A Red, White and Blue Bracelet

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We’re not supposed to post photos of them, because they are kids. Most days they are kids living with cancer or dying from cancer, but today they were just kids from Camp Rainbow Gold, Inc., Inc. coming to Swiftsure Ranch Therapeutic Equestrian Center to ride horses and make crafts and sing songs.

And be kids.

I brought a guitar with me and we all sat in a circle on hay bales and sang campfire songs I hadn’t sung in decades, and hadn’t ever played on guitar, but it didn’t matter. We were all kids again.

After we were done, a little girl who was small and thin but one of the loudest singers ran up to me. She gave me a red white and blue bracelet she had made and said ‘Thank you.’

I had my sunglasses on, so she couldn’t see my eyes.

But I think she knew.

Alex Woodard with Molly Jenson at Rockwood Music Hall New York

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After his appearance at I Can Do It New York on September 20th, join Alex as he heads downtown for this very special performance at Rockwood Music Hall. Joining Alex will be longtime collaborator Molly Jenson as they perform a selection of For The Sender songs in this intimate setting. Tickets are sure to sell out fast and are on sale now, head here to avoid disappointment.

Alex Announces Two Shows in the Fall at Java Joe’s.

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Alex is delighted to announce two shows this fall at San Diego’s legendary Java Joe’s. Joining him on both of these evenings, will be some very special guests from his For the Sender family to perform songs from the first two books in the For The Sender series. Check back for ticket details, on sale soon!

Alex on Best Ever You

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Tune in and listen to Alex as he chats with Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino on her number one rated live radio show “Best Ever You” with over a million global listeners! The Best Ever You Team are on a mission to inspire you, to raise awareness and to promote greater excellence within each of us in the world and Alex was honoured to have joined the discussion.

To listen to the show, click here.

Bullet.

I just read about the shootings in Chicago over the 4th of July weekend.

I want to share something with you.

This isn’t a protest song. Or a political song. Or an anti- or pro- anything song.

It’s a song sung from the perspective of the bullet that killed a six-year old boy at his elementary school in Sandy Hook, CT one December morning.

And it’s the song I’m most grateful for having written.

This is ‘Bullet’:

BULLET
they took me from the fire
metal forged my skin
for what darker of desires
lay in the hearts of men
then they put me in a box
with others just like me
high upon a shelf
for all the world to see

i could have landed in a twelve point
under amber autumn sky
or in the old fallen willow
where paper targets die
but i don’t make those kind of choices
i have to go where i am sent
i never know where i am going
until i know where i went

he took the box down in secret
and left me in his room
underneath a glowing screen
where he drowned himself in doom
until he had enough one day
when he took me in his hand
and put me in a darker place
where i heard the hammer slam

i could have flown over the ocean
in an officer’s salute
or taken down your killer
before he had time to shoot
but i don’t make those kind of choices
i have to go where i am sent
i never know where i am going
until i know where i went

i flew closer
and closer
i flew closer
and closer
i flew closer

and closer and closer to you
but i didn’t mean to hurt you
i had to go where i was sent
i didn’t know where i was going
but now i know where i went

My Two Girls.

My two girls look different on just about every level. Big, small, blonde, brown, not even the same species. But underneath all of that they share something (besides me)… they’ve both been really hurt and have the emotional scars to show for it.

When Stella was a puppy she was attacked by a pit-ridgeback mix in a parking lot. The dog tore her up, and while she healed physically, she doesn’t allow most animals too close anymore. She doesn’t trust them.

And when Annie came into my world, she didn’t trust humans at all. What she could tell me through her behavior suggested that she’d been deeply dishonored somehow, but the only remaining physical signs were the white dime-sized remnants of scars on her belly where she’d been cinched up too tight and made to work.

I tell their stories (and mine) of finding trust again in the new book.

But this is what it looks like.

Life After 50

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When was the last time you wrote or received a letter? We’re talking an actual pen-in-hand, ink-on-paper, folded, enveloped, addressed and stamped missive turned over to the United States Postal Service for delivery.

Chances are, in this digital world of Skyping, texting and e-mail, more than a few moons have passed since you have produced or been in receipt of what was once a common form of communication.

That just might change if you read singer, songwriter and author Alex Woodard’s latest book, “For The Sender: Love Is (Not a Feeling)” (Hay House, 2014), the second in what will eventually be his “For The Sender” trilogy.

Read the rest of this article here.