National Bullying Prevention Month: Hugs and Communication

As the students of Unit 5 and District 87 continue to acclimate to new experiences and relationships, they also face the challenge of coping with bullying or the temptation to bully. October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and an ideal time for parents to talk with teachers, communicate with their kids, and, hopefully, help eliminate bullying.

The Pantagraph's Derek Beigh recently examined one local effort to inoculate students against the damage of bullying.

For Antoinese Watson of Normal, reaching out to bullied teens isn't nice, it's necessary.

"My cousin is (a local suicide victim's) sister," she said. "No child should feel they're all alone, and something like that is necessary."

Watson, a senior at Normal Community West High School, joined about two dozen other local residents spreading that message during Wednesday's (Oct. 1) Operation Hug a Child event.

“I started it because of the young lady who committed suicide,” said the Rev. Rochelle Patterson, pastor of God's Decision Outreach Ministry in downtown Bloomington. "Any child from 2 to 92 needs a hug sometimes."

Patterson, members of the church and supporters organized events, including face painting, speakers and games Wednesday at Carl's Ice Cream in Normal.

"I was bullied in fifth grade," said 13-year-old Sharissa Jackson of Normal after getting her face painted. "It helps to make new friends or find an activity to do after school to get your mind off it."

Watson said "a ton of people get bullied," but she tells other students to "stay strong" and "find someone to talk to so you're not all alone."

Patterson said Jackson and 11-year-old Ashanti Hunter of Normal, both church members, were big parts of getting Operation Hug a Child rolling. The effort has visited local restaurants, grocery stores and downtown spaces offering hugs to passers-by, and the church maintains a board with photos of those hugs.

Hunter said she'd like to see more school-based organizations working to stop bullying. Watson is part of an anti-bullying group at Normal West that will hand out informational fliers at the school's homecoming parade next week.

"We're planning to go to the schools," Patterson said. "Too many kids don't realize people actually care about them."

Wednesday's main event was a hugging contest. Deborah Love of Normal and Tabu Triplett of Bloomington raced to see how many people in and around the restaurant they could hug.

After Triplett won, Patterson even offered hugs to people in the drive-thru lane at Carl's, including Bonnie Stephens of Pekin. Attendees also formed a massive heart to demonstrate their togetherness.

Patterson said she'll be out soon at more locations offering hugs to anyone who needs one. She refers to people who offers hugs as "Heroes Under God."

"Look out. There's a H.U.G. coming for you," she said with a laugh.

Normal Unit 5's anti-bullying/anti-bigotry resolution, passed last spring.

Leaders of Distinction Nominees Include NIOT:B/N Leader

The Leaders of Distinction Awards for community service will be announced Wednesday at an event sponsored by the McLean County Chamber of Commerce and The Pantagraph.

The reception includes announcement of the Athena Leadership Award and this year's Twenty Under Forty.

Tickets are $50 and available by calling 309-829-1183309-829-1183. The reception begins at 5 p.m. in the Brown Ballroom of the ISU Bone Student Center. Awards will be announced beginning at 6:30.

Tickets include a complimentary wine, beer or soft drink, hors d'oeuvres buffet and dessert buffet.

The Athena Award recognizes professional excellence, community service and active assistance toward women seeking professional excellence and leadership skills.

Twenty Under Forty recognizes young professionals who excel in their career, are passionate about the community and are making a mark in Central Illinois.

Kari Sandhaas

Athena nominees are Susan Baller-Shepard, Heartland Community College; Julie Hile, Hile Group Inc.; Carole Ringer, retired/community volunteer; and Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal's Kari Sandhaas, Country Financial; Doan Winkel, Illinois State University.

Twenty Under 40 honorees are Stephanie Adomaitis, Marcfirst; Josh Barnett, Advocate Charitable Foundation; Rachel Bedeker, Eastland Suites Hotels; Scott Black, AFNI; Justin Boyd, Country Financial; Chris Downing, Heartland Community College Foundation; Holly Hedges, CM Promotions; Tejas Jani, State Farm; Kristen Kubsch, Growmark; Melissa Lockwood, Heartland Foot and Ankle Associates, P.C.; Matt Lyons, Illinois State University Athletics; Natalie McKee, Bloomington Normal Audiology; Gina Mandros, Central Illinois Easter Seals; Van Miller, Illinois Wesleyan University; NIOT:B/N volunteer Jesse Paul Padilla, Illinois Agricultural Association (Country Financial); Matt Potts, Country Financial representative; Justin Stuva, Corn Belt Energy Corp.; Emily Vigneri, Illinois State University; Erin Williams, McDonald's Restaurants; and Michelle Wojcik, The Pantagraph.

Cemetery Walk Features Pioneering Woman in War Effort

After several years working as a live-in maid to the mother of Adlai Stevenson II, Matilda Calcote headed to the West Coast in 1944 to work as a ship welder building destroyers for the U.S. military. A regular "Rosie the Riveter," she remained there for several years, also working as a spot painter and tank cleaner. But Matilda soon returned to Bloomington when the gruesome sight of dead sailors in the bulkhead of ships coming to port became too much to bear. She lived another 40 years and was an active member of the African-American community.

Calcote is one of eight diverse past McLean County personalities featured in dramatic recreations at this year's Evergreen Cemetery Walk in Bloomington, which continues next weekend.

Every year, the Evergreen Cemetery Walk brings the voices of McLean County's history to life. Costumed actors portray individuals representing all walks of life from the county's past on the beautiful grounds of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. This event serves over 3,500 people (mostly students) every year. To date, the walk has featured 157 different individuals from all walks of life, whose stories illustrate the impact the people of McLean County have had on history -- locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Please visit http://www.mchistory.org/learn/programs/cemwalk.php to purchase tickets; for more information on purchasing tickets, please call 309-827-0428309-827-0428. Tickets also are for sale at Casey's Garden Shop, The Garlic Press, and Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

Matilda Bell Heaston entered the world on November 30, 1910. Born to Jake and Doshie (Robinson) Heaston in Randolph, Tennessee, Matilda was one of 15 children though it is unclear exactly how many brothers and sisters she had. While living in Tennessee, Matilda's parents were sharecroppers. In 1920, at the age of 10, Matilda and her family moved to Luxora, Arkansas, just across the Mississippi River. There, Matilda’s parents were able to farm independently.

Many African-Americans and low-income whites experienced the oppressive sharecropping system of the South. In fact, Mississippi County, Arkansas, where the Heastons farmed, had a very high percentage of tenant farms which was 90.3 percent in 1930. This was the second highest rate among the Arkansas delta counties at that time. Matilda recalled “that real hard way of living, we never had that because we always raised our food....”

The family later moved into a house that they had purchased. Matilda grew up there and would eventually occupy the residence with her first husband and daughter. Her mother took in laundry and did not have a job outside of the home. Her father worked as a blacksmith and shoed horses. Matilda attended an all-African American school in Arkansas. In fact, she never attended an integrated school throughout her education.

In 1926 Matilda married Lucious Walton. On December 2 of that year, she gave birth to a daughter, Ruthie Mae Walton. Two years later, Matilda and Ruthie moved to Bloomington, Illinois where they joined Lillian Augusta (Heaston) and Robert Lee Boykin, Matilda’s older sister and brother-in-law. Matilda’s marriage had hit a rocky patch and she and Lucious had separated. Eighteen-year-old Matilda and her toddler briefly moved in with the Boykins before beginning work for Helen Stevenson. For at least two years, Matilda served as Helen’s personal maid and even lived at the Stevenson home at 1316 East Washington Street. Matilda later worked as a maid for other local families.

Domestic service was typical among African American women in Bloomington-Normal. In fact, 90 percent of African American workers in the nation in 1930 performed agricultural or domestic service jobs. Half of these domestic servants worked in private homes. The other half served as laundresses, waitresses, untrained nurses, and elevator operators among other roles. According to Matilda, jobs and housing were easy for her to find even during the economic challenges of the Great Depression.

Matilda left Illinois several times in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1930, she and her daughter moved to Holland, Missouri with to be with her parents and younger siblings. In the 1930 United States federal census, she was listed as “Matilda Young” though there is no record of another marriage at that time and the name does not appear again in any other sources.

In 1934, she returned home to Arkansas, where she stayed for one year. She distributed agricultural “commodities” in Blytheville as part of a government relief program. In October 1933, just prior to her arrival in Arkansas, President Roosevelt ordered the formation of the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC), an operation overseen jointly by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The FSRC worked to reduce agricultural surplus by purchasing excess crops and animal products and distributing them to state relief agencies. Those state agencies—and employees like Matilda—would then provide this food to people in need. Interestingly, Matilda recalled that one of the women in charge “had more in her basement than the people had on the street.”

When asked whether the Great Depression affected her much, Matilda answered, “No, I always had work to do…. I never had anything in my life given to me free.” Over the course of her career, Matilda also served as a “commercial worker” and spent time working in restaurants, which she did not like very much.

By 1940, Matilda was married to William C. Miller. They lived in Bloomington’s Ward 5 (northwestern Bloomington) where they rented a home for $10 per month which is the equivalent of $169.86 in 2015 dollars. William worked as a garage janitor and earned $624 for 52 weeks of labor. Matilda was a housemaid for a private home, collecting $320 for 40 work weeks. Together they brought in $944 which is the equivalent of $16,150.21 in 2015 dollars. To put these amounts in perspective, the median annual income for a man in 1940 was $956; for a woman, it was $592. Assuming Matilda worked at least 40-hour weeks, this meant that she earned 20 cents per hour—much less than the minimum wage at the time which was 30 cents per hour.

Overall, this census data provides a valuable perspective on the African American economic situation. Federal measures to relieve the economic strain caused by the Great Depression failed to reach female African American workers. In particular, the Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which introduced the minimum wage, excluded the two sectors in which many African Americans worked; agriculture and domestic service.

Not all federal programs passed over African Americans workers. On June 25, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which attempted to curb the “discrimination of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin….” Although the United States had not yet declared war, American industry was ramping up production to help its ally Great Britain fight the Axis powers. Despite this need, many factories refused to hire African Americans. These discriminatory practices angered Chicagoan Asa Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Backed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League, Randolph pushed for fair hiring practices. He called for 100,000 African Americans to march on Washington to protest discrimination in defense industries. Embarrassed, President Roosevelt issued his Order which also created a Committee on Fair Employment Practice. The committee was charged with investigating employment discrimination cases.

In mid-1943, nearly 65 percent of shipyard workers on the West Coast were women.

In her oral history interview, Matilda recalled the growth of black employment in Bloomington-Normal during the early 1940s when African Americans began to be employed at places like American Steel and Williams Oil-O-Matic. In fact, her brother, probably her younger brother William Harrison Heaston, started working at the latter business in 1942. Although it’s unclear what job William specifically performed at the factory, the Williams Oil-O-Matic company fulfilled a variety of military contracts requiring precision machine work. The company manufactured hydraulic control devices (or what were called “oil gears”) for aiming antiaircraft guns, as well as smoke screen generators for the U.S. Navy and parts for the Boeing B-29 Super Fortress bomber.

Matilda soon sought employment in the defense industry herself when she left Bloomington in 1944 and worked in Seattle, Washington, for eight years. She built destroyers for the war effort. Matilda recalled that there was a strong need for these types of ships because 50 or more of them protected larger ships at sea. They were in such high demand that she helped produce a ship every 60 days. She worked several jobs at the shipyard including spot painter, welder, and tank cleaner. In her oral history, she recalled the “depressing” nature of tank cleaning: “So many times when them [sic] ships would limp in from abroad, from the sea, there would be a bunch of sailors when they’d open that bulk head, you know. They’d be in there. It was terrible.” Women at the shipyards received jobs based on their existing skill set. According to Matilda, the employers “didn’t teach you to do it. You had to take a sweeping job if you didn’t already have a skill. But if you already knew how to do those things, they’d give you a trial and see if you could do it. And then they’d let you have it.” Fortunately, Matilda had welding skills and got the job.

The start of World War II dramatically changed the relationship between women in general and the American workforce. It also provided inroads for African American and other minorities into the workforce. Due to a labor shortage caused primarily by white men leaving the workforce for military service, these new workers took over various roles that had historically been unavailable to them. These roles included skilled and semiskilled factory operations such as work in munitions, food, and textiles factories. In total, the number of African Americans who worked in civilian jobs increased by approximately one million between 1940 and 1944. Sixty percent of those workers were women. Throughout the United States, African American women saw a 40 percent rise in employment during this time period. For example, in 1942 the Brooklyn Navy Yard hired women mechanics for the first time in 141 years and nearly ten percent of the first 125 women hired there were African American. At the same time in Detroit, Michigan, fewer than 30 black women were employed in war plants; by November 1943, over 14,000 worked in that occupation.

It is unclear when Matilda and William Miller divorced but on November 8, 1947 she married L.C. Riley in Seattle. By 1952, the new couple had moved to Bloomington and were living with Matilda’s mother at 1322 N. Ewing Street (her father had passed away in 1951). Between 1953 and 1957, L.C. worked at the whites-only Louis E. Davis American Legion Post No. 56 as a bus boy and later a custodian. Two years later, he earned a living as a laborer for Behrenz Asphalt in Bloomington. By 1957, Matilda and L.C. were residing at 1204 W. Street. They divorced sometime before 1959 when he had married Mary Burnett.

Matilda returned to the West Coast. On May 13, 1960 she married William Calcote in Seattle, Washington where they were both living. William was 23 years her junior. By the next year, they were back in Bloomington living at 1322 N. Ewing with Matilda’s mother, though the city directories show Matilda at 1204 W. Mulberry Street. From 1964 to 1971 the Calcotes lived at the N. Ewing address. During that time—five days a week from 1961 to 1976—Matilda (or “Tillie” as she was known to some) worked as a maid at the Bloomington home of Betty Zimmer. In 1972, Matilda and William resided at 703 W. Monroe Street where they remained for the rest of their married lives.

Through the years William had found better and more secure employment. He worked as a custodian at the Eureka Williams plant from 1963 until 1967, when he took over as a maintenance worker at the Holiday Inn. In 1971 he returned Eureka and worked there for two more years. In 1974 William began custodial and maintenance duties at Bloomington Junior High School until 1979. After that he served as a maintenance man for the local Board of Education. William was a custodian at Raymond School at the time of his death in 1980. Matilda was retired at that time and did not return to work.

The Calcotes were members of Union Baptist Church located at 514 W. Jackson Street. In fact, after arriving in Bloomington in 1928, Matilda joined this church and worshipped there whenever she lived in town. She also actively participated in the church’s Willing Workers Club and Progressive Women’s Club. These social clubs performed projects to better the members and the community as a whole. In 1953, she led the women of the church in directing three services for “Women’s Day.” Sixteen years later, she was co-chair of that same event where local African American community leader Caribel Washington spoke. Around 1975, Matilda joined the Three C Club which brought women together to discuss issues that regularly affected African Americans. The next year she took over as chaplain of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Redd-Williams Post No. 163 of the American Legion, an all-African American post. Her brother was a World War II veteran which is how she qualified for membership.

William Calcote was only 47 years old when he passed away on September 28, 1980. He and Matilda had been happily married for 20 years. Matilda thought that her previous marriages were inconsequential by comparison. She said they were the result of being “young and not knowing what was going on and just married.” Family members laid William to rest at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery on October 2, 1980.

Matilda’s pride in her grandchildren could not be hidden. She spoke highly of her granddaughter who worked as a nurse, and her great-grandsons, who were medical students in neurosurgery and psychiatry. She credits the lack of role models as to why her great-grandsons left Bloomington. In her own words, “There was nobody doing anything. Nobody to look up to... There wasn’t no men doing nothing, but, you know, ‘shacking up’ and stuff.” By all accounts Matilda was a strong, hard-working, and adaptable human being. Through multiple jobs and marriages, she maintained her independence.

Matilda passed away at the age of 80 on December 27, 1990, having been ill for several months. Her funeral service was held at Union Baptist Church on New Year’s Eve. She was laid to rest next to William at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

ISU Pride To Celebrate Coming Out Day

October 11 is National Coming Out Day, a special day for people who are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer communities. Coming out is not easy for the LGBTQ community and is often times a topic that individuals have to deal with on a daily basis. National Coming Out Day brings an opportunity to celebrate those who have come out against, sometimes, great odds.

Danny Mathews, a specialist in Diversity Advocacy says, “Recognition and discussion of National Coming Out Day is important because it lets those who may be struggling with aspects of their identity know there is a community of support here on campus.”

In addition to recognizing National Coming Out Day, Illinois State University also has a Pride group. Pride is a student group which strives to provide a safe social and educational atmosphere for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer individuals on campus.

Sophomore Lucas Stiegman states, “Having a support system on campus, whether it be a Pride group, counseling services, friends, family, LGBT classes, or even Safe Zones, give those who may struggle with their gender identity or sexuality a feeling of validation and security.”

Visit Pride’s Facebook page on October 11 to learn more about National Coming Out Day and to hear other Illinois State students share their coming out stories. Meanwhile, Pride's 5th Annual Bonfire is tonight.

IWU Grad's Passion Leads to 'Genius Grant'

Lenore Sobota

The Pantagraph

Even as a young man attending Illinois Wesleyan University, Juan Salgado impressed those around him as someone who was passionate about helping others.

That passion led the 1991 IWU graduate to found Instituto del Progresso Latino in Chicago in 2001 and to him being named one of 24 MacArthur Fellows for 2015. Each fellow receives $625,000 — popularly known as the “genius” grant.

Instituto operates a number of programs, including schools and employment training, for Latino immigrants and their families.

Salgado sees his selection as a “tremendous opportunity” to make more people aware of what Instituto does. He said Tuesday his “big hope” is that Instituto's ideas “will be followed by others. What can happen in Chicago in a vibrant immigrant community can happen elsewhere.”

Although the MacArthur grant is an individual award, Salgado referred to the “amazing team” at Instituto, calling them “educational scientists” who work “to get results that haven't been gotten before” — such as taking people with low literacy and preparing them for college.

His references to his “team” reflect the attitude of a person several people who knew Salgado at IWU, describing him as humble, modest and caring.

Mike Seeborg, Robert S. Eckley Distinguished Professor of Economics at IWU, said, “Even as an economics student, he wanted to get back and help his community. … He's got this heart of gold.”

Seeborg has taken students to Chicago to see how Salgado's programs work.

“Juan has been able to create things in the community that really make a difference,” Seeborg said.

Salgado credited his parents, Carmen Maldonado and Daniel Salgado, with inspiring him to help others.

“My mom instilled in us amazing values,” he said. “She believed in listening to what was shared on Sunday in church and working all week long to live it.”

His father, a steelworker, “was very involved in the community” and raised money for scholarships.

“You're motivated by what you see and what you don't see,” Salgado said.

Working as a caterer, one of many jobs he held in his youth, Salgado said he saw many upscale homes and places far different from those of many immigrant families and those he saw on visits with his family to Mexico.

He wrestled with those differences and the “need to have hope and opportunity, the need to have upward mobility.”

He thanked his professors at IWU, saying, “They prodded me to wrestle with it more. They cared enough to prod me.”

In 2013, Salgado spoke at IWU's commencement and was presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

President Dick Wilson recalled that Salgado told students to “do what stirs your spirit and soul” and “don't choose a path, make your own. And he has certainly done that.”

Lonnie Smith, a public affairs manager for State Farm, worked closely with Salgado on the Council for Latin American Student Enrichment when both were IWU students.

Describing Salgado as a mentor, Smith said, “He was collaborative by nature. Always looking for win-win solutions.”

Smith recalled a well-known quote from Minor Myers Jr., who was IWU president when he and Salgado were students there: "Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."

“Juan embodies that,” Smith said.

Arlene: A Crisis of Conscience

Arlene Hosea

WJBC Forum

I knew that in my retirement, one thing that I wanted to do was to get more involved in my community.   I had a desire to get more involved in social justice advocacy so I decided to try to do more since I had the time. I believed that I could help my community be a better place for all.   I attended various community meetings, helped with events around social change and awareness, joined committees; I was investing in my community and giving back.

Then something occurred in our community that nudged my social awareness, I felt I had been silent too long.   I asked myself, what should a person who says that they want to advocate for social justice say or do? I decided to talk to my husband to get his take on what was stirring in my head and heart. He listened; he understood my issue and concurred. That gave me strength and courage to take the next step to speak to someone outside my protective walls of home and family.   It was time to take that first step… I had to say something! I knew that I could not advocate for that which I believe is right if I remain silent.  

But, I also knew that if I choose to speak up, I will make myself vulnerable to the dreaded “what will people think of me?” “What if they do not see my point or worse, maybe my view is truly the wrong view?” I decided to take the road of vulnerability and just put my thoughts out there because the worst that could happen is that someone would disagree with me. I would just need to get over that part and move on… I was experiencing my first crisis of conscience!

As I sit here today and think about what it means for me to say that I am an advocate for something or someone, it is even clearer that in this world we do not get to choose what our society, its institutions, nor its people hand advocates of social change. We do not get a menu to select items that are what we desire, are served the way we like nor do we see the costs upfront to determine if they are reasonable. In the world of social justice advocacy, you get what people give you and it may not always be palatable. I know that we can change the world in so many ways and you do not always have to be on the battle front, marching for change, there are more subtle ways to bring about change.  

However, my belief is that silence is not the way, so I am grateful for my crisis of conscience and proud that regardless of all of my fears, I did take a risk because I believed it was the right thing to do. I also believe that we all should be advocates of social justice, although it has its risks, it is what will make our society better.

Arlene Hosea was born and raised in Bloomington.  She retired from Illinois State University and is on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Illinois.  She has also served on the Town of Normal Human Relations Commission, The Baby Fold and the YWCA Board of Directors, and is a leader in Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal.  Arlene resides in Normal.

Greening Of The Prairie Illustrates Ugliness of Anti-Immigrant Prejudice

It was a contentious time and a contentious issue. A nation of immigrants wary of a new group of foreign refugees, workers, and families flowing into their communities. Doors barred to these newcomers, ugly propaganda painting these new arrivals as criminals, ne'er-do-wells, and even as subhumans. People indentured into a virtual servitude, and occasional acts of violence and terror committed in the name of fear and hatred.

The King of A-Shantee, a cartoon from an 1885 edition of the then-popular magazine Puck's,  illustrates the bigotry of the time toward the Irish. The cartoon is one of several pieces of anti-Irish propaganda and prejudice on display at the McLean County Museum of History.

Rough times for the Irish families that settled in Central Illinois in the 19th Century -- they experienced bigotry, discrimination, and suspicion that resonates in today's contentious immigration debate. The McLean County Museum of History's Greening of the Prairie exhibit, on display in downtown Bloomington through January 16, explores how one group, now prominent in Twin Cities business, politics, and community life, faced and eventually overcame deep-seated public prejudice.

The exhibit features historic objects, photographs, and maps about Irish-Catholic famine immigrants who came to this area in the early 1850s to escape the Irish famine brought on by widescale potato blight . They worked to build the railroad and opened early black-dirt prairie farms, following on the heels of Protestant Scots-Irish pioneers.

This exhibit examines why they left Ireland, the challenges they faced once they arrived, their successes and failures, and the impact their presence has had on our community. The Irish-Catholic immigrants faced major local hostility -- the anti-Catholic American Protective Association and the Ku Klux Klan were active in the region; KKK members reportedly included a number of local professionals and leaders.

Museum Curator Susan Hartzold muses grimly about the sweeping bigotry of the time -- an anti-immigrant sentiment "that's still going on" as Americans debate over Mexican labor and Syrian refugees.

"There are things we're not proud about in our history, but we don't want to sweep them under the rug," Hartzold acknowledges. "We had lots of anti-Irish, anti-Catholic sentiment in this town. It's important that people become aware of those things so they don't let them happen again."

However, the Irish overcame bigotry and were embraced by a growing number of residents. Irish farms became common in the Merna and south Downs area.

The exhibit highlights many notable McLean County Irish families, including: the Costigans who were grocers, lawyers and a judge; the Irvins, who started the Bloomington Pepsi bottling company; and the Quinns, who launched a gas station that still exists today. The Boylans became renowned for their candies and soft drinks. And by 1913, local clothing store Costello and O'Malley's sponsored a baseball team in the popular Catholic Forester's League.

NIOT:B/N's Rao Among Extraordinary 'Ordinary' Nominees

Mandava Rao, right, during a 2014 tour of India's Chicago Consulate.

NIOT:B/N leader Mandava Rao is among Collaborative Solutions Institute's 2015 Extraordinary Ordinary Men of the Year Awards -- a recognition of ordinary men in our community who make a positive impact on others through volunteering in their neighborhoods, faith communities, schools, and social service agencies.

The award recipients and all nominees will be recognized at an Oct. 15 dinner, at 5 p.m. in the Carol A. Reitan Conference Center at Bloomington-Normal’s Marriott Hotel. To purchase tickets to this event, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/e/collaborative-solutions-extraordinary-ordinary-men-of-the-year-award-dinner-2015-tickets-18428845172. 

In addition to serving the NIOT:B/N Steering Committee, Rao was 2003 president of the McLean County India Association, and is a board member with For A Better Tomorrow, a global philanthropic group. He is a director with the Hindu Temple of Bloomington-Normal.

Other 2015 nominees include Grant Anderson, Merlin Anderson, Frank Beck, Bruce Bergethon, Anand Bhende, Robert Bosquez, Kevin Bradley, Hank Campbell, Phil Eaton, John Evans,  George Gordon, Paul Harmon, Jim Howard, Craig Luchtefeld, Mike McCurdy, Michael Predmore, Larry Taylor, Bill Tolone, and Doan Winkel.

Bill: Compassion Toward Refugees Humanizing Opportunity

Bill Fike

WJBC Forum

Europe, the Gulf States, and the “West,” including the United States, have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to destroy ISIS, with the influx of tens of thousands of Muslim refugees fleeing from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The entire civilized world by humanely and compassionately, accepting these casualties of “radical Islam” into our respected countries, will demonstrate to all Muslims worldwide, that Christians and Jews are not the “Great Satan” as declared by the propaganda spewed out by likes of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Even Pope Francis has recognized the importance of this opportunity, by asking each Catholic Parish in Europe to sponsor at least one refugee family.

Secretary of State John Kerry announced today that the United States will host up to 70,000 worldwide refugees this year, 85,000 next year, and approximate total of 100,000 in 2017. He went on to explain that most of these immigrants will be Syrian.

In order to start their new lives in the United States, all refugees are fingerprinted and must pass both a security check and a medical exam before entering the country.  Upon arrival, the U.S. government expects working age immigrants to find a job within 6 months of arrival.  (Resettlement organizations often have employment specialists to help refugees find employment.)

Through my research*, I also found that our government gives new LEGAL refugees:  housing assistance, Medicaid, food stamps, and a small monetary stipend for at least 8 months to help with their integration into our society (Note: illegal immigrants DO NOT receive such benefits!).  And after one year in our country, a new refugee may apply for the much sought after “Green Card.”

I know my hard line Conservative friends are totally against taking in any Muslim refugees, and I understand their concern. But if these refugees are properly vetted so as to protect our country from possible embedded terrorists, this act of American hospitality and kindness, and the compassion shown by other countries throughout the civilized world, will help plant the seed of ISIS’s destruction in the Middle East, saving many American lives in the long run.

*http://www.refugees.org/about-us/faqs.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

Bill Fike owned and operated Winnie’s of Bloomington, Inc., (Winnie’s Menswear) from 1973 until his retirement in May of 2009. Bill also owned Churchill’s Formal Wear, LTD. from 1996 until he sold Churchill’s to James Carroll in March 2007. Bill and Cheryl just celebrated 40 years of marriage this past June 12, 2011 and they have one son, Joseph, and one daughter, Carmen. Bill was in the second graduating class of Illinois Central College in 1971, and then went on to Clark School of Aviation-Flight, obtaining both VFR and IFR flight certificates. Bill has been able to trace his family heritage back to his great, great, great grandfather’s family, A.C. Herron’s, (on his grandmother’s side), who was one of the original settlers of Bloomington.

Celebrate Children at October 20 Vigil

Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal will focus on the plight of hungry children during its next prayer vigil October 20 at Bloomington's First Christian Church.

The hour-long "Celebrate Children's Prayer Vigil" begins at 6:30 p.m. The event also will include a canned goods collection competition among local K-12 students, with donations going to Bloomington's Clare House.

"We are planning to have our next Prayer Vigil focused around children within our community, state, and nation that are in need due to hunger," reported NIOT:B/N Faith and Outreach Committee Willie Holton Halbert.

"It is our desire to engage people of faith and our entire community in improving the lives of children and their families in our community, state and our nation."

The vigil is part of the 2015 Children's Defense Fund (CDF) National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, “How Long Must I Cry for Help? Bending the Arc toward God's Vision of Justice for Children," October 16-18, which will focus on real solutions to significantly reduce child poverty. Thousands of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other faith communities across the country are holding community-wide interfaith special worship services, educational programs, and/or advocacy activities to engage people of faith.

See more at: www.childrensdefense.org/programs/faithbased/faith-based-action-programs-pages/childrens-sabbaths/National-Observance-of-Children-s-Sabbaths.html#sthash.6ThxYFAi.mWCiP5qO.dpuf

CDF’s recent report, Ending Child Poverty Now, outlines steps to "make a huge down payment on ending preventable, costly, and immoral child poverty in our wealthy nation." By investing an additional 2 percent of the federal budget into existing programs and policies that increase employment, make work pay, and ensure children’s basic needs are met, our nation could reduce child poverty by 60 percent and black child poverty by 72 percent, lifting 6.6 million children out of poverty immediately, according to CDF.

Latino Heritage Month Events Encompass Arts, Politics, Policy, History

Illinois State University continues its observance of Latino Heritage Month Wednesday with a screening of the documentary Empire of Dreams at 7 p.m. in Felmley Hall Annex, room 133.

Following the screening, there will be a Q&A session, facilitated by Professor of Politics and Government Carlos Parodi. All documentary showings are sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program, Milner Library, and Conexiones Latinas de McLean County.

Ana Roncero-Bellido

Meanwhile, Ana Roncero-Bellido will present “Latinas Anónimas: Articulating a Transnational Feminist Rhetorics of Solidarity Through Testimonio,” at 1 p.m., Friday, October 2, in Williams Hall , room 314.

Roncero-Bellido, a Ph.D. candidate with Illinois State’s Department of English, will present her research on the use of testimonio to theorize the complexity of Latina identity. By focusing on the anonymous testimonios written by The Latina Feminist Group (TLFG), she seeks to understand how testimonio becomes a form of healing and a space of solidarity.

The event, which is part of the Conversando Entre Nosotros: LALS Brown Bag Series Lecture, is sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program.

Then, enjoy arts in an afternoon of Latino music, poetry, and visual art with the Latino Arts Celebration at 1 p.m. Sunday, October 4, at the University Galleries in Uptown Normal.

Cellist Adriana Ransom will perform a recital featuring works of Gaspar Cassado (Spain), Mario Lavista (Mexico), and Leo Brouwer (Cuba), intertwined with literary readings from Spain, Mexico, and Cuba.

Works by Latino alumni artists will also be on display as part of the University Galleries’ Alumni Spectacular. The event is sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program, and the School of Music.

Immigration issues and immigration policy are in the spotlight as a central issue in the current presidential campaign debates. An immigrant rights and U.S. immigration policy panel will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 7, in the Jaime Escalante Room of the Vrooman Center, in between Hewett and Manchester halls.

This panel has been organized with the expressed purpose to gather state and local community leaders to address the lack of immigration reform and the problems that this entails for immigrant families and communities.

Panel members include:
Fred Tsao (Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights)
Jennifer Carrillo (Illinois People’s Action)
Carlos Parodi (ISU Department of Politics and Government)
Maura Toro-Morn (ISU, Latin American and Latino/a Studies)

The panel is sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program, the Department of Politics and Government, and the Conexiones Latinas de McLean County.

Anahi Russo-Gullido of the Metropolitan State University of Denver will host a Skype talk for the first of the Queer Talks Series. Her talk, titled “Negotiating Marriage and Polyamory in Queer Mexico City” will be at noon on Thursday, October 8, in the Vrooman Center, room 104.

Professor of Spanish James J. Pancrazio will give a talk titled “Rewriting, Invention, and Plagiarism: the Case of Enriqueta Faber, and the Writing of Transvestism” at 1 p.m. Friday, October 16, in Williams Hall, room 314.

Pancrazio will share a comparison of the literary versions of the case of Faber, the 19th century transvestite that resided in Cuba, in effort to show that each generation rewrites or recreates the image of the transvestite according to their own historical and ideological circumstances. The event, which is part of the Conversando Entre Nosotros: LALS Brown Bag Series Lecture, is sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program.

A screening of the documentary “Peril and Promise” will be 7 p.m. October 21, in Felmley Hall Annex, room 133. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A session, facilitated by Professor of Psychology Rocio Rivadeneyra. All documentary showings are sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program; Milner Library; and Conexiones Latinas de McLean County.

Hollywood actor Carlos Ponce will be the featured speaker at the Latino Cultural Dinner at 5 p.m. Tuesday, November 3, in the Brown Ballroom.

Carlos Ponce

Ponce is known for his roles in Rio (2011), Spy (2015), and Couples Retreat (2009), and more recently known for his ABC show Cristela. During a Q&A session with Professor Rocia Rivadeneyra, Ponce will be sharing his experiences being a Latino actor in Hollywood.

Tickets will be available closer to the event. Visit Housing.IllinoisState.edu to purchase tickets. The cost is one meal swipe for meal plan participants and $20 for individuals without meal plans.

The Latino Cultural Dinner is sponsored by Campus Dining Services, the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program, and the ISU Association of Residence Halls, The University Housing Services, Waterson Area Government, Waterson Diversity Coalition, Multi-Ethnic Cultural and Co-Curricular Programming and Advisory Committee.

Author of Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago Lilia Fernandez will give a talk titled Was the City Black and White? A History of Latinos in Mid-Century Chicago at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 11, in Stevenson Hall, room 101.

Fernandez, of The Ohio State University, Department of History, will share research from her new book and speak on the presence of Latinos in mid-20th century Chicago, the dynamics they witnessed, the social change they championed, and the way they came to understand their place in the black and white metropolis.

The event is sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program and the Department of History.

Convergence of Queer Talks, Latino Heritage Month Illustrates Crossover Issues

Two major fall programs at Illinois State University share a significant connection that illustrates today's cross-cultural currents and how new channels are being opened to address them.

On Oct. 8, Anahi Russo-Garrido of Denver's Metropolitan State University will present “Negotiating Marriage and Polyamory in Queer Mexico City," the first of three 2015 ISU "Queer Talks" as well as part of the university's Latino Heritage Month observation. Polyamory is the physical state of being romantically involved with multiple people and having the consent of all parties involved.

Queer Talks is a new lunchtime colloquium series dedicated to the scholarship of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender/queer studies.

The talks will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in Vrooman Room 107, and will include a Q&A session. They are co-sponsored by Illinois State University’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program, the LGBT/Queer Studies and Services Institute, Diversity Advocacy, and Pride.

An assistant professor of women’s studies, Russo-Garrido’s work focuses on gender and sexuality in Latin America, queer and feminist theory, transnational sexualities, and social justice organizing. She has worked with women’s rights organizations in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

She is also the co-editor of Building Feminist Movements and Organizations.

As part of Latino Heritage Month,  Russo-Garrido's talk also is co-sponsored by the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program.

On October 28, LaToya Eaves of Middle Tennessee State University will present “Place, Embodiment, and the Ethereal: On a Queer Black South.” The lecturer has taught at the University of Connecticut, where she was selected as an inaugural in-residence fellow with the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. She has also worked at Florida International University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The final Queer Talks program, Nov. 6, will feature Emily Hobson of the University of Nevada/Reno, who will present “‘A More Powerful Weapon’: Lesbian Feminists and the Revolutionary Underground.” An assistant professor of history, Hobson studies sexuality, race, and radical movements in the United States since 1945.

With joint academic appointments in the departments of history and gender, race, and identity studies, she teaches courses in the history of sexuality, LGBT history, social movements, multiracial and transnational feminisms, U.S.-Latin America borderlands, and gender, queer, and critical ethnic studies.

For additional information about the Queer Talks, contact Illinois State Assistant Professor Erin Durban-Albrecht at eldurba@ilstu.edu.

Aaron: Browsing the Human Library A Mind-Opener

Aaron Watson

I once met a freegan at the Human Library.  She scared me.

No, that’s not fair.  Actually, it was my idea of a freegan that scared me.  I believed freegans were mostly desperate, overly-righteous crusaders for some sort of ill-defined, ethereal cause.  My mind pictured an army of privileged, dirty people wearing second-hand clothes and dumpster diving for their food, all of them ready to pound me with rotten cauliflower for being such a wasteful consumer.  I met the freegan having already judged everything about her.  It was literally prejudice.

Illinois State's first Human Library in September 2014. (Photo by ISU)

Of course I was not only wrong about her, but also about Freeganism.  She was a lot of fun to talk to, had some terrific ideas and didn’t once threaten me with any vegetables.  As with all fear in life, mine was based on prejudice and ignorance.  The Human Library gave me a chance to meet her, talk with her, and gain a better understanding of her.

And I did feel like I got to know her as a person.  After just a brief dialogue, I could accept that this intelligent person sincerely believed what she told me, and that her own life experience brought her to these choices.  And as the topic came to life through another human, freegans just weren’t as scary anymore. 

Don’t misunderstand, I did not become a freegan and she was not trying to somehow recruit me.  The Human Library is about education and understanding without being didactic.  In thirty minute sessions, participants (readers) meet with presenters (books) in a small group setting.  The topics vary, but after the book tells its story, the readers can ask questions which (hopefully) begins a constructive dialogue.  Readers receive a summary of all the available books and choose which topic to explore.

My own story centers on my malformed brain.  When I sit down as a book, and I have so far been a book in three Human Libraries, I always tell the readers that I am not there to inspire them nor to depress them.  I am a book in the Human Library because I want to give anyone the chance to speak with someone who has been through brain surgery, strokes, physical therapy, disability and depression.  I ask for neither pity nor empathy, but once I tell the story I do ask that the readers indulge their curiosity.

At the age of 24 I was diagnosed with an Arnold-Chiari malformation in my cerebellum.  I was having problems breathing, hearing, and even walking.  I underwent necessary brain surgery at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.  After several months of full recovery, my symptoms slowly returned until, after several small strokes, I retired due to disability at the age of 32. 

In the midst of those years when my symptoms resurfaced, I became depressed to the point of even creating a plan for suicide.  My chronic pain and increasing inability to function at the level of my own expectations became overwhelming.  But I got help from a combination of counseling and anti-anxiety/anti-depressant medication.  So even as my physical symptoms continued to decline, my emotional health strengthened.  I was grateful to learn how to accept the reality of my ever-changing life even as I had to learn to use a cane (and occasionally a walker) just to get around my house.

When I was 38, I unexpectedly started to be able to walk again without having to use a cane or walker.  At 40 I had returned to working full-time at a university.  How I slowly regained enough of my health to return to work remains unknown.

And that’s it.  Sitting around a table with about seven or eight readers, I tell that story but in more detail of course.  We only get about thirty minutes together, so I spend about fifteen minutes detailing my story, leaving another fifteen minutes for questions.  I always tell my readers they can ask absolutely anything they want.  And, boy howdy, do they ever ask the most amazing questions. 

Allow me to illustrate.  My first time as a book in a Human Library, I expected people to ask about big-issue ideas:  What does it all mean?  What have you learned about Life?  What are you going to do now?  While these were similar questions to what I had asked during my years in counseling, I still did not have any clear answers.  Nevertheless,   felt very strongly that these would be the ones put to me.

So after telling my story that first time, I looked around the table at the handful of readers, their hands already raised for questions.  What would I say when they asked?  Why do they expect me to know the answer to life’s questions?  Just who do they think they are anyway?  And who is it they think I am?

I pointed at one person and waited, listening. 

Verbatim, without exaggerating, the reader asked, “You must have had a catheter during brain surgery.  What did that feel like?”  I didn’t speak for a few seconds.  My expectations had been so thwarted, I not only had to replay the question in my mind but I also had to ask him to repeat it, which he eagerly did, “What was it like to have a catheter?”

The other readers were nodding, approving of the question and waiting for my response.  They were sincere too, not any hint of sarcasm. 

I still had to clarify.  After surgery I had several IVs and tubes and wires connected to me.  So I asked, “You mean the urinary catheter?  What did that feel like?”

“Yes.  That must’ve been strange.”

Hesitantly, I answered, “Uh…well, actually it wasn’t too bad, until the nurse yanked it out.  That hurt.”  In unison, every reader at my table cringed.

From there we had a brilliant discussion, even touching on those life issues.  The spirit of the Human Library is best expressed by allowing an open dialogue.  In my case, having a urinary catheter was entirely unknown to them, so of course that’s what they asked.  I had encouraged it, after all. 

That question is emblematic of exactly what the Human Library can be for us.  Yes, it was a little embarrassing for me to answer, but it must’ve been strange for him to ask it too.  I credit the readers, the ones asking questions, as the real champions of this program.  They step outside of their comfort zone, if only for a brief time, hoping to learn something unexpected.

I had unexpectedly learned from a freegan.  Consider what one might learn from other books including an anarchist; a Muslim; an immigrant; a parent who adopted multi-racial children; a rape survivor; a recovering drug addict; a person living with AIDS.  If the Human Library creates an environment wherein readers can ask a man with a malformed brain what it felt like to have a post-surgical catheter, imagine what one could ask of others.

Illinois State University conducted its latest session of the Human Library Wednesday at Bone Student Center

LGBT Film Festival Explores Sports, Tab Hunter, Family Secrets

The 2015 Your Normal LGBT Film Festival kicks off Oct, 15 with an examination of gay and transgender athletes, continuing through the weekend with two dramas and the story of actor Tab Hunter.

The annual festival, featuring top current films dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues and attitudes, is sponsored by the Normal Theater and the Prairie Pride Coalition. All films start at 7 p.m.; admission is $7 at the box office.

Thursday, October 15

Game Face

The award-winning documentary GAME FACE tells the parallel story of Fallon Fox, MMAs first transgender pro fighter, and Terrence Clemens, a young, ambitious and talented college basketball player in Oklahoma, who happens to be gay. NBA player Jason Collins, NFL player Wade Davis, NCAA Division 1 basketball player Kye Allums and triathlete Chris Mosier also appear in the film.

Run Time: 95 min

Release: 2015

Director: Michiel Thomas

Friday, October 16

All About E

Beautiful, sexy e seems to have it all. A popular DJ at the top Sydney gay nightclubs, e has her pick of the girls. Matt, her flamboyant manager and best friend, makes her stunning outfits and creates a stylish home for them both. Life is sweet.

Too scared to come out to her traditional migrant parents, e married Matt, a gay Irish dress designer, to give him a visa and provide cover for her sexuality. e and Matt go on the run pursued by Johnny and his thugs. To avoid certain death there is only one safe place to go: outback Australia and into the arms of e’s ex, Trish. She has to give her family the chance to accept who she really is and find the courage to live her dreams.

Run Time: 93 min

Release: 2015

Director: Louise Wadley

Saturday, October 17

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party

The film tells the tale of two teenage boys, preacher’s kid Henry Gamble and his friend Gabe, who has a sleepover the night before Henry’s seventeenth birthday pool party. Typical teenage boy chat quickly turns sexual, and it’s silently implied that Henry, on a search for identity, has a crush on Gabe. As dawn arrives on the day of the party, Henry’s mom Kat wakes in a state of limbo, middle-aged, with a secret. A little while later, Pastor Bob is making breakfast, and they are joined by Henry’s 19-year-old sister Autumn, home from college for the party. Later that afternoon, as guests arrive - both from the church, as well as Henry’s own “secular” friends - and day turns to night, Henry carefully navigate the religious strictures and sexual secrets of his community, as do the adults and teenagers of the party, all struggling to tread the public and private, and their longing, despite themselves and their faith, for earthly love.

Run Time: 87 min

Release: 2015

Director: Stephen Cone

Sunday, October 18

Tab Hunter Confidential

7:00PM

The story of matinee idol Tab Hunter from teenage stable boy to closeted Hollywood star of the 1950s. Throughout the 1950s, Tab Hunter reigned as Hollywood’s ultimate male heartthrob. In dozens of films – and in the pages of countless movie magazines – Tab’s astonishing looks and golden-boy sex appeal drove his fans to screaming, delirious frenzy, making him the prototype for all young matinee idols to come. He earned his stripes as an actor to become a major movie star and recording artist. Punctuating Tab’s on screen presence will be rare film clips and provocative interviews with friends and co-stars including John Waters, Clint Eastwood, George Takei, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Portia de Rossi, Noah Wyle, Connie Stevens, Robert Osborne, and dozens more.

Run Time: 90 min

Release: 2015

Director: Jeffrey Schwarz

Workshops Focus On Financial Education

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A pair of seminars -- one sponsored by the Bloomington-Normal NAACP -- are designed to help strengthen individual and family finances.

Cultural Fest in partnership with State Farm Bank will offer Financial Education Possibilities workshops free to the public, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. October 14 at Bloomington's Chateau Hotel. Register for the workshops at https://budgetcreditworkshop.eventbrite.com.

Seating is limited, so early signup is appreciated. A $50 gift card door prize will be given away during each workshop.

Stink at Budgeting -- 6 p.m.: If you don’t know how to create a budget, this session will address tools to help families and individuals create and stick to a budget.

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Credit Myths Discredited – 7 p.m.: Credit impacts every facet of our lives. So, this class helps dispel the myths that exist in regards to credit. The workshop will cover facts and fables on topics ranging from credit reports to credit cards.

For further information, contact Tony Jones  at addtomix@aol.com.

Meanwhile, the Bloomington-Normal NAACP Economic Development Committee is sponsoring Black Wealth, a Dialogue About Money, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the McLean County YWCA Community Room. The seminar will include "a snack and a discussion on financial issues, attitudes, problems, and solutions."

Doors open at 6 p.m. for the free program.

NCHS Senior 100 Black Men Mentee of the Year; Program Aims at SMART Education

Lenore Sobota

The Pantagraph

Markus Brooks of Bloomington is just starting his senior year at Normal Community High School, but he is already looking ahead — to attending college, teaching social studies and becoming a mentor like those who have mentored him through 100 Black Men of Central Illinois.

Brooks, son of Udonald and Dorothy Brooks, was recently named Mentee of the Year by the organization, which began in Bloomington in 2004 as a chapter of the national organization.

“It made me a better person,” Brooks said of his experience in the M4L (Mentoring 4 Life) program. “I made my goals higher. I know a lot more about society.”

His enthusiasm for the program brings a smile to the face of Paul Hursey, who has been involved in the mentorship program since it started about seven years ago.

“It started out as a reading program, but we saw that these young men needed more than a reading program,” Hursey said.

Although Brooks lives in a home with both parents present, Hursey said, “We get a lot of young men who are in single-guardian homes.”

The mentors provide them with role models and opportunities they might not otherwise have — and another adult to push them to do their best.

“I don't talk to them about potential,” Hursey said. “Potential is just wasted capability.”

Udonald Brooks, who has worked at State Farm for 26 years, said he has watched his son mature and become more aware of his ability to influence others through his involvement in the program.

“It allows him to interact with people from different social statuses,” Udonald Brooks said. “People from different backgrounds can have a lot of the same goals and different ways to reach them.”

Dorothy Brooks, a substitute teacher in Bloomington District 87, likes the way the mentors make sure the youths keep up their grades and encourage discussion.

Hursey said: “Don't misjudge us by our name. We have Caucasians in our program as well.”

District 87 school Superintendent Barry Reilly said, “They really have a passion, not only for mentorship but for doing things to help the entire community.”

For example, the organization collaborates with the NAACP to provide scholarships for low-income students to attend summer school.

“They just ask how much we need and write a check,” Reilly said.

Next month, the organization is offering a bus trip to a college and scholarship fair in Chicago.

“For a lot of these kids, college is way off in the distance,” Hursey said.

Their mentors try to get them to think about a path that will give them a career — not just a job — whether it involves a college degree or a trade, he said.

Education and economic empowerment are two of the pillars of 100 Black Men. The others are mentoring and health and wellness. A health awareness breakfast is among their annual outreach activities.

They also partner with other organizations on such projects as holiday food baskets, school supply giveaways and college scholarships.

The mentoring program groups together youths of varying ages, some as young as fourth grade.

The younger students learn from the older ones and the older ones learn to set a good example, Hursey explained.

A typical session will start with a quiz about topics such as politics, current events or black history.

The group then discusses each question and the answers. Sometimes the youths are presented with a scenario — such as being at a party where they shouldn't be — and discuss what they should do: Call a parent? Walk home?

The idea is to teach them critical thinking skills, Hursey said.

Brooks was selected as Mentee of the Year because of his regular participation, good grades and volunteer activities in school and at his church, according to Hursey.

“He sets an example inside our mentor sessions for most of the younger ones,” Hursey said. “He thinks things though before saying anything.”

Turning to Brooks, he said, “We're going to try to pull some of that teaching stuff out of you this year, so be prepared."

100 Black Men of Central Illinois sponsors the Mentoring the 100 Way program, a holistic approach that addresses the social, emotional and cultural needs of children ages 8-18. It’s really what we’re all about. Members become mentors, advocates, and role models for the youth within our community. Through chapter operated one-on-one and group mentoring efforts, our members forge relationships that positively impact our greatest resource, our youth. Our efforts focus on building essential skills needed to become productive, contributing citizens in Bloomington/Normal (Central Illinois).

Mentoring the 100 Way uses three different techniques: One-on-one, group, and tag-team mentoring. All techniques focus on being "S.M.A.R.T.":
Specific: Specific and clearly defined mentoring population
Measurable: Measure and evaluate effectiveness
Attainable: Setting goals that are attainable for the children and mentors
Realistic: Goals should be realistic (makes sense to the mentee)
Target Driven: Have a set target of pursuit

For more on the organization, visit http://www.100bmci.com/

Culture on The Quad, Communities Commingled

The Illinois State University quad came alive Sunday with dance, color, and camaraderie both among Bloomington-Normal’s diverse but united Indian “communities” and between the cities’ Indian and non-Indian neighbors.

This year’s fifth annual Festival of India buoyed McLean County India Association (MCIA) President-Elect Archana Shekara, an ISU assistant professor of graphic design. But for Shekara, whose academic and personal worlds cross many cultures, the fun and fellowship are prelude to what she hopes to be an expanded outreach to and understanding with the community.

The first festivals were held at first the McLean County Museum of History and then Miller Park, “but since I teach here, I thought it would be so nice if we could do it here,” Shekara related.

“It’s a great collaboration between this university and the Indian community, the McLean County India Association,” she said. “People learn from each other – we’re having fun at this festival, but they’re also learning.”

The festival officially kicked off with the traditional Deep Prajavalan ceremony (see top photo at right) – the lighting of a lamp fashioned from flowers by Bloomington’s Krishna Flowers and Gardening -- led by 2015 MCIA President Uma Kallakuri, Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner, ISU’s College of Fine Arts Dean Jean M.K. Miller and Provost Janet Krejci, and Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal leader and Hindu Temple of Bloomington-Normal board member Mandava Rao.

In addition to onstage music and dance from throughout the subcontinent, the event featured Indian fashions, crafts and decorations, and spiritual, health information, and educational booths, as well as face-painting, a “bounce house,” and balloon animals. Representatives of the Twin Cities’ Hindu temple were joined by  members of Bloomington’s International Society for Krishna Consciousness – a local Hare Krishna group.

The festival also showcased Indian art including rangoli -- patterns created on the ground or floor traditionally using materials such as rice flour and often placed at the doorway of a temple or home, “welcoming people and warding off evil,” said Shekara, an ISU College of Fine Arts Service Award recipient.

Visitors feasted on a hefty “lunch thali” combination plate featuring either paneer masala and or vegetable biryani (a rice dish) or samosas (savory pastries) – according to Shekara, all vegetarian to bridge the various dietary/cultural traditions of India’s diverse regions. The festival drew Indian-Americans, temporary Indian workers, and others from at least 14 Indian states – an impressive feat of coordination a myriad of customs, preferences, and attitudes designed to “celebrate our diversity and our unity.”

“The first thing that we tell people is that ‘we are Indians -- leave those cultural differences aside,’” Shekara stressed. “We all come together and celebrate India as a country, and celebrate the similarities. We all speak different languages -- Uma and I speak a different language at home. Uma speaks a language called Telugu, and I speak Kannada. And we speak English -- that’s what unites us. It’s a ‘foreign’ language; it’s not even Indian.”

But the Festival of India also is an invitation to the non-Indian community. “More and more” Twin Citians from other cultures have dropped by for a new experience or to meet their neighbors or coworkers, reported Shekara, who canvassed “every organization I could think of” to promote the festival.

A long-time MCIA volunteer who originally “was just having fun doing it,” eventually recognized “all these little gaps that are there in the community.” The Hindu temple provides a focal point and “an identity” for the cities’ disparate Indian communities, but events like the festival provide a way both to “connect those dots” and to reach out to the community in which Bloomington-Normal Indians live, work, eat, and shop, but from which some may feel disconnected.

Shekara and the MCIA are working to connect the microcosmic Indian community with the community at large. She recently attended Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal’s annual strategy planning meeting, and has provided cultural training and certification for local day centers “trying to understand their customers who leave their children.”

“The festival is bringing a lot of non-Indians onto the quad and trying to help everyone understand a little bit of Indian culture,” Shekara said. “But more needs to be done.

“When I teach my students about cultural identity, my students tell me I’m the first Indian that they’ve interacted with, let alone teach. And then I teach European graphic design – Swiss graphic design – and I teach it with an accent. I kept thinking about all this, and I thought, ‘Maybe as a president-elect or as a president next year, I need to do something more than the festival.

“I invited (NIOT:B/N’s) Mike Matejka to come and talk to my class. If I’m a minority and I start talking, they’re going to think, ‘Oh, she’s just complaining.’ But when you bring in a Caucasion who starts talking about diversity issues, that’s when people just start listening – it’s different. Just a person’s color completely changes everybody’s attitude and mentality.

Archana Shekara signing prints. (Photo by ISU College of Fine Arts)

“So then I thought I needed to start going and meeting people in the community. That’s when we start having conversations. These conversations bring us together, and then that’s when we realize we are not the ‘other’ – we are all the same. We are just all so caught up in how we look that we forgot, and then we are self-conscious. But we are the same – we have the same heart, we have the same thinking. But there’s a little bit of a gap in the community – we see that especially in the workplace.”

Festival of India: Tradition Through Dance

Below, the Indian Classical Dance troupe, directed by Guru Uma Kallakuri, performs during Sunday's Festival of India on the Illinois State University quad. The annual festival brings together cultural, spiritual, artistic, fashion, and culinary traditions from across the various Indian states. The event is co-sponsored by the McLean County India Association and designed both to unite Indians and Indian-Americans throughout the Bloomington-Normal area and to introduce Indian cultures to Twin Citians.

More highlights from the festival, along with reflections from major festival coordinator, ISU graphic arts instructor, and McLean County India Association President-Elect Archana Shekara tomorrow here at Twin Cities Stories.

Festival of India Sunday on ISU Quad

Block out part of your Sunday afternoon for a taste of another culture at the 5th annual Festival of India, from noon to 6 pm. tomorrow on the Illinois State University quad.

The festival, presented by McLean County India Association and Illinois State University, will feature workshops on yoga meditation, and Pranayama (breath control) and a Rangoli folk art display. Other highlights will include a picture studio with Indian clothing, displays and a parade focusing on the various states represented by Bloomington-Normal's diverse Indian/Indian-American community, henna and face painting, Indian youth sports, balloon art, a bounce house, a culture program, and a Bollywood band influenced by India's major film industry.

Here are some samples of last year's festival, from the McLean County India Association.

Bob: Kentucky Clerk Furthers Oppression

Bob Bradley

WJBC Forum

In a short period of time my daughter will be getting married. She will marry her soul mate. They share a love that will sustain them through any tough times that may lie ahead.

The wedding ceremony will be one of joy and celebration. Friends and family from near and far will join in the happy festivities. They will eat, drink, laugh, dance, and be merry. As a father I could not be more proud and happier.

So should my and others’ delight in the ceremony be tempered if the gender of the bride and groom were the same? Should my pride be diminished if my daughter had chosen as the love of her life a same-sex partner? Should my happiness and love for my daughter be lessened if the ceremony was a same-sex marriage? Clearly not.

As for the Kentucky county clerk, the contempt finding against her is not depriving her of religious liberty and her actions are not comparable to those of Martin Luther King. Consider if she was a Quaker and refused to issue a license to carry a firearm based on her strong belief in non-violence. Would the outrage by certain segments of the community and particular presidential candidates be the same?

In fact, her actions are similar to those of local authorities who claimed it was against God’s will to allow biracial couples to marry in the 1960s despite a Supreme Court ruling saying they could. And are comparable to the refusal of certain Southern school authorities to integrate public schools in the 1950s after the issuance of the famous Brown decision.

The clerk used her official position to force citizens to abide by her religious views. This runs counter to the principle of the separation of church and state embodied in our Constitution. That principle was designed to prevent the government from making people conform to a specific religion.

And by not carrying out a Supreme Court decision granting a right to a minority group, the clerk is furthering the oppression of that group. This is the opposite of King’s actions, which tried to eliminate laws that were oppressive of minorities.

I hope my daughter’s wedding goes well and that she continues to live in a country where a specific religion does not dictate government actions.

Bob Bradley is a professor emeritus from Illinois State University where he primarily taught law-related courses in the political science department for 30 years. He did a weekly-segment for WJBC on politics and law for more than a decade. He also co-hosted a live- radio show from the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 2008, and reported live from the 2012 Republican convention. Currently, he serves on several community boards, does volunteer work, enjoys golf and fishing, and likes landscaping and bird-watching. He is married to the love of his life, Reenie, and has one daughter, Erin.