Tag: At 70…

Fall of Freedom – 11/21-22, 2025

November 21, 2025 / laura bruno lilly / 30 Comments

Let the Creative Resistance Begin

‘641’
Laura Bruno Lilly and Kevin McKinney (Doc Snow)

If unable to view video, go here.

Poem for '641'
spoken word by Laura Bruno Lilly
©2025

I am woman.
I have a uterus.
Feminism is in my DNA.
Family is my tribe.

I was once an at-risk pregnant person.
I received accessible, science-based, person-centered care during those vulnerable years.

Years of mourning 6 miscarried spontaneous abortions.
Years of nurturing 3 live births: 2 biologically female, 1 biologically male.
Each breastfed.
Each given loving affirming care throughout their lives.

I am now an elderly woman in leadership in a male dominated world.

Hear. Me. Roar.

Note: words in bold italics indicate words taken from the federally banned words & phrases list

Fall of Freedom Project Update

November 19, 2025 / laura bruno lilly / 26 Comments

Monday evening, 11/17: I just pushed ‘submit’ on the Fall of Freedom Event Registration Form. This is a big deal. Not in the fact that Kevin and I are now committed to the deadline, but because even as creative participants, we don’t fit the mold – we are not an organization.

In fact, under the heading Organization Name I entered: No Organization, just two composer-musician educators in South Carolina collaborating on a Fall of Freedom Project – Laura Bruno Lilly and Kevin McKinney (Doc Snow).

So, you see, filling out the form required a very creative approach. And while not necessary, it does ‘prove’ our participation in this call to stand up for our right to free expression.

Yes, one of the things that attracted me to this event was the assertion that no effort is too small. Ours is indeed small. Just us two with a fantastic 6-minute video piece (almost finished*!) we plan to launch on my website and his You Tube channel on November 21.

And, according to the Event Registration email confirmation I received, ours is the first from South Carolina! Small but mighty, eh?

It’s great to be a part of this socially relevant event even if we still feel very isolated from the rest of those participating.

“We live in a time when dissent is punished, truth is twisted, and silence can seem safe. Under the banner of Fall of Freedom, we stand together in creative resistance, because when free expression is under threat, art becomes our voice, our shield, and our sanctuary. Artists are a threat to American fascism.”
from the fall of freedom website

*Our scheduled voice-over recording session set for between-lessons (Kevin) on Monday ran into technical difficulties. My home alone ZOOM H4n Plan B recording session the next morning yielded (unknown to me at the time) too much background noise to use. Technical issues resolved, we hustled to set up again for another between-lessons (Laura) recording session Tuesday early afternoon. Successful this time around. I like to think of this as our ‘surprise snafu scramble moment’ that all projects with a tight timeline & deadline experience.

Breaking News 😊: I just went to the Fall of Freedom Participants Page. I entered in the ‘search events or states’ line – each item individually – first the name of our project, then Kevin’s name, and lastly, my name. Guess what? Each item entered yielded the same result. That creative entry I mentioned above? It pops up along with the name of our ‘event’. Check it out!

ShoutOut: Fall of Freedom Event

October 24, 2025 / laura bruno lilly / 34 Comments

Note: I’ve been managing a constant stream of migraine waves since mid-September resulting in controlled silence on my end of various communications – including blogging! As many of you know, doing what needs to be done (work, teaching, just laying low, etc) during those times is challenging and often impossible.

Today I seem to be in a migraine lull hence a blog post to communicate something that I wish to share with you, my readers.

On the cusp of my birthday, which coincided with a No Kings Day event 🙂 , I stumbled on something that ignited my activist/creative self and catapulted it into a sense of possibility.

It’s a sort of ‘No Kings Day’ only for the Arts.

“Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda.

This Fall, we are activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance. Beginning November 21–22, 2025, galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, and concert halls across the country will host exhibitions, performances, and public events that channel the urgency of this moment. Fall of Freedom is an open invitation to artists, creators, and communities to take part—and to celebrate the experiences, cultures, and identities that shape the fabric of our nation.

Art matters. Artists are a threat to American fascism.“
from the Fall of freedom website

As I delved deeper into this, I realized: this is a good fit for me. This is something I can do. This is something I want to do. Alone? Perhaps. And if necessary, yes, I’ll do my part as a soloist somehow, somewhere and in my own way. Even if it means just busking my “641” (see below) piece in a random outdoor space or playing it to some of my private students during their lesson. 😉

I’ll figure something out.

Meanwhile, I immediately came up with an idea for a project specific to the theme of Artistic Freedom/Activism. Simply put it’s a spoken word/music piece. I’ll take words from the 641 (word count) federally banned words and phrases list – current as of 10.1.25 – and create sentences, poems, catchy quips, use singular words, etc. which I will speak & intersperse amongst varying lengths of original music snippets.

I’ve begun choosing words and selecting/composing various musical snippets to play around with…it’s since morphed as project ideas do, but that’s my starting point.

This past Monday evening, I attended a ZOOM Fall of Freedom orientation meeting and I am encouraged. It feels good knowing I can speak up for Freedom of Expression/Speech/Etc. in this manner and in an organized event where it could perhaps make an impact.

Additionally, I reached out to a music teacher colleague of mine who is of like mind and excited to collaborate with me on this activist/creative venture in support of Freedom of Expression.

I’m not sure if I can find any local places (I live in a small, underserved* city in the South) that would be open to allowing this event, but I do have a modest list of places I’ll approach in the next few days. My collaborator buddy no doubt has a few of his own to check out where he lives. We may stumble on a group who is actually actively organizing an event and needs participants!

In any case:

I’ll – we’ll – figure something out.

Care to join us?

I’ll keep you posted as this venture evolves & unfolds!

*FYI: just one of the “641” among others used naturally within this blog post

Priorities Over Chaos

April 22, 2025 / laura bruno lilly

Like many of you, I’m finding it difficult to post regularly. For whatever reason, and there are many significant factors involved, it’s just how things are for me right now. An easing back into the blogging rhythm just hasn’t presented itself before now.

I’ve noticed several bloggers I follow have courageously forged forth with timely posts echoing thoughts, hopes, struggles, fears and outrage similar to my own on the ceaseless chaos & cruelty that is bombarding the local & world stage.

One such blogger, Deborah Brasket, gave me a way to segue from my last post in February to today’s post.

In her post, Tending Beauty in an Uncertain World, she eloquently speaks of the tenuous balance she is trying to maintain in her (he)art, everyday life, and social responsibility.

“Like many of you, I struggle to balance myself in this uncertain world where the rule of law and so many institutions of democracy are crumbling around us. Where we are falling into fascism, failing to support human decency, our friends and allies, and the values that made America the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Like many, I falter between hope and despair. I struggle to know how to live this life I love as it is being destroyed from within.

Can I go on writing my novels, tending my garden, blogging about beauty, living a life of peace and tranquility? Do I abandon my piano, my artwork, my joy in living?

Do I take up arms and march in the streets? Can I do both? Will one taint the other? Will my joy be lessened, my rage take control?”
Deborah Brasket

I relate.

She found some insight in a poem by Gloria Horton-Young, The Quiet Art of Resistance.

I found some insight in a snippet from May Sarton’s journal entitled, At Seventy.

“It is order in all things that rests the mind…So what is the inward order that makes it possible to shut out the chaos around me as I sit here? Perhaps a strong sense of what my priorities are – first friends, then work, then the garden. If I died suddenly, how bitterly I should regret work undone, friends unanswered. As for the garden, that is my secret extravagance and one has to have one…The garden is where my madness lies, and that is a more useful madness than drunkenness or a tantrum…”
May Sarton

My priorities as per Sarton’s template?

First – family, friends and relationships (including my faith in a loving, caring God), then work- my music and all manner of my (he)art, then the garden – literally and all manner of other outlets.

There are other priorities, certainly…which makes for a good solid team in countering chaos & cruelty!

I am not going to give up on the beautiful and the good – I will not allow the ethos of the times to blur my vision or stifle my heart. Choosing priorities over chaos – sharing, caring, kindness, love, knowledge, truth – is exercising freedom in its purest sense.

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Making Angels Cry – Poem

January 24, 2025 / laura bruno lilly

Making Angels Cry


Making Angels Cry
Laura Bruno Lilly ©2024

The world
It goes hither and yon.
Yet 21st century aromas linger
Strangely unsettling these past years. 
Strongly scented with testosterone
 – aggression –
A generation that knows no other way.
In the name of progress, our input has become narrow.
Fully incomplete, unfeeling, unreal.
How to thrive in such an unfertile soil
Laden with toxic nutrients?
Yet 21st century aromas linger
Strangely offering hope for a better future.
Strongly scented with testosterone, estrogen
 – partners –
Shaping a more sustainable relational environment.
Angels cry
Angels hope
Angels have no say.
It’s up to us.