No. 71 of 108
August 23, 2025
(This news, which happened in July, was just reported.) In July, Arnald Gabriel fulfilled a contract he signed twenty-five years ago with Bruce Moss to conduct Moss’ municipal band in Wheaton, Illinois on Gabriel’s 100th birthday. Since first conducting at his high school graduation, Gabriel had a long career. Moss sent a film crew to Gabriel as he was unable to travel, and he conducted two songs on the auditorium screen as the band played live to a standing ovation. ““We don’t know where we will be in 23 years but … We all need a carrot in front of us to keep going,” Gabriel wrote in an email to Moss in September 2002.” At the end of the concert, Gabriel signed a contract for his 105th birthday.
We don’t know where we will be, what the circumstances will be 2+ years, 20+, 200+ years hence… what is the carrot to keep us going? Mere survival won’t be enough. May the carrot be the deliciousness we planted along the way. Beautifulness created from found and repurposed things. No one abandoned to ‘their’ fate. ‘Their’ fate ‘Ours.’ Revived from the slumber of alone-ness. Yes… many seeds planted, many years ago. Deep and persistent work brought us, here. We signed the contract with each other and Mother Earth, and RI with AI found ways to adapt and evolve with Her. Mr. Gabriel’s carrot has a home with us.