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Traveling through North Philadelphia at 6am on our way to my spot as a poll watcher on election day, we passed a sign designating John Coltrane's house, located at 1511 N. 33rd Street. The great tenor and soprano saxophonist purchased the house in 1952 at age 26 with funds provided by the G.I. Bill after leaving the Navy. In January 1999 it was designated as a national historic landmark.

Coltrane's house is emblematic not only of the decline of urban America - the neighborhood was definitely in bad shape - but also as a sign post of the changes coming in America. It is obvious that we have exhausted the investments made in our infrastructure since that time back in 1952 when our government was a source of pride. Since 1980, the trust in our governmental institutions has slowly eroded to the point where we just don't believe that our government can do anything right. It was striking to see this great American's home run-down and neglected.

And yet Coltrane's legacy lives on in the darndest places! This article by Nat Hentoff appeared in The Wall Street Journal this past summer:

Teaching in the Holliswood School, P.S. 178 in Jamaica Estates, Queens, Christine Passarella says, "I have worked on wonderful projects on artful thinking with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Children studied paintings not just about the artist and his style but to look at the relationships between the characters in the painting, and the setting. It's a way of developing thoughtful dispositions. I began mixing great works of art with classical music; and over time I introduced rock, the blues and jazz."

"I have discovered that young children have open, welcoming minds, and the more pure and emotional the music, the more they connect. Soon they were hooked on John Coltrane's music."

"The children were drawn to the range of feelings in the songs of John Coltrane as I gave them the backgrounds of the compositions. Alabama, for example, was about Martin Luther King and racial discrimination; and his Love Supreme expressed a love for humanity."

Remember, these kids weren't even in 3rd grade yet! Ms. Passarella continued:

"I hear in John's music a direct message to me as a teacher, and that is to go on teaching children in a way that respects their individuality. His music tells children to be who they want to be, that it is OK to be different, it is OK to feel, and that we all need to be able to express who we are in our own way to find what writer and philosopher Joseph Campbell called 'following your bliss.'"

And it's John Coltrane's message that continues to resonate today, over 50 years after he bought that house in North Philly - the message of hard work, individuality, and expression which is uniquely American. As 'Trane said himself:

"When you're playing with someone who really has something to say, even though they may otherwise be quite different in style, there's one thing that remains constant. And that is the tension of the experience, that electricity, that kind of feeling that is a lift kind of feeling. No matter where it happens, you know when that feeling comes upon you, and it makes you feel happy."

The 2nd graders in Ms. Passarella's class certainly felt that good feeling, and all across America the positive and hopeful message continues to resonate since the historic election of Barack Obama.

From Coltrane to Obama...Now THAT feels good!

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