{"id":294,"date":"2021-07-20T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/?post_type=product&#038;p=294"},"modified":"2026-04-11T15:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T15:35:25","slug":"without-the-struggle","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/product\/without-the-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"Without the Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Listen &amp; Peruse<\/h3>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PIkcVOBeQjY?controls=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/center><center><a href=\"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Forgotten-Voices-Without-the-Struggle_watermark.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><button>Perusal Score<\/button><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"border: 1px solid #666; padding: 10px; background-color: #eee;\">\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Without the Struggle<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>based on a conversation with Paul S., a member of the Springfield Street Choir<\/em><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"324\">Without the struggle I ain\u2019t me<br \/>\nOn the streets, it\u2019s alright, it\u2019s where I belong<br \/>\nIf everything is running smooth<br \/>\nthen it\u2019s too good<br \/>\nI walk as humble as I canIf it ain\u2019t sweat, blood and tears<br \/>\nthen it aint worth living<br \/>\nI am flesh, so I\u2019m gonna feed the flesh<br \/>\nAnd if I can feed the spirit,<br \/>\nwell, it needs fed too<br \/>\nI am gonna do me while I can<\/td>\n<td width=\"300\">Without the struggle, I ain\u2019t me<br \/>\nOn the streets, it\u2019s alright, it\u2019s where I belong<br \/>\nA person comes in all shapes and forms<br \/>\nI should come in small doses<br \/>\nBut I don\u2019tWithout the struggle I ain\u2019t me<br \/>\nOn the streets, it\u2019s alright, it\u2019s where I belong<br \/>\nIf everything is running smooth<br \/>\nthen it\u2019s too good<br \/>\nI walk as humble as I can<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"324\">And oh, there\u2019s smiles out there<br \/>\nAnd oh, when you get those smiles<br \/>\nGod it\u2019s good, you know?<br \/>\nGod it\u2019s good.<br \/>\nBut the rest of it is hard<br \/>\nSo I live hard<\/td>\n<td width=\"300\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#8220;T<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">his text is based on an interview I did with my friend Paul on a cold February night as we stood outside the Connecting Grounds church, surrounded by crowds of other homeless people, ducking into the church for warmth, then back out to smoke, rinse, and repeat. At the time of this interview, Paul had been out on the street for about 8 years, and was on any number of drugs. Just about a month after this interview, he got sober, and has maintained that sobriety to this day. He is also off the street now, living with his mother.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paul is a someone who is a welter of contradictions &#8211; a spectacularly articulate man who isn\u2019t afraid to throw a punch, someone who loves very deeply but who has been hurt in impossible ways, and who has a rap sheet that says he carries the potential for danger, but who has only ever made me feel safe and protected to have him around. Knowing how much he has struggled, I am so proud of the progress he has made.<\/span><\/i> &#8221; \u2013 Katie Kring<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Without the Struggle&#8221; is drawn from a conversation between the composer and one of her homeless friends about his life. Set in the manner of an American folk song, this text celebrates the richness of life even in the face of extreme difficulty and deprivation.\u00a0 This piece is part of the Forgotten Voices song cycle, and can be purchased as a stand-alone piece, or with the song cycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[69,55,38],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-choir","7":"product_cat-forgotten-voices","8":"product_cat-choir-satb","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"downloadable","13":"taxable","14":"shipping-taxable","15":"purchasable","16":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katiekring.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}