Teny gross biography of martin

King: A Life

Join us for a special celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Jonathan Eig, recently named a Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts by the Chicago Tribune and author of the bestselling biography, KING: A Life.

King: A Life has reached critical acclaim! It has been named a National Book Award Nominee, Amazon's Best Biography of , New York Times Bestseller, Barack Obama Favorite Read of , and is said to be “the definitive" account of King’s life by the New York Times. A limited number of books will be available for a suggested donation of $20 to the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. Plus, a bonus author book-signing will take place after the discussion!

Eig will join a panel including Nonviolence Chicago staff members to broaden and deepen our understanding of and commitment to Dr. King’s principles of nonviolence. We will also discuss how his philosophy guides Nonviolence Chicago's community violence interventions. 

As our annual act of service in Dr. King's honor, we will assemble toiletry bags to be donated to members of the Austin community. *Please bring toiletries of any size to contribute to the toiletry bags* and stay to help us assemble them for distribution. We need new and unused soap, toothbrushes & toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, etc.

AGENDA

  • a.m. Coffee, mingle, toiletry drop off
  • a.m. Welcome address by Teny Gross, Executive Director, Institute for Nonviolence Chicago; and Connector Exercise led by Orion Meadows, Nonviolence Trainer, Institute for Nonviolence Chicago
  • a.m. Panel / Book Discussion with Jonathan Eig
  • a.m. Audience Q&A 
  • a.m. Author book-signing, Act of Service, & Tours of our new Austin office space located on the 3rd floor 

*Lunch provided.*

Please RSVP.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Eig

Jonathan Eig is the bestselling author of six books, including his most recent, King: A Life, which The New York Times

  • Gross is a philosophically minded,

    • John Martinsen was born in New York City in He spent his childhood in New York City prior to moving to Washington where he received his B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering from Walla Walla College, Washington and his Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. In , he married the love of his life, Linda, in Puyallup, Washington; and they moved to the Chicago area where they lived for 10 years and had three children.

    In , they moved to Corvallis where John joined the firm serving as an environmental engineer in the industrial wastewater discipline for about 15 years, spanning the late s to the early s. During the last year-plus of his tenure, he served as Department Manager for the Corvallis Industrial Wastewater Department.

    About , Don changed careers to become a financial advisor/manager with Wells Fargo until his retirement this year. He counseled several of his colleagues from the Corvallis office.

    John had a passion for community service, volunteering in many areas. He also had a love for the outdoors, rafting, skiing, running, golf, hiking, mountain climbing, and reading. Always an adventurous spirit, John had been planning to ride the zip line at Mt. Bachelor for his 77th birthday this year.

    John was well known for his humor, generous and kind spirit, and excellent memory. He was a great listener and always made others feel good about themselves.

    On June 4, , John, 76, died from cancer at home in Corvallis, surrounded by his loving family.

    Craig Massie was born in Salem, OR, on May 15, After living for the first 5 years of his life in Salem, then Minneapolis, MN, his family moved to Spokane, WA, where he attended grade, middle, and high schools, graduating from Mead High School in

    Craig was the third generation in his family to attend Washington State University (WSU) at Pullman, graduating cum laude in with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Craig was a member of the Phi Kap

  • Teny Gross. Chief Executive
  • Teny Gross, Executive Director, Institute
    • [House Hearing, Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] MAKING COMMUNITIES SAFER: YOUTH VIOLENCE AND GANG INTERVENTIONS THAT WORK ======================================================================= HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION __________ FEBRUARY 15, __________ Serial No. __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary Available via the World Wide Web: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE PDF WASHINGTON : For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: Phone: toll free () ; DC area () Fax: () Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan, Chairman HOWARD L. BERMAN, California LAMAR SMITH, Texas RICK BOUCHER, Virginia F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., JERROLD NADLER, New York Wisconsin ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina ELTON GALLEGLY, California ZOE LOFGREN, California BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas STEVE CHABOT, Ohio MAXINE WATERS, California DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts CHRIS CANNON, Utah WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts RIC KELLER, Florida ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DARRELL ISSA, California LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California MIKE PENCE, Indiana STEVE COHEN, Tennessee J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia HANK JOHNSON, Georgia STEVE KING, Iowa LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois TOM FEENEY, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California TRENT FRANKS, Arizona ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas ADAM B. SCHIFF, California JIM JORDAN, Ohio ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota [Vacant] Perry Apelbaum, Staff Director and Chief Counsel Joseph Gibson, Minority Chief Counsel Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman MAXINE WATERS, California J. RANDY FORBES,

    Taking It to the Streets

    DaviD C. grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. With no father around and a drug-addicted mother, he moved through foster homes, gathering a fragile sense of worth from a gang of friends. “All I aspired to was being important on the street,” he says. “There was nothing about a future.” He spent five years in juvenile detention and a few in prison, and still has a reputation among local cops for living up to his nickname, “Devious,” for once escaping through the police-station roof.

    At 37, he is still hanging out with the kids—in the schools, at their homes, the hospital, or the mall. But as a street worker with the city’s Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, he now prevents the very violence he once provoked. 

    Like David, most of the street workers are ex-gang members or former local criminals, says Teny Oded Gross, M.T.S. ’01, the institute’s founding executive director. Their backgrounds make them uniquely suited for what it takes to thwart a single act of violence: hours of face-to-face counseling of kids during their most heated, impulsive moments—when they might otherwise pull out a gun and do irreversible damage. “My job is not pretty—it’s not sending kids to Harvard, or anything fancy,” Gross explains. “It’s about keeping kids in this city alive between the ages of 14 and ”

    The kids are even willing to die for their housing projects. “These beefs are territorial, not ethnic or racial,” David explains on a drive through the darkened streets to visit kids at the Chad Brown Housing Development. A group of teenagers eyes the passing car. “They look at every occupant, every car,” he says. “If you see one slow down with people inside wearing hoods, then you worry. That makes your hair stand on end.” 

    This fall, gunmen on foot shot a six-year-old boy, reportedly while aiming for his mother’s girlfriend because she was in a rival project—an accident racked up to “the cost of the game,” David says. “I te