Community of Goodness
with Larry Long & Tom Thibodeau
Mondays at 8:30AM
Larry Long is an American singer-songwriter who has made his life work the celebration of everyday heroes. He has written and performed hundreds of ballads celebrating community and history makers. Author and historian Studs Terkel called Long “a true American Troubadour.” When Pete Seeger was told that Larry was often referred to as the Pete Seeger of Minnesota, Pete replied, “I would be honored to be called the Larry Long of New York.”
Through a curriculum called Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song, Larry has brought elders into schools for over thirty years to share their life stories with students. Over one-thousand of these life stories have been recorded and honored by Long with youth in song.
Now a Smithsonian Folkways recording artist, Larry has sung at major concerts and festivals throughout the United States and world.
Long is a recipient of the Bush Artists Fellowship, the Pope John XXIII Award, Leadership In Neighborhood Fellowship (St. Paul Companies), Sustainability Award, and In The Spirit of Crazy Horse Award for his work in forgotten communities.
Tom Thibodeau is the Distinguished Professor of Servant Leadership at Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wisconsin where he has been teaching for 37 years. He is the founder of the Master of Arts degree in Servant Leadership at Viterbo, the only master’s degree in servant leadership in the country.
Tom speaks locally, regionally, nationally and internationally of the growing servant leadership movement. Thibodeau is featured in a Ted Talks on “The Positive Power of Servant Leadership’.
Tom is a founding member of the Place of Grace Catholic Worker in LaCrosse where for the last twenty five years they have been serving, food, hospitality, and human dignity.
Thomas Thibodeau just received the 2021 Community Service Award from the City of Lacrosse. He’s the 153rd recipient of this award, an award not based on physical wealth but for that which one gives back to their community. As Tom often says, “Service is love made visible.”
Community of Goodness is merely one more extension of Tom and Larry’s shared work with hopes that it will help inspire and reinforce your love and commitment to others.
Recorded at Sound Strations Audio in La Crosse, Wisconsin by composer, producer, and engineer Brett Huus. Brett founded the studio in 1993 and is the recording rngineer for the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, and Professor of Recording Technology at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Larry Long is an American singer-songwriter who has made his life work the celebration of everyday heroes. He has written and performed hundreds of ballads celebrating community and history makers. Author and historian Studs Terkel called Long “a true American Troubadour.” When Pete Seeger was told that Larry was often referred to as the Pete Seeger of Minnesota, Pete replied, “I would be honored to be called the Larry Long of New York.”
Through a curriculum called Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song, Larry has brought elders into schools for over thirty years to share their life stories with students. Over one-thousand of these life stories have been recorded and honored by Long with youth in song.
Now a Smithsonian Folkways recording artist, Larry has sung at major concerts and festivals throughout the United States and world.
Long is a recipient of the Bush Artists Fellowship, the Pope John XXIII Award, Leadership In Neighborhood Fellowship (St. Paul Companies), Sustainability Award, and In The Spirit of Crazy Horse Award for his work in forgotten communities.
Tom Thibodeau is the Distinguished Professor of Servant Leadership at Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wisconsin where he has been teaching for 37 years. He is the founder of the Master of Arts degree in Servant Leadership at Viterbo, the only master’s degree in servant leadership in the country.
Tom speaks locally, regionally, nationally and internationally of the growing servant leadership movement. Thibodeau is featured in a Ted Talks on “The Positive Power of Servant Leadership’.
Tom is a founding member of the Place of Grace Catholic Worker in LaCrosse where for the last twenty five years they have been serving, food, hospitality, and human dignity.
Thomas Thibodeau just received the 2021 Community Service Award from the City of Lacrosse. He’s the 153rd recipient of this award, an award not based on physical wealth but for that which one gives back to their community. As Tom often says, “Service is love made visible.”
Community of Goodness is merely one more extension of Tom and Larry’s shared work with hopes that it will help inspire and reinforce your love and commitment to others.
Recorded at Sound Strations Audio in La Crosse, Wisconsin by composer, producer, and engineer Brett Huus. Brett founded the studio in 1993 and is the recording rngineer for the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, and Professor of Recording Technology at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Celebrating Hospitality with Troubadour Larry Long and Story Teller Tom Thibodeau
Hospitality is predicated in generosity. Generosity is predicated in gratitude. You won’t give people the time of day unless you have a generous spirit. Be generous with our kindness. Be generous with our patience. Be generous with our compassion. May we all have the courage to create a hospitable world where all are welcome.
Featured songs: Why Not Me Lord (Honoring Gladius Milton) | Words & Music by Larry Long with Children from Rural Alabama | Copyright Larry Long Publishing 1996 BMI ; Lucky Jacob (For my son Jacob Amos Keith Long) | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1989 BMI .
Honoring Wisdom with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Wisdom is paying attention to the good stuff. Not all old people are wise, but all wise people are old. Age gives us an opportunity to look back to discern what is good, what is important, and what is significant. That is why we look towards our elders for their wisdom, to point us in a direction, to give us a new calibration, to remind us of what is good, what is right, and what is just. Whatever you pay attention to, you get more of, so why not pay attention to the good stuff.
Featured songs: Love of Life | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2011, BMI; Grandmother’s Home | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2021, BMI; Chicky Chicky Boom | Words & Music by Larry Long 2000, BMI
Celebrating Friendship with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Friendship is a sweet gift. Friends are people who have our best interest in mind. Friends enjoy being in each other’s company. Friends are people who join together for the common good. We do so much more good together then we could ever do alone. Friends wish each other well. A friend takes joy in your success because friendship is truly the basis of community.
Featured songs: Building Community | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1996 BMI; Mississippi Queens | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1976 BMI; Michael | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1981 BMI
Celebrating Goodness with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Ever see a hospital built by cynics anonymous? No, it’s good people who join together to do good work every day. Wherever I go I meet good people who want to help me, serve me, and make my life a little bit better. Isn’t it true that we reap what we sow? If we are good, kind, and thoughtful it comes back to us. If we are mean and cynical that comes back to us as well. Let’s sow goodness and help make this world a little bit better one good deed at a time. Thanks for all you do.
Featured songs: Well May The World Go | Words by Pete Seeger | Melody from Weel May the Keel Row | Copyright Pete Seeger 1973, BMI; In My Neighborhood | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1991; Renewed 2022, BMI; My Old Friend | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2016, BMI.
Celebrating Spring with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Isn’t it wonderful? People are coming alive to the sounds of Spring. Birds are singing. Snow has melted. The creeks are whistling, “Oh to be mudluscious and puddle-wonderful again.” The poet Mary Oliver captures this in her poem, Why I Wake Early.
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety– . . .
Hello sun in my face. Thank you for waking me up to absorb the beauty of creation that is expressed with each new day of Spring.
Featured songs: Garden Song by David Mallett | Copyright David Mallett, Chrysalis One Music Publishing Group, Ireland; Mujer Sobre La Montana by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2020/BMI; Tu BiShvat by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2022/BMI
Honoring the Sacred with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
There are things in life that are not for sale, which we call sacred. Like the ring on my finger that was given to me after my father passed. It’s through these objects, memories, stories, and traditions that we are reminded of who we are. As in these sacred Midewiwin principles passed down through the generations by the Elders of the Anishinaabe Nation:
Honor the aged; in honoring them, you honor life and wisdom. Honor life in all its forms; your own will be sustained. Honor women: in honoring women, you honor the gift of life and love. Honor promises: by keeping your word you will be true. Honor kindness: by sharing the gifts you will be kind. Be peaceful: through peace all will find Great Peace. Be courageous: through courage all will grow in strength. Be moderate in all things: work, listen and consider, your needs will be prudent. Featured songs & spoken word: Some Things Are Not For Sale (Honoring Melvin Jones) | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long Publishing 1996 BMI; Traditional Anishinaabe Honor Song | John Morrow from the Lac Courte Oreilles Wildcat Clan; MIZHAKWAD (Lucy Begay); OGABEGIZHIKOKWE (Ruth Harley); GAWEENAWIYA INDAMA KAMIGOSEEN AYZHITWAH YAHN (No One Can Take My Religion From Me)| Words & music by Larry Long with the community of Lac Courte Oreilles, Wisconsin | Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2015 / BMI |
Honoring Water with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
“This is the same water that was here when dinosaurs were here. There is no new water. This is the only water we will ever know. This is the same water my great ancestors drank from and harvested our wild rice upon. This water is sacred, because without water there’s no life. You cannot drink oil.” – Winona LaDuke,
Featured songs: Along the Blue Highway by Larry Long ; Copyright Larry Long 1983; Renewed 2022 BMI | No More Pipeline Blues (On This Land Where We Belong); Music: Larry Long; Words: Larry Long, Winona LaDuke, Keri Pickett, Buffy Sainte Marie, Keith Secola, Pura Fe, Dorene Day Waubanewquay, Marian Moore, Pam Mahling; Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2021 BMI | Nibi Song by Waubanewquay Dorene Day; Copyright Waubanewquay Dorene Day 2009 BMI
Honoring Sheroes with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
In this episode of Community of Goodness, we honor the dignity of Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Workers Movement, Mother Jones, schoolteacher, community organizer, and co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World, and the immigrant women from more than fifty-one nationalities who led the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike against unfair labor practices and child labor. We truly do stand upon the shoulders of these remarkable women who had the courage to fight for a living wage and the rights of women throughout our nation, so children can get a good education and not be forced to work in the mills.
Featured songs: “Bread & Roses” | Lyrics by James Oppenheim | Music by Mimi Farina and
“We Love You Mother Jones” | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2022 | BMI
Honoring the Refugee with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
“The New Colossus” is a sonnet by American poet Empoema Lazarus. She wrote the poem in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. In 1903, the poem was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal’s lower level. At the close of her sonnet it reads, “”Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Featured songs: American Hymn | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1981 | BMI; All The Way To Paradise | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2000 | BMI
Honoring Laughter with Troubadour Larry Long and Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Victor Borge, one of America’s real treasures, says, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Children under the age of five laugh or smile over three hundred times a day. Whereas people over the age of thirty-five laugh or smile roughly five times a day. We just don’t laugh enough. If we really want people to come together, we need to laugh together, play together, and be silly together more often. Featured songs: Catfish Rag performed by Larry Long, Billy Peterson, & Leo Kottke; Copyright Clay Riness & Larry Long 1991 | BMI; Talking Fishing Blues performed and adapted by Larry Long; Copyright 1961 (renewed) by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
Honoring Storytelling with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
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Honoring Public Service with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
We give thanks to the public servants who get in their trucks at four in the morning and make sure garbage is picked up. Sanitation is taken care of and that we’re all kept safe from disease and malady. We give thanks to the public health workers who have put their lives on the line throughout this pandemic. We give thanks to the thousands of public citizens who serve the public good by sitting at the polls making sure our democracy works.
We give thanks to the public servants in office who have the courage to set aside their partisan differences on behalf of the common good, such as the Minnesota State Legislature who passed the most comprehensive firefighter well-being legislation in the nation in 2021.
Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE) through their Hometown Heroes Assistance Program is now able to dedicate $4 million per year to ensure that every Minnesota firefighter will have access to the education, prevention and care needed to handle a cardiac, emotional trauma or cancer diagnosis.For more information: www.mnfireinitiative.com
Featured songs: Building Community | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2022 | BMI; Firefighter (Duty, Honor, Courage) Music by Larry Long | Words by Larry Long & George Esbensen (President of MnFIRE) | Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2020 | BMI
Honoring the Gift of Silence with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
In our urgent rush to get there we are going everywhere but being nowhere. Far too busy managing with transactive speed to lead with transformative significance. Urgency is not just about speed, it’s about filling space. So, our spirits are like the teacup overflowing, and exasperated by urgency. We need to let go, step back and make space for silence.
The more peace there is within us the more peace there will be in our troubled world.
Featured songs: Liliana (For granddaughter Liliana) & He Gave His Life for Me | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2020 | BMI
Honoring His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Honoring His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“I’ve always considered myself to be one of the seven million human beings, nothing special. So, on that level I have tried to make people aware that the ultimate source of happiness is simply a healthy body and a warm heart.” – His Holiness the Dalai Lama
“We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome. Male, female, gay, or straight. We all belong to this family, the human family, God’s family.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Featured songs: Light A Candle composed by Bob Killian and arranged | performed by Larry Long & Michael Johnson. Copyright Bob Killian 1986 | BMI; Tibet composed by Larry Long in honor of Gyatsho Tshering, featuring Venerable Monastery Monks Gendun Kelsang, Jumpa Thumpten, Lobsang Jungnes, Dolma and Yiga Tshering and family and friends & Gyuto Wheel of Dharma. Copyright Larry Long 2011 | BMI.
Honoring the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Honoring the Legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This podcast honors the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all those who continue to sacrifice their lives to keep the dream of liberty and justice for all alive. In the words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Voting is the foundation stone for political action.”
Featured songs: Freedom, Oh Freedom (Honoring Ezra Cunningham) | Copyright Larry Long Publishing 1992 (BMI); and Something for Me, Something for You | Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2002 (BMI) | Copyright Just Divine Music 2002 (ASCAP)
Honoring the Gift of Loneliness with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
It’s through our aloneness that we are able to commune with a power far greater than I. And by doing so, are gifted with the realization that we are not alone after all.
Featured songs: Wishing I Was Riding on That Train and Lay Me Down Easy. Copyright Larry Long 2022 | BMI
Honoring Generosity with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Generosity is not merely something that we do, but an admirable quality of character. A generous person naturally engages in acts of generosity.
One of those generous individuals was Ms. Gladys Milton. Ms. Milton lived to be 75 years of age and delivered over 3,000 babies throughout rural Alabama and Florida in her lifetime. Most of which, were home births due to Jim Crow laws, which prevented African American women from giving birth in hospitals.
Another woman of generosity was the Mrs. Virginia McKnight Binger whose father, a chief executive of 3M, and mother set up the McKnight Foundation. Every year under the banner of ‘Unsung Heroes’, the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits keeps Virginia McKnight Bingers legacy alive by honoring four change agents working in and with their communities — helping people connect with one another, secure resources, and tell their truths.
Featured songs: Why Not Me Lord (Honoring Gladys Milton) & I Love You (Honoring Virginia McKnight Binger). Copyright Larry Long 2021 | BMI
Honoring the Dakota 38 Patriots with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Placing the Santee Dakota Nation on reservations for the first time in 1851 was an act of cultural genocide. A mere decade thereafter, deprived of the freedom of the hunt, this ancient people stared starvation in its grim face. In August of 1862, there began a final defense of the Dakota Oyate – the long road to Wounded Knee. When the Wars of August were quelled, 303 Dakota were marked for the gallows. President Lincoln, in commuting the sentences of all but 38, paved the way for the largest mass execution in United States history. Featured songs: Water In The Rain (Honoring the Dakota 38) by Larry Long & Amos Owen (BMI); Lay Hatred Down by Larry Long (BM()
Celebrating the Gift of Christmas Morning with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Christmas, the very word means joy. This is a story of hope, resilience, persistence, and love, which is told in our human families every day. In Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Minnesota, where our fellow citizens are made vulnerable by tornadoes and natural disasters. And now throughout the rest of the country. We are all vulnerable at times depending upon the goodness of others in our community, often by people we do not know. Featured songs “Take Me Down” & “Noelia” by Larry Long (BMI).
Celebrating the Courage of Women with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
In this episode Tom & Larry sing the praises of abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth, Oklahoma Head Start teacher Julia Pauline (Polly) Patterson, and former teacher & principal Marian Sullivan Schwarz, who farmed near Cashton, Wisconsin and lived to be 104 years of age. Featured songs “Polly” and “You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down” by Larry Long (BMI)
Celebrating the Poetry of Autumn with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
In this episode of Conspiracy of Goodness Larry & Tom honor the writings of Carl Sandburg, John Claire, Emily Bronte, Jacques Prevert, and Mississippi River Poet, Bard, & Philosopher Eddie Allen. Featured songs: Going Home To The Driftless & No Jobs In Texas by Larry Long (BMI)
Honoring The Tree Of Life with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
We chart our ancestry from the roots and limbs of our family tree. We plant the placentas of our newborn into the ground to give nourishment to the roots of our children’s birth trees. As Suzanne Simard writes in her book ‘Finding the Mother Tree’, “The older trees are able to discern, which seedlings are their own kin. The old trees nurture the young ones and provide them food and water just as we do with our own children.” As Oglala Lakota Elder Black Elk spoke, ““. . . even in the slightest breeze you can hear the voice of the cottonwood tree; this we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things. . .” Featured songs “Tree of Life” and “The Eyes of My Father” by Larry Long (BMI).
Giving Thanks with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Tom and Larry share stories and songs of gratitude to those who give so generously in times of need to others. From those who grow, transport, cook and serve our food to those who teach our children the value of kindness and service to others in action, words, and deeds. Thank you for all you do and thank you for listening. Featured songs: I Thank You and I Give Thanks by Larry Long (BMI).
Honoring Peace with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Tom and Larry share stories and songs of peace in this episode of Conspiracy of Goodness. From reciting the poetry of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn to traveling the length of the Volga and Mississippi Rivers on a Soviet-American Peace Cruise during those days of perestroika before singing on historic Arbat Street in Moscow with Kris Kristofferson. Featured songs: Love Will Lay Hatred Down & Muscovite, Feel Alright by Larry Long (BMI)
Celebrating Stories of America with Troubadour Larry Long & Storyteller Tom Thibodeau
Celebrating Stories of America
In this episode Troubadour Larry Long and Servant Leader Tom Thibodeau share stories of Uncle Dale the Plumber, the Hard Rock Inn along the eastern slopes of the High Sierra Mountain range, a Korean War veteran and tungsten miner’s dream to return home to Montana, and travels with Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott. Featured songs by Larry Long include “Got To Have Money To Make Money” and “Back to Montana” from “Living In A Rich Man’s World” vinyl release on Waterfront Records.