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Woody Guthrie |
One hundred years ago today Woodrow Wilson “Woody”
Guthrie was born, a fact that has been memorialized recently on radio and
television. One of the instances was a program on NPR with interviews of,
among others, his granddaughter, custodian of his more than 3,000 lyrics, drawings and notes. Another
was a show on “A Prairie Home Companion” where Arlo, one of Woody’s eight children from three marriages, sang
songs his father wrote and performed while he was alive.
I was reminded that Arlo has been part of my life
almost since 1967 when his father passed away, not because of his famous
father, but because of himself.
1967 found Mary and me in New England, to be more
specific, North Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a ship I happened to be on was
undergoing repairs at the Boston shipyards.
About that time Arlo was recollecting his Thanksgiving on a vinyl disc
that was rapidly making its way towards number one on the charts. The cornerstone of the album was a talking
blues, eighteen minute ramble of episodes surrounding his Thanksgiving dinner
at Alice May Brock’s renovated de-sanctified church, resulting in a cleanup
“Massacree” where Arlo was arrested and held with “mother-rapers and
father-rapers” primarily because of his anti-Vietnam War position. Alice's house was less than an hour away.

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Family Legacy - 2005 |
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Arlo - 2007 |
We continued to run into Arlo though the ensuing
years: Newport Folk Festival in 1969 and
1970, the 40th Alice’s Restaurant Anniversary Tour in 2005, the
Family Legacy Tour in 2007, and a fairly recent appearance at the Cerritos
Center nearby.
But, in addition to the music, Arlo became a
familiar topic of conversation because a close friend was on the cusp of
diagnosing and treating the disease that killed his father: Huntington’s
disease.
Our friend began to show signs of dementia, well
before one would expect Alzheimer’s symptoms.
More careful evaluation of her family history showed signs of hereditary
causes: and she began to show signs of tremors.
The tremors or chorea have been associated with the
disorder for hundreds of years but the first definition of the syndrome, and
its genetic roots didn’t happen until George Huntington described them in 1872,
and a deeper knowledge didn’t occur until the mid-1960s when Marjorie Guthrie
established a foundation in honor of her husband to find the genetic markers
and look for drugs that would lessen the brutal effects. Our friend was diagnosed almost ten years
later.
Suzie now lives in assisted living, seemingly no
worse today than she was several years ago, beyond symptoms common to all of us
at her age. Mary and I were discussing
her diagnosis just the other day, and the moral dilemma it presented. At the time of her diagnosis she had three
healthy, adult children, one of whom had twins.
The younger daughter and son weighed being tested for the markers for,
what remains an incurable disease against the possible relief surrounding a
“home free” clearance, and agreed to be tested.
Both were free from the markers. The
older daughter chose otherwise, believing that the possible repercussions to
her boys, such as insurance problems, or even their following their father’s
footsteps into military life, would be put in jeopardy.
There was no test when Arlo was growing up and one
can only presume he came to grips with the uncertainty of his fate by ignoring
the problem. He even produced his own
family, and from the looks of how they surround him, they bore him no
ingratitude for his omission once a test was available.
I don’t know whether I would want to know about a
potential health calamity or not. There is now a genetic marker for some types
of breast cancer and in my field, dentistry there are salivary tests showing
promise for diagnosing everything from Periodontal disease to ovarian cancer,
so soon many of us will have to make choices of “to know” or “not know”. I am a
bit of a fatalist and believe what God has in mind for me is what I should
accept, and knowledge helps us prepare for those we will eventually leave
behind so I think I would probably get the tests..
What would you do?
My next post will share with you an unlikely event
that happened to Mary and me when we were dining the other evening. Check in and see.
Interesting how as we age we tie together meaningful moments in our lifespan with the reality of moment! Enjoyed your insight. I personally prefer to Live in the Moment, leave no regrets and realize that I'm an eternal spiritual being in a short-term physical body.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you,
Thanks for the note and the site visit. Stay in touch and good luck in your current ventures.
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