi La, acting President of Myanmar's National Unity Government had an interview with Reuters? He’s saying that if the NUG got some anti-aircraft weapons like Ukraine got, “the sufferings of the people who are being slaughtered would cease at once.” I am not in favor of sending weapons anywhere, but I do wish you would do more to help the Burmese people. Please give that some consideration.

            BYBS,