[Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...

Sat Apr 7 22:14:37 EDT 2012

We had calls coming in (I was on switchboard for awhile) from Boston, New
York, etc.  "Are you burned out?" "No, we're still here."  One call was to
announce that they would 'take responsibility for being the new Chicago.'
Thankfully, it wasn't necessary at the time.  

There were a lot of ashes in the air - not just from our building.  It
almost started again when a National Guard unit (they were the ones with the
automatic weapons) fired a tear gas blast from a large device on the back of
a jeep.  But it didn't.  

Bill Schlesinger

Project Vida

3607 Rivera Avenue

El Paso, TX 79905

(915) 533-7057 x 207

(915) 533-7158 FAX

 <mailto:pvida at whc.net> pvida at whc.net

www.projectvidaelpaso.org

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Wilson Priscilla
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2012 12:34 PM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...

I often wondered when and why Michael Borge left. He was on the Board at the
time.

One of our best stories...Rod called the west side about something...I think
he and Len Dresslar were getting ready to deliver something to the west
side. Anyway, when he called who ever answered the switch board said, "I can
give you that number, let me blow the ashes off this list first."

Priscilla

On Apr 7, 2012, at 1:18 PM, W. J. wrote:

Sometimes our legalism needs to get radically called into question by the
intrusion of divine activity (which is not at all the same as any human
activity).

Yes, we all knew who set the fires (as well as who put them out). And,
according to Lingo (I think) there was a lawyer in our group who was
insistent that we report who dunnit to the cops. His first name was Michael.

Of course JWM was wise enough to know that we owed our continued existence
in 5th City to the willingness of the local community--including the fire
setters--to have us stay. And apparently that didn't sit too well with this
lawyer! So he and his family picked up and left.

When I arrived a few weeks later, there were burns in the carpet in the
middle of the seminar rooms, as well as the bullet holes in the doors etc
(hence the name of the "bullet hole office" at the top of the stairs in the
Administration Building). Funny how those little details stick with you long
after the building's been 'dozed.

Marshall

  _____  

From: Bill Schlesinger <pvida at whc.net>
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Sat, April 7, 2012 7:07:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...

Mixed memories.  Mine included Tony going around putting out fires as (never
mentioned) friends set them in the building, and instructions not to discuss
those activities with the police, JWM talking earnestly with folk asking
them not to destroy what we were building.  Life is complex.

Bill Schlesinger

Project Vida

3607 Rivera Avenue

El Paso, TX 79905

(915) 533-7057 x 207

(915) 533-7158 FAX

 <mailto:pvida at whc.net> pvida at whc.net

www.projectvidaelpaso.org

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Wilson Priscilla
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 5:03 PM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Cc: Order Ecumenical Community
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...

We lived near O'Hare so we were picking up returning pedagogues from the
weekend...then farming out Order children until the riots quieted down. We
had the Marshall children at our house during for a week...or more, I can't
remember. 

I'm sure everyone has memories of those moments...where we were when we got
the word of MLK's death and the subsequent fires across the nation.

Thanks for the reminder of how the "gangs" really saved the Institute work
at that moment.

Priscilla

On Apr 5, 2012, at 8:31 PM, Ken Fisher wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

On my fb page I wrote ...

44 years today, the West Side and South Side were burning and seething with
rage. The shock of 'oblivion' or non-being catapulted Joe Mathews and the
Order: Ecumenical into the New Religious Mode and the New Social Vehicle. I
recall arriving on the West Side five weeks later and being a part of the
spirit rebirth of that cataclysmic event. At that time, Gene Beasely and his
gang moved into an apartment of 3444 as protection.

Ken

>From  <http://www.facebook.com/cultureyen> Kathleen Hamm Jones 

Wow, thanks, Ken. I remember so well where I was, in an apartment on
Blackstone St in Hyde Park. Unlike the West side of Chicago, the Southside
was kept from burning mostly by patrols by Jeff Fort and the Blackstone
Rangers, who went door to door of the businesses and posted flyers
signalling their protection of the establishments. The back story was of
course about Rev John Fry of 1st Presbyterian Church who poured his whole
life and at times, his sanity, into making that gang into a precursor of the
"guardians" which got attention in NYC later. Somewhere I think I still have
his book of sermons from that time called "Fire and Blackstone." Since then
I think we have gone backward in institutional racism, as the USA leads the
world in incarceration of African-American males. And on top of that fact,
the pernicious reality that prison populations are being "sold" as private
corporations take over running the prisons. It's a profitable biz if you
contract out cheap captive labor. It makes my head feel like exploding.

_______________________________________________
Dialogue mailing list
Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net

Priscilla H Wilson

Pris at TeamTechPress.com

913-432-2107

www.teamtechpress.com

_______________________________________________
Dialogue mailing list
Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net

Priscilla H Wilson

Pris at TeamTechPress.com

913-432-2107

www.teamtechpress.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20120407/0f82bcc5/attachment-0001.html>