[Oe List ...] a stranger here

[W. J.]

Jann wrote: "I always felt like an alien there" ...
   
  We all were. Not only culturally, but spiritually. Remember the hymn:
   
  I am a stranger here, within a foreign land;
  My home is far away, upon a golden strand;
  http://www.opc.org/books/TH/old/Blue695.html
   
  Marshall
  

LAURELCG at aol.com wrote:
  Thank you, Marshall, more than I can express. I think your compilation is 
perfect and wise.

Fred and I lived on 5th City soil for eleven months, in 1972 and 1975. (I 
was assigned with Alice Baumbach and Wayne Nelson on E.G. in 72 and to in-kind 
development in 75. Fred was deployed to Schwab Rehab Hospital in 72 and taught 
for YMCA college in 75.) We worked very hard there. But, to be honest, we 
may as well have been working on behalf of a community on the other side of the 
globe as far as feeling like part of the neighborhood. However, with 
Thanksgiving approaching, I'll never forget the feast I helped neighborhood women 
cook, when I learned how to REALLY make candied sweet potatoes.) It's not that I 
didn't love the community, but it was in an abstract way, and I always felt 
like an alien there. 

We are still close to Lynn Woltjer, who worked in the preschool, and Gil 
Woltjer, who worked in housing rehab. (They're no longer married.) I know that 
they became acquainted with more people in the neighborhood that we were able 
to, and will enjoy seeing your completed list. Thank you again.

Blessings on you and your work,
Jann McGuire


In a message dated 11/13/07 11:50:07 PM, synergi at yahoo.com writes:

<< I want to thank those of you who helped me so much with the task of 
compiling the list of Fifth City Pioneers. Just rehearsing those names has brought 
back to me such a rich flood of memories.



I'd also like to share with you how I came to this moment.



I always envisioned that there would be two DVD's. One is the public and 
secular story of the ICA, and the other is really the internal story of The 
Ecumenical Institute's former staff, which is the symbolic Order, the extended 
Order, the movemental Order, and the Fifth City Order, if I may use that term.



At first I wanted to dedicate the second DVD to Joe Mathews, not just 
because of his symbolic role in the Order, or because of his personal contribution 
to who we are, but as the representational figure who is the symbolic sign of 
the presence of all of us: the embodiment of the thin red line.



But then I remembered that Joe said that the one thing he was most proud of 
in his life was being a Fifth Citizen. So that brought to mind the concept of 
the Fifth City Pioneers (or saints, to use the traditional jargon). And I 
placed Joe symbolically in their midst, which is where he wanted to be.



Then there arose the issue of where to draw an arbitrary line, because 
there were many in the Order who served there with Joe, and many who were assigned 
elsewhere and who never had the privilege of working in Fifth City. And since 
Joe never worked alone, it was obvious that I would need to symbolically 
recognize other names representing of all of us who were in the Order and worked 
directly or indirectly in Fifth City.



So my somewhat arbitrary decision was to recognize those among the first 
seven families who died on the march. That would include Lyn Mathews, 
representing all the women. And Joe Pierce, representing all the men. And finally I 
added John Mathews, representing all the second generation of the Order who were 
always as fully engaged as the adults.



So with those four symbolic representatives of the symbolic Order clearly 
named, the bulk of the list of Fifth City Pioneers that we honor are the people 
from the community, not the symbolic Order.



And my, oh my, as Slicker would say. Resurrecting the memory of those dear 
ones brings back so much richness in our history. It's a very mixed bag, which 
is quite wonderful in itself, and includes people you may have not thought of 
in decades, and who may never be remembered for what they did by any beyond 
ourselves.



For example, there's Ola the cook, who was up at 4 am every morning. And 
preschool teachers who taught five days a week for thirty years. And Helen 
Eskridge, who was there every time the door opened and went on a global odyssey. 
And Bernard Higgenbotham the gang leader who protected us during the riots and 
then died of an overdose in the alley behind the community center. And Charlie 
Stewart. And I could go on and on.



Do you sense the glory of this bunch? They weren't particularly the best 
and the brightest who could get into Harvard, but they were the intentional and 
the committed. And I'll stand with them any day.

here's the text of the final list:



We celebrate

the courage and creativity

of these Fifth Citizens 

who pioneered in

Human Development

on behalf of all

communities





Allen Adams

Ernest Austin

Eugene Beasley

James Carter

Anna Conar

Wetzel Connie

Helen Eskridge

Evelyn Mathews Edwards

George Farr

Ray Fox

Flozell Foy

William Glover

Bernard Higgenbotham

Richard Lawrence

Wanda Lee

Joseph Wesley Mathews

John Mathews

Ola Newsome 

Joseph Pierce

Rosemary Medious

Mildred Robinson

Nola Rose 

James Steplight

Charlie Stewart

Gregory Thomas

Tom Washington



God bless us every one,



Marshall Jones 

Reminds us of a speech:
St. Crispen's Day Speech
William Shakespeare, 1599: 
Henry V | Act 4, Scene 3 

King Henry V: ... We would not die in that man's company 
That fears his fellowship to die with us. 
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian. 
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, 
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, 
And rouse him at the name of Crispian. 
He that shall live this day, and see old age, 
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, 
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' 
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, 
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' 
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, 
But he'll remember, with advantages, 
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, 
Familiar in his mouth as household words-- 
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, 
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-- 
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red. 
This story shall the good man teach his son; 
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, 
>From this day to the ending of the world, 
But we in it shall be remembered-- 
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me 
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, 
This day shall gentle his condition; 
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed 
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, 
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks 
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Thank you, Charles, for reminding us all of David Wood's long years of 
service to the Order. You're right, David exemplified the Guardianship dynamic.



The way he will be honored on the DVD is by listing his name and full title 
under "gratitude for major support" after these illustrious names: Daley, 
Chandler, and Sisler; and before Mr. & Mrs. Glen Lloyd. This list is followed by 
a long list of living Fifth Citizens honored for their "extraordinary service."



These are the closing credits for the 'Decade of Miracles' video over the 
singing of 'When Iron Men Go Marching In', which strikes me as a very apt 
ending for the video.



I'm sorry I had to cut the part of the videotape where Slicker recognizes 
Sisler and Wood presents the deeds to the Community Center and several other 
properties to the Fifth City board. But at 27 minutes it is long enough without 
all this extra footage. Sigh.



But (if you order the DVD from ICAI) you'll have the heart of the event, 
which starts with Lela Mosley introducing Joe Mathews, followed by Joe's spin on 
Resurgence in the public and private sectors in Chicago, then introducing 
Mayor Daley, followed by Daley's rather amazing speech calling for replication of 
our efforts throughout Chicago. The next part is Daley receiving the Iron Man 
statue, followed by the closing song. 



All in all an amazing moment in our history! And, BTW, many thanks to 
Shirley Snelling for recording this for us in 1973.



You'll get all this on the DVD plus 'The Bold Community', a 29-minute CBS 
News film on the Order shot in 1965.



This DVD, titled "The Bold Community: Fifth City Chicago and The Ecumenical 
Institute" is a freebie for Order members when you renew your individual 
membership in ICAI or order copies of the companion DVD titled "The World of Human 
Development: origins of the Institute of Cultural Affairs."



I'm looking forward to seeing the Hahns and many others at Lake Junaluska 
in a very few weeks.



Marshall




Charles or Doris Hahn wrote:

Greetings Marshall,


What a moving poetic, but down to earth, statement!!

Thanks so much.


In reading I thought of one other category to be

included in this list. I do not know if it Movemental

Order or something else. The person that holds this

for me is David Wood. Separate from the fact that he

drew up the papers for the incorporation of the Order:

Ecumenical and was one of the three signatories on

those incorporation papers, he was the Order to the

core of his being. If you can re-open the list,

please add David Wood. I could say much more about

him, but will stop for now.


Charles Hahn




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