Whitney Elizabeth Houston
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The pure gospel of her voice revealed the spirit of heaven.
Her life revealed how substance abuse ravages, steals, abandons and kills.
She deserved so, so much more.
Beautiful, radiant,soulful songbird
Blessings for her daughter to be wrapped in love,courage and grace-
and not to repeat the vexed wound.
♥
The performer’s life is giving their all- the totality of their gift.
Over and over and over and over again-
onto the stage setting the room afire with their divine gift,
going back to their hotel room to re-enter their own skin
and
then onto the plane-
over and over and over again.
♥
The public demands from a singular human is overwhelming.
The gift is also rooted in their sensitivity, their vulnerability, their open soul
as well as their DNA,
the nourishment of their gift when young,
the grooming, the right stages…etc.
The artist is human needing to be loved,
held in a beloved lover’s arms with trust and respect
for who they are as a complex human living a life
and
acknowledging their responsibility of being given a gift
that must be shared with the world.
Private/public- fluctuating.
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The performer’s fans and entourage demand and place the performer on a pedestal.
The celebrity dust.
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The artist is angel/human/animal/demon as is every one.
Yet, the artist’s sensibilities are shaped to receive the immensity of humanity.
Sensitive. Vulnerable.
The soul of an artist coupled with talent is the gift.
Technique enters- but, ultimately it is the heart and the soul that is the fire, the sacred fire.
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The mask and the public persona of a performer is a heavy, heavy, relentless weight to bear.
On stage- pouring out beyond themselves…
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Mitch Winehouse said,
to have recorded the Grammy-winning song
“Body and Soul” with Tony Bennett.
Mitch Winehouse also noted Whitney Houston’s death Saturday
and
the recent passing of Etta James.
“What can I say?
There’s a beautiful girl band up in heaven,”
he said.
♥
♥
It knows no color, gender, age or influence.
It doesn’t care about your faith, your devotion to a religion,
what you’re wearing or what you eat.
It doesn’t discern talent from the lack of it.
It doesn’t care about fame and wealth and attention.
IT want the attention and it will go to any length to get it.
It kills indiscriminately and with a vengeance.
It kills directly or indirectly.
It doesn’t care.
It just wants you dead.
Addiction is an epidemic.
Much will be written of how sad it is.
It is, of course, sad; but it is written into the addict’s manifesto,
they will die.
I’m sure all those who party-cipated with an addict before their death will feel badly.
I’m sure there are family members who tried everything
they knew to divert then from this inevitable path.
I’m sure there are those who warned and scolded
and
begged
and
pleaded.
I am sure there are those who washed their hands of the addict.
I am sure there are those who prayed for their salvation.
There are those who find that salvation in the myriad recovery rooms and programs.
It is possible and there are many who do recover.
There are those too, like myself, who wanted and recognized
that without a drastic change,
they too would die.
There are millions of people in the world addicted to something.
Food, shopping, porn, alcohol, prescription drugs and illegal drugs
and
there are as many forms of treatment,
an industry out there to help you.
Betty Ford, the former First Lady of this great country
faced her’s in the public eye
and
created real and substantive change
with the center named in her honor.
Peel back a single layer of the self defense that we all walk in
and
you will find a common link to either an addict
and
their path or someone in a relationship with an addict.
Don’t let another famous person die,
participate in the media spectacle,
the tearful, heartfelt farewells
and
the blame it on the fame game
and
not take it into your home
and
circle of life that surrounds you in your own life.
It is not fame’s fault. It is no one’s fault.
Do you blame cancer on fame?
Do you blame diabetes on fame?
It is a disease and like cancer, diabetes and depression,
it is everywhere.
Alcoholism and addiction is ever present
and
it wants you dead.
My brother was 21.
My friends’ son was 20.
A singer was 48.
And the beat goes on and on and on.
I hope to hear the drumbeat get louder and louder,
a call to arms to face addiction and alcoholism head on,
to make the administration take on this epidemic
and
to utilize the media spotlight on this one addict’s death
to create real change.
♥
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Whitney Elizabeth Houston 1963-2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY3vE1Q3D8A&feature=g-vrec&context=G21cda81RVAAAAAAAADg
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I know the trauma of alcoholism and how it damages/shatters relationships
and
severs hearts.
I go to Al-Anon, a 12 step program, for those
who are affected by substance abusers/addicts/alcoholic/ loved ones.
Yes, a program to guide your own healing.
One cannot heal themselves with this disease.
It is in community that one can rebuild trust
and
re-vision a renewal, a resurrection, a revival.
Alcoholism ravages the trust and the soul of love and relationships.
Telling the truth is how healing begins.
Yes, to peel away scar tissue is very, very painful.
Yet, the truth begins to breathe
and
has an urgency to bloom
and
rise.
Healing is a revolution of concentric circles
ascending into an ever-widening spiral
that awakens all the senses-
and turns a stony heart to flesh once again.
Slowly, patiently.
Call and response.
A spiritual.
♥
♥
CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 
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