A personal thanksgiving » From ‘el maestro’ to you

Dear students,

I started teaching English in March 2010. I did not know that teaching English to you would change my life.

I cannot speak for 306 million people in the United States. That is Barack Obama’s job. But I say thank you. I thank you for your courage (valor). All immigrants leave home and enter a new world. It is frightening (espantoso). My ancestors (antepasados) left Ireland and Scotland in the 1700s. They were like you: they did not know the future.

With your families and your energy and your faith (fe), you make Atlanta a better place. I thank you for your hard work. I thank you for rising early in the morning to make bread, to clean houses, to take care of children, to sell diapers (pañales), and to work in clubs and restaurants.

If people do not speak to you or say hello, I am sorry. I learned that everyone in the world is equal (igual). My parents (padres) taught me this lesson (lección). The Declaration of Independence (1776) also says, “All people are created equal.” Everyone is a child of God (hijo de Dios). This is the ideal. Because I am white, a man and an American, I am not better than anyone else.

The summer was a sad time in my life. I have worries (preocupaciónes). I know that you have worries, too. I learn from you. I learn from you every Thursday. I learn to have joy (alegría) in life. I learn to love. I learn to risk (arriesgar). I learn how to live in a family. I remember the poem we read together:

todos en la familia
nos dedicamos a cuidar
los sueños de cada quien

I thank you for cooking food—quesadillas, tamales, pozol, taquitos—and for bringing food to class. I thank you for sharing cerveza and mescal. You teach me hospitality. I thank you for the rides (paseos) from the MARTA station. I thank you for bringing your children to class. I love your children very much, even more than blue Volkswagens. You make the classroom a family. I thank you for listening to me talk about fútbol. I thank you for sharing your pictures and your stories (cuentos) of Guerrero, Michoacán, Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca, México City, of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

I thank you for being my students.

I will think of each of you on Thursday, on Thanksgiving. I will thank God that each of you is in my life.

Always your friend,
John

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What it costs to stay hidden

Dear Bono,

I am one of millions of undocumented Mexican workers in the United States. Sometimes we are called “invisibles.”

I work for myself and to send money to my family in México. After I get home in the evening, I do not go out. I stay in my bedroom. I eat in my bedroom. I listen to U2 in my bedroom. I like where I live. There are trees, and it is quiet.

It will cost $2,000 for me to obtain a driver’s license from a license broker. Half the fee is required in advance. Driving without a license is risky. In Georgia, I can be charged with a felony. In the United States, I need a driver’s license to board a plane. All my travel here is by car.

I do not have health insurance. From working as a cleaner six days per week I have pains now in my lower back. I get medicine at a clinic. Some of the houses I clean are very big. Sometimes it takes two days to clean them. I look at the books on the shelves. They are in many languages. I do not wear headphones or listen to music. I only think, “I must work faster so I can go to the next job.”

I also took medicine for a gall bladder problem. I carry all these pills in a plastic container in my purse. I take a few pills per day. The gall bladder pain comes if I have greasy food or food that is too spicy. I have to be careful. An operation will cost $10,000. I am 37 years old and am single.

I need a car to do my job. I cannot take a vacuum cleaner and all the supplies on the MARTA bus. My vacuum cleaner broke two weeks ago. My car needed a new sensor. Everything costs money.

Recently I took a break from a job in Buckhead, a place in north Atlanta. The job was at a club. I like the job—my supervisor is one of my best friends—but I was tired. I plan to work New Year’s Eve for extra money. We will work until 3 a.m.

When I came to the United States, in January 2005, I did not think I would have to work so hard. I had no free time. I worked all day.

Now I have one off day on Sundays. I sleep on Sundays until 1 p.m., and I go to church in the evenings.

I talk to my mother on the phone every few days. She lives in my hometown in Poza Rica, in Veracruz. I have a cell-phone plan that is $60 per month for international calls.

I leave the apartment for work and for English lessons. Sometimes I shop at a farmer’s market for food or look in an outlet for white shoes to wear on my job. In the past I studied English at a technical school. But without documents I cannot take these classes anymore.

If I see U2 again I would like to sit closer to the stage. Seeing U2 is the most exciting thing I have done in my life. I like exciting things. I would like to try skydiving!

Un abrazo,
Karla

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Thanks and comparisons

Dear Bono,

I write to thank you. U2’s songs help me learn English. My teacher, John, and I study English together every week. We meet in a Mexican restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, and share margaritas. Sometimes the margaritas help, but they are strong. John can only drink one.

I want to give an example of how the songs help me. From the song “Hawkmoon 269” I learned how the word like helps compare one thing to another.

I need your love …
Like drums in the night
Like sweet soul music
Like sunlight.

What is a “hawkmoon”? My teacher does not know.

We Mexicans are like the Irish. We came to the United States to make money for ourselves and for our families. But sometimes we are not welcome. My friends sometimes feel like they are invisible. In Atlanta, since I came from Reynosa, México, in 2005, I tell John I feel tranquila, at home, but my family in México worries. Not many Latinos here like U2. I do not always understand the words, but I know all the words in English. John is teaching me more about the words. He teaches me about Aung San Suu Kyi, Ireland and The Psalms. I feel free when the band plays, especially at live concerts. I feel like I am driving on an empty road.

From the U2 website John learned that the band in 2011 will play three shows in México City. I am from Veracruz, the city of Poza Rica, to the east, but I visited México City as a girl. I returned in 1997 to see U2 in concert for the first time, at the Autodromo. I first heard a U2 song in México when I was 14. I wish you a lovely visit to my country. Be careful if you go shopping on Alameda Central. It is dangerous.

I saw U2 twice in Atlanta, on the Vertigo and 360° tours. I want to see the band in Miami in June 2011. In Atlanta, someone stole my U2 albums from my car, but John is helping me replace them.

My favorite song is “Kite.” You sing the song to your father; my father died, like yours. I think that I am like a kite. I want a life that is free and happy. Who knows where the wind will take me?

Un abrazo,
Karla

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Bono’s introduction to Los Salmos

The following is adapted from Bono‘s introduction to The Book of Psalms (Grove 1999).

Explaining belief (creencia) is difficult. Explaining faith (fe) is impossible. When a musician plays music, he is improvising (está improvisando). A musician makes music with faith.

The writers of the psalms (los salmos) were musicians: harp-players and singers. They sang for kings in Israel, like the Spice Girls sang for Prince Charles.

When I was 12 years old, I was a fan of King David. I liked him. To me he was a pop star. The words of the psalms were as poetic as they were religious, and David was a star. Before David became king of Israel, he suffered (sufrir). Like an immigrant or refugee (refugiado), he stayed in a cave (cueva) in a border town where the streets have no name. God left him. David’s story (cuento) is like a telenovela. At that moment, in the cave, David wrote his first psalm. It was a blues song. Los Salmos feel like the blues. The writer is shouting at God—“God, why have you left me? Why are you not helping me?” (Salmo 22).

Great musicians like Robert Johnson and Van Morrison sing salmos. These singers have a special relationship (relación) with God. Like writers of Los Salmos, they are honest and angry. “My God, how long will you hide from me?” (Salmo 89).

Salmos and hymns (himnos) were my first taste of inspiring music (música inspirando). I liked the words, especially Salmo 23, “The Lord Is My Shepherd” (El Señor es mi pastor). The church songs prepared me (prepararse) for the truth of John Lennon, the strange language of Bob Dylan, and the passion of Stevie Wonder. When I hear Bob Dylan, I find my soul (alma).

Words and music led me to God. More than art, books, girls or my friends, words and music showed me God in real life. Words and music gave me my spirit (espíritu). Los Salmos helped me write U2’s music.

My mother was Protestant (protestante), my father was Catholic. In Ireland, that is strange. The Protestants—we called them The “Prods”—had better tunes (melodías). Catholics had better costumes (trajes). My friend Gavin Friday said: “Roman Catholicism is the Glamrock of religion.” The Catholic church had candles (velas) and glowing colors—blues, scarlets and purples—incense smoke bombs (bombas de humo y incienso), and the ring of a little bell. The Prods had bigger bells. The Protestants had money to buy big bells. In Ireland, wealth (riqueza) and Protestantism went together (ir juntos).

After Mass at the top of the hill, in Finglas on the north side of Dublin, my father waited outside the little Church of Ireland chapel (capilla) at the bottom of the hill, where my mother brought her two sons, me and my brother.

Stained-glass windows (ventanas de color) were like movies. In the 1970s, during “The Troubles,” people threw rocks through the windows. We lived in a country divided between (dividirse) Catholic and Protestant. I did not see God in church, but I saw God in girls, fun, music, justice and in the Bible.

I loved Los Salmos. They were like action movies (películas) with car chases (persecuciónes de auto) and with blood. There was no kissing.

David was a star, the Elvis of the Bible. David danced naked. David was more of a performer (actor) than a politician (político).

I stopped going to church, and with Dave, Adam and Larry I started a rock ’n’ roll band. Music now is my worship (adoración).

Many years ago, U2 wanted a song to close our third album, War. We wanted a spiritual song (canción espiritual) that Bob Marley or Marvin Gaye might sing. We thought about Los Salmos, and we thought about Salmo 40. Salmo 40 says that love will replace (reponer) the law (ley) of Moses. Love will fulfill (cumplir) the law. I love this idea. King David believed in love and forgiveness (perdón).

The song “40” closed U2 shows hundreds of times. Hundreds of thousands of people, wearing every size and shape of T-shirt, have shouted the refrain (estribillo) from Salmo 6: “How long (to sing this song).” We see God only when we act with love. Hunger (hambre) and hatred (odio) will only end with love. These ideas and these songs bring me comfort (consuelo).

Did David and his son Solomon write Los Salmos? I don’t know, but I don’t care. Elvis Presley didn’t write his songs, and I still love Elvis.

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Arresting sight » U2 in Moscow

The following is adapted from Luke Harding, “Kremlin Arrest of Activists Strikes Wrong Chord at U2 Gig in Moscow,” The Guardian (London), August 27, 2010.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Bono laughed together.

But, the next day, at a U2 concert at Luzhniki Stadium, everything went wrong.

Medvedev and Bono had been talking about the environment and music. Bono likes Led Zeppelin, Medvedev likes Deep Purple. They joked about these differences.

On August 26, at U2’s first concert in Russia, security police detained (detener) volunteers for Amnesty International and Greenpeace. Volunteers had been asking U2 fans to sign petitions. The petitions asked the Russian government to investigate murders (homicidios) of two journalists.

Officials detained five Amnesty volunteers before the show started and ordered others to remove their Amnesty T-shirts and to tear down their tent (tienda).

“We’d been collecting signatures (firmas) for about three hours,” said an Amnesty International volunteer. “At 5 p.m. the riot police came. They told us to take off our T-shirts.”

The Russian government, for the first time on U2’s 360 Degree tour, prevented (impedir) Amnesty International and Greenpeace from participating.

During the tour Amnesty International volunteers join Bono, an Amnesty supporter (partidario), on stage during “Walk On,” dedicated (dedicar) to the Burmese dissident (disidente) Aung San Suu Kyi. “The police officers asked us if we were rebels (rebeldes). We didn’t go on stage. It was very disappointing (desilusionando),” said the volunteer.

Russian music writer Artemy Troitsky said:

These organizations participate in every U2 concert in every city in the world. They are an organic (orgánico) part of the U2 tour. They participate in peace. Sadly, our police do not care about human rights.

Police released the five detained Amnesty volunteers after two and a half hours.

Bono did not talk about the arrests (arrestos) on stage. Before a crowd of 50,000, Bono thanked the Russian president for the “kind” reception he received. Bono praised (elogiar) former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and invited controversial (polémico) Russian singer Yury Shevchuk to join him on stage. The two singers performed (interpretar) the Bob Dylan song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Fans cheered (aplaudir) in the heavy rain.

Shevchuck, who does not speak English, sang the song in Russian.

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Desert music and ‘The Joshua Tree’

U2’s music fills space with echoes. David Evans (the Edge) uses echo when he plays guitar. Listening to the Edge’s guitar, such as in “Where the Streets Have No Name,” is like moving through a large space—the desert of the American Southwest. “The song is very rhythmic and moves straight ahead,” said drummer Larry Mullen.

The song opens The Joshua Tree. The album is named for the strange plant in the Joshua Tree National Forest in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles.

Deserts cover much of the western United States. U2 in the album makes “desert music” and fills this desert with sound.

Bono on The Joshua Tree sings of heat, silence, sun, sky and dust. Like much of U2’s music, it is a religious album. The band imagines the desert as a place to find God, or as a place to travel through on the way home.

Bono believes that the most important moment of U2 concerts is when the band plays “Where the Streets Have No Name.” “When we go into that song, everything changes,” Bono says. “The audience is on its feet, singing with every word. It is like God walks through the room.”

Perfection is not important at a U2 concert. The band makes a spiritual connection with the audience. A U2 concert is like a religious service. In church there should not be distance between a person and God. A person who buys a ticket for U2 should feel close to Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry.

In 1999, Bono received rosary beads from Pope John Paul II. Bono still wears them on stage.

Fans of U2 believe that the songs speak more to the heart than to the mind. U2’s music and words combine to give listeners hope and joy.

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Slane Castle 2001

The following is adapted from Stuart Bailie’s notes to U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle Ireland (2001).

Here are 80,000 faces, enjoying the sun and the grass at Slane Castle in Ireland County, beside the River Boyne. It is the first day of September, 2001. U2 first played on the stage 20 years ago. It will be an exciting night.

U2’s popularity in Ireland persuades the government to approve the concert.

In the crowd, people make human pyramids. They wear vintage U2 shirts, some more than 20 years old. People wave Irish flags. “This is our tribe!” Bono shouts.

At Slane Castle in 1981, U2 supported Irish band Thin Lizzy. Bono joined Bob Dylan on stage at Slane Castle in 1984. In the same year U2 recorded parts of The Unforgettable Fire in the castle’s grand ballroom. They worked with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois to record “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and other songs.

Burial grounds near Slane Castle are older than pyramids in Egypt. A battle at the castle in 1690 created the division between Protestant and Catholic, north and south.

U2 decided to keep the band in Dublin. The band’s family members paid for U2’s first demo tapes. One day before the first Slane show, Bono’s father, Bob Hewson, died of cancer. In the song “Kite,” Bono expressed his feelings.

At the second show on September 1, U2 decided to show a soccer match between Ireland and Holland on screens at Slane Castle. Ireland won 1–0 on a goal by Jason McAteer and qualified for the 2002 World Cup.

To celebrate, Bono wrapped the Ireland flag around himself and took a penalty kick with a beach ball.

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