Yoko Ono Brings the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus to Harlem

Though some, if not most, of the children probably didn't grasp the magnitude of Ono's fame, her short remarks got them to stop squirming or playing with their stuffed animals, even if her opening remarks were a bit over their heads. "Many, many things are happening now in our society, but if you keep smiling, that's going to change the world," she told them. Ono, decked out in a silver jacket, black fedora, and tennis sneakers, then read what she called an "affirmation" for the children.

"When you wake up in the morning, go to the mirror and look at yourself. In the morning, you won't look too good for yourself [laughs] but you have to start liking yourself. So, I will say it and then you repeat it: 'I am beautiful. I am very intelligent. I am healthy in my body and in my mind. Today's a good day, thank you, thank you, thank you. It will be like this now, and forever. I love myself. I forgive myself. I will listen to you, no matter what.'"

Sitting on the bus afterward, she explained that she writes these kind of affirmations for anyone she speaks to, from the rich to the working class to the kids, who enthusiastically participated in the call-and-response section. "They may not remember it exactly, but their bodies, their minds, will take it with them," she told us.