The Miracle of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale!
I began at SIUC 42 years ago. Prior to my beginning I was intrigued with the notion of a major university in Southern Illinois. Although I was born in Chicago my mother and father were Southern Illinois natives. They had migrated to Chicago for employment. They had decided to return to Eldorado, Illinois, where my mom’s family resided, in order to start anew after marital discord and soon after the move… divorce. I vividly recall SIU theatre students coming to Hillcrest school to perform a play. My imagination was captivated! I dreamt of someday being a part of such a magical place as Southern Illinois University!
I did not begin my relationship with my school as a student…I began as an employee for the Physical Plant Building Services department. My job title was Building Service Worker I…and I was extremely proud of it! I knew that I had obtained a secure job with the university that I had loved since my youth. One of my first impressions of my new environment was the wealth of diversity. I was placed on a custodial crew with students from several countries. My foreman was African American and, as time went by he mentored me and set me on the road to success in the department. When a colleague had given me a little trouble…Jim instructed the chap that, ‘Jay Brooks was his son…he just would not call him daddy!’
I said for many years that SIUC has a big sign over each of its entrances that says, Opportunity!’ Through the decades I became accustomed to being included by not only my colleagues but also by chancellors and a president. My mom used to speak of the ‘little guy or the little gal’ and she was observant of those with resources and education who were not respecters of rank or social and economic standing. Southern became a second home for me, up until and including today. I felt comfortable there. I knew that I was appreciated and that my efforts were noted and thought highly of. I found that Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale is a home for all peoples!
SIUC is an oasis in the desert. It is a pristine example of members of the human family working together and listening to each other and seeing each other. I often reflect on the fact that our housekeeping department had over 200 student staff. These students were from 70 nations. Our full time staff was from the local Southern Illinois region. Our full time staff loved their international student colleagues! There was no thought of walls or border restrictions or lack of respect of another’s ethnic origin…. Building Services had over 30 custodial crews. These crews were composed of a working crew supervisor and some Building Service Worker I’s and several student staff. When a student member of the crew was sad or homesick the full time staff encouraged them. When a student member of the crew was hungry…their full time colleagues shared their lunch with them. When a student member of the crew thought of dropping out of school…the surrogate mothers and fathers that worked alongside them…talked them out of it! We had an annual Thanksgiving Dinner that was attended by all of our student and full time staff. The event was a joy to participate in…and spoken of throughout the year! The Building Sub-foreman and the Building Service Workers and the Foreman…made food for the event…and their student colleagues…loved them for it!
It is difficult to hate someone who you break bread with……
Something Good Is Going To Happen! — The Jazz Man
I purchased the new Bob Dylan album Friday. It is terrific! The first song on the disc is, ‘I Contain Multitudes.’ Some of the lyrics are: ‘ I’m just like Anne Frank, like Indiana Jones And them British bad boys, The Rolling Stones I go right to the edge, I go right to the end […]
As Flashy As A Fireworks Show
Please enjoy a great, Jonathon Brooks Blog!
As fireworks explode outside my home I am reminded of how much I enjoy quiet things. I enjoy reading books in rooms with no television blaring. I like one on one conversations with people where there’s plenty of pauses to plot the next item of conversation. I like music turned down low so I can contemplate the messages of the lyrics. I enjoy being alone with my thoughts with no loud noises to distract me.
Although I have enjoyed fireworks shows before. The color parade of rainbows lighting up the night sky I find fascinating. But this year I am not into the fireworks scene. 2020 has been a different sort of year so far.
If this virus teaches us some new things I hope and I pray that one of the lessons learned is how to sit down and shut up and enjoy life more fully. Most of us…
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I Experienced Something Wonderful!
It is hot in Southern Illinois! But then again it is July 4th eve. Our 2020 pandemic continues to be a daily learning experience. Forty states are experiencing extreme spikes in COVID-19 cases, with yesterday being over 50 thousand new cases within 24 hours. When I think of planning for the future I am struck with the uncertainty and the black-hole that the Coronavirus has presented us with. It is a time that we must follow the expert advice of our health care professionals and rely upon the gift of wisdom from God.
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I have been a member of First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale for 22 years…and when I became a member I thought that I was old… In those days our church had three boards; Session, Deacons, and Trustees. I had not been a member a year when my friend, Barbara and our Interim Pastor, Karen, came to visit me in my office at the Physical Plant to ask me if I would consider becoming a member of the Trustees. I was so moved by Barbara’s pleading with me…that I reluctantly accepted. I remember being in a trustee meeting on the evening of 9/11. I have always been a reluctant candidate for church leadership. Even in the early days of serving on the trustees I had been involved in church leadership for 30 years. I am convinced that there are others much more qualified than I for any leadership role…and that bedrock belief is a cloak that I wear proudly!
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Recently I was asked if I would serve on the Session, which is the board of church members who are the elected representatives that comprise the governance of the local Presbyterian Church. I said that I would…and forgot to mention that I would do so for a year rather than the 3 years of a typical term. You see, that I am very serious about my firm understanding that I have little to offer and my abilities are meager. A year of my 3 years has come and gone and I have been ruminating on a humble and delicate way to say that my time is over.
From the beginning of my Session service, this time, I have been struck with the humility and sincerity of my colleagues and are Interim Pastor, Kerry. We had a Zoom meeting earlier this week and I was blown away with the consideration that Kerry exhibited for differing of opinions and the welfare of all members of the group! I mentioned that I have been involved with church government and assisting pastors for over 50 years. I have not witnessed a more compelling example of a pastors heart…than what I saw and felt from Pastor Kerry!
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In days gone by I have been a first hand witness of over reaching and arm twisting and hidden agendas in the christian community. Earlier this week I was a member of a group that God was in the midst of…
And so I will hold on a little longer…because I want to see and be a part of what happens next…and Christ will not let me go…
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Happy Birthday Mom!
Today my mother would have been 92 year old. She passed away in 2013. She was born in Mt. Vernon, Illinois and had ten siblings. Five were from her mom and dad and five were from her mother and her first husband. One of my mothers sisters, Rosebud, died in infancy…and mom spoke of her lovingly and I thought that she knew her, when in reality she had passed away before mom was born. It seemed that mom felt Rosebud’s presence with her…
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My mother’s family was very poor and her father was an alcoholic. She relished in telling me that although the Askew family was poor they always had enough to eat…not like the Quinns who had to forage in the woods for persimmons for their supper. When she became 16 she quit high school to go to work in the local shoe factory. She earned $16 per week. Her sister, Wanda, got her on at the factory. She was very fond of Wanda!
Neva June taught me to be fiercely independent! She marched to the tune of her own drummer…and so do I…
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If mom knew that you were in need…she would help you. She regularly gave money to family and friends that needed a helping hand. If you had been marginalized…you were mom’s friend. Few things made her happier than to befriended a person who had no friends! During the last 30 years of her life she had resources…but she purchased her clothes at the second hand store. She rejoiced in a 50 cent sweater or a $1 suit. From Thanksgiving forward to Christmas…mom was preparing for the holiday. We traveled to see mom and my step-father, Earl, a couple of times per month…and some times more often. However, during the time between turkey day and Santa Claus we were instructed not to come…because she would need every available minute to prepare for the feast! When Aaron and Jonathon came along…they were excited to see grandma Neva Junes’s Christmas tree and all the festive decorations! MJ and I knew that they were in for a surprise…when we entered their Eldorado country home…they ran through the house and exclaimed, ‘Grandma…Grandma…where is your Christmas tree!’ Forthwith grandmas showed her grandsons her miniature two foot Christmas tree on top of an occasional table… My childhood Laughing Santa…had long since disappeared…and the only other decorations was those that you brought with you…in your heart…
Mom liked to dance. She liked to visit the Honky Tonks and drink slo-gin fizzes. She was full of life and looked like a movie star! Her family were all church goers…but her. After mom and dad separated and soon divorced she would tell me that she and I needed to start going to church. For the last 43 years of her life she was a christian.
Mom had compassion for those who were hurting or marginalized or outcast. She had a fiery temper…although she never aimed it at me… She was one of the most adept readers of people that I have seen. She could identify a bunch of malarkey or a hidden agenda…immeadately! She thought for herself. She steered her own course. She was a flash of brilliance in a dull drab world!
You Might Just Save a Life
A great and timely blog by Jonathon Brooks!
I refuse to live my life in fear and foolishness. Through the years I have fought hard to live as wisely as I possibly can. I learned as a boy that I am far from invincible and that life is a fragile gift best handled with care instead of recklessness. There’s a whole lot of bad in this old world and not one of us members of the human family has an immunity to the bad.
People are often prone to having invincibility complexes. We all know that the bad stuff the world has to offer is out there floating around somewhere, but we then choose to believe it won’t get to us because we are so special or smart or because we’ve lived such wholesome, or clean, lives. Our invincibility complexes lie to us. These lies can prove disastrous or even deadly.
The virus that has plagued our country…
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‘Danger…Danger…Will Robinson!’
During the mid 1960s I religiously watched the television show, Lost In Space, where the Robot that accompanied the Robinson family on their intrepid journey through space often warned Will, the young man of the family, when he detected a danger on the horizon, ‘Danger…Danger…Will Robinson…as he flayed his arms akimbo. I am reminded of my favorite show, along with the Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits, when I consider our current reality of our 2020 pandemic. There are 40 thousand new cases of COVID-19 across the United States within the last 24 hours. There are spikes in Texas and Florida. Texas is closing its bars due to the uptake in cases.
I think that I could best describe the danger of our current susceptibility to the Coronavirus with a metaphor, COVID-19 has been hiding behind our face masks and has not learned to jump far enough to reach the next human host due to the 6 feet of social distancing. Illinois has entered phase 4 of its 5 phase plan to return to business as normal. Our governor has been consistently guided by the science regarding the pandemic. We Illinoisans have been staying at home and not eating in restaurants or drinking at bars. Most retail stores have been closed. Schools and universities have been closed to classroom education. Now comes the caveat of continued health and safety for our citizens…social distancing and the wearing of face masks! I have been observing how well the face mask wearing is progressing. It is not! I have not conducted a scientific study but my empirical research has shown that no more than 10 – 20% of people that I encounter are wearing a face mask…and most of those are not covering the wearers nose…while many others wear their face mask proudly under their chin! When I grocery shop I am accustomed to people crowding next to me…walking the wrong way down a grocery aisle…and smirking and laughing when a grocery worker advises them to not enter an aisle due to there already being more people than the six feet of social distancing rule would allow for… bunched up together as they shop for their groceries!
I have no reason to believe that any event in my area of the country will be attended by individuals that take the precautions of inhibiting community spread of the virus…seriously. I was asked recently my opinion regarding musical event in August. I have no choice but to answer on the side of caution and health and safety…
I listened to a young man apologize of his arrogance and dismissal of the dangers of COVID-19…shortly after he was released from hospital due to his contraction of the disease. This is a disease that has taken the lives of nearly 130 thousand people in our country. This is a disease that is reemerging in the Sunbelt…with a vengeance. This is a disease that has been politicized…and people are dying…
I spent 25 years as a manager/administrator of hundreds of people. I thought about the safety and the health and welfare of those who looked to me for guidance and a safe working environment…every day. I am not going to change now…old habits die hard…
The Courage Of Your Convictions — The Jazz Man
Adults used to speak of many esoteric ideas when I was a lad in Eldorado, Illinois. Manners were drilled into my head. My mom told me that if I was at a friends house and they invited me to lunch or supper…I was supposed to decline at least once and perhaps twice before I accepted on the […]
Captivating Clouds
I like clouds. I am mesmerized by them. Clouds are the forerunner of rain. I like rain! Many years ago MJ and I were thinking about moving to Portland, Oregon. A colleague asked me if I realized that it rained 90% of the time in Portland…and I replied…really! On my daily walk at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…I was in my element. It was cloudy…
All too often the weather is a harbinger of our souls. We find ourselves in the midst of 2020…and it has brought us not one Act nor two…but a three Act play of anxiety and confusion and sadness. The beginning of a new decade and a year with such a catchy ring to its’ name…has left us reeling and searching for answers.
Many of us like our lives to fit in a neat and tidy box with colorful wrapping paper and a lovely red ribbon on the top of it. As the Coronavirus is lessening in some of our states…it is increasing in others. The stock market plunged 700 points today on the fear of a resurgence of COVID-19. We have a race problem in our country…that is a cancer on our nation. We will either choose to deal with it with substantive change…or be consumed by our learned prejudice! Our planet is experiencing a world-wide recession that is really a depression. Times like these call for some healthy introspection and reflection and renewal…
We will come out on the other end of our 2020 Shakespearian tragedy…but we will not be the same… Business as usual will not suffice for our walk through the roaring 20’s! We are going to have to start seeing each other…not averting our eyes and ignoring the wrongs that we witness in hope that someone else will come along and right them!
The master plan for the 20th Century cannot be retrofitted on to our 21st. To continue to address problems in the same manner that we have always addressed them…and to expect different results…is a fools errand! We will either learn to work together as equals and partners on our walk back to Jerusalem…or we will struggle in the kingdom of the blind until we succumb to our lonely narcissistic despair and destruction.
Have you ever been a member of an office staff that worked together and respected each other and strove for the same goal of success for the organization? I have…and it is brilliant! It is fun to go to work each day and the camaraderie of shared purpose is enlightening and energizing! There is no favorites daughters or sons…there is not big ‘I’ and little ‘you,’ rather there is a palatable need for each other and the skills and efforts that each bring to the organization… The faster that we abolish our hidden agendas and self serving falsehoods…the quicker that we will jointly find solutions to the plethora of problems that plague us as we continue to rely upon our tribal instincts and beloved conspiracy theories…
Clouds are a marker of change… on the horizon. Positive change is good, and necessary, and needed…as we emerge from our 2020 tragic wake-up call…
The Happy Traveler 