We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome some day.

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe,
We shall overcome some day.

Pete Seeger, the musician who helped make We Shall Overcome (to fight against something and win) the anthem (a song identified with a particular group or movement) of the American Civil Rights Movement, and of other civil rights movements around the world, died last week at the age of 94.

Seeger was a folk musician who played an important part in the American folk music revival (when something becomes active or popular again) of the 1950s and 60s. Folk music is music of the people, music that tells their stories. It’s music that people participate in, not just listen to.

Seeger sang and played the banjo, a musical instrument with 4-6 strings stretched across a round body and a long neck similar to the neck of a guitar (see the photo on the right). Banjos became popular in the mid-19th century (1800s) and became an important part of American music, like ragtime, early jazz, country, and bluegrass.

In Seeger’s hands, the banjo became a “machine [that] surrounds (to be all around something, on every side) hate and forces it to surrender (to stop fighting)” – words he wrote on the body of his banjo.

Seeger dedicated (gave, committed) his long life to working and singing to influence (affect the way something develops) social issues. In the 1940s he supported the organization of labor unions and America’s involvement in World War II.

In the 1950s he opposed (disagreed with and worked against) McCarthyism, a campaign (actions intended to achieve a particular result) led by Senator Joseph McCarthy against people in government and other parts of American life who might be communists. Many people were blacklisted (put on a list of disapproved people) and lost their jobs even though they weren’t communists.

In the 1960s he brought his voice and his music, including We Shall Overcome, to the Civil Rights Movement. And in the late 1960s he joined the protests against the Vietnam War.

Some of Seeger’s songs became very popular. Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, sung by the Kingston Trio, reached the Top 40 (the 40 most popular songs in the country) in 1962. A short time later Peter, Paul and Mary’s version (way of doing it) of If I Had a Hammer made it to the Top 10.

If you want to hear Seeger perform some of his own music, Rolling Stone has compiled (put together) 20 of his most important songs. On each page there is a brief story about the song. As you listen, notice how, in good folk music style, the audiences often sing along with him.

If you only have time to listen to a few, try these: If I Had a Hammer, We Shall Overcome, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, and This Land is Your Land.

Someone once asked Seeger who he was intending (to have in your mind as a plan) to overcome. He replied, “For me, it means the entire world. We’ll overcome our tendencies (the way we often do something) to solve our problems with killing and learn to work together to bring the world together.”

*The idea for this title comes from an article by Andrew Cohen. The soul is the part of a person that contains their character (who they really are inside), thoughts, and feelings.

~ Warren Ediger, ESL tutor/coach and creator of the Successful English web site.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

The winter wind blew hard and cold across the Nebraska plains (large area of mostly flat land) last week. And in that cold wind, a small group of people stood together in a small cemetery (where people are buried) on the edge of a small town to say goodbye to a remarkable woman.

Vivian was 103 when she died. She was born in 1910, before World War I, and she lived most of her life in or near the very small town of Eldorado in central Nebraska.

Life was quite different when Vivian was young. They traveled mostly by train or horse and buggy (light carriage pulled by a horse). And there was no high school in Eldorado, so she boarded (rented a room) with a family in a larger town about fifteen miles (24 km) away so she could go to school.

In high school, Vivian took a special course that earned her a certificate (official document) to teach in a rural (not in the city) school. So after she completed high school, she began teaching in a two-room school not far from where her parents lived.

Vivian married her husband Leland in 1935 during the Great Depression. Times were tough (difficult). Vivian continued to teach and received 45 dollars a month. Leland tried to farm (raise crops like wheat or corn) even though the plains were experiencing the worst drought (time without rain) in history. And the winds that usually brought rain clouds often brought towering (very tall) clouds of dust.

While living on the farm, Leland and Vivian had their first three children – two girls and a boy. Vivian writes in her memoirs (written memories of her life) that “Time went on and we had been on the farm six years and never raised a crop. But they were good years and we enjoyed our little family.”

After six crop failures, it was time to move on (do something different). Leland became the operator and manager of the local Farmers Coop – a service that delivered gas, oil, and other supplies to farmers in the area. Vivian became the Coop bookkeeper (a person who keeps the financial records for a business).

They bought a house, which had four rooms and a tiny (very small) kitchen, for $350. It was small, but it was theirs. And it became home to their little family, which soon included a third girl. Family members loved to return to that small house – and the house they bought later when they retired – for family gatherings at Christmas and other times of the year.

Today Leland and Vivian’s family includes four children, 14 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

Leland died in 1999 when he was 90, but Vivian lived for 15 more years and continued to enjoy her family. When she turned 100, the entire family gathered for three days of birthday celebration.

Vivian loved her family, and they loved her. She had a great sense of humor (ability to think things are funny). She loved to play games, always played to win, and often did. And if you wanted to know what she thought about something, she was happy to tell you.

Vivian was a devout (having deep religious feelings and commitment) Christian. She was active in her church, read the entire Bible every year, and prayed for her family every day.

When someone once asked Vivian to tell her secret for long life, she replied, “Hating milk, loving chocolate, and God’s care.”

I was there last week in that cold wind to say goodbye to Vivian. Vivian – who I had the privilege (a special opportunity that gives you pleasure) of calling “Mom” for almost 45 years – was my wife’s mother.

~ Warren Ediger – ESL coach/tutor and creator of the Successful English web site.

Photo by W. Ediger

Tutoring over the Internet, and using technology to do it, can be tricky (difficult and challenging). An ideal (the best) tutoring situation includes a knowledgeable and skilled teacher working one-on-one (with one teacher and one student) with a student, with the tutor guiding the student over a period of time, similar to what our own Warren Ediger does with his students.

Recently, a new type of Internet tutoring service has become popular, and it has its advantages (good points) and disadvantages (bad points). These on-demand (get it when you want it) tutoring services allow parents and students to sign up (register) for the service, and either pay for a certain number of tutoring minutes in advance (before you use it) or have a credit card number on file (in their records) that can be automatically charged as needed.

Are you a high school student taking calculus (a type of advance math), a junior high student needing help with a history assignment, or a college student requiring help with an English paper? You can get on one of these tutoring services and find a tutor who is on call (immediately available to provide service).

Internet tutors generally use chat programs that allow them to type messages back and forth with students. They also use digital whiteboard programs that allow them to write or draw as they would on a chalkboard on the wall in a classroom.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, some parents say that this type of service is a godsend (very helpful and valuable), especially if the parents themselves don’t have the time to help their children with homework or don’t have the knowledge or skills needed to answer questions. However, while some who work for these tutoring services are retired (no longer working because of age) or moonlighting (taking an extra job in addition to your full-time job) teachers, some are not trained teachers, and the quality of the tutoring can be very variable (different each time). These services are not cheap, of course, and only students whose parents can afford them get this advantage – perhaps a case of the rich getting richer (people who already have privileges getting an added advantage).

Are these types of Internet tutoring services available and popular where you live? Have you or would you use such a service for yourself or your children?

– Lucy

Illustration Credit:  Brack Vocabularius rerum from Wikipedia