Blessing Blackburn Musical ~ Installment 8

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“There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. ‘For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?’ This too is meaningless – a miserable business!” (Ecclesiastes 4:8)

Guest Blogger ~ Marie Sheahan Brown

Thursday, 4/5/12
9:00 am Pacific Time, near San Francisco

Miss Jane Marple, one of my favorite Agatha Christie detectives, lived and grew wise in the fictional country village of St. Mary Mead. The four cardinal virtues, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the seven deadly sins jostled there as neighbors. Being from a tiny village myself, I am acquainted with all of them. Such is the Human Condition.

Why would Blackburn, near Bathgate, West Lothian be any different?

When suddenly the careworn council house on Yule Terrace gleamed golden, its glow shone on vice and virtue all around. Susan seems wisely and slowly to be discerning one from another now that her village has expanded to seven continents.

For good reason, the Bible warns: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10a). Money, itself, is not the root, because it can support truly noble causes – like providing food, clothing, and shelter for one’s family. But the love of this medium of exchange (or its near relatives like fame and power) can point us away from goodness and nobility, away from peace within our hearts, away from peace among one another.

In four visits to Blackburn since 2009, I have sensed both darkness and light in the village. I have asked very few questions about Susan, yet locals, to my surprise, have volunteered information. With a small minority, my heart has felt heavy, sad, and confused. I have heard of at least one friendship ruptured by suspicion and whispered or public accusations, as if the internet troll had wormed his way into rooms of brick and mortar. The malodor stays with my spirit as a warning. I don’t know exactly what is going on, but I know all is not well when one or more of the seven peskies seem to hover in fetid darkness.

Conversely, I have encountered other locals – most notably our forum members stevieboy49, Little Tiger, moira, Scottish Mary, wullawonta, and their dear ones – who, having tested our sincerity, have responded to the higher ideals beckoning all of us. They celebrate Susan’s new life, respect and care about her as a person, seek no selfish gain, offer generosity, and live in gratitude for the expanding genuine friendships we share as a worldwide community of supporters. When I think of these friends, my heart lifts.

Let me be bold: This is what God wants for us, His beloved children, just as good parents rejoice when their children are happy, doing both good and well, and getting along.

The Beloved to whom I have professed my own vows said during the meal we re-live this Holy Thursday in kairos time: “I call you not servants but friends.”

In a kairos moment several weeks ago, I happened upon a thin paperback book lying on a table where it didn’t belong. I recognized the author’s name – Saint Aelred of Rievaulx – which I had learned only recently. This slim treasure, Spiritual Friendship, had been translated and published in 1977 by an American monastery of the popularly acclaimed saint’s ancient Cistercian order.

Born c. 1110 in Hexham, 23 miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Aelred was sent at about 15 to live in the court of King David I of Scotland. An esteemed member of the royal household, he stayed for about 10 years before entering the Cistercian monastery in Rievaulx in 1134. He became a beloved and prominent abbot at Rievaulx and made annual visitations to the abbey’s daughterhouses, including the beautiful Melrose Abbey, founded by King David I, about 40 miles south of Edinburgh. Saint Aelred died in 1167. He was known for holiness, kindliness, and wisdom. Upon the death of King David I, who had remained a close friend, Aelred wrote a eulogy documenting King (Saint) David’s own piety, virtues, and good works.

Aelred’s Spiritual Friendship starts with Cicero’s definition: “Friendship is mutual harmony in affairs human and divine coupled with benevolence and charity.” Aelred then develops these principles from a Christian view supported by Scripture, encouraging true spiritual friendship as a participation in God’s own inner Trinitarian life. He also identifies false friendships, placing them in two general categories: friendship for carnal pleasure, and friendship for material gain.

I found a beautiful summary by Sister Patricia Carroll, OCSO, a Cistercian nun:

http://www.catholicireland.net/spirituality/general/490-aelred-of-rievaulx-on-spiritual-friendship

If we follow Saint Aelred’s counsel, Susan is wise to discern the character and intent of people who approach her now that she is famous and wealthy. She is wise to live among people she has known her whole life, whose character and intent could not hide for long in a small village.

Many of us yearn to be true cuppa-tea friends with Susan. We surprise ourselves with this realization, because most of us never desire friendship with other celebrities whom we admire.

Why do we feel this way?

I believe that in our desire for genuine friendship with Susan, herself – which logistics make improbable for most of us – we are seeking to live ideals together with Susan and others.

We who traveled to Newcastle in person or in cyberspace, who have been forming friendships with one another as we support Susan’s career, seem drawn to the ideals of Truth, Love, Justice, and Beauty. Does not the famous audition video neatly depict the triumph of these ideals?

According to Father Robert J. Spitzer, SJ, PhD, and to his classical and biblical sources, these are the only goods that can bring true and lasting happiness (other goods are good, but insufficient). These also happen to be qualities of God for which our souls thirst. (Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom and the Life Issues)

Susan, by developing and offering her God-given gifts, attracts hearts to these ideals, and community forms around them. This is precisely how the gifts of God work, and He often uses the most humble and unlikely instruments. Susan acknowledges this in her book. We need not exalt Susan and put her on a pedestal – which is one reason many of us applauded when she put her foot down to “stay grounded” on Yule Terrace.

Susan intrigues us with her “many sides” so guilelessly offered or, if not safe, prudently withheld from view. Many of us genuinely want to be her friend in a comfortable mutual way. Must this be psychologized with suspicion and technical labels? No. Consider our unexpected friendships with people we have come to know thanks to Susan. We know when friendships are real and growing, based on mutual recognition of goodness and shared ideals. Such friendships can and ought to take time to develop (according to Saint Aelred), but if the foundations are strong, so the building will be.

Most of us enter friendship with personal imperfections. We all still must take stock and attend to the darkness and light within our hearts. Am I now being enticed by one of the seven deadlies, or is my heart moving toward goodness? I can choose to move toward goodness, which, like sparkling white snow, collects more as it rolls along.

Whether one is Christian or not, some handy lists from Galatians, Chapter 5, can help us sort out what’s going on inside and outside of us.

In the category of darkness we find: “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.”

In the category of light we find: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

We sense and are drawn to the goodness within Susan, which sparkles through the earthiness, the admitted outbursts, and the foibles we embrace because we love her foundational character and spirit, and because our hearts sing with her voice.

Those of us who would love to be true cuppa-tea friends with Susan feel no need to idealize her, to have her be other than who she is. Who among us does not settle with relief into the armchair of a good friend who accepts and loves us as we are? Such acceptance offers us the safety to be honest and to improve.

A true friend does not take something from us, nor do we take something from our friend. Attend to the message in your heart: Wanting to get something from someone feels different from sharing with someone. In true friendship, we give companionship and support mutually with joy – and with a good reserve of tolerance.

Nearly 100 good-hearted people from 15 countries and 20 of the United States of America gathered as a group in Newcastle. We were Catholics and other Christians, people of the Jewish faith or of no religious tradition (those are just the ones I know about). We were rich and not so rich, young and venerable, with various first languages and professions. If I had to choose one word to describe my impression of the people gathered, it would be “kindness.”

I enjoy traveling with Bonnie to Susa-events in part because we both honestly acknowledge our dreamed desire for true cuppa-tea friendship with Susan. I can attest that Bonnie enjoys true friendships in her life, as do I. Yet a tendency toward friendship is expansive. An open heart tends not to say, “Okay. I’ve had enough. I’ve just run outta love.” God’s friendship is exactly the opposite.

Lord, help us as you did Saint Aelred of Rievaulx.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9)
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Blessing Blackburn Musical ~ Installment 4

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12a)

Guest Blogger ~ Marie Sheahan Brown

Tuesday, 3/27/12
11:16 am in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Susan Boyle and her worldwide growing contingent of fans became constants in my life on April 15, 2009. Often I go to sleep at night filled with gratitude for this community.

As Susan continues to astonish the world with outside-of-the-box “firsts” (like consenting to and participating in this classy musical), my non-fansite friends and family members have had to admit that Leslie, Del and I were on to something from the start and have been faithful to it. Eye rolling has ceased although full-hearted understanding has yet to develop.

How could they understand something we, ourselves, do not?

At work Friday afternoon, I hoisted my small backpack, preparing to catch the bus to the airport. One co-worker asked, “Where are you going on vacation?”

“Scotland….”

“I knew it!!!”

They all chuckled indulgently, even enthusiastically, as I explained our mission. “Have a great time!”

“Fan” inadequately describes our role in Susan’s life since April 11, 2009. In fact, we are supporters motivated by inexplicable love and heart-response to a singer and person who inspires us to go out of our way on her behalf and on behalf of others. The hundreds of active supporters whose fansite or real names I recognize represent only a small percentage of Susan’s worldwide fan base.

In June 2011, a Susan-Boyle.com fansite member in England started a thread on the discussion forum. She asked, simply, if any of us would care to attend, as a group, opening night of The Susan Boyle Musical, I Dreamed A Dream, at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. If so, she would serve as the group contact with the theatre. Although March 27 was nine long months away, Jan “the subofan” quickly heard from 40-some members – a number that grew to nearly 100 people from 15 countries and 20 of the United States of America.

Last June, none of us knew that Susan Boyle, herself, would sing two songs after the curtain dropped. We responded immediately and unconditionally, trusting that the musical would be good and desiring to show our support regardless. We need not wait for the reviews to make up our minds to buy our tickets, book our hotel rooms, make airlines reservations. In fact, we wanted to write our own reviews for interested fans who could not attend. We wanted to write our own reviews to document, as accurately as possible, the true experience. We volunteers wanted our reviews out there to enrich and, if necessary, to counter the professional media’s understanding and reporting.

Since many of us are on budgets, this trip and others in support of Susan represented an investment in what we hold dear. I’ve heard that, if we want to know someone’s actual, not merely espoused, values, we look at their checkbook register.

Or we look at their volunteer timesheets. Even those unable to attend the musical were preparing for it. Our fansite (and others) has attracted many dozens of talented volunteers who simply show up online with a creative effort to further our support for Susan and for the “good guys” in her life. For example, when early publicity for the musical started appearing in UK and other media, our members posted the links on our forum, which engendered thoughtful and sometimes spirited discussion. We have become a cyber-salon reminiscent of scintillating Parisian venues in the 17th and 18th centuries.

(Truth be told, at other times we are a cyber-extended-family-potluck to which all the grandparents, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and their friends are invited or simply welcomed. Sometimes we get into arguments, with one or two stomping out or being asked to go walk around the block to cool off. We are a sort of collection of… it’s a collection of… uh… characters from many walks of life and pockets of the world.)

Susan has attracted such unsolicited spontaneous support from around the world since April 11, 2009.

On April 11, when a London construction worker inspired by Susan’s performance hastily constructed the first Susan-Boyle.com fansite, we began discovering one another, gathering online to find, post, and discuss all things Susan. Many of us also gathered at a YouTube audition video site, affectionately named “Susan’s Pub,” forming friendships that continue today. These volunteer fansites – the very concept new to most of us – were alive and thriving months before Sony established the Official Site for Susan’s albums. I am pleased to say that our now-fan-owned and volunteer-operated fansite, www.susan-boyle.com, and its www.forum.susan-boyle.com, offer the most up-to-date and diverse news and discussion about Susan, relying on the dedication of volunteers whose efforts money could not buy.

But that is now. We began when Susan’s astonishing future was yet unknown.

Early on, we drew Susan and her team’s attention as the champions who defended and stood by her when anonymous online comments turned nasty.

We sent hundreds if not thousands of hand-written personal letters encouraging Susan and thanking her for the blessings and encouragement she bestowed through her singing and her inspiring yet humble, humorous, earthy example.

We sent dozens and dozens of “Rose Votes for Susan” – beautiful bouquets of flowers to the studio on the day of the BGT finals in June 2009, when, as non-UK world citizens, we couldn’t affect the actual vote. Susan acknowledged these in her autobiography.

When Susan quickly left The Priory – on her own terms – so that she could participate in the Britain’s Got Talent 26-show tour, supporters booked tickets for various venues and managed to film with cell phones and upload into cyberspace about a dozen of Susan’s 20-some performances. I remember many a night after a draining day at work staying up late with the worldwide fan community to watch, re-watch, comment, re-watch…every performance. We could then knowledgeably inform our day-to-day compatriots that Susan was, in fact, resurrected from the tabloid ashbin, performing brilliantly, as we knew she would.

Then, fans from all seven continents in the world responded to a thread, “If we made a quilt for Susan, would you contribute a square?” During this cyber-quilting-bee, we sent Carol in Texas 100 beautiful quilt squares representing our country and state; non-quilters gratefully accepting the generous offer of Phyllis, an Iowa quilter, to make squares for us. Supporters also took it upon themselves to contact people important in Susan’s life to allow quilt squares to be made for them. Carol assembled all in her sewing room, creating a beautiful reminder of our love and support, which Susan could wrap around herself on cold days.

When we learned that Susan was producing an album, we lined up at Amazon.com, winding around cyber-city blocks to await the instant we could begin pre-ordering the album. On that day, September 3, 2009, I placed my first order from an internet café in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. Our spontaneous worldwide fan response broke Amazon records.

In mid-September, about two dozen of us traveled to Los Angeles and stood for hours in line to join the audience for the America’s Got Talent pre-taping of finals-night entertainment. We wore the now-famous red scarves that Susan could easily spot in the darkened auditorium, subtle signs of encouragement for our heroine. We know from her book about her paralyzing stage fright before she yet again wowed the world with her rendition of “Wild Horses.” Of course, someone immediately uploaded the performance to our fansite for others to find.

When the first documentary of Susan’s life was being assembled for initial airing on December 13, 2009, the producers, Talkback Thames, invited fans to submit videotapes of themselves saying, “Hello, Susan!” Fans from various countries sent their homespun contributions, several of which appeared in the documentary. We did this for love, not for money – as volunteers.

During October and November, the first organized fan gatherings started cropping up – first in Northern California (I believe), then everywhere fans could congregate. Especially for those of us whose near associates didn’t “get” our heart-response to Susan, these meet-n-greets were and are precious opportunities to meet face to face, to laugh and share with those whose personalities we had gotten to know through forum postings. The cyber-salon increasingly resembles the actual salons of Paris. Genuine friendships continue to be fostered through fan-organized meet-n-greets that take a variety of creative forms – including the “Anyone live on I-80 or I-90 between NYC and Montana?” roadside restaurant meet-n-greets with Del and Leslie in August 2010.

We found out that Susan would appear November 23, 2009, on NBC’s Today Show. She would be performing outdoors at a free concert in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City – the day her first album was to be released. This would be aired live to NBC’s millions of viewers around the United States. We looked around at each other in the cyber living room and said, “Let’s go!” About 100 of us got tickets and flew, drove, or railed from all corners of the United States, Canada, and a few European countries to stand for hours in the cold and dark, to cheer Susan on – and to treat ourselves to the thrill of hearing her sing in person, most of us for the first time. We shared hotel rooms and slept on couches and spare beds in the homes of other fans.

We learned from Susan’s public relations representative, Nicola Phillips, that she had invited the press to Susan’s arrival at JFK and that she would like fans also to greet Susan. Some three dozen fans, many of them newly having flown in for the Today Show concert, gathered at the British Airways greeting area with welcoming signs, red scarves, a Scottish Saltire flag – and enough red scarves for every news reporter and camera person to wear.

Of course, we gathered the evening before the Today Show at St. Andrews Restaurant near Times Square – a tradition later memorialized in the recent documentary, Susan Boyle: An Unlikely Superstar. After the Today Show, we enjoyed a festive brunch at Rock Center Café – which is where some of us met Susan for the first time, when she, Andy Stephens, and other members of her team made a surprise appearance. There, we also presented the beautiful handmade quilt and other objects demonstrating our love and support for Susan. She began to know us as down to earth, funny, generous, creative, enthusiastic, and certainly willing to go the extra 3,000 or so miles.

All of this early worldwide volunteer support began before Susan had sold a single album. That cold sunny day in November 2009, she started breaking sales records worldwide, and her history-making professional singing career continues.

While we fans and active volunteer supporters can claim only partial credit for Susan’s phenomenal impact on the world, we do represent a profoundly important part of her story. We, ourselves, could not have done this had the circumstances not been right.

All of these memories and others passed quickly through my consciousness as I unpacked my dressier shoes and ironed my dress for opening night.

In the fullness of time, Susan was ready for the world and we were ready for her.

“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12b)

Blessing Blackburn Musical ~ Installment 1

“A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

Guest Blogger ~ Marie Sheahan Brown

Sunday, 3/25/12
1:15 am in Blackburn, Scotland

In the fullness of time, Susan Boyle was ready for the world, and the world was ready for Susan. This is kairos time – God’s time – which interacts with but is not governed by the chronos time that wants to rule the world.

Chronos can be a fickle master: Two weeks ago in California, I set my watch one hour forward for Daylight Savings Time in the Pacific Time Zone. That and the SamTrans 292 bus helped get me to the San Francisco Airport on time for my Friday-evening flight. Remarkably, like full-uddered cows congregating at the milking barn at precisely the right hour, hundreds of other United passengers converged on cue at the departure gate. Yesterday en route from California to London, I set my watch seven hours forward to match the mother of all time zones – Greenwich Mean Time – so not to miss my flight to Edinburgh. A kind friend who had offered to drive me from the airport to Blackburn arrived at 6:30 on the dot as planned. About 15 minutes ago, I set my watch yet another hour forward because Daylight Savings Time just started in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the sun, moon, and stars God created move placidly in their apparent orbits around Earth oblivious to our clocks. My own body has no intention of settling down for a good night’s sleep at 5:15 pm – even though my mind knows breakfast will be served in a few hours at 7:30 am, which is really 11:30 at night, according to my stomach. Chronos is a fickle master, indeed.

Because this tyrant-at-times governs much of my present daily life, I have decided to observe the next 10 days in a kairos way by attuning to synchronicity and participating in God’s design for this time in West Lothian and Newcastle. Aside from necessary bows to Chronos (I have, after all, a few planes and trains to catch, B+Bs to check into, Masses to attend, curtain times to honor, pre-paid meals to share with the fan community), I have left most hours open and unplanned. Already I feel relaxed and poised for adventure.

Three years ago, 48-year-old Susan Boyle lived her quiet, devout, financially strained life with her cat, Pebbles, less than a mile from my little room here at the Burnview Bed and Breakfast. She was famous only in West Lothian, where the locals knew of her astonishing voice and established ways. She and the townsfolk shared intersecting daily orbits in Blackburn and the collection of villages. All was much the same as it had been since the cataclysm (for Susan) of Bridget Boyle’s death in 2007 at age 91.

Until, in the fullness of time, “I dreamed a dream….”

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
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