Myrna: We had Norman Luboff's choir come. Norman Luboff is a choir director and choral music arranger quite famous on the international scene.
Ralph: There was a level of excitement and intimacy in the auditorium because they just sang their socks off. We had a potluck dinner and when they got done I heard this interchange going, the singers and people are all mixed up and it was just magic. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when they got done. I mean these are real people. They got kids and they're divorced and they got problems and they ain't no different than us, and if we put our mind to it we could do what they're doing.
Q: How did you start working with the American Festival Project?
Ralph: How do you go about finding artists? I don't know, I'm a farmer. I didn't go to art school, I don't know anybody at the university to call. But this looked really attractive, so I went and got involved, and Arnie [Malina] got us going, and jeez, that made all the difference in the world.
Q: What does it mean to pick artists for rural communities?
Ralph: Picking things that they'll like, so they'll want to come back. We're into what I think was our original intent. Here's an opportunity for us to dig in and send something back. The communication is two ways. I think that, to me, is the most important part of what it is we're establishing. We're getting involved in going into our community and finding what's there and trying to connect that up with the rest of the world.
Myrna: I think it relates to the community because we end up finding out that our problems, although they may be totally unique to us . . . there's someplace else that has a problem that's similar. People, despite what may be their ethnic background, all have similarities.
Ralph: I went to New Orleans [for an American Festival meeting] and met with Ann Brown [from Mississippi]. She's in her community struggling with lots of the same things we are. Ann Brown's is an agricultural community that has lost control of their own destiny, and likewise we are an agricultural community that's lost control of our own destiny. We're all white here, they're all black there. We're not in anywhere near as bad a shape as they're in, I'm sure. But we're in the process of losing control. There's a connection that's been made there. I don't know that I can do her much good but she sure did me a lot of good.
Q: Can you describe what happened when Junebug/Jack came to town?
Myrna: Last year Junebug/Jack did a performance for the seventh through 12th graders, and the freshmen and juniors did some of their stories, performed for each other, and ended with some music. Carl [Junebug musician/actor] was playing his guitar, and the auditorium was just kind of welcoming there. The kids that were in there were having a good time and the bell rang for school and nobody left.
School was over and the kids that were in the auditorium were still there, and the auditorium door was just plastered with kids looking in wishing they were inside. That was a really neat exchange to watch. Adella [of Junebug] was singing, she even had Ralph's cousin up dancing. It was kind of a neat melding. It was like the kids were really part of the group and the group was really part of the kids.
Q: How would you describe the interaction of farming and this cultural activity?
Myrna: It's compatibility. There is a sense of unsureness in being farmers. But there is a sense of joy at the completion of a task, such as when the seeding is done. It's not just a sense of accomplishment, it's a sense of joy. There's that same thing at the harvest. It's a tremendous working experience. It's a unifying experience.
Ralph: I used to think that art and farming had nothing to do with each other. That's why I did it because I thought it had nothing to do with farming. But it has everything to do with farming. And in a sense art is more agriculture than agriculture. And the leverage, too; you put the boar in with the sows. You didn't do much, all you did was open the gate. You run a couple of boars in there, and you got maybe a dozen sows, and in three months you got a mess. In another six months you've got 20,000 pounds of pork to deal with, just from opening that gate. And that's the way this art stuff is. We're planting seeds, who the hell knows what's going to take off.
Q: How does art relate to democracy?
Ralph: You have to feel good about yourself to stand up for what you believe in. The problem with democracy is that there's a risk, you have to stand up and shoot your mouth off once in a while. That's an important part of democracy. You have to have guts to make a democracy work. The whole population has ... you can't just have a few. And the only way you can have that kind of guts is if you feel good about yourself. This whole project is about empowering people, and they can then feel who they are and where they come from is honorable. No matter where they come from, it's honorable. And if they can feel good about themselves, they can participate in this government.
