As a toddler, we drove past or through MacMurray College, on the way to church. The MacMurray baseball field was across the street and the Town Brook, from the playground of Franklin School, where I went to kindergarten. My kindergarten teacher was Sue Jones. Her husband was the coach of the Mac baseball team, Itchy Jones. When I came to SIU, Itchy Jones was the baseball coach here, before his career at U of I.
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Starting with first grade, I walked through the MacMurray College campus every day, on the way to Our Saviour grade school, and later Routt High School. When I was in grade school, I remember being proud of how unique MacMurray was. While every other high school and college had a football game following their homecoming parade, MacMurray had a soccer game. This was decades before the sport swept the nation.
MacMurray was home to "the bridge" (linking the north side of campus, with its academic buildings and sports fields, with the dorms, south of the town brook) and the student center, to those in my neighborhood. We met under the bridge in the morning to smoke cigarettes, and progressed to the student center to drink cokes and play Foosball, years before Foosball tables were ubiquitous in every bar and suburban basement in the country.
When I was in grade school, our lunchtime routine was to burst outside and steal bikes off the rack and take off, before any teachers, or playground moms, knew we were gone. Then we pedaled as fast as we could to Burger Chef, got sandwiches and drinks and headed back to the bridge to eat. Sometimes on it, most times under it. Morning, noon, and after school, for years, that bridge was our meeting place, staging area and refuge. The track field, out on Routt Street provided an out of sight hide away for 8th graders playing hooky and drinking beer.
MacMurray was a growing institution when I was a kid. I remember watching the chemistry building (Julian Hall) go up on Clay Ave. It was on what seemed like more of a hill, in those days. I spent happy winter days throwing snowballs at, and through, the windows of passing cars. I remember Michaelson Hall being built, when I was very young. Later, I marveled over all the out of state license plates in the parking lot and the loud music blasting from the windows. Even later, I found myself in Michaelson, and other dorms, as their residents tolerated the long haired local kids who wandered into their rooms to smoke their pot and occasionally buy it, when they had cash.
MacMurray provided so many firsts. Besides soccer and foosball, that was where I first saw a lacrosse game, a war protest, hippies and attended my first rock concert (The Grassroots, at Annie Merner Chapel).
MacMurray was central to every day on the east side of Jacksonville. It was north, west and south of the hospital where I was born, and the church, grade and high schools where I spent 11 and a half years. It was the eastern end of the street I grew up on and it's campus like a magnet. The clock on top of the library was a focal point of my life for 20 years. It was visible going to school, church and work, from Beecher, College, Hardin or Clay streets. The last memory I have of my mom, before we moved her to a nursing home, was of an autumn afternoon, walking her down Franklin St, across Clay and down the asphalt walk behind the chemistry building to Beecher, past the library and on down to East street and on south, through the fallen leaves, home.
Bob Dylan dropped a new song today. Tonight I'm reminded of the last line, of a song he released in 1974, " ...I love you more than ever now that the past is gone."
Friday, March 27, 2020
Thursday, March 12, 2020
IT'S NOT OVER, BECAUSE YOUR VOTE COUNTS
The Illinois primary, among others, is March 17. That's when you can vote to nominate Bernie Sanders for President, and make America the country we were brought up to believe in. The New Deal saved the elderly from poverty by creating Social Security. Bernie wants to protect it, expand it and make sure it is properly funded. Franklin Roosevelt believed that every human being was entitled to four basic freedoms: the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. Bernie Sanders wants to fulfill that vision.
Bernie supports a Green New Deal that will save our children and grandchildren from the ravages of a changing climate. This is a plan that protects workers who work in affected fossil fuel industries.
At a time when the nation is rocked by a pandemic, it is clear that we need a leader with a plan big enough to tackle the problem. Bernie supports Medicare for All, a single-payer, national health insurance program to provide everyone with comprehensive health care coverage. No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills.
Bernie proposes College for All, and the elimination of student debt. He also proposes Fair Banking for All. Consumer loans and credit cards rates would be capped at 15 percent across all financial institutions. Every post office could offer basic and affordable banking services. (I remember when the post office was where you went to purchase money orders!), If the Democratic Party really still wants to help the poor and marginalized of society, this is a simple but vitally important solution to those at the mercy of predatory lending institutions and without the liquidity to maintain bank accounts.
Now, I know, the media and a bunch of politicians have told you that the race is over. It's not. Some, in the last couple of days have called for the DNC to end the debates because they want to protect one of the candidates from scrutiny. Some are even pretending that Bernie should just drop out and support Joe Biden. Um, no. Joe Biden only leads by 153 delegates. He is short by 1,113 delegates from the nomination.
The Democratic convention will have 3,979 delegates eligible to vote on the first ballot. At this point, only 1,754 of them have been pledged to a candidate. That's only 44%. There are still 2,225 delegates still to be picked. Voters in many states have not yet had the opportunity to have their say.
It was just three weeks ago that party leaders, and Joe Biden, were saying that if no one had yet earned a majority of delegates, after the primaries were all over, then the delegates should select the nominee, at a brokered convention. Now, with no one within even a thousand delegates of a majority, they'd like the Sanders campaign to just stipulate Mr. Biden a victory? No.
Either Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden will have a formidable opponent in Donald Trump. This primary is about what we want, not what we don't. None of us want Donald Trump. But, what do we want to happen after January 20, 2021? We can't simply go back to the days of Barack Obama. The past is gone. Damage has been done. Climate change has to be tackled. Urgently. All Americans need affordable health care immediately. Our children must be freed from the choice between higher education and future home ownership. We owe them a clean, healthy, vibrant future. There is one candidate with the energetic vision to offer us the America of our dreams. This is a once in a lifetime chance. Please. Vote for Bernie Sanders and his down ballot delegates!
Bernie supports a Green New Deal that will save our children and grandchildren from the ravages of a changing climate. This is a plan that protects workers who work in affected fossil fuel industries.
At a time when the nation is rocked by a pandemic, it is clear that we need a leader with a plan big enough to tackle the problem. Bernie supports Medicare for All, a single-payer, national health insurance program to provide everyone with comprehensive health care coverage. No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills.
Bernie proposes College for All, and the elimination of student debt. He also proposes Fair Banking for All. Consumer loans and credit cards rates would be capped at 15 percent across all financial institutions. Every post office could offer basic and affordable banking services. (I remember when the post office was where you went to purchase money orders!), If the Democratic Party really still wants to help the poor and marginalized of society, this is a simple but vitally important solution to those at the mercy of predatory lending institutions and without the liquidity to maintain bank accounts.
Now, I know, the media and a bunch of politicians have told you that the race is over. It's not. Some, in the last couple of days have called for the DNC to end the debates because they want to protect one of the candidates from scrutiny. Some are even pretending that Bernie should just drop out and support Joe Biden. Um, no. Joe Biden only leads by 153 delegates. He is short by 1,113 delegates from the nomination.
The Democratic convention will have 3,979 delegates eligible to vote on the first ballot. At this point, only 1,754 of them have been pledged to a candidate. That's only 44%. There are still 2,225 delegates still to be picked. Voters in many states have not yet had the opportunity to have their say.
It was just three weeks ago that party leaders, and Joe Biden, were saying that if no one had yet earned a majority of delegates, after the primaries were all over, then the delegates should select the nominee, at a brokered convention. Now, with no one within even a thousand delegates of a majority, they'd like the Sanders campaign to just stipulate Mr. Biden a victory? No.
Either Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden will have a formidable opponent in Donald Trump. This primary is about what we want, not what we don't. None of us want Donald Trump. But, what do we want to happen after January 20, 2021? We can't simply go back to the days of Barack Obama. The past is gone. Damage has been done. Climate change has to be tackled. Urgently. All Americans need affordable health care immediately. Our children must be freed from the choice between higher education and future home ownership. We owe them a clean, healthy, vibrant future. There is one candidate with the energetic vision to offer us the America of our dreams. This is a once in a lifetime chance. Please. Vote for Bernie Sanders and his down ballot delegates!
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