{"id":10749,"date":"2014-02-24T08:20:47","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T08:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:#clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/?p=10749"},"modified":"2022-11-12T16:16:41","modified_gmt":"2022-11-12T21:16:41","slug":"the_spc_community_remembers_pete_seeger_749","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/articles\/the_spc_community_remembers_pete_seeger_749\/","title":{"rendered":"The SPC Community Remembers Pete Seeger"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nEditor\u2019s Note: Pete Seeger, the legendary singer, activist and organizer, passed away on January 27 of this year at the age of 94. His impact cannot be overstated and many of us were lucky enough to have spent some time with him during his journey. Here are, in no particular order, a few testimonials from the Syracuse Peace Council community.
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\nAndy Mager:<\/b><\/p>\n

Pete Seeger was among the first people to join the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign\u2019s Honorary Advisory Committee, sending us a brief handwritten note with a drawing of a banjo. A good friend of Oren Lyons, Pete looked for ways to actively support the campaign despite his flagging energy. He welcomed us at the Beacon Sloop Club, taught the crowd a Seneca paddling song at the New York City Two Row kickoff event and spoke eloquently at the Two Row Festival in his hometown of Beacon during our trek down the Hudson.
\nPete appeared on Democracy Now! with Oren and I on August 9, 2013, the morning the Two Row flotilla landed in New York City. Had Pete been just a little younger, he certainly would have paddled with us at least part of the down the river he loved so deeply. Despite his fame, he remained a humble person who liked to get his hands dirty. I could feel his discomfort as the staff at Democracy Now! crowded around him after our the show, seeking autographs and photos. His shining example of creativity, passionate commitment to justice, peace and the Earth is now passed on to us. Let us carry on the work that he did so much to support in his long and full life.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
Caption: Pete Seeger speaking at the Two Row<\/div>\n
Campaign Renewal kickoff event in March of 2013.
\nSource: Eric Weiss Photography<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Bryce Hand:<\/b><\/p>\n

The first time I heard Pete Seeger was in the fall of 1953, when I was a freshman at Antioch College. Dorm-mates on their way out the door asked if I was going to hear Pete Seeger. \u201cWho\u2019s he?\u201d I asked.  \u201cA really great folk-singer!\u201d
\nAntioch was a hotbed of liberalism and deep into folk music \u2014 as was I \u2014 so I followed the crowd to the gym. The concert was free, covered by student fees. We sat around on the gym floor, while Seeger\u2019s \u201cplatform\u201d was a pile of mats normally used for tumbling.
\nAs seniors in spring \u201858 (Antioch being a five-year undergrad institution because of its work-study program), a friend and I engineered a return visit by Seeger. I made arrangements for the concert to be held in the auditorium of a local school.<\/p>\n

The day before the concert, I received a call from the superintendent: \u201cI\u2019m calling to tell you you won\u2019t be able to use the auditorium.\u201d A Mrs. Pruitt, president of the American Legion\u2019s Ladies Auxiliary in nearby Xenia, upset by Seeger\u2019s left-wing activities, had demanded the concert be cancelled. I was outraged and blew up at the superintendent. He backed down and the concert went on as scheduled. Seeger dedicated his opening song to Mrs. Pruitt… to the tune of Oh Clean O Clean-O\u201d: \u201cOh the Ladies\u2019 Auxiliary is a good Auxiliary; It\u2019s the best Auxiliary that you ever did see. If you need an Auxiliary, get the Ladies\u2019 Auxiliary; It\u2019s the Ladies Auxiliary!\u201d The next day I was named in a short piece in the middle of the front page of the Dayton Daily News describing the previous night\u2019s nefarious activities:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Gary Weinstein:<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Folk singer in Manhattan coffee houses, study groups and to young Reds throughout New York City like Marvin Weinstein in the 1930s; classmate to John F Kennedy at Harvard; writer or co-writer of timeless folk gems Where have All the Flowers Gone, Turn, Turn, Turn, and If I Had a Hammer;
\nan early interpreter of Winoweh; a rebel member of the Weavers at the frenetic height of the McCarthy scare; early influence on Bob Dylan; one-man desegregationist movement; traveling brother to Woody; a man of unshakeable faith and principle and insurrection; a protester of singular courage who told HUAC to go to hell…<\/p>\n

\u2026 a singular national treasure, has died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Pete Seeger, the legendary singer, activist and organizer, passed away on January 27 of this year at the age of 94. His impact cannot be overstated and many of us were lucky enough to have spent some time with him during his journey. Here are, in no particular…<\/p>\n

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