Surviving Survival - Sound & Spirit

Ellen Kushner looks beyond physical survival in a tragedy like 9/11 to survival of the spirit and survival of the self. Surviving can be both empowering and devastating. Survivors often find it impossible to forget those who were killed and difficult to deal with their sorrow and the guilt of having lived when others died.

What do survivors do with their sorrow, with their guilt? Some construct memorials: quilts, poems, scrapbooks, Web pages. For many artists and musicians, the combination of art and faith is what provides the anchor. Surviving Survival features many of these expressions. Bach wrote the "Ciaccona" from his Partita in D Minor as an epitaph for his wife. Many Cambodian refugees, coming to terms with the oppression of the Pol Pot regime, found healing through classical dancing, puppetry, and their Buddhist faith. Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz, wrote books and found spiritual redemption in bearing witness to the events he endured. From the carnage at Treblinka and the devastation at Ground Zero to the inconsolable pain of losing a child, Surviving Survival celebrates the enduring human spirit in the face of suffering and loss.