Maurice: Autism Awareness Month redux
by Maurice
April has been a great month! Many organizations helped celebrate Autism Awareness month nationwide, including our very own Easter Seals.
I have been busy myself, going around and out of town meeting new faces and telling my life story. It all started with a trip to Great Falls to meet a group of people who were hosting Autism Awareness Week at Easter Seals-Goodwill Northern Rocky Mountain. It was the first time I’ve been to Montana and it’s a great state to visit!
Back home in Chicago, Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago celebrated Autism Awareness Month in great fashion. This past Monday, the Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research hosted a balloon release event with help from White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, third baseman Josh Fields and pitcher Matt Thornton. Southpaw, the team mascot, was there, too. Even though most of the day was windy and grey, all of the students at the school helped released the different balloons into the overcast sky. After the event, Ozzie and the players took a tour of the Therapeutic School, visiting different classrooms and all of the interesting places within the school.
Later that evening, all the folks from Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago were supposed to participate in Autism Awareness Night at the White Sox game. Terry Bracey — a graduate of the Therapeutic School and a member of my band The Naturals — was supposed to sing the National Anthem for that game, but the game was called due to rain. We had a lucky break — all of the festivities were pushed back to Game 1 of a double header the very next day, and Terry got the chance to sing the National Anthem after all. Even though I may not have been inside the ballpark (I was one of the thousand fans waiting in line to exchange tickets), I was fortunate enough to listen to Terry over the public address.
It was a good day for baseball (for the first game of the double header, at least — the White Sox won that one!) and an exciting end to an exciting month of April. We look forward to May and hope it’s a great month also!
May 6th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Yes, Mike, singing the National Anthem is a lot of hype, but you better be sure of what you’re doing, in which Terry knew what he was doing. Like I said, I wish I was inside the ballpark and see Terry in person, but I was fortunate enough to listen to him through the public address system, which is good enough for me!
Thank you, Diana for your comment! I look forward to meeting your son sometime!
May 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
just found out my 13yr.old sweet boy is autistic. nice to know there is so much out there, felt so happy for you and your adventure in baseball heaven…my son loves sports. Diana
May 1st, 2009 at 9:26 am
Maurice, I had tickets to Monday night’s game, and went to the rescheduled game on Tuesday. I was lucky enough to be in the ballpark for the singing of the anthem. Terry was terrific; not only on key throughtout (it’s a pretty hard song to sing), but also injecting some sincere emotion. I always get a little hyped up during the anthem, even after decades of going to games. But this was second to none. The crowd was slim–not everyone who had tickets for Monday night could get to the Tuesday afternoon game–but it actually made the sound reverberate and fill the stadium. And…the Sox won! (Glad I didn’t go to game two.)