Dean’s Column
The Dean of the North Shore Chapter of AGO writes a monthly column for our newsletter, Overtones. Those messages will appear here, along with any other posts or articles from the Dean between editions.
Dean’s Column | July 2020
Dear Friends, Summer is officially here! It’s time to fire up those grills, fill up the coolers and get ready to engage in all those summer activities we have been looking forward to over the recent months. Well, not exactly….I think we would all agree it has...
Dean’s ColumnJune 2020
Dear Friends, Having watched Michael Jordan’s “The Last Dance” series a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but compare it to the situation facing many of us as musicians serving in a church setting. Is it possible we shared our “last dance” when we were...
Dean’s ColumnMay 2020
Dear Friends, If you are like me, you don’t want to hear one more thing about the present situation with the coronavirus. It seems to be part of most conversations, and of course, naturally so. Though, I do love the fact that the world has come to our doorstep in the...
Dean’s ColumnApril 2020
While scientists and public health officials scramble to defeat the COVID19 virus, I have been thinking about how to respond in a way that brings hope and life to the situation we find ourselves in. Clearly we need to avoid naïveté and denial, selfish choices and...
Dean’s ColumnMarch 2020
My parents gave me a lot of good advice. One piece I tend to ignore is, “Go to bed early, as nothing beneficial happens after midnight.” But there is one, I have adhered to for decades. “If at all possible, go to the wake or funeral.” Being in the line of work most of...
Dean’s ColumnFebruary 2020
Recently, friends of ours invited us to a small gathering in the western suburbs to meet the daughter of the late Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. She and her family had just moved to Chicago and were anxious to make some new friends. It was amazing to notice...
Dean’s ColumnJanuary 2020
The story is told of a monk who woke up hungry in the middle of the night. After lighting a candle, he reached into a bowl of dates next to his bed, picked up one and took a bite of it. Glancing down at the half that remained, he noticed a worm, so he threw the date...
Dean’s ColumnDecember 2019
Dear Friends, It seems as though I was just pondering who would join our family for Thanksgiving and now we are marching through December. Though we don’t have any official programs planned for this month, I love that we are naturally surrounded by beautiful music of...
Dean’s ColumnNovember 2019
As a gardener, by November I have prepared my flower beds for the long Chicago winter. Furniture has been hauled into the garage and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that a high percentage of life will now be happening indoors. Winding down may be a natural scenario...
Dean’s ColumnOctober 2019
Being an unabashed Anglophile since my college days, I’ve been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and his writings. My dog is even named Strider, after Aragorn, the future King in Lord of the Rings. I’ve appreciated Tolkien’s quote, “All we have to decide is what to do with the...