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Hebert Hoover was President of the United States during the onset of the Great Depression. Often, he was widely blamed for it. Just as now, the complexities of how the economy worked (or didn't work) are the "stuff" of theorists. (I have the feeling that the greed of the few always speaks the loudest on the trading floor on Wall Street. )

In this case of the beleaguered unemployed and sometimes entire families, were those who bore the brunt of the Depressions effects. Without consistent food, water, housing or access to medicine they were always vulnerable.

The poor, disenfranchised, marginalized & the powerless are all too often the victims of greed & evil that is systemic; It happens when such greed becomes mesmerizing-ly "acceptable" because it is buried within a "system." The phrase "our way of life" is trotted out as a cloak for the sad truth that some people extravagantly benefit from "the way the system works"....and others do not. Whether that system is political, economic or even religious, the sad results are often large groups of people becoming discouraged and falling through society's cracks.

I believe it was in this context that Jesus' identification & fulfillment of the passage in Luke 4:18 was spoken: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed..."

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HOOVER~VILLE words/music: bill mallonee
a statue in the harbor said: "I welcome you."
when i saw that smile i took it at face value
she said: "Give me your weary, your tired & your ill.
i'll find 'em all a place...in Hoover~ville.

I had a guitar full of stories & a head full of ghosts
I would open the case and then I'd hold forth
but, when the act of living is an act of the will
you learn that kinda faith down in Hoover~ville
you learn that kinda faith down in Hoover~ville

every world made by man is bound to crash
and the rich man loves what cannot love him back
courage may be a small ember but, it's one you can't kill
It's in no short supply in Hoover~ville
It's in no short supply in Hoover~ville

now, it's Christmas in New York & make no mistake
life? she is brutish & the the devil he waits
And the tears we cry for everyone's death
Aren't they also the tears we cry for ourselves
Give me your weary, you tired & your ill
I'll gather 'em up in Hoover~ville
Yes, I'll gather 'em up in Hoover~ville

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Bill Mallonee

Bill Mallonee is an Americana artist w/ 80 plus albums over a 30 year career. Voted by Paste Music Magazine #65 in their "Top 100 Living Songwriters" poll. He was the
founding member of Vigilantes of Love. He has worked with Mark Heard, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, & Peter Buck from REM.
His most recent work, "Lead On, Kindly Light" is a 23song double Cd released Feb 2020.
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