Huffington Magazine Issue 49 | Page 5

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR and visiting hospitals, hospices and private homes, by request. Selecting songs based on what a patient or the patient’s family wants, they approach the bedside and sing from memory — from upbeat, jaunty songs like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to original compositions, which are most common. Synakowski’s choir practices for 90 minutes each week at a D.C. massage school and posts flyers in local coffee shops seeking people who can “communicate kindness” with their voices. At a recent rehearsal, they could be heard singing, in preparation for some future bedside performance: “It’s alright, you can go/ Your memories are safe with us/ It’s alright, you can go/ Your memories are safe with us.” Elsewhere in the issue, Radley Balko puts the spotlight on Bisbee, Arizona, a town of 5,500 people about 10 miles from the Mexican border, and at the center of the state’s debate over gay marriage. As Radley delves into the politics and introduces us to local officials and residents on both sides of the issue, he also shows us around Bisbee in all its eclectic, freespirited glory: the art festivals HUFFINGTON 05.19.13 a