I have another note about pending expansion in the Chicago beer scene. The village of Westmont saw groundbreaking on a mixed-use, multi-family residential development called Quincy Station. Holladay Properties is building the property south of the Metra station on Cass Ave., at 1 W. Quincy Street. The prospective first floor commercial tenant will be Whiskey Hill Brewing Co.

I’ll look forward to that, as Whiskey Hill’s new spot would replace the departed Scallywag Brewing in downtown Westmont, and would set up four consecutive stops on the Metra BNSF line within pub crawling distance of a brewer: WH in Westmont, and Goldfinger, Emmet’s and Alter at the three Downers Grove stops. This is on a line that also stops near Flapjack and Lagunitas, and ends at the Two Brothers Roundhouse.

Monday, September 14

Tuesday, September 15

Wednesday, September 16

Thursday, September 17

Funeral services are pending as Chicago mourns the news spread for 58-year-old activist Mark Allen, father of  2 who made his transition believed to be of a heart attack at 9:37 a.m. Saturday, September 12, 2020, at the University of Chicago Hospital with his family and friends by his bedside and just minutes after Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. prayed for him over the phone.  Allen was a beloved Civil rights activist and founding member of Rainbow PUSH.

The Know1 Radio host Mark Allen was found unresponsive Friday afternoon at his National Black Wall Street Chicago Office 4655 S. King Drive, where he was president and CEO—an organization he began 13 years ago, according to his brother.

In a detailed statement by Chinta Strausberg we learned;

The Allen family had also called Saint Sabina’s Father Michael L. Pfleger who gave a prayer of thanksgiving “for his life” and strength for his brother, J. Minor Allen, and sister, Michelle Allen-Marsh. His sister said her brother died of a heart attack.

His brother said while Mark, who is a father of two, died while in an induced coma Saturday morning. At his brother’s bedside –  besides himself, he was surrounded by his family and friends including his sister, his son, Marcus Allen, his aunt, Patricia Barnette, and her daughter Erin Dawn Barnette, cousins Floanda Allen, Derrick Allen, and Richard Allen Jr. and his long-time friend, Rev. James Antike.

Later, speaking to dozens of Rainbow PUSH Coalition volunteers, Rev. Jackson said a prayer for Mark Allen thanking him for once being his national field director.

Thanking Rev. Jackson and Father Pfleger for their prayers, J. Minor Allen said, “Mark was in an induced coma so they could work on him. He had a pulse and a heartbeat,” his brother told this reporter. “The doctors stabilized his heart. That is when I thought my brother would make it. He didn’t.

“The problem is nobody knows how long Mark was unconscious…one or two hours,” his brother recounted. “My brother was without oxygen for a long time,” he said referring to Friday, September 11, 2020, when he kept calling Mark and finally asked a friend who lived close by his office to make a security check.

“I knew something was wrong because Mark didn’t do his show (“Can You Hear Me” that aired on the late Rev. Leon Finney’s Urban Broadcast Media (UBM) Network).”

The last time he spoke to Mark was about 11:30 a.m. Friday morning He was going to pick up his brother and take him to Gatling’s Chapel for the funeral of Ramon Senior Wade, the father of radio personality Ramonski Luv, that was held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Having a key to Mark’s office, when his brother’s friend entered Suite 203, Mark Allen, chairman, president, and CEO of National Black Wall Street Chicago he launched 13 years ago was found slumped over his desk unresponsive.

That is the time, the moment that changed the Allen family forever. Mark Allen was rushed to the University of Chicago Hospital where he was born on March 18, 1962, and died on September 12, 2020.

“The doctors tried everything to keep him alive,” his brother said. “He was a fighter.” Referring to his father, the late Minor Allen, Sr. who died in June of 2018 following the death of his wife Ollie, who passed in 2014 of breast cancer, Mark’s brother recalled how his brother attended Operation Breadbasket when he was just 6-years-old.

“Our father used to take Mark to Operation Breadbasket when it was held at the Capitol Theater located at 79th and Halsted,” he recalled. “He’s been an activist for a long time. Mark even ran for mayor of Chicago in 1976 against attorney Ellis Reid and Harold Washington as a write-in candidate. He was just 13 years old.”

“Mark eventually gave Ellis Reid his support,” he said referring to the 1976 mayoral election where Reid, Harold Washington, black undertaker A.A. “Sammy” Rayner, and others lost to Michael Bilandic.

Years later, in 1982, Mark, who graduated from the Western University and attended Columbia College majoring in broadcast communications, and his friend, James Anyike, who is now a minister and author in Indianapolis, were once ‘Students for Harold.’

“Mark, who was a Kappa Alpha Phi, and James got all the students registered all throughout Illinois including the colleges,” his brother proudly recalled. We must mention he was a beloved fellow CVS Cavalier where he went to high school.

Born and raised in Hyde Park and a member of Salem Baptist Church, his brother said Mark was always involved in social service jobs including working at the Chicago Urban League, DCFS, Illinois Department of Human Services, Midwest Academy, Citizen Action, and Rainbow PUSH Coalition as field director. Mark was also a delegate for Rev. Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns.

“For the past 15 years, Mark has been doing his own thing as chairman, president and CEO of the National Black Wall Street Chicago, and he was a talk show host on the Urban Broadcast Media Network but he got his start on WVON,” recalled his brother. He said Mark worked under the late Richard McGee, Richard Steele, and produced the Wesley South program.

“My brother left here and gave me the words ‘no matter what happened, stay structured, focused, and positioned.’ His favorite quote was, ‘I didn’t come to preach, but I can.’”

One of his greatest supporters was Florence Cox, former president of the Chicago Board of Education. “I am shocked and sadden to hear that Mark has passed because he was a person who worked tirelessly on behalf of the community.

“He was a very giving person, a jovial person, and someone who was supportive of me when I was president of the Chicago Board of Education. He always did research. He always had good information. He was a very energetic kind of person always looking to get away to help the people. I know that a lot of us will miss him,” said Cox.

“Everybody leaves a void when they make a transition but Mark was a fighter and a community activist,” she said. Sending her condolences to the Allen family, Cox added, “I am sorry that he has left us. Sometimes when people are in pain, it is better to have shared a portion of a person’s life than none at all. We were blessed to have shared a portion of his life.”

Mark Allen leaves to mourn his children, son, Marcus Allen, daughter, DaNia, sister, Michelle Allen-Marsh, brother, J. Minor Allen, and a host of friends and relatives. In Mark’s final social media post the day before he transitioned; he said

                                                                                                                                  “Hear My Voice, GOD Bless”

As the CEO and owner of High Society Management, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. Mark was an amazing person and friend and I am honored to have known him.

You can feel the season changing. Fall is coming. Rain, and the rainy sound of cicadas. Temps in the 60’s feel more like 50’s.  In the past few days, people have gone from shorts and T-shirts to hoodies and sweatpants. My furnace came on overnight!

The virus is still with us.  It changed  all the things we would do in the summer, and will be affecting how we live this fall as well. That is our reality, now.

The weather has been challenging, too. After the storms  on August 10, there are still fallen trees and damage here. Since then,  Hurricane Laura has ravaged Louisiana,  some parts still suffering damages from Hurricane Katrina 15 years ago.  And the hurricane season is far from over.

Meanwhile, wildfires burning in California and the Pacific Northwest. There are fire-tornadoes and fire-clouds! The red sky over San Francisco has been called apocalyptic. You’ve seen the photos. This is what climate change looks like.

Here’s the National Weather Service outlook for today–

Watches and Warnings are up for Sally in the central Gulf Coast. Smokey conditions remain in the Northwest and CA. Critical fire weather threats may cause rapid fire growth around the CA/OR/NV junction. Locally heavy rain may produce flash flooding in the mid-south. pic.twitter.com/IPHD64dNGV

— National Weather Service (@NWS) September 13, 2020

And here, in Chicago it’s sun and Sunday. The milkweed pods are ripening, and there are many monarch butterflies. The waning crescent moon in the morning light was so beautiful! Yes, there is beauty in this world.

Even in these uncertain and pandemic times, there is beauty, and hope and courage. Every day.

If you take care of your inside it will radiate on the outside. It is not about looking like a super model but having a healthy lifestyle. If you take care of yourself physically and mentally it will show on the outside. Do you know someone who does not fit society’s standard for beauty; yet their confidence and energy make them attractive? Do you know someone who does fit society’s standard for beauty, but they lack confidence and you can discern they have a negative view of themselves? What is the difference between the two people? One person has learned how to feel good about themselves. When you feel good about yourself it shows.

How do you feel good about yourself? You may feel people have damaged your self-esteem; however, we can be our worst critics. You do not have to agree with the negative words people have spoken about you. Do not participate with their negativity. Practice positive self-talk. Use positive self-talk to let go of any negativity, doubt, bitterness or self-pity that may have taken hold of you. Forgive yourself for past mistakes. Acknowledge that it is okay to love you. You may have imperfections, so what. Do not let family, friends, co-workers, the mirror or society determine your self-worth.

Do not focus on external things for your self-esteem. Focus on living a healthy lifestyle by making it a priority. Think positive about yourself. Spend time around positive people who can reinforce positivity in your life. Eat healthy, exercise, and get your rest. Concentrate on the inside and watch it manifest on the outside.

by Edward Shanahan.

Providing a new service of just Spirit Communication and Circle of Energy from Chicago Psychic Medium Edward Shanahan.

As time wanders into the abyss as it passes by, some memories never get lost in time, and some new memories can be created from times past, through experiences.

I have decided to provide another service for groups of individuals, be it held at their location or a haunted historic home is in the S. W. Suburbs. The home was built in the 1800s and remained in the family of a Senator until the youngest of the family passed, and no one has lived there since.

It is a combination of my Circle of Energy Seance and Spirit Communications during the Circle of Energy to provide an entertaining, spiritual, and an experience of what is waiting to be known from the Spirit World.

I will start with a short reading of each individual participating as a way of knowing who the old and young souls would be. Then the candles will be lit, and the lights turned down, and eventually, the candles being blown out.

At your location, you decide on the number of individuals you would like to invite, most seek to bring about their loved ones, and all can try.

If a large group of individuals, then there would be the circle of people around the table, I leave the Spirits decide who will be at the table, and the other individuals can sit behind those sitting at the table.

At times a person’s home has spirit activity. Then I provide more to help determine who or what the active spirit is before we go and do the Circle of Energy Seance with Spirit Communications.

If a location is active and the owner desires to bring calmness to the situation, then I will make that my goal by the end of the session.

My new service can also be provided at the historic home mentioned in the article. It will be limited to the number of people who can participate, but if interested, there are the spirits of the historic home that can also be attempted to bring across.

Some decide on a combination of loved ones and the spirits of the historic home.

As with any of my services that I offer to the public, the fee is based only on time spent, not the number of people participating.

For information on this new service, go to my website (Edward Shanahan) and email me from there seeking information about the service and mention it in your email.

Also, doing Psychic Phone Readings by appointment and even Private Psychic Readings with Spirit Communications or Design Your Own Psychic House Party, details are on my website at https://edwardshanahan.com

Be ready to experience what is already there.

Edward Shanahan

Visit Edward Shanahan’s  Psychic Medium website and awarded Best Chicago Psychic at: Edward Shanahan’s website.
Phone Readings, Private Readings, House Party/Gatherings, Spirit Communications information at the website.
On Twitter – includes a daily Spiritual / Paranormal Newspaper.
Edward Shanahan on Facebook – Facebook Page .
The two books by Edward Shanahan. The Kindle Version

Listen to The Unexplained World podcast with Edward Shanahan and Annette on iHeart Radio