Sarah Pirtle

As Isolina describes, “I have weeks when I intensely write because I’m bursting. I was sitting on the ridge at Journey Camp with my notebook. It’s the place in the woods where campers create stick houses and make a village. Patches of grass and even the tree roots were worn all around the paths from passing feet on the trail, but one tuft of grass had stayed there. When the leaves rustled, it was like the trees singing. This poem came to me. When I shared it with Sarah, she asked me to read it to the whole camp during our daily gathering under the Story Tree. Sarah grabbed her guitar and said--’Do you mind if I write a tune for your poem? I have a tune for it running in my head right now.’ This song is sung every year at camp now and has become a kind of theme song.”

Journey Camp is a peace camp that I’ve directed since 1994 at Woolman Hill in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The first year the song was created it became the opening song of our pageant. One of the campers who performed it, Leah Schwartz, liked Isolina’s words so much she has sung the song at family birthdays and celebrations.

On the recording you’ll hear the voices of staff members from Journey Camp who assembled to sing both Believe and Everyday Bravery--Erin Berard, Meg Cook, Isolina Leiva-Bowes, Molly Lieberman, and Melanie Meier. We work together at the Girls Week session creating a feminist camp for ages 7 to 17 that includes storytelling, dance, art, and lots of music.

For discussion:

This is an inner discussion question. Pause and take in the reality, “One single person can change the world just by being born.” You are changing the world. Drink that
in with every cell.

Song Lyrics

EVERYDAY BRAVERY

Table of Contents

BELIEVE

Lyrics:

Background of the Song:

For discussion: