'SAINTS' IN OUR TIME * LOOKING BACK * BILL'S COFFEESHOP NEWSLETTER * VOL. 11 * June 25, 2010

SAINTS IN

OUR TIME

A FEW people in every age actually get broad public recognition of their 'sainthood' while they are still alive. Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa are examples in our time. Both spoke as "outsiders within," calling us to do our part in making a better world. Bill Sackter was a saint, too. ("Saints like Bill Sackter," Coffeeshop Newsletter, June 15).

I have met a few people whose 'sainthood' has been publicly acknowledged. Cesar Chavez, the great community organizer and founder of the United Farm Workers union, was one. I first interviewed him in the 1970s and thought then that I was in the presence of an extraordinary man. I last spoke with him in 1992, just a few months before he died. I remember thinking then: If there are saints in our day, I am in the presence of one.

Ernesto Galarza was another. One of the founders of Chicano Studies, he is probably best known for his biography, Barrio Boy. He was a gentle man and a profound thinker with a broad range of experience. I loved sitting in his backyard in San Jose listening to his wisdom about life.

Kenneth Clark was another. He was the wise person who wrote an important brief in the Brown Vs. Board of education legal case. His work on the psychological effects of racial segregation on children played a key role in persuading the US Supreme Court to order an end to de jure segregation. He was an extraordinary optimist who believed the "rule of Law" would prevail.

Corita Kent was also a saint. Her art celebrated life using what she saw around her. She showed us that what is ordinary also has a sacredness to it. She took commercial slogans -- like those for Wonder Bread -- and turned them into profound messages.

She believed that there is an artist in each of us. Her ideas about art are outlined in a book called Learning by Heart. Reading it is like listening to her.

Still, to be publicly acknowledged as a saint is a rare thing. Most of the saints in our lives labor in relative obscurity.

I believe there is a potential for saintliness in all of us. If we look carefully are are patient, we can moments of sainthood in people around us. And, at time, we can even find those moments in ourselves. We can be inspired by these moments given to us by ordinary saints, just as we are inspired by better-known saints.

UPTOWN BILL'S
IS MOVING
Uptown Bill's is moving from its current location on Gilbert Street to 730 S. Dubuque at the end of July. The new location is atop Public Access TV at the corner of Lafayette & Dubuque. More details soon. In the meantime, click on the attachment to this Newsletter to get a glimpse of the new sign for Uptown Bill's.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO
SEE THE EMMY?
Barry Morrow received an Emmy award in screenwriting for the movie "Bill." Barry donated the Emmy statue to the University of Iowa and it's now located on the third floor of the UI library. Go to Special Collections section and look along the glass windows for the small exhibit which includes the Emmy. Here's a link to the talk Barry gave when he presented the Emmy to the university: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_hoMjTuloo.

A GREAT CUP OF
COFFEE QUOTES
One more cup of coffee before I go to the valley below -- Bob Dylan
I never laugh until I've had my coffee -- Clark Gable
I have measure out my life in teaspoons -- T.S. Eliot
I could smell myself awake with that coffee -- Jaesse Tyler
Remember, even if you don't love coffee, coffee loves you -- Lex Gottschalk

WHEN"'BILL'" MOVIE WAS
FIRST SHOWN ON TV
New York Times writer John O'Connor gave a favorable preview to the movie "Bill" the day it was first shown on television in 1981. You'll find a link to his column at the Friends of Bill's Coffeeshop page on Facebook. You'll also find it on the Uptown Bill's Small Mall Facebook page. While you're there, why not sign up as a friend.

CHECK OUT
THE BLOG
For more discussion of the issues and ideas found in this Newsletter, check out the Coffee and Community weblog. You'll find it at: http://coffeeandcommunity.blogspot.com

ARE YOU A FAN

ON FACEBOOK?

Look for the "Friends of Bill's Coffeeshop" page on Facebook. You'll find coffeeshop news, photos and more. Also, check out the Uptown Bill's Small Mall page on Facebook. 

LOOKING BACK IN
THE NEWSLETTER
From past issues of the Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter during the month of June:

2007: Bill Sackter chosen as commencement speaker
2005: Don Quixote might have been a social worker
2003: Bill is a symbol of hope for the long-term

You can read these and many other back issues in the Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter archive. Here's a link:

https://list.uiowa.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=WILD-BILLS-COFFEESHOP-NEWSLETTER

__________________________

Wild Bill's Coffeeshop is a project of the School of Social Work at the University of Iowa. It has been a part of campus life in Iowa City for more than 35 years. The coffeeshop is open weekdays from 8 am.

Uptown Bill's Small Mall is the crosstown cousin of the original coffeeshop. Located at 401 S. Gilbert, it includes a coffeeshop, bookstore, performance venue and more. Uptown Bill's is open daily from 8 am. For more information, call 339-0401.

Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter is a virtual extension of the coffeeshop. Published since 2000, the Newsletter is edited by Tom Gilsenan, a former manager of the original coffeeshop. Next week, Tom will become the director of Uptown Bill's. You can write to Tom at tomgilsenan@gmail.com. Or simply click reply and start writing.

--
New address in June:
210 S. Clinton St. No. 402
Iowa City, IA 52240

--
New address in June:
210 S. Clinton St. No. 402
Iowa City, IA 52240

SAINTS LIKE BILL * A LITTLE SILLINESS * Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter * Vol. 11 * June 15, 2010

VOICES OF 

PROPHETS

WHEN Patricia Hill Collins writes about the "outsider within," I think she is describing the attributes of people we might call saints or prophets. She describes a person who is "inside" an organization, but who can still speak as an "outsider."

 

In her original context, she was writing about "outsiders" whose voices have not been heard inside many institutions in our society. But I think her idea has a much broader application. I think the "outsider within" can be a good metaphor for social work.

 

Isn't a social worker most true to her profession when she takes the voices she hears in various places and carries them tot he larger institutions in a community. Isn't an essential task of a social worker to amplify the voices of those who have not been heard or who have been forgotten.

 

It's not easy to do this, of course. In fact, it's really, really hard.

 

First, one has to listen. That's not easy in a society which places such a strong value on talking.

 

Second, one has to carry the messages of outsiders to insiders -- those inside political halls and corporate walls. These messages may not be well-received, in part because they remind insiders of the advantages they have -- more money, more power, more access.

 

IT'S NOT enough to just deliver the message, The "outsider within" needs to go further -- further to search for common ground, to build bridges between outsiders and insiders.

 

This is difficult work. You have to step far outside yourself to do this, reaching and stretching into places you haven't been.

 

When we see people doing these things, it's an inspiration. We applaud both their ability to speak out and their ability to reach across barriers which divide us by race or income or nationality. We often call such individuals saints or prophets.

 

Bill Sackter was one of those people, one of those saints. The task of the original Bill's Coffeeshop (and its now many spin offs) is to lift up the story of this man who inspired many and to pass it along to others. We enrich ourselves and others when we tell the Bill story, reinvigorating our work in "abilities awareness" and inspiring others to do the same. The Bill story is also a reminder to look for other "saints" around us. More about that another time.

 

TIS THE SEASON FOR

THE COTTONWOODS
It's mid-June and the cottonwoods are blooming. All over the Midwest the past few weeks you could see the white puffs drifting from these trees. I've been traveling and have seen them in South Dakota, in Minnesota and all over Iowa. The appearance of these white fuzzy puffs is one of the reassuring signs from Mother Nature each year. They come out just as the season changes from spring to summer. Oh, and the fireflies are back, too.

 

RECOMMEND US TO

YOUR FRIENDS

Know someone who would enjoy this Newsletter? Send us their email address and we'll start sending them the Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter. Thank you. And don't forget to sign up for the Friends of Bill's Coffeeshop and Uptown Bill's pages on Facebook.

 

JUST A LITTLE

SILLINESS

 

We were sitting around the other night and sharing bumper stickers (and ideas for bumper stickers). Here are some of the best. Your contributions are invited for a future issue:

 

Rome wasn't sacked in a day

 

Free the Fortune 500

 

Get the US out of North America

 

No matter who you vote for, the government always gets in

 

Where too much is never enough

 

Make every occasion a time for revolution

 

___________________________

 

Wild Bill's Coffeeshop is a project of the School of Social Work at the University of Iowa. It has been a part of campus life in Iowa City for over 35 years. Located in North Hall, the coffeeshop is open weekdays from 8 am.

 

Uptown Bill's Small Mall is the cross town cousin of the original coffeeshop. Located at 401 S. Gilbert and other locations, it includes a coffeeshop, bookstore, performance venue and other enterprises. Uptown Bill's is open seven days a week from 8 am. For more information, call (319) 339-0401.

 

Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter is a virtual extension of the coffeeshop and Small Mall. Published since 2000, it is written by Tom Gilsenan, a former manager of the original Bill's. Tom recently returned to Iowa City and will become the director of Uptown Bill's next month. You can write to him at: tomgilsenan@gmail.com. Check Facebook for the Friends of Bill's Coffeeshop and Uptown Bill's Small Mall pages.

--
New address in June:
210 S. Clinton St. No. 402
Iowa City, IA 52240

PATCHWORK THEATER * REMEMBERING STEVE SMITH * Bill's Coffeeshop Newsletter

MORE PATCHWORK THEATER

COMING TO COFFEESHOP

PERHAPS you've seen one of these shows:  Voices of Youth (2002), Good Evening from Bill's Coffeeshop (2004), "Good evening from the Red Rooster (2008). Or any one of the other shows produced for coffeeshop stages over the last 10 years or so. Each represents what I've come to call "patchwork theater," a collection of stories from the lives of people in a community.

I'd like to do more of these shows in the future. Uptown Bill's offers a perfect stage for such productions (and the original Bill's Coffeeshop, too). Now that I'm back in Iowa City, I'm starting to think about what should be the first production. Should it focus on Bill? or Jane Addams? Or the legacy of Hull House? Or stories from the coffeeshops? Or a combination of things?

REMEMBERING

STEVE SMITH 

I've been thinking a lot about Steve Smith lately. If you were  customer of the original Bill's Coffeeshop between 1998 and 2008, you probably remember him. He was very tall and very thin, so tall and thin that he went through a time of being called "Stick." Steve died a little over two years ago, but his spirit is still around. It's in the coffeeshop and in the people who knew him.

Steve's spirit is also present at every concert on the Ped Mall in Iowa City. He was a fixture at Friday night concerts for a lot of years. You could always find him down in front of the stage. And he was, of course, dancing. Perhaps one night this summer, one of the bands will play a tribute to Steve. That would be nice.

AN IOWA CITY

ORIGINAL

Friday Evening Concerts are a special part of Iowa City. Summer concerts aren't unique to Iowa City, of course. But few other communities have worked as hard to create a great place for music. Thee space has improved significantly over the last decade, with the addition of the new library, lots of space for outdoor dining and the children's playground.

But nothing has done more to improve the Ped Mall than the Wearherdance Fountain. It's a grand addition to the area. 

COFFEESHOP IS PART OF LEGACY OF JANE ADDAMS

COFFEESHOP IS KEY PART OF
LEGACY OF JANE ADDAMS

BILL'S Coffeeshop customers are often surprised to learn that Jane
Addams imagined places like a coffeeshop as social work settings.
Actually, it was one of earliest innovations introduced by her -- and the
other women of Hull House.

 The settlement house opened its doors on Halsted Street in Chicago
in 1889. The coffeehouse opened shortly after that. It was to be a
community gathering place, Addams said, where all would be welcome. The
coffeehouse was both an informal drop-in place as well as the sponsor of a
host of programs, including theater, music, lectures and debates.

By 1895, the coffeehouse experience was in print. It was included
in one of the chapters which make up Hull House Maps and Papers. In 1910,
Addams included the coffeehouse in her best-known book, Twenty
Years at Hull House..

The coffeehouse idea was just one of a host of remarkable ideas
from Addams and the women of Hull House. They also started a day care
center for working mothers, a health clinic, a branch library and a public
playground. All of these were innovations when they began a century ago --
new institutions which responded to specific community needs.

Addams and the women of Hull House were also involved in forming a
host of community organizations. Among the best-known: NAACP, NASW, PTA,
AAUW, American Civil Liberties Union and the Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom. They also helped organize labor unions and
cooperatives.

RESEARCH IS PART OF THE
LEGACY OF ADDAMS, TOO

Little-known today is that all this activity was supported by an
extraordinary amount of research. From the earliest days of Hull House,
Addams and her colleagues were conducting research. Their first book,
Hull House Maps and Papers, is a detailed study of their neighborhood
including both quantitative and qualitative research. There were many
other published studies by Addams and her sister social researchers, from
Safeguards for City Youths (1914) to Tenements of Chicago (1936).
All of this "left a legacy that formed a basis for sociology as a way of
thinking, an area of study and a methodological approach to data
collecting," writes Lawrence Neuman in a new edition of a textbook called
Social Research methods published last year.

But Neuman's acknowledgement of the legacy of research by Addams
and the other women of Hull House is still one of the few one will find in academic
circles. Whether one looks in social work, sociology or urban studies, one
will find little about these feminist scholars.

David Sibley confirms this in an academic essay: "Virtually all texts
in urban geography and urban sociology...present the same history of the
subject. In this conventional account, urban studies began in Chicago in the
school of sociology about 1910...In fact, there were other authors...
analyzing urban problems at the same time and in the same place...
These largely forgotten authors were nearly all women."

SEXISM HAS KEPT THIS LEGACY
OUT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Why haven't Addams and other women scholars of Hull House
received credit for their research? Blatant sexism is the most important
factor, according to a number of writers.

Mary Jo Deegan reaches this conclusion in her book called Jane
Addams and the Men of the Chicago School. "Despite her [Addams] vision and
contributions...her authorship..has been obliterated from the annals of
the discipline and many of her ideas were only selectively used and
distorted."

 David Sibley agrees, offering two quotes from male social
scientists to illustrate their sexists attitudes. One referred to the
women of Hull House as "the old maids downtown who were wet-nursing social
reformers." A second claimed that "the greatest damage done to the city of
Chicago was not the product of corrupt politicians or criminals but the
women reformers."

 Neuman, writing in the research text, says Addams was the target
of gender bias on the part of higher education and as a result was "unable
to secure regular work in universities."

AGAIN, THE SPIRIT OF BILL * A CONTINUING EXPERIMENT * COFFEE QUOTES *

REMODELED BILL'S
IS NOW OPEN
Yeah! The remodeled Bill's Coffeeshop is now open. Two great features are an expanded kitchen (with plenty of counter space) and restored wooden floors (covered for years by linoleum tile). The coffeeshop is open weekdays from 8 am. If you're not in Iowa City, you can see photos of the renovated coffeeshop on the Facebook page for Friends of Bill's Coffeeshop page.

A CONTINUING EXPERIMENT IN THE
"SOCIAL"  PART OF SOCIAL WORK
Wild Bill's Coffeeshop at the University of Iowa is a continuing experiment in the
"social" part of social work. From the beginning, the coffeeshop's
goal has been to bring people together across boundaries which divide
us. The particular mission of Bill's has been to offer a place for
crossing a boundary called "ability." Bob Finch, a longtime friend and
supporter, calls this "abilities awareness."

But there are other boundaries, too, which Bill's tries to cross, including 
those between student and teacher, and between campus and community. It is
an ongoing project, something which continues to unfold.

Ideas for the role of the coffeeshop come both from the unique history
of Bill's and from the history of the social work profession. Hull
House in Chicago had a coffeeshop before 1900. It was one of the very
first projects of the settlement house started by Jane Addams and
Ellen Gates Starr.

From reading the letters and speeches of Jane Addams, I have discovered
that the reasons for the success of the Hull House coffeeshop are quite
similar to those for the success of Bil's (and similar ventures)
today. Back then, people wanted a sense of community, a place where
they felt they belonged. They also wanted an informal place.

Now, in 2010, people who visit Wild Bill's say they come for similar
reasons. Customers say that what they like is the informality of the
coffeeshop and its feeling of community. Ray Oldenberg, who wrote a
book on coffeeshops and cafes, says the best coffeeshops are a "third
place" between home and work. (His book echoes some of the themes of a
study conducted by Hull House researchers more than a century ago.)

Each day, those who come to Wild Bill's take part in an experiment
with the "social" in social work. It can be found in art projects and in
conversations, in office hours and in student meetings. It can also be
found in the music and theater presented in the coffeeshop and in the AA
groups which meet here.

The coffeeshop is an ever-evolving effort in creating a sense of
community. It is a place to experience "belonging moments," in
the words of Jenny Barry, a 2001 MSW grad.

We can take these experiences at Bill's (and Uptown Bill's, and
similar places) and carry them with us wherever we go.
Then we can create new "belonging moments" for others in the
communities where we work and live.

AGAIN, IT'S THE

SPIRIT OF BILL
I made to the grand reopening for Wild Bill's. But getting there was a once in a lifetime experience. I was traveling from Aberdeen to Iowa City, a 600 mile trip.

The weather was unbelievable on the way there: snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain. At one point I thought there must be someone on the roof of the car hurling ice chunks down on the hood. At another point the car was covered with slush, except for the front windows.  And for a time I found it hard to distinguish between the road and the prairie.

It wasn't much better on the way back. In fact, I had to stop for a day in Sioux City because the roads further north were closed due to a blizzard.

Why did I do it? I guess it had something to do with the spirit of Bill.

The truth is that I had pretty much decided not to go. Just about everyone had advised me not to make the trip.

But a chance encounter with my neighbor Laura Marsh changed my mind. "You can make it," she said. "Go."

Now Laura is one of two people from Aberdeen I have taken to Bill's. She had accompanied me on a December trip, which included art museums as well as coffeeshops. So her urging me to go was more than just a casual comment. It was just the push I needed.

I arrived in Iowa City just 30 minutes for the grand reopening. Several people expressed surprised that I had arrived. "We figured you wouldn't be able to come because of the weather," said one. "Laura told me I could make it," I responded.

Later, during the reception, I told a few stories about the coffeeshop from my years as manager. And I mentioned Laura's assurance that I would make it, noting that I recalled her words several times on the trip. "She had to be channeling the spirit of Bill," I concluded.

    -- Tom Gilsenan

ANOTHER CUP OF
COFFEE QUOTES

You can tell when you have crossed the frontier into Germany because of the
badness of the coffee -- Edward VII

It was one of those mornings when a man could face the day only after warming
himself with a mug of thick coffee beaded with steam, a good thick crust of
bread, and a bowl of bean soup -- Richard Gehman

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering
influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to
reproduce -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Customer: Hey, this coffee tastes like mud!
Waiter: It should; it was ground this morning