Letters to the editor:
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Peter, Paul, and Mary are fine popular artists. I respect them and their work. I don’t share the view Peter, Paul, and Mary have watered down anything but have contributed to the popular music scene by offering quality entertainment. I have nothing but the highest reverence for my friend and source of inspiration Pete Seeger. He is a great popularizer of American and international folk music, and the country is better off for his wonderful performance abilities. I loved Frank Sinatra’s singing, but if I had a choice I would attend a Pete Seeger concert.
Fictional accounts of how the school was started can be dispelled by reading Win’s statements in “Biography of a Hunch.” Win did not just hire me to be the first teacher because we have articles of incorporation that show the original cofounders as Win Stracke, president, me as vice president, and Gertrude Soltker as the treasurer. Our roles were succinct. Win would promote the school and help in the development of the mission statement. He would act as administrator, officiate at school functions, and be the general spokesperson. I was head of the teaching program and devised and applied the curriculum. Together Win and I worked out innovative concert programs, the traditional Second Half, the instruction books, and the general philosophical direction of the school. In the very beginning stages, before we hired more teachers, no one else was around to help us do this day-to-day work except for the dedicated efforts of Gertrude Soltker, who kept us out of the red, and Dawn Greening, who I would characterize as the “heart” of the school. Win was a popular figure in Chicago, and it’s entirely understandable why. He was not only personable, open, warmhearted, and intelligent but was a great entertainer and popularizer of American folk music. He gave joy to young and old and should be remembered as a Chicago treasure.
