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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
“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>
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>
The Silent Auction remains Emmanuel House’s big fundraising event, an event which raises thousands of dollars each year to help the working poor break out of cycles of poverty. We do it through emphasizing home ownership, higher education, community service, and equitable community and business development. Read more about How It Works here on the Emmanuel House main page.
And take a look at these videos, short films of previous auctions that will give you a sense of what it’s like to come to the event: lots of people, lots of fun, lots of great bargains. Even if you don’t bid on a thing, stop by: it’s something just to see.
♦ THE FRIDAY BEFORE BLACK FRIDAY. ♦ CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WITH A CAUSE. ♦ LOTS OF FUN, GREAT GIFTS, BIG IMPACT.
Community Christian Church, 1635 Emerson Ln
(corner of Ogden & Rickert), Naperville, IL.
♦ CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WITH A CAUSE! ♦ THE FRIDAY BEFORE BLACK FRIDAY! ♦ BETTER DEALS, MORE FUN, BIG IMPACT!
The Silent Auction is the biggest fund raiser for Emmanuel House, an organization that serves the working poor by helping to break cycles of poverty through home ownership, higher education, community service, and equitable development. Read more and watch a new video about us and come by to say Hello—even if you don’t bid on a thing.
It’s just something to see.
Hundreds of people. Hundreds of items: toys, gift cards, vacations, electronics, sports equipment and memorabilia, tickets for tours-concerts-sporting events, bath and beauty baskets, home décor and furniture (indoor and out), baby items…. Here’s a short video of last year’s auction.
In our family it’s like a national holiday. “First there’s Halloween, then the Auction, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas,” we used to say to the grandkids.
And on this site for the next few days we’ll be re-featuring posts having to do with Emmanuel House and its mission. Look for videos of an NBC news report, of Senator Dick Durbin’s visit to one of our sites, and of music. Emmanuel House started as Bryan House, both organizations started by Rick & Desiree Guzman in memory of Rick’s youngest brother.
Bryan Guzman loved music. At the time of his death he was a rising star on bass and played in bands with his brother Dan. Both also accompanied me when I did shows on Chicago writing and the poetry of war.
We’ll also re-post articles like a review of It’s A Wonderful Life and A Raisin in the Sun, two iconic American works, both deeply involved—we sometimes forget how much—with issues of home ownership, the centerpiece of Emmanuel House’s strategy.
All of this to remind you what the SILENT AUCTION is all about—besides the fun. Hope to see you there.
In the video below—which you can also watch on our YouTube channel—we parody John Lennon’s “Come Together” to celebrate the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright and the labor of the 100’s who volunteer at the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. What fun! But mucho, mucho apologies to Mr. Lennon.
Could a person who thought he was so right have a better name than Wright, or a better name to pun on? There’s the FLW Preservation Trust’s gift catalog “Buy Wright,” and their magazine “Wright Angles.” Want to take a local tour? There’s one called “Wright Around Chicago.” You get the idea.
So my wife Linda—who manages all those Trust volunteers—thought, Why not “Come Together Wright Now” as the theme for the 2013 Volunteer Appreciation Party? And why not a parody of Lennon’s song as the party’s centerpiece? Lots of things seemed to her to be coming together for the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, including the recent addition of The Rookery, Bach House, and Unity Temple to their already-distinguished tour sites. (It’s managed Wright’s Home and Studio in Oak Park and Robie House in Hyde Park for decades.) She enlisted me and volunteer, artist, and blogger extraordinaire Jim Nedza to write the parody, wrote a few lines herself, and for the music she turned, of course, to Dan Guzman. We kept several Lennon lines because: Frank Lloyd Wright often wore a flat top hat, was infamous early on for long hair, and lived a life and created an art about freedom. He always seemed to be groovin’ one way or the other.
Here come old flat top
He come groovin’ up slowly
He got too few idols
His Dad holy roller
He got hair down below his knees
Hate on the conformer
He just do what he please
His Mama hung up
He be architect big shot
He cop prairie flatness
He shoot cantilever
He got airs and ego to a tee
Every thing he draw up
Will make big history
Come together Wright now…over me
He know organic
He do nature worship
He got Master Complex
He one boldness junkie
He drape capes down below his knee
One thing he will tell you
Is you got to be free
Come together Wright now…
We volunteering
We do every weather
We hoe weedy garden
We take giant busload
We say this and that and this you see
Everything good looking
Cause he need it to be
Come together Wright now…
Come together—yeah!
We were working with two geniuses here. “Come Together” is one of my top-10 Beatles favorites, and its stature seems to rise for everyone as years go by. When you parody a great song you realize how really great it is, the genius of Lennon’s music and lyrics striking you harder each time you hear it.
The song was about Timothy Leary. Frank Lloyd Wright’s egoism certainly rivaled Leary’s. The video above begins with one of many famous Wright pronouncements: “I’ve been accused of saying I was the greatest architect in the world, and if I had said so, I don’t think it would be very…arrogant.” He so firmly believed in his greatness, the greatness of his work, but that priceless pause, that slight smile, before the word “arrogant” hints that maybe he took his greatness with some grain of salt—as little, as miniscule, as that grain might have been. The history he made required far less ingestion than Leary’s, though we know many had to swallow a lot to deal with his thorny genius. History’s judgment of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, however, seems to glow brighter and brighter. He got that Wright.
Sorry. That couldn’t be helped. It just couldn’t. Whether we got it Wright (there it is again!) is another matter, but we hope you enjoy it.
Pictures near video’s end are from the 2013 Volunteer Appreciation Party, an important Trust event for recognizing and building its volunteer community.
See Jim Nedza’s DesignSlinger website on Chicago architecture.
The Silent Auction remains Emmanuel House’s big fundraising event, an event which raises thousands of dollars each year to help the working poor break out of cycles of poverty. We do it through emphasizing home ownership, higher education, community service, and equitable community and business development. Read more about How It Works here on the Emmanuel House main page.
