[Harp-L] Let Me Tell You My Dream

["jon Gindick" <jongindick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tutwiler is the tiny and poor Mississippi Delta town 
where Sonny Boy Williamson II is buried.
Every Jam Camp, I lead a caravan of campers up Highway 49
to the barely paved backroads of Tutwiler--
caravaning through the old broken down buildings and homes
where people are currently living. We drive through the town, out to a peaceful field,
where you find the graves of Sonny Boy's sisters
who died in a house fire,
and also the grave of the man himself.
We stand in the field and I tell what I know about Sonny Boy.
Then we get in our cars, drive back through the heart-breaking poverty.


It gave me a dream, a vague dream of doing something to help.
But what?

The dream was answered by reality when an article 
about the Tutwiler Health Clinic came out in the LA Times.
As I read the article, the rubber started to meet the road
and my dream turned into an idea.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/03/nation/la-na-mississippi-20100603-34
 
The idea is that because harmonica players love Sonny Boy so much, 
part of his legacy could be a fund WE Harp Players create for this tiny community to help
the Tutwiler Health Clinic save lives and provide services.
A Living  Sonny Boy-Tutwiler-Harp Players-Charity.

I arrived in Clarksdale a day early and drove out to Tutwiler and introduced myself to 
Sister Anne Brooks, MD
the nun/doctor who runs the clinic. 
http://www.tutwilerclinic.org/
I told her my idea, and she told me she had tended to Sonny Boy's sisters
before they died.

Sister Brook's suggestion was that we create a fund that would bring music instruction
to the Tutwiler Community Education Center, which she said was part of the health clinic.
This surprised me, but I guess Sister Brooks is into keeping people healthy
as much as she about helping them when they get sick.
http://tutwilerclinic.org/

The Community Education Center is in the center of town , which is
about one block from the edge of town. 
It is actually a newer building, a wonderful facility someone bought for Tutwiler.
I was warmly greeted, and shown around.
There was one room with computers and teenagers studiously working.

In another room, al arge auditorium, 
 there were 50 or 60 senior citizens eating lunch at a tables.
My host introduced me in the most lavishing terms
and I told them how great Sonny Boy Williamson was,
and played a few verses of "Keep It To Yourself!"
A couple of women got up and danced. 

Before I finally left the facility to ponder what I could do to make my dream
of helping this town a reality, I was led into a small gift shop
that sold quilts that were made by the women of Tutwiler.

The most beautiful handmade, brightly colored quilts you have ever seen.
And the prices, a fraction of what they would cost in LA, or in any catalog.
So happens we needed a quilt so I bought a King Size.

They shipped it immediately, and it was on the bed when I returned home.
I can tell you that this is a piece of functional folk art.
Absolutely beautiful AND the most comfortable thing I have ever slept under.
It will be cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
The perfect weight. King size: $400
http://www.tutwilerquilters.org

Back to the Dream...
seems to me maybe we can create a fund to raise $5000 --
tto bring in a multi-instrument guitar 
and harmonica teacher one day a week
for a year. 
(I have the perfect guy in mind.)
Are you interested in contributing  to such a fund
to help that ol' rascal Sonny Boy's Legend work for the locals?

This is something all harp players can do together,
and  it seems to me it would bring glory on blues harp players everywhere.

And if you are tempted to donate now,
just go to 
http://tutwilerclinic.org/help.html
Where you will find the Tutwiler Health Clinic's Pay Pal link
and website.
Please tell them you are contributing the to 
Sonny Boy's Fund for the Music Teacher,
(unless their is an issue more pressing.)