The Andrew Goodman Prize

Aside from music ["In Recognition of Excellence in clarinet"], winning this award has a special significance to me:

This Prize was created by one of my clarinet teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, Leon Russianoff, to honor the memory of his student, Andrew Goodman (November 23, 1943 – June 21, 1964), who was one of three American civil rights activists who were murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

It wasn't until years later, when I looked at that Prize hanging in the frame near my piano, and I wandered who it was named after.

So, I googled it, and I came across this Link on Internet. I was blown away, and rented this great movie, "Mississippi Burning (1988)", which put this Prize into a much more meaningful perspective!

A few years ago, on a gig, I ran into a young man, a roadie, who was helping set up a sound system. His father was Andrew Goodman's brother!

This is another case of "Can't Make It Up!!!  

As I am writing this, it's been six days since the world got President Obama! Yep, things have changed...

      -- Arkady, NYC, USA, Monday, November 10, 2008

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"Can't Make It Up!!!"