The Gateways Festival Orchestra: The Color of Concert Music

The event described below is part of a series of initiatives of the Anti-Racism Taskforce of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church.  See below for details. The color of concert music is white. Its gender: male.  So goes the popular perception.  To start a conversation on t.....continued>
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Beauty in the Time of Pandemic

Below is a 3:30-minute video of a small but momentous occasion.  My son Aaron—a wonderful musician and talented teacher and conductor—leading the Gage Middle School orchestra, Riverside, California.  He’s been teaching there for 20 years and thousands of students. When he first got to Ri.....continued>
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Pentecost Means No “Supremacies”

We celebrate the Church’s “birth” on Pentecost Sunday, the day the promised Holy Spirit arrived.  This year we celebrated on May 20th, a Sunday where at my church—one of the most diverse in America—its large Filipino group took charge of the service.  The VIDEO below sh.....continued>
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Ornette Coleman: Lessons in Freedom (excerpt)

This is the first of 16 short excerpts from my radio series Voices and Freedoms: A History of Jazz.  Based on my book of the same name, the series (and book) were produced at the University of Virginia in the nation’s Bicentennial Year.  The show, syndicated by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting.....continued>
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Ronald L. Fair: “We Can’t Breathe”

May 2020 Update:  Another “I-Can’t-Breathe” incident. I could not watch the video of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020.  But I heard it while my wife described to me what she was seeing: a police man with his knee on the neck of an already-subdued bl.....continued>
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Songs by DAN GUZMAN: “CBS”

“CBS” (COOL BLACK SICKNESS) a song DAN GUZMAN co-wrote and performs with Brad Hoskins.  Fat Cats, Moses in the desert with the Great I Am, bleeding seas, and things tumbling from the sky.  Apocalyptic dread.  Cool grooves.  It not only sounds good—it&#.....continued>
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VIDEO: Sen. Dick Durbin visits Emmanuel House

Update:  IN APRIL 2018, EMMANUEL HOUSE MERGED WITH LONG-TIME PARTNER ORGANIZATION THE JOSEPH CORPORATION TO BECOME The Neighbor Project.  THIS INCREASED THE NUMBER OF FAMILIES SERVED FROM AROUND 25 AT THE TIME OF SENATOR DURBIN’S VISIT TO NOW, IN 2020, A NUMBER APPROACHING 3000.  WATCH A VIDEO.....continued>
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Feed My Starving Children

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Richard Guzman

Feed My Starving Children logoIn 1982 businessman Richard Proudfit felt called to feed starving children after he experienced their hardships on a missions trip to Honduras and heard God saying, “If you’ve seen my starving children, feed them.”  In early 1987 he incorporated Feed My Starving Children to develop an original meal formula and engaged food scientists, who developed a hearty “Fortified Rice Soy Casserole,” which FMSC re-named MannaPack™ Rice in 2008.  The average age of children receiving these meal packets is 5.   Feed My Starving Children also developed a unique way for volunteers to pack the meals with fun and music, and the first shipments left on board Mercy Ships in 1994.

Jonise (from Haiti) at 4 and 21THE VIDEO BELOW shows a day in early June 2014 when volunteers from Friendship United Methodist Church joined other volunteers and, during their session, packed 56 boxes—12,096 meals, enough to feed 33 children for a year.  The picture at left shows Jonise as a poor child in Haiti, and today as a successful 21-year-old, thanks in part to the food provided by Feed My Starving Children.   In 1994 FMSC shipped 400,000 meals; in 2013 it shipped 191,600,000!  More stats:

♦  In 1994 FMSC engaged 2,409 volunteers; by 2013 volunteers numbered 800,000.
♦  In 1994 FMSC employed 2 people; by 2013 it had 203 employees.
♦  In 1994 FMSC’s annual budget was $55,000; by 2013 it was $41,000,000.
♦  For 9 years FMSC has ranked among the top 1% of the US’s most trust worthy charities.

We thank Feed My Starving Children for giving us an opportunity to be a small part of their mission. Find out more at http://www.fmsc.org/

After watching the video below, find out more about organizations helping the homeless and poor by going to the SOCIAL CHANGE main page of this site and clicking on such links as:

♦ Emmanuel House—Transforming lives through home ownership
♦ Chicago Family Directions—Navigating Kids to Careers
♦ Hear Us—Giving Voice and Visibility to Homeless Youth
♦ Daybreak Homeless Shelter—Friendship UMC’s mission at the Daybreak Homeless Shelter also appears under Hear Us on both the Social Change main page and near the end of the Hear Us main page.

√ Video music by Dan Guzman.  Hear more of Dan’s music on this site or on the GuzMusic You Tube channel.

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Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Richard Guzman

Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman

2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman speaks Tuesday, June 3, 2014, at North Central College at 7:30 in Wentz concert hall.  The event is free and open to the public.

For her biography—which contains links to several other resources—go Here.  I took this straight from her press kit, altering it only in taking out one phrase that did not seem to be complete and doing minor re-arranging so it would fit on three pages.

Besides her Nobel Prize, she was named “One of the Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine, and one of the “16 Most Revolutionary Women in History” by Time magazine.  A journalist, activist, and mother of three from Yemen, she is often referred to as The Lady of the Arab Spring.  She was 32 when she won the Nobel, the youngest Peace Prize winner to date.

The biography also includes a few quotes, including:

“I have always believed that resistance against repression and violence is possible without relying on similar repression and violence.”

“Peace does not mean just to stop wars, but also to stop oppression and injustice.”

“The solution to women’s issues can only be achieved in a free and democratic society in which human energy is liberated, the energy of both women and men together.”

Please join us Tuesday evening.

 

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Peter Hoffman documents Bryan House

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Richard Guzman

Peter Hoffman's photo of Imaad HasanOne of the great supporters of Bryan House and Emmanuel House has been the wonderful photographer and journalist Peter Hoffman.  From the earliest days of our family’s effort to deal with the loss of its youngest, Bryan Emmanuel Guzman (1985-2006), and Rick and Desiree Guzman’s efforts to establish a living memorial to him—an organization that would help break the cycle of poverty for refugees and the working poor—Peter has been there.

Peter Hoffman's photo of Akouto VonwogbeThe small images throughout this post are examples of his work. Some larger images of these are Here at LPV Magazine. The largest collection of them were published in Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics.  See 32 larger images of Peter’s Guernica photos Here, though the site sometimes seems to have problems loading them.  Peter also did a major story published in the Beacon News (for Sun Times media) called “Brother Lost, Mission Found,” which we’ll post on this site in the future.

 

Peter Hoffman's photo of Bryan HouseThe first picture above is of Imaad Hasan.  You can read more about Imaad and his family in Stephanie Lulay’s story “With Liberty and Justice for All,” published for the 4th of July, 2011.  He was also featured on an NBC news story.

 

 

Peter Hoffman's photoThe work is amazing just on its own, of course, but means that much more to us because of its subject.  Thank you, Peter. Your talents have helped us immensely in helping refugees and working families and honoring Bryan.

 

 

♦  In 2016 Emmanuel House was named one of the “TOP 100 MOST INNOVATIVE” social change organizations in the world.

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