Resilience: The Creation of Beautiful Scars
Merry Clayton was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, which highlighted her and other background singers and their contributions. The recognition brought newfound fame. Decades prior, she had provided background vocals for some of the best—Ray Charles, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Carole King—and famously performed the duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter." Based on the documentary’s success, Clayton started making plans for a small tour until a serious car accident brought everything to a screeching halt. After she awoke in the hospital, the doctor informed her that her legs had to be amputated from the knee down. Crushing words, to be sure, but Clayton was more concerned about whether her voice was okay. After all, her talent and gift was and still is, her voice.
In a CBS This Morning interview Clayton said, "I was raised to be grateful with anything that you had. For me to be given my life back, I could have been gone in that accident. I just believe that I was able to be here, and God gave me the grace to be here because my purpose wasn't finished."
The title track off her newly released album, "Beautiful Scars," was written by composer Diane Warren:
Every hurt I've endured, every cut
Every cut, every bruise.
Wear it proud like a badge, I wear it like a tattoo.
These are beautiful scars that I have on my heart
These lyrics rang true to Clayton who feels that her scars are not ugly, but beautiful, because of what she went through and how she went through it: "I have a different spirit about myself. I have a spirit of knowing that it'll work out; whatever it is, it'll work out."
I was deeply moved by Clayton’s story—what remarkable resilience! Clayton’s words give us an understanding of the mindset that gives her internal resolve and fortitude—she speaks of being grateful, having grace and purpose. Our ability to bounce back from whatever travails life throws our way is tied to many factors—optimism, agility, self-awareness, mastery, and social support, to name a few. What does it take to move through each challenge, every disappointment, or soul-wrenching occurrence and come out of it as strong or stronger than you were? I’m sure we could all share an instance when it felt like we were being tested beyond our limits, only to pull on a deeper knowing that wouldn’t allow us to go all the way down the rabbit hole. We are put to the test time and again, sometimes in small ways, and others, on a much grander scale.
Creating New Experiences and Making a Way
With clubs, theaters, and every form of performance venue in New York City shuttered, artists have been struggling to sustain their crafts. After a year of cancelled performances, adding up to as much as $45,000, tap dancer Ayodele Casel was worried that there would be nothing to go back to. Dancing for Casel is an expression of joy, something magical, as well as her livelihood. She was on the verge of giving it all up when an opportunity to perform with NY PopUps changed things. Casel now performs throughout the five boroughs in museum lobbies for any patrons that happen to be there.
In a similar situation, opera singer Anthony Roth Costanzo was starring in Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera and singing to full houses every night. With up to 150 shows cancelled, his income came to a grinding halt. Costanzo, looking for ways to continue his sharing art has taken him to the streets, singing with a bullhorn in a performance procession led by jazz pianist Jon Batiste or from the back of a parked pickup truck in a local neighborhood.
What hit Casel and Costanzo just as hard as the loss of income was the loss of connection with audiences. Both artists shifted their perspective on how they can connect with audiences and build community through their artistry—this is what drives them now.
Denial of loans, no access to capital, violence, and intimidation resulted in a 93% decline in Black farmers between 1940 and 1974. Only 1.3% of farmers in the U.S. are Black. Over the last century, America's Black farmers have lost more than 90% of their land because of systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt. Owning land affords the capacity to create wealth and, throughout generations, to preserve wealth.
Sisters Ashanti and Kadeesha Williams come from a long line of American farmers who have stewarded land in the U.S. for over 100 years but have never owned it. The sisters moved from the Bronx to a 95-acre farm in upstate New York, creating a community of farmers called "The Black Yard Farm Cooperative." An incubator program, the Cooperative will provide apprenticeships to mentor more black farmers. Ashanti and Kadeesha are part of a growing movement of young, Black Americans seeking to regain their heritage and become farmers.
Being resilient requires placing attention on the positive and focusing on the things that you can impact directly. Resilience doesn’t prevent us from experiencing hardships or suffering, it rather allows us to face circumstances head-on, like the blues. It means knowing that we may get scarred, but like Merry Clayton, we can acknowledge the strength those scars can instill as we sing, dance, or seed new beginnings.
