Honoring MLK, KKK Cross Sculpture at Chicago Temple
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Culture, Education, Faith Based Production, Interesting Places, Peace and Justice, Pro Bono, Spiritual Journey, Tim Frakes Productions
If you are in Chicago’s Loop, stop by the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple and check out a sculpture based upon a cross that was burned on the lawn of Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi in the autumn of 1963. The students were being encouraged by Ed King, the campus minister to go into the city and to try and desegregate the churches on Sunday morning.
That not only led to the arrests of the students, but also led to the KKK burning a cross on the college lawn. Ed King kept the cross and gave it to the United Methodist Church who were in the process of trying to desegregate the denomination nationally. So, this cross became the symbol for the desegregation of the United Methodist Church in the 1960′s.
Eventually, the cross was taken to Pittsburgh at the general conference and walked around the conference hall. It became a rallying point. Later, the cross was given to Gerald Forshe, a pastor in Chicago, who brought home. He took it to Jack Kearney who was a very well regarded sculptor in town.
Kearney took that charred wooden cross, encased it in a kind of skin of metal, so that it wouldnt disintegrate. On it, he placed the obviously African American, distressed, truncated Christ. And so Jerry has had this sculpture for over 40 years in his own possession.
But when Jerry was very ill last spring he wanted to make sure that First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple received it and put on public display. The cross is a gift to the church that we can make available to people who visit and want to know the story. This cross not only referrers back to 1963, but it, holds a great deal of power for us today.
This summer, First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple had a guest who came to worship. He was a retired university administrator from Mississippi. He saw the figure on the cross and immediately said, “That is James Chaney.” James Chaney was one of the three young men who were murdered as they tried to register voters in Mississippi in 1963. Chaney was the only African American among the three. And so at least for that person, he saw in this figure, that historical moment.
Tags: Art, Chicago Temple, Cross, James Chaney, James Cheney, KKK, United Methodist
Havana Cuba
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Culture, History, Interesting Places, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Recorded these shots while in Havana, Cuba, March, 2011.
Tags: Cuba, Havana, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
D`Cámara Opus 5, J. Strauss
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Culture, Education, Interesting People, Music, Tim Frakes Productions
My friend Tony Fernandez is the bass player in this wonderful string quintet. D`Cámara Opus 5 is popular in Cuba and has toured in the United States, Europe and around the Caribbean. Tony asked me to record them during my visit in Matanza, Cuba. Here they perform Johann Strauss, Roses from the South.
Tags: Caribbean, Cuba, Johann Strauss, Music, Tim Frakes Productions
Blessing of the Animals
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Culture, Education, Nature, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Every year Bethany Lutheran Church in Cherry Hills, Colorado offers a “Blessing of the Animals” event held in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.
Micro Enterprise and Silk Production in Bangladesh
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Asia, Culture, Education, Interesting Places, Nature, Peace and Justice, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Have you ever wondered how silk is made? Outside Saidpur, Bangladesh I toured a silk production facility. The small factory is a non-profit operation (RDRS) that provides jobs and economic opportunity for women in this poor nation.
The silkworm is the caterpillar of Bombyx mori, the domesticated silk moth. The silk moth is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and no longer occurs naturally in the wild.
At the factory, the women, dressed in colorful saris, collect and sort huge piles of golden silkworm cocoons. Once sorted, the cocoons are immersed large into vats of boiling hot water.
This is bad news for the silkworms inside the cocoons! The hot water sparks a chemical reaction that allows the spun cocoon to unravel. Silkworm cocoons are natural bobbins made of one continuous strand of silk thread. After boiling, the cocoons are cooled and taken to a loom and unraveled.
The raw silk thread is then wound onto a spindle, dried and shipped to a textile factory.
Tags: Bangladesh, Production, RDRS, Silk
Brookfield Zoo, Holiday Magic
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Culture, Education, Interesting Places, Nature, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Each December, the Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, Illinois hosts Holiday Magic, a festival of lights, ice and animals.
Tags: Brookfield Zoo, Holiday Magic, Tim Frakes Productions, Video
Room at the Inn
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Culture, Education, News, Tim Frakes Productions
Every December my friend Susan Greeley and her husband Jeff King orchestrate a public display of Susan’s amazing nativity collection. The event is hosted by St. Matthew Center for Health, a senior health care provider in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Susan’s collection includes more than 350 nativity scenes from around the word including displays from Peru, Alaska, India, Mexico, Colombia and more.
www.frakesproductions.com
Tags: Advent, Christmas, Nativity, St Matthews Center for Health
Ancient Byblos
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Culture, Education, History, Interesting Places, Middle East, Travel
While in Lebanon, we visited Byblos, an ancient city just north of Beirut. It is believed by many to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It is was also a great place for the IVAP team to get a sense of the historical depth that is woven into the fabric of the Middle East.
Tags: Byblos, History, Lebanon, Middle East, Tim Frakes Productions, Video
Lilacia Park, Lombard, Illinois
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Culture, Education, Interesting Places, Travel
Lilacia Park is the jewel of Lombard, Illinois. Every May this beautiful 8.5 acre park comes to life as its signature Lilacs bloom.
Tags: Lilacia, Lilacs, Lombard, Nature, park, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
My Bangladesh
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Asia, Culture, Education, Faith Based Production, Interesting Places, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
My Bangladesh was shot in the year 2000 in Dumki, Bangladesh while on a visit to Lutheran Healthcare Bangladesh. Stephen Padre, Kevin Jacobson and I worked with a 9-year old boy named Rockibul Hussain. We called him “Rocky” for short. Jim Parks did the editing back in Chicago.
The weather was unbelievably hot, but the people were wonderful. “My Bangladesh” was designed for use in childrens educational settings. This is a personal favorite from my ELCA days.
www.frakesproductions.com
Tags: Bangladesh, Dumki, Lutheran Healthcare, Rockibul