January 30th, 2026
“Are you going anywhere to this morning?”
That was a leading question. I was taking Asher up to his kindergarten classroom when Miss Martha asked me about my plans. I looked at her and replied,
“Uh, no.”
She smiled and told me, “The all-school assembly is at 8:30. I know you didn’t RSVP for it, but you are welcome to come anyway.”
I had totally forgotten about the assembly. The truth is that I had nothing going on that morning. I wasn’t going to drive all the way home. It was pointless to make the trip if I had to pick up Asher again in 4 1/2 hours. I usually like to go for long walks along Lake Michigan while Asher is in school, but it was too damn cold outside to do that. My tentative plan was to plant myself in a local cafe, write letters, start reading a book, and try to make a mug of black coffee last all morning. The prospect of staying at the school for the assembly actually sounded pretty good.
The school had hired a professional drummer to perform at the assembly. The guy was called “Lucky” Diop. The man’s actual name was Ndongo Bahoum Diop, so I can understand why he might have preferred to go by “Lucky”. He was from Ziguinchor, apparently the richest cultural city in Senegal. How and why, he came to reside in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is beyond me, but he was at the Tamarack Waldorf school for a show. It was a good one.
He performed in the school’s auditorium. It’s a modest gathering place way up on the third floor of the building. The room has tall windows on the north and south sides of the school. The hall has hardwood floors and a stage on the east end. The auditorium serves multiple purposes, so there are no fixed seats in it. Visitors and older kids got to use folding chairs. Most of the younger students sat on the floor near the stage.
Lucky really didn’t do much drumming during his hour-long presentation. Mostly, he schmoozed the crowd, and he was good at that. He could definitely read his audience. He had several students and a teacher up on stage with him to aid with the music. A couple of them drummed. One played the maracas. One banged on a cowbell. You can never have enough cowbell.
Lucky told the audience of students, teachers, and community members that he was going to play African songs that promoted love, joy, peace, and unity. That’s exactly what he did. He got a couple kids to help him sing the lyrics to the songs. The words were all in a west African language, but that really didn’t matter. The singers on stage belted out the lyrics and the crowd answered them back. Just about everybody got caught up in the rhythm and the chanting. The place rocked.
Later in the show, Lucky convinced people to participate in a dance competition. He had members of each class get up and boogie. He started with the kindergarteners and ending with the eighth graders. Then the teachers danced in front of the stage. Some of them had surprisingly good moves. The kids loved watching them go at it.
Lucky ended the performance to the sound of cheers and applause. He really did bring us some love, joy, peace, and unity.
God knows we need more of that.
Frank is Emptiness 