One of my favorite singers of all time is Chicana (or Mexican American, not sure how she identifies, but you know *I* will claim her as straight up Chicana!!) Joan Baez. Ardently radical in her politics with the activism to back it up, Joan can bring me to tears even as she inspires me to “do something.”

She was highlighted last night on PBS’s regular series, American Masters. Below is a clip:

The thing I loved best about the show were the various clips where Baez attempted to answer that age old question, “what place does art have in politics? And vise versa?” How do you successfully create art (which is a full time job,) while doing activism (which is also a full time job)? Baez’s answers are complicated and interesting, especially because she was a single mother–who also often dated men who were either activists OR artists. One of the more interesting clips of the film was when Baez talked about how she tried and tried to make her then boyfriend, Bob Dylan, more of an overt political activist, when she finally realized–he was writing the soundtrack to the movement. he didn’t need to do much more than that.

But she did. And she admits to falling on the other side of the spectrum. She wrote songs to support her activism, rather that engaging in activism through her songs.

The show was very compelling. Lots of wisdom there, I encourage you to watch!