Author name: johngerdytest

“The old law of an eye for an eye, leaves everyone blind.” Martin Luther King, Jr. In today’s super charged, divided political environment, we often demonize those who don’t agree with us. I recently read an article about Thurgood Marshall that forced me to rethink my inclination to occasionally do the same. Marshall was a […]

“Race is the child of racism, not the father.” Ta-Nehisi Coates According to Merriam-Webster (Merriam-Webster.com), a “social construct” is “an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society.” In other words, they are shared ideas or perceptions that exist only because people in a group or society choose to accept

“We would like to get to a point in our society where people really are color blind and this message would not have to be told anymore. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.” Harry Connick, Jr. How often have you heard someone claim to be “color blind”? I’ve always been uncomfortable with this notion. While the

“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” – Cesar Chavez Cornel West is one of America’s most influential and provocative philosophers, political activists, social critics and intellectuals. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender and class in American society. My introduction

Jazz, blues and basketball are very similar in feel, vibe, attitude and practice. To start, they are all Black dominated cultures. They also require ongoing communication and cooperation among team mates and band mates as both players and musicians are literally making things up as they go. While there is structure that provides some guidelines

The impact of our Songs For Justice project on MFE as a whole has been transformational. It has introduced us to a much wider and more diverse community from which to draw upon as we move forward as an organization. Similar to a gumbo, the additional new and diverse people (“spices”) we’ve added to our

Introduction Music For Everyone is a non-profit organization I founded in 2006 with a mission to “cultivate the power of music” in Lancaster County, PA. Such a broad mission, coupled with the fact that music is the universal language has allowed us a lot of flexibility in finding ways to leverage the power and potential

Last year, I wrote that the word “bandwork” should be recognized as an “official” word and thus included in Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. The purpose behind my proposal relates to the issue of music advocacy as it applies to school funding of music programs. It’s important that we recognize and use bandwork as an “official”

It is so good to be back on the streets of Lancaster! We’re able to share our keys, notes and our cool, hip, brilliant “looks” that our talented visual artists have created and given us. Most of all, it’s wonderful to have you — the citizens of Lancaster — once again tickling our ivories. Both

Whether you believe it was God or Mother Earth we, as a human race, have been relegated to the corner for a “time out” by the Covid-19 pandemic. Like a five year old sent to the corner to consider the effects of his or her misbehavior, the worldwide, lock-down and isolation measures necessary to combat