The morning had been a bit stormy, with a torrential rain falling dropping 5 inches of water. Flash flooding had occurred in some low lying areas. Alvin and Amy had enjoyed the Wednesday night church service where Brother Bannon had preached regarding the end times that were soon to come to the earth. Alvin and […]

Democracy or Theocracy? — The Jazz Man

It is a cooler day in Carbondale. Again I feel a hint of fall in the air. I visited the Division of Motor Vehicles for my license sticker and was pleased to see their strict adherence to social distancing. A staff member met each person entering the facility at the door and instructed you were to go. I was reared on Walt Disney films and science fiction and Dracula and Frankenstein movies. I wore my cousin, Billy’s Creature From The Black Lagoon mask for a eight millimeter film that we shot. I wish that I still had the copy of the 3 and 1/2 minute masterpiece! The days of my youth were spent riding my bicycle that was fashioned to look like a motorcycle…or later my three speed…which was an elaborate delight! Life contained going to the movies at the Orpheum Theatre in Eldorado, Illinois on Friday night and again on Sunday afternoon. Mom and I would enjoy a humongous root beer and Carter and Choissers Drug store…and they cost a nickel. I throughly enjoyed going to my friend Jackie Brooks house and we would play with action figures such as Johnny West and Stony the army soldier and the Fess Parker rendition of Daniel Boone. Jackie’s mom, Thelma would make us hot dogs…or rather serve us hot dogs directly out of the plastic wrapper…as Jackie liked them better that way. I literally rode my bicycle in from our country home, which was about two miles, and all over Eldorado, and then back home in the evening. Often in the evening we would capture lightning bugs in a jar and marvel at how long they produced their mysterious light. I loved to swim and summers were filled with mom and I and some of my friends and my cousin Brenda making the twenty mile journey to Ponds Hollow to wile away the hours swimming. I learned to float and subsequently floated far beyond the safety rope into the very deep water. As I floated I noticed that all sound dissipated and the people that had been all around me were but little specks on the far shore. I had neither fear nor distress as I was quite sure that I would be fine.

So today we are in the deep water…aren’t we. We are confronted with a pandemic that can take our lives. On top of all of the regular struggles of life has been placed this virus that seems like a science fiction story. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has cancelled all on campus classes after one week into their fall semester due to a surge in coronavirus cases on their campus. With our best efforts we are battling a foe who has no respect for persons or political party or religious affiliation. Believing that you will be alright if you refuse to take the precautions that our health professionals have outlined for us…is a fools errand. Feeling that you are invincible and beyond the reach of a world wide pandemic results in disappointment and disillusionment.

I have felt the surrealism of attending a few events that seem so normal and happy and with nothing to fear. Everything seems good and safe and sane and a sanctuary for human contact and fellowship. But looks can be deceiving. I have seen the happy young people on the beach. I have enjoyed a couple of restaurant meals, al fresco and with masks, and all seemed as it should be and nothing to fear… However, sadly we are not in a Disney movie where everything turns out for the best. We are players in a movie that is a bit more akin to Dracula. We confront a hidden danger that does not reveal itself to empirical studies in public places.

We long for happier and carefree days. I still want to live in the happiness of Lady and the Tramp and Daniel Boone. I can shut my eyes and relive the feeling of total bliss that I felt as I floated in the deep water of Ponds Hollow. All of these pleasure are available to us if we do not allow Dracula to bite out necks…in our sleep…

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I left my beaten path this afternoon and  strolled around what used to be Small Group Housing or better known as Greek Row.  I began my career at the university, 42 years ago working in Thalman Hall, which housed the General Accounting department.  On October 10, 1978, I began cleaning the building.  In those halcyon days the circle of housing buildings and office spaces and classrooms were humming.  

October 10, 1978, was years before the epitome of student enrollment at SIUC.  In those days there were students attending our school from over 70 nations.  The housekeeping crew that I was assigned too was like a mini United Nations.  My crew was assigned the cleaning of the Law School, which was housed in 3 1/2 of the Small Group Housing buildings, along with the General Accounting building and Army ROTC…as well as several of the Health Service offices.

I was so happy to have been hired by the university.  I was literally swimming in emersion studies of the beauty of diversity!  Everything regarding SIUC was exciting to me!  I had been assigned a building where my predecessor had not bothered to do more than empty the rubbish and therefore I was quickly able to illustrate a noticeable improvement in my and the accounting staff’s surroundings.

 My supervisors liked me and my co-workers were people that were easy to get along with.  The night custodial supervisor came to see me during the first week that I was employed and encouraged me to take the crew supervisor exam as soon as I felt that I was ready.  I rushed home to tell MJ and we were excited as the position of Building Custodian paid 48 cents more per hour than what I was currently making…which was $5.54 per hour…and I had already doubled my highest pay to that time!

The assistant director of General Accounting, Hugh Blaney, told me that I was doing a wonderful job and extorted me that the service that I was performing was as important as his job…

I had not enjoyed such encouragement or employment success in my short work history.  I felt empowered and that I had found a home where I was not only appreciated but recognized for my accomplishments.  

Building Services at SIUC convinced me that I could do anything that I put my mind and efforts towards.  Ms. Fidella Doolin was a big name on campus.  She also told me how she appreciated my efforts and encouraged me to seek promotional opportunities.  I purchased two run cakes from her on behalf of the Baptist Women’s Club…and I would have walked over hot coals to facilitate her housekeeping requests.  

Once again it is the Friday before the beginning of fall semester.  I saw with great joy the students return and many of them with their parents.  This sight has always been inspirational to me.  I have been a part of this magical time…for over 4 decades!  When I ponder all of the benefits that I and my family have received from Southern…I am thrilled to see young people starting their journey!  

The Saluki Way is the answer to dreams that have been held closely in the soul of those who encounter the opportunities of a non-judgmental home that wants you to succeed!

Amy Seimetz movie, She Dies Tomorrow, which she wrote and directed in late 2019  in many ways seems to have been written for our 2020 pandemic.  The main character Amy, played by Kate Lyn Sheil, is convinced that she is going to die tomorrow.  When she tells her friend Jane, portrayed by Jane Adams, of her fear Jane returns to her home and is suddenly struck with the same dread that she is going to die tomorrow, also.  I do not want to give too much away of a terrific movie regarding an eventuality that we each one are going to face…and our ultimate denial and disbelief that it will happen to us!

So, we often cannot see the forest for the trees.  The petty annoyances of life obscure our vision of the magic and majesty and the shortness and definite end that comes to our golden opportunity…  We go about our daily routines seeking to please people who care little about us and to obtain the physical accoutrements or trophies of what society has told us signify a life well lived.  

I have marveled when considering actors who play villains and evil doers when in reality they are sweet and kind individuals.  Have you ever found yourself reading from a script that you did not write?  We are highly influenced by what the norms of the group that we are affiliated with are.  A telling barometer of whether or not you believe what you are saying regarding a subject is do you have rationale reasons for your verbal commitment…or are you polly parroting what someone else has said?  

I have met countless people who are in careers that we’re picked for them by someone else.  Perhaps you are a school teacher and wanted to work in medicine.  Maybe you are a banker and wanted to be a writer.  Do you hate your job…and yet you are committed to work in the position until your retire?  What a terrible way to spend your precious gift…

Are you a member of a faith community that discourages free thought and expression?  Are you afraid to speak you heart and reveal your thoughts?  What if you discovered that you were going to die tomorrow…would you be happy with the life choices that you have agreed to because someone else picked them for you?

Certainly all of us go along to get along to some extent.  There are rules  in the work-place and laws that must be abided…but is the joy of living being drained from you by allowing another human being to do your thinking for you?

In the movie one of the first effects that each of the characters who discovered that they were going to die tomorrow experienced was that they became brutally honest with those around them.  The understanding that they had only a few hours to live enabled them to voice what they had been keeping bottled-up inside them.  

‘Here. Who’s going to believe Nero played bongos while Rome burned?’

I was never amenable to agreeing with someone with whom I did not agree.  I have observed, for my entire life, and especially when leaders are more worried about their personal financial health, the sound of silence when those who lack courage sit closed mouthed while Nero fiddles as Rome is burning…

“Truly a magnificent emperor! While Rome burns, Nero plays an instrument that hasn’t been invented yet.”

It is another stormy afternoon in Little Egypt.  I just enjoyed a wonderful walk on campus and I am in my customary high spirits that another academic year is to begin next week at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale!  Indeed we are in the midst of our pandemic, but there are lighthouses that still have their brilliant beacons of hope for the future and they are illuminating our course to keep us from being dashed against the rocky shore!  

Photo by Anand Dandekar on Pexels.com

I am pleased to see the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States chose as his running mate a brilliant and accomplished woman of color!  The choice is historic and is a harbinger of hope that we are a diverse nation that desperately needs a herculean dose of inclusivity!  

I was talking with a good friend recently and I reflected on my leadership goal for the 25 years that I was a manger/administrator at SIUC.  Before I became the assistant superintendent of Building Services I had prided myself on everyone that I met becoming my friend.  After I took a leader’s role in the organization I knew that my primary purpose had to be that I was fair to all…and that I might not be everyone’s buddy.  My greatest honor during my years of managing was to have some role in elevating outstanding members of our team, who were African American and women and disabled,  to leadership roles.  When I was preparing to retire I recommended an African American woman to replace me as superintendent of the department.  And she did… she was the first woman of color to ever hold the position!

Dr. Austin Lane is our new chancellor.  Every time that I see his photo…I am inspired…he is the first African American to hold the chancellors position at SIUC!

I have written about my wonderful experiences with black colleagues…literally from the first day of my employment at Southern.  Each time that a person of color has chosen to accept me as a colleague and to work with and to be my friend…I was humbled by their confidence in me and honored that they accepted me…

Faith is another beacon of hope in a world of seeming despair.  I have often said…can anyone find the church?  Jesus and his 12 disciples were our first example of church.  It appears that on numerous occasions they slept out under the stars…  ‘And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’    Luke 9:58  KJV

I do know that the church is not equated to the love of money.  It also cannot be led by a person or people who are racist and misogynist…it could not be xenophobic…as Christ admonished us to love each other as he loved us.  

I have often heard that if you want to see God…see your neighbor…

My colleague, Denny, told me many years ago that our careers were a marathon and not a sprint.  I thought about his words and increasingly understood them as the years rolled by.  I recall feeling anxious regarding what I wanted Building Services to accomplish and the time that it was taking to reach that goal.  Having emerged from leadership that was counterproductive and who sought to slow our work product down and for us to produce dirty university buildings…I was convinced that I could not work enough hours to accomplish all that I wanted to do to facilitate the restoration of our departments good name!

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The television show, Columbo, began in 1968 and was about a somewhat bumbling and disheveled police detective and his seeming ineptitude and lack of focus.  In reality Columbo, played by the actor Peter Falk, was a case study in the art of underestimation.  As he haltingly stumbled and fumbled around a murder case he elicited the response of those whom be was investigating of…suffering a fool…

On numerous occasions I have found myself in the role of Columbo while those with  whom I was dealing with had little appreciation for the method of my madness…  We are members, in good standing, of a frenetic society.  We want to tear down our barns and build bigger ones…right now!  Often the systematic and careful plodding of daily incremental success is eclipsed by the brilliance of lofty rhetoric with little substance…until the turtle is holding the trophy at the finish line of the marathon!

I have found the power of the turtle to be vital in my christian experience.  If all of the exhortations that I have heard in over 51 years had been true…I would still be at the starting gate waiting for the flag to drop.  The christian life…is just that…a life…bells do not ring and God’s plan is much longer than our quite puff of wind of time on the earth.  

‘Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’  And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.  So it was, when Elijah heard it, the he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.  Suddenly a voice came to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’    I Kings 19:11-13