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While my youthful idealism died with the assassinations of the Kennedys and MLK, I had to process the murder of John Lennon – 35 years next Tuesday – wearing a professional filter.
The Augusta Chronicle newsroom went silent when the news came over the wire. AP called to interview Rick Rountree, a fellow reporter who’d gone to a Georgia high school with the shooter. Phil Kent, editorial page editor, ran in to update his conservative column. Collectively, we begged him off. “But he wrote ‘Imagine.’ He was an anarchist!”
“Imagine all the people,” another reporter sang, through tears, “Living life in peace.”
2 comments
WOW what a cool poster image and such a sad turn of events that began to change this country. Thanks for sharing, JIM
I’ve been a life-long fan of Lennon’s, a person I consider truly to have been an artistic genius. Not merely because of his music, but because of his political, social, artistic and humanistic sensibilities. Those are embodied in his lyrics, his antics and his personna, and particularly shine through in Imagine. I’ve got a large canvas in the works, dedicared to Lennon and entitled “John 12:80” and would like to share it, if possible, with you. Let me know how.