Africa and a New Job

I have been called out for my lack of posts this summer. Here are a couple poor excuses:

#1 I just returned from Africa. An amazing trip ... more to report later.

#2 I am in a trasitional time now moving to a new job. I have accepted the role of Executive Director of the "all new" Kankakee Chamber of Commerce. You can read about it at www.daily-journal.com

Kankakee in Jerusalem

Chuck Brodsky is an amazing folk singer and songwriter but more than anything he is a wonderful storyteller. He came to Kankakee for the first time in December and played a concert at the Kohl Center downtown. I drove him around town assuming that someone who writes songs that are brought to life with details of people and places would enjoy seeing the area. Judging by the look in his eyes he was intense about taking it all in. As it turned out the look in his eye might have been hunger. It was almost three in the afternoon and he hadn't eaten all day. Chuck did enjoy his evening in Kankakee and is looking forward to returning someday.
Chuck has written songs about baseball that can be heard in Cooperstown at the Hall of Fame. He played some of those songs while in Kankakee but also made an impression with songs about other topics. Chuck sang a tune titled, "Boys in the Back Room" about dirty city politcians. It was his first time performing the song for a actual city mayor. Kankakee Mayor Don Green realized the song was not directed at him.
Other notes of interest (or not)
- Chuck drank his first Old Style in Kankakee with me. It was not my first Old Style.
- Chuck's concert in Kankakee raised over $1,000 for the Community Foundation of the Kankakee River Valley
- Chuck has never mentioned Kankakee in any of his songs ... at least not yet.
Check Chuck out at www.chuckbrodsky.com and in thes photos below from a trip to Jerusalem.

Alabama Librarians and Scuba Divers

Beth Ashmore's father Sam grew up in Kankakee's "White City" neighborhood and her mother Dode (Yohnka) Ashmore was raised in nearby Chebanse. Her mother and my father are twins. That fact makes her my cousin. Actually, as you might know just having parents who are siblings makes you someone's cousins, the fact that they are twins is just extra. I am aware that some twins claim to have very special connections to the point where they feel each other's pain. This isn't like Bill Clinton's ability to "feel your pain," this is more like my Dad eating a borrito at midnight and my Aunt Dode wakes up with heartburn. My father claim this never happens to him and his twin sister, mainly because my father dosen't care for most types of spicey mexican dishes. I have better evidence for the fact that some twins dress alike. My father and Aunt Dode did not and do not match outfits as far as I know. However, Beth and I each sport our Kankakee shirts every chance we get.
Beth (on the right) and Jill recently submitted this photo and comment:
"My friend Jill and I got our picture taken in our shirts at the recent Alabama Library Association event in Mobile, Alabama. I actually had a guy come up to me and tell me that he was almost certified in scuba in Kankakee, but something didn't work out with the scheduling so he had to be certified in Florida instead. It puzzled me a bit as to where one would even go scuba diving in Kankakee much less be certified in it, but I guess that just goes to show how much I don't know about the wonders of Kankakee and why it needs an ambassador (even if it is an unofficial one)."
The scuba diver Beth met spoke the truth. Haigh Quarry is a place to go scuba diving in Kankakee. I first heard of it because the folks at the quarry sponsored a racecar at the Kankakee Motor Speedway. Reports from people who have gone diving in the quarry say it is wonderful. The sign at the quarry claims it as "The Caribbean of the Midwest!" Here is the link to the Haigh Quarry:
www.haighquarry.com

Welcome to Kankakee

One of the ideas behind the Kankakee shirts and this site is simply to remind people that there is something special about Kankakee and other small cities that share some of Kankakee's qualities, struggles, history and opportunity.

It is only natural that many people are drawn to our nations large cities because of business, and cultural attractions. There are other who would rather live in booming suburbs. Still others, want to venture to remote homesites and small villages where they can "get away from it all." While I see the value in all those places I think there is something special about authentic small cities that are full of the sort of charm and possibilities that are not always obvious at first glance.

One of the things I plan to bring to this site, in addition to people in their Kankakee shirts, is some of the underappreciated beauty found in Kankakee. If you can help me do that email me at byohnka@juno.com.

That's my Kankakee Shirt ... really it is

This is a piece of video I recently found on the internet of Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion at Merlefest 2006 (the link is below). I realize that from the angle of this short video there appears to be no evidence of a Kankakee shirt ... but I know better.

Johnny Irion is wearing the Kankakee shirt that I had originaly fashioned years ago while living in Milwaukee. I made this shirt with the help of an old baseball style shirt, blue jean patch material, a pair of sissors, and a couple of Old Styles. Johnny and I traded shirts when he came to Kankakee in December of 2005. Johnny is pictured elsewhere on this site jamming out with Willie Nelson in the same shirt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y24QB6J9RHA

My Kankakee ... Song

This is Myshkin. I have never met her. Her band, Myshkin's Ruby Warblers recorded a tune titled, "King of Kankakee." She e-mailed me saying that she had never been to Kankakee. She claimed, "It was a love song from a very crazy time, I was on tour, we were driving by, it sounded nice....and somehow worked in my brain to codify the midwestern element of the person I was writing about...kind of accidental but sometime lyrics just work that way." The song is a rocking little tune. Myyshkin's number is not as well known as "The City of New Orleans," a song Steve Goodman wrote and Arlo Guthrie made famous.

Both songs can be purchased on iTunes for a total of $1.98 in a matter of a few clicks.

Kankakee in Africa

Here is my brother Bob in his Kankakee shirt attempting to play ping-pong with a cat in Africa. Despite the impression you may get from this photo Bob and his wife Michelle are doing some very important work in Zambia as part on an AIDS research project with Emory University and the Gates Foundation. You can read about the adventures of a couple Kankakee kids Africa at thier blog: http://michellebobzambia.blogspot.com/

Bob has made some interesting connections because of his Kankakee shirt. This is how he explauned it in a recent email:

"I wore my Kankakee shirt to a mzungu (foreign person) party at a friend's house. From across the room someone asks…"Hey is that Kankakee, Illinois?" She was a former University of Illinois student familiar with the Shell on Court Street. She had a roommate that was from Bourbonnais. I didn’t know her and I can't remember her name now. I will try to get better details in the future. Last weekend while cooking out at my place this guy says, “Your really from Kankakee?”. He was from Naperville and played Kankakee in football. Uniquely, he moved to Atlanta and then to Zambia. A somewhat similar path to my own."

Buy Kankakee Shirts online soon ... Downtown now

In just the first few days of mykankakeeshirt.com I have had a number of requests by those who want to have their own shirt. Of course, you can make your own but soon you will also have a way to buy shirts online.

If you live in the Kankakee area you can buy shirts at the Unity Skateshop on Court Street in downtown Kankakee or you can e-mail me (Bill Yohnka, unofficial Kankakee Ambassador) at byohnka@juno.com or call me at 815.933.7478.

Johnny Irion, a Kankakee Shirt and Willie

Johnny Irion is seen here jamming with Willie Nelson all while sporting his Kankakee shirt. This is my original hand crafted shirt that I traded with Johnny when his father-in-law (Arlo Guthrie) and family visited Kankakee in December of 2005. This shirt is a standard issue baseball shirt with letters that I cut out of iron-on blue jean patch material. Johnny and his wife Sarah Lee Guthrie are very talented, please check them out if you get the chance.

Bob and a warthog

My brother Bob is in Zambia with his wife Michelle. Here Bob shows off his Kankakee shirt with a warthog during a camping trip. Bob and Michelle are from Kankakee and are working with Emory University on an AIDS research project.