Meaning from Media

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” It is impossible to create art without leaving a piece of yourself in what you craft, and in so doing offer up that piece to those who consume it. Those who partake of this sacrament allow that offering to shape their view of reality, by adding a new lens to the kaleidoscope of their own stained glass window into the human condition. The warp and weft of this evolution can reveal aspects of life that couldn’t have been seen from sterile isolation, and what is found may prove to undermine foundations once believed to be immutable. If you will indulge me, I invite you to open yourself to that uncertainty by engaging with a piece of media that guided me through one of the most momentous events of my life.

Blake Hindrichs has been a committed member of the Ethical Society of St. Louis since March of 2024. After achieving his associate degree in communication at San Diego Mesa College and winning first place in the International Forensics Association's collegiate debate championship in Berlin, Germany, Blake made the natural career move one would expect from there and became a blue collar tradesman in the Midwest, moving states in the height of the pandemic in 2020. Somehow adrift at sea in a landlocked state on lockdown, he was lured by the siren call of an advertisement for a Candlelight Concert being hosted here at ESSL, where he finally found the community he now calls home.

This Platform will feature music from the Cherry & Jerry Ragtime Duo. “Cherry & Jerry” is Isaac Cherry on percussion and Jerry Rabushka on piano; they focus mainly on music from 1900-1920: ragtime, early blues and jazz, and popular songs from back in the day.

The St. Louis duo has toured music of the ragtime era throughout the region, appearing at libraries, museums, pubs and restaurants, special events, and more. Appearances include the Illinois State Fair, the George Washington Carver National Monument, the DuSable Black History Museum in Chicago, the Big River Steampunk Festival, and the Missouri History Museum.