I Shall Be Released

They say ev’rything can be replaced
Yet ev’ry distance is not near
So I remember ev’ry face
Of ev’ry man who put me here
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

They say ev’ry man needs protection
They say ev’ry man must fall
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd
Is a man who swears he’s not to blame
All day long I hear him shout so loud
Crying out that he was framed
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

Copyright ©1967, 1970 by Dwarf Music; renewed 1995 by Dwarf Music Sphere: Related Content

Three women who can — and do.

Music so grand and so sweet in the background. Music. Always there to catch us when we fall.

Catherine Coulter owns 300 East in Charlotte, North Carolina has been in business for 25 years. Almost as long as Mirabelle on Sunset Cathy is a nurturer. Can't help herself. Helps people. All kinds of people. Musicians. Artists. Dancers. Mothers with too many children who don't even know they need help. Cathy also helped Obama in North Carolina, hosted the Obama guys when they were in town for about a month or so before the election. And of course she helps dogs. All kinds of dogs. And people who help dogs. Now she is helping the Pit Bulls. FAMILY TAP is at 300 East every Saturday. Or Sunday. Depending on the weather.

Donna Reynolds and her husband Tim Racer run BAD RAP. Donna is just about the smartest woman I've every met. Think Gretchen Wyler meets Annie Oakley. Gretchen founded the Genesis Awards a gazillion years ago. Annie Oakley was a legend. Enough said. Donna was there on the ground at the Michael Vick property when the feds went in. She was there on the ground in Kay County Oklahoma. Woman strong. Chop firewood. Carry water. Donna's also a poet. And a very wise person. She taught me about family. "Family is more than blood," she told me. About a year ago, after Edna died.

Laura Watts is an absoflippinglutely amazing sounding board and encyclopedic source of information on dogs medical, dogs behavioral and relationship based training. Her day gig is running Pineville Pet Quarters. No place in the greater Charlotte area takes better care of dogs. Full stop. Laura is also a trainer. But a trainer who is a behaviorist first, trainer second. She's right up there with Turid Rugaas. Her pack of Huskies — one or two of her guys have placed nationally in AKC agility invitationals — is poetry in motion. She also has a Dobenamed FUSION and a little red Dobe who happens to be blind and an achondroplastic dwarf named MARCO POLO. MARCO high-steps like a horse and is so endearing you can actually overlook the fact that given half a chance he will eat your finger if you give him a Charlee Bear. Laura worked as a vet tech for 20+ years in a 24/7 emergency veterinary hospital. Knows more about dogs than anyone I know except for Dr. John Winters. Sigh. Dr. Winters. I do love you. Sphere: Related Content

The Old Man and The Dog.

Warning. This photograph is graphic.

What happened to the dog FOUNDER is graphic. Shelly of Double Dog Rescue South tells his story. FOUNDER is in Mississippi now. There are thousands of dogs like FOUNDER. And hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers helping dogs like FOUNDER. True believers who walk their talk. Stand up guys.

The Old Man and The Dog.

"My cousin works in downtown Memphis, TN in a horrible area. This old man comes to his work everyday to dig through the dumpsters looking for scrap metal to sell. This sweet dog followed this man everywhere."

"The dog was a stray that just took up with this old man. The man walks most places and my cousin would watch this man walk in the center of the median in the road and this dog followed him everywhere. No one else could touch the dog."

"One day not long ago, the old man came to my cousin's work and the dog was not with him. My cousin asked where the dog was and the man started crying and told my cousin that one of the drunk neighbors a few doors down severely beat the dog with a tire iron. This evil, spawn of Satan snatched him out from under the old man's house and held him and beat the crap out of him with the tire iron."

"My cousin said the old man can barely afford to feed his family. The old man said the dog was his best friend, but he knew that he could not pay for a vet and it was not safe around his area for him."

"My cousin called me and I said bring him to me. So here we are."

"Founder is heartworm positive as well, he had to have a blood transfusion also. Once he gets better we will treat him for heart worms and get him neutered."

"We need to raise about $1000 to help cover Founder's medical costs-- any and all donations are so appreciated!!"

"Founder had emergency surgery to repair the damage to both his back legs and is recovering at the Snowden Grove Animal Hospital."

FOUNDER donations: Credit card donations can be called in to Snowden Grove Animal Hospital 662-536-1916. Snail Mail: Snowden Grove Animal Hospital, 5165 Getwell Rd, Southaven, MS 38671.

"Despite his unthinkable ordeal- he is such a sweet, loving boy and will continue to get the care and love he needs for as long as it takes. THIS, folks, THIS IS THE FACE OF RESCUE!!"

Contacts:

Shelly: lovedogs.rescue@gmail.com

Tonia: 901-340-2866 doxiedglvr@gmail.com

Snowden Grove Animal Hospital: 662-536-1916

Thousands of true believers walking their talk save four-legged lives 24/7 365. They believe in stubborn hope. Thank you Donna. “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.” - Anne Lamott Sphere: Related Content

Open your heart

Sometimes things connect in unexpected way. All things move in a circle.

First three sentences in an Aaron Neville tune I was listening to a few days ago —
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Open your heart.

The Humane Society of Charlotte opened their hearts to one little guy they named CASSIDY. As in Hopalong. He was picked up as a stray by Gaston County Animal Control. Fur so horribly matted twisted and curling inwards around one leg from untold days and nights of abuse and neglect that amputation was necessary.

This little guy already has a new home. Props to you guys. Honored to know you.

"Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball
and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon
does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were."

"The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the
nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children."

Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950 Sphere: Related Content

Marvin Gaye — urban landscape.

Last Sunday, Easter morning — the Rose of Sharon bush in my front yard was magically and thankfully very different. I had thought it was dead. Worried that the weed killer Herman put around the base so the pine needles Barbara gave me could cover the ground during the winter had killed her. But no, she was not dead. Overnight and unexpectedly she stretched, yawned, and sprouted tiny green buds. Also overnight or at least it seemed that way to me Wisteria exploded with the wild abandon of Coonhound puppies frolicking in Monkey Grass. Grand unabashedly romantic lavender cascades. Everywhere. Soft but oh so very fierce bursts of undeniable poetry in this urban landscape. At the not so historic end of Wesley Heights, north of Uptown Charlotte. Fort Apache Five Points Fire Station on Wesley Heights Way and Walnut. My friends, the Firemen. Jesus Saves building next door, reaching to the corner of Wesley Heights Way and Duckworth. Tuckaseegee Road three blocks down, the extension of the street where I live.

I'd been thinking a lot about the miracle of Wisteria that week after Easter. And then on Friday I started thinking about Marvin Gaye. Cranked the CD all the way up as I drove to Pineville and then back to Charlotte from Best Friends, after leaving EMILY in the uber capable and compassionate hands of the staff there. These guys give new meaning to the words customer service. Props to Julie and Kyrsten on running a top notch boarding facility and day camp. And for helping the rescue community in ways that go way above and beyond. I headed back to Nicole Pennell's Dogtopia — Nicole very generously provided a week of safe haven and much needed rest and sunlight in the spa room to NASHOBA, whose neuter surgery went a tad askew. (Dogtopia had their grand opening party on Saturday. Couldn't be there as FAMILY TAP was at 300 East, but word on the street is high fives.)

Driving back to Charlotte as day ended and night began I said thank you to Grandmother Earth and Grandfather Sky for putting music on this earth. As I hit I-77 North to get back to Dogtopia and then home What's Going On seemed real appropriate. We miss you Marvin, but you are still here with us. Just like Edna.
What's Going On
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
War is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know you've got to find a way
To bring some understanding yeah today
Aw, picket lines, picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me so you can see
Oh what's going on,
Tell me what's going on
Mother, mother
Ev'ry body thinks we're wrong
Baby who are they to judge us
'Cause our hair is long
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Good God Sphere: Related Content

NASHOBA and his brothers.

NASHOBA means Red Wolf in Choctaw. He's a Pit Bull mixed with Carolina Dog, also known as the American Dingo, and who knows what else. NASHOBA lived on the mean streets in North Charlotte, started sleeping in a dilapidated van on the salvage yard property of B & B Used Auto Parts. One of the workers looked out for him and fed him, but after a few days the owners said "he's gotta go." Jason and Darlene didn't want to see him go to animal control. He would have been euthanized. Life is not real good for the Pit Bulls in Charlotte, NC. Unless they end up at the Humane Society of Charlotte, which cares for, rescues and adopts out Pit Bulls. On March 3rd FAMILY TAP got an email from Maureen Mahood of RescuedMe on asking if we could help this guy. On this day — which is called Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Good Friday, the Thursday before Easter — one year ago my Mom died. Edna was a true believer. She believed in helping people. Disabled veterans, the blind, families who can't feed their children, those who are homeless, Native American children who need help in learning, organizations that protect and defend wildlife and the earth — I suspect those she did for me, though we never talked about it. Edna walked in love every day of her life. I just hope that in my own charred perch kind of way I honor her. By helping guys like NASHOBA. Who has a mouth as soft as a gun dog and loves to throw his big paws around my neck and dance. Yep. He knows how to dance. Might as well be wild. Doesn't Talk Dog and doesn't understand what other four-leggeds are. No social skills and -- umm -- certainly no manners just yet. But he deserves a chance at life. I love you NASHOBA. And I love you Edna. Every day, every breath. Sphere: Related Content