You Can't Build A Bridge from Only One Side of A Divide

Common Ground Songwriters sing together

I’m writing today from Bethel, New York, where I’m part of the Music for Peace Summit at the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. I’ve spent the day shadow-facilitating a “Common Ground Songwriting Workshop” about immigration, which has been both beautiful and frustrating. Beautiful because, in seven hours, the nine participants have managed to explore their thoughts and feelings about a highly controversial subject, listening attentively to each other, and then created a song that reflected their shared values. I'll get to the frustrating part after a quick report on the event.

Workshop notes

First, participants took a survey on immigration issues, to find areas of disagreement that they could dialogue about. There wound up being one issue that divided attendees just about evenly: whether to prioritize law and a fair path to citizenship or the safety and dignity of immigrants. Those who prioritized the former sat in the center of the room and talked about the importance of law and fairness, while the others sat around the edges of the room, listening to understand their values. Then they traded places and roles. Everybody talked for a few minutes about what they learned, the common ground they arrived at (that we need to exercise compassion and treat our immigrants with dignity) and the style of music they thought would lend itself to communicating that common ground.

Facilitators John Carroll and Trey Carlisle create the song's framework during lunch

While participants ate, two of the facilitators laid down a couple tracks of chord progressions in the recommended styles. Then participants chose one of them and took a few minutes where everyone wrote four or more lines of text about their common ground. Everyone shared their thoughts and then they synthesized it into lyrics for a chorus. Then they took turns singing the lyrics to whatever tune came into their head, with the chord progression playing in the background. One of them sang a tune that resonated with everyone and then the whole group recorded it.

At that point, we were running out of time so split into four groups: one each to write the first verse, the second verse, and the bridge, while a fourth group added more instruments to the recording of the chorus.

Participants share suggested lyrics with each other

About 1/2 hour later, everybody was back with their part of the rest of the song. We recorded all that and had a full song that reflected the values of the participants. We will perform this for the public on Friday, to end the Music for Peace Summit. It was fun and unifying working together on a tight deadline. I felt encouraged watching people working hard to contribute, especially when the hard work was graciously letting go of some thoughtfully written lyrics because the group decided something else worked better there. At the end, there were warm smiles on everybody.

Now, to the frustration. I'm frustrated because of who wasn’t there – any participant who identified as “red” (conservative). I do, and so does one of the co-leads but, as facilitators, we weren’t sharing our perspectives. So the driving motive for holding the workshop – to build mutual respect and peace across a polarizing topic – couldn’t be fully realized. Conservatives were invited, but didn’t come. 

For me, this is particularly frustrating for a couple of reasons. I am saddened by the missed opportunity. One of the women expressed that she was quite anxious about coming to the event and dialoguing with people on the other side of the political fence. It was an act of courage to come anyway because she knew that dialogue was essential to building peace. But then, all the other participants were on the same side of the fence as her – liberal or “blue.” . 

Then, there’s the impression that conservative non-participation gave: that people who lean like I do aren’t interested in dialogue or peacebuilding. I was able to help with that just a little. After we closed, a woman sitting next to me expressed regret one more time that there weren’t any “reds” here, and I told her I’m conservative. Her reaction surprised me. Tears came into her eyes and she asked if she could hug me. Then she called that other participant, the one who’d had to gather her courage to show up, and told her how I lean. She wanted a hug too. They were both eager to talk. 

I still don’t understand why we only had blues today. I don’t think it’s because most conservatives aren’t interested in dialogue. I suspect it’s because political polarization has become so pronounced that they feared being ganged up on; they were likely to be outnumbered because the world of the arts tends to tilt leftward. It was easier to stay away. But you can't build a bridge from only one side of a divide.

All of this just underscores for me how important it is that we learn to collaborate together to tell shared and unifying stories by way of musical theatre. We need to create a world where people can show up authentically and know they’re safe to do so. We need to put shared stories on the stage, stories that bring us together across our differences and teach us to love and trust each other again. We need to and we will. Thank you for your support. It replaces that little cloud of frustration I felt today with hope. 

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