Dear friends
At the end of May 2025
When I found this classic tune, Wonderful World by George David Weise and Bob Thiele, arranged by Mark A Brymer, I knew Sirlister Smiley’s voice would make this song just shimmer with all the hope and beauty its lyrics and melody inspire.
I chose this for the benefit concert as a way of singing into the rain and wind, a kind but defiant stance against all the mental health hardships that came with the harsh hard times Hurricane Helene brought. The beauty unearthed despite the tragedy was …friends, shaking hands, saying, “how do you do”.
I’ll never forget when the twin towers in New York City went down. Artists and poets were at a loss to capture and express what “life felt like during the weeks that followed”. Wonderful World played on NPR, and it said it all for me as it also reset my soul. I could believe again in a wonderful world.
Indeed, it is a Wonderful World.
Thanks for being a friend.
I chose this for the benefit concert as a way of singing into the rain and wind, a kind but defiant stance against all the mental health hardships that came with the harsh hard times Hurricane Helene brought. The beauty unearthed despite the tragedy was …friends, shaking hands, saying, “how do you do”.
I’ll never forget when the twin towers in New York City went down. Artists and poets were at a loss to capture and express what “life felt like during the weeks that followed”. Wonderful World played on NPR, and it said it all for me as it also reset my soul. I could believe again in a wonderful world.
Indeed, it is a Wonderful World.
Thanks for being a friend.
Rachel
“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say”
– Anais Nin