Annie Dinerman

05-03-19 Meeting Senator Michael Gianaris

All this week, I wanted to visit the local office of Senator Gianaris in my neighborhood. I wanted to ask his staff to tell him about my song, "Across The Aisle." Other things took up my time so I kept rescheduling it in my calendar. This morning, I regretfully moved the note once again to another day. I headed out to the subway. As I came to the corner, a young man handed me a flyer to read.

"Oh!" I said, "Senator Gianaris." "He's right around the corner," the young man answered. As I turned the corner, there he was, standing at the bottom of the subway stairs. We introduced ourselves. I said I'd been meaning to come to his office all week. He smiled and said, "Well, I came to you."

I told him about my song, "Across The Aisle," and I gave him my business card. I explained how the song was set up on my homepage so people could send a link to their senators and representatives. He seemed to be very pleased. When a songwriter gets to shake hands with her target audience, it's a very good day!

Later, I was viewing his website. I smiled, thinking how he'd be viewing my website.

03-13-19 Interview on WAMC Radio

"Across The Aisle"

Allison Dunne of WAMC Radio phoned me to ask for an interview about my new song, "Across The Aisle". She hosts a news program, plus 51%, a show about women's issues in the news.

We talked about music for social change, how and why I wrote "Across The Aisle," and about partisanship in Congress. The interview runs 4 minutes and 30 seconds. CLICK HERE to listen to the interview.

Broadcast dates: March 28, 2019 at 8PM; and April 3, 2019 at 3PM.

The song was also heard on WBAI-FM (New York City) and KTAL 101.5 FM in Los Cruces, NM -- a short drive from the U.S./Mexico border.

Across The Aisle - Raido Interview

Trapped in the Net

Whenever I went away to college in the fall, my mother always drove me on the interstate. Each year, at the precise moment we were driving north, Monarch butterflies were migrating south. How did they know the opening date of the fall quarter? Did they read the alumni newsletter? They swarmed toward our windshield, flocks of black and orange wings, heading right for us, swooping up suddenly and sailing over our car. Butterflies soaring over I-75. It was fearsome at first, and then it was magical. I think about it every fall, and in my mind’s eye it remains fantastic and magical.

I remember being afraid of the information superhighway when I first signed up for email. People touted it as magical so why was I netphobic? That was the word I used to describe to my friends how I felt. I feared that the whole world would come right at me through my computer screen and paste itself to my windshield making it hard to see at all.

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If you'd like to read the rest of this essay, it's in the Visible Ink 2019 Anthology. Please visit this page to learn more.