Grand Magazine - July/August 2008 - (Page 44)

Carry on, Peter YarroW Yarrow is the “Peter” of Peter, Paul (Stookey) and Mary (Travers), the voices of our youth, the soundtrack, as others have written, of our political awareness. The three began singing together in 1961 (Mary had sung professionally while still in high school, including stints with Pete Seeger; Paul had been a singing comedian at a club in Greenwich Village), and by 1963 they were the organizing musical performers for the March on Washington (where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech). Vivid recollections make it impossible for someone of our generation to hear Peter, Paul and Mary sing “It’s the hammer of justice/It’s the bell of freedom/It’s the song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land…” and not have a heart-twisting memory of our youth, of our pure idealism and hope unstained by cynicism and grief. While the trio still performs together occasionally, they’ve traveled individual roads of achievement as well; and for the last decade Peter Yarrow’s path has led into America’s public schools, where his message is a variation of “love between my brothers and my sisters.” Under the aegis of the nonprofit organization he founded, sweet survivor P the daughter of Jackie Paper—and so the story goes on and seemingly will forever. uff, the magic dragon, bent his head in sorrow, lost his green scales and slipped off into his cave after Jackie Paper “came no more,” but that’s only the song. In the new book, based on the lyrics written by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton and illustrated, magically, by Eric Puybaret, Puff finds a new friend— Peter Paul & mary perform “if i had a hammer” at the 1963 march on Washington, on the same stage where martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “i have a dream” speech. 44 GRAND JULY AUGUST 2008 Photo of Peter, Paul and mary by Barry feinstein Operation Respect, he sings, talks and listens to children about compassion. Operation Respect has provided more than 140,000 copies of its “Don’t Laugh at Me” curriculum to teachers and other educators (now, in Egypt, Israel, Canada, Croatia, the Philippines, South Africa and Hong Kong) and has addressed more than half a million students. Peter and his former wife, Mary Beth McCarthy (the niece of the late Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy, who was an anti-war Democratic presidential contender in 1968; Peter met Mary Beth at a rally in Portland, Oregon) have two adult children, Christopher and Bethany. Chris lives in Portland and is the co-owner of The Monkey and the Rat, a two-location emporium of Asian antiques; and Bethany lives in New York. A strikingly beautiful woman with a strong and passionate voice, Bethany, with her performing partner, cellist Rufus Cappadocia, travels throughout the world, taking the message of Operation Respect to war- and conflicttorn countries. As she was taken as a child to peace marches and concerts, she now takes her daughter, Valentina, 2. For children—and grandparents—dragons do live forever.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Grand Magazine - July/August 2008

Grand Magazine - July/August 2008 Contents Grand View: Love Is All That's Left Isn't It Grand?: Reassessing the Postponed Life Grand Central Just So We Know: One Mixed-Up Lemon Long-Distance Love: Cuttings Ask Grand: Stuck on Stuff Grand Gestures: "Thanks for the Ugly Gift" Tips on Teens: All That Doesn't Meet the Eye Live Long and Propser On the Cover: Peter Yarrow Presents of Mine Thicker Than Water? Reunions: White Water, White Knuckles The Grand Gourmet So We Are Not Alone Looking Grand: Suit-Able Grandbloggers: Why Watch TV When We Can Talk? Grand Bazaar Resources Grand Finale: What Boat

Grand Magazine - July/August 2008

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