The Conductor
By Bernice Elizabeth Green
America's Promise," the majestic theme of the 2009 Inauguration, could be the title of a sweeping symphony suite directed by President-elect Barack Hussein Obama.
But there's another conductor - one with a serious music background -- for whom that theme has resonance: Amtrak's David B. Gussom, Mitchellville, Md. native, whose tour of duty stretches along the Northeast Corridor -- many times between the "shortrun" between New York's Penn Station and Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. He signals the all-clear and shares stories and guides the way for hundreds of people during the course of a roundtrip day. By the end of his work week, he's punched tickets for thousands, including Vice President elect Joe Biden, among the Amtrak regionals' total 26million riders last year. 'He's a nice, stand-up guy, doesn't shun the average person," Gussom told us, last month.
"He remembers everyone's names; he's on a first-name basis with all of the conductors who work here."
Gussom, a guitar player since age 12, toured and recorded with the popular The E.U. Band ("Doin' Da Butt") for six years before becoming a qualified conductor with Amtrak.
Born in 1961, in Mitchellville, Md., he grew up in Washington, D.C. He told us he shares more than a birth year with the President-elect. "We are both 'Presidential' beings," he said half-jokingly, citing the Biblical story of King David. "David was a warrior." Gussom also shares something else: a vision that something can be done to change America for the benefit of future generations.
"If everybody did a little something, a lot can be done. And that would be a good thing. Obama is good at getting people to come together as one. His whole campaign was built on that win-win for all strategy."
Like most of us, Gussom realized Obama's "warrior" spirit when the President-elect delivered his dynamic speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. "It knocked me out. It was riveting, grabbed my attention. He seemed to come out of nowhere. But there's more like him. And there's a little bit of him in everyone of us. What defines a person is not how much you have, but how much you respond to what you may not have. And people like Biden and Obama are great examples of that. "I always teach my son not to be a follower, to build on his ideas and always ask, 'What if?'. Everything around us - the paper clip, the paper cup - is built on someone's imagination.
The result of asking 'what if' could be the next great invention.
It encourages creative thinking, makes them believe that there's something to work on, to build on. Lots of kids are living in substandard conditions. Don't have that boost. The future is bleak. "Unfortunately, a reat part of the community is going through all of that stuff," he continues. "Now, with the emergence of Obama, whatever your background is…good or bad … it's ok. Nothing is infinite. "I'm around young people all the time. You see young boys with pants sagging, guided by negative peer pressure, negative media images. The elders in the community have lost hope, given up. We've got to flip back the pages to see what happened and begin to step up again and applaud young people whenever they do the right thing.
But never excuse idiocy, like when someone is looking and acting like a buffoon. It's hypocritical if we do.
Young people can learn by the example Obama is setting, Gussom believes. "And I think he would agree that you can also learn from each other no matter what your station is in life. Maybe there's something a homeless person went through that's specifically for your ears. If I shun away, I might never get that blessing.
While those blessings can be found everywhere, Gussom says he believes that the churches need to get closer to the streets. "They need to get to the real issues. It's not about being religious; it's about being spiritual - which crosses all religious barriers." Gussom's personal inspiration is his mother, Marlene Daniels, who was a cheerleader for five years for the Washington Redskins and a choreographer for them for five years. Prior to that, Ms. Daniels worked as an executive assistant to Emmett J. Rice - a former governor of the Federal Reserve Board, current Cornell University economics professor, and the father of Ambassador to the United nations-designate Susan E. Rice in the Cabinet of the President-elect.
"My mother is always open and active and doing something. Even at age 69, she is cheerleading in life, never likes to see people in despair.
She read an article in the Washington Post about a family doing badly, and she took kids she didn't know from Adam into our home while raising the four biological children she already had. She says you can't claim failure. If you claim failure, you will be looking for it, and mishaps will follow your whole life.
Gussom's brother, Al, known for his great wit ("people need him to make them forget about their problems") is a railroad legend -- now retired, having worked there for many years. His niece, Terry; his son, David, and nephew Anthony are award-winning professional steel band musicians. "It's all about how you respond to challenges. I respond to them as lessons. Lessons that will catapult me into something better." "So what do people like Obama and Biden have? They can extend across different boundaries.
They have shown you use your hardship as a blessing. And they've also been afforded the opportunity to see and experience how different classes of people live. "In fact, Obama can flip the script; he's lived on food stamps. He knows what upper class people have to do and what poor people need to have. What he has to do is let the highly important people know that they need to do to help poor people. "Most people voted for him because they are feeling a sense of urgency. He's giving more than rhetoric. You feel that he is the one." Saturday morning, January 17th, President-elect Obama and his family will hold an event in Philadelphia then board a train for Wilmington, DE, where they will be joined by Vice President-elect Biden and his family. Together, the families will travel to Baltimore for another event, before finally arriving in Washington, D.C. -- the final leg of the 2-year journey to the White House. A group of everyday Americans from all walks of life who have made "extraordinary contributions to the life of this country" - people like Gussom -- has been invited by Obama and Biden to join them on the Whistle Stop Tour to Washington, D.C. on Saturday. They include: a champion for workers' rights, the soldier who became an advocate for servicemen, women suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; those who have lost their jobs and struggle to cope in economic turmoil, and those who work tirelessly to make real the dream of a better future for their children. The group of Americans traveling with the Obamas and Bidens will also appear on stage with them at the public events. Said Gussom, "Obama conducted this Presidential election and this inauguration so beautifully. His song belongs to all the people and there ain't no age, no colors in music. Crosses all barriers. That's what art does."
America's Promise," the majestic theme of the 2009 Inauguration, could be the title of a sweeping symphony suite directed by President-elect Barack Hussein Obama.
But there's another conductor - one with a serious music background -- for whom that theme has resonance: Amtrak's David B. Gussom, Mitchellville, Md. native, whose tour of duty stretches along the Northeast Corridor -- many times between the "shortrun" between New York's Penn Station and Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. He signals the all-clear and shares stories and guides the way for hundreds of people during the course of a roundtrip day. By the end of his work week, he's punched tickets for thousands, including Vice President elect Joe Biden, among the Amtrak regionals' total 26million riders last year. 'He's a nice, stand-up guy, doesn't shun the average person," Gussom told us, last month.
"He remembers everyone's names; he's on a first-name basis with all of the conductors who work here."
Gussom, a guitar player since age 12, toured and recorded with the popular The E.U. Band ("Doin' Da Butt") for six years before becoming a qualified conductor with Amtrak.
Born in 1961, in Mitchellville, Md., he grew up in Washington, D.C. He told us he shares more than a birth year with the President-elect. "We are both 'Presidential' beings," he said half-jokingly, citing the Biblical story of King David. "David was a warrior." Gussom also shares something else: a vision that something can be done to change America for the benefit of future generations.
"If everybody did a little something, a lot can be done. And that would be a good thing. Obama is good at getting people to come together as one. His whole campaign was built on that win-win for all strategy."
Like most of us, Gussom realized Obama's "warrior" spirit when the President-elect delivered his dynamic speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. "It knocked me out. It was riveting, grabbed my attention. He seemed to come out of nowhere. But there's more like him. And there's a little bit of him in everyone of us. What defines a person is not how much you have, but how much you respond to what you may not have. And people like Biden and Obama are great examples of that. "I always teach my son not to be a follower, to build on his ideas and always ask, 'What if?'. Everything around us - the paper clip, the paper cup - is built on someone's imagination.
The result of asking 'what if' could be the next great invention.
It encourages creative thinking, makes them believe that there's something to work on, to build on. Lots of kids are living in substandard conditions. Don't have that boost. The future is bleak. "Unfortunately, a reat part of the community is going through all of that stuff," he continues. "Now, with the emergence of Obama, whatever your background is…good or bad … it's ok. Nothing is infinite. "I'm around young people all the time. You see young boys with pants sagging, guided by negative peer pressure, negative media images. The elders in the community have lost hope, given up. We've got to flip back the pages to see what happened and begin to step up again and applaud young people whenever they do the right thing.
But never excuse idiocy, like when someone is looking and acting like a buffoon. It's hypocritical if we do.
Young people can learn by the example Obama is setting, Gussom believes. "And I think he would agree that you can also learn from each other no matter what your station is in life. Maybe there's something a homeless person went through that's specifically for your ears. If I shun away, I might never get that blessing.
While those blessings can be found everywhere, Gussom says he believes that the churches need to get closer to the streets. "They need to get to the real issues. It's not about being religious; it's about being spiritual - which crosses all religious barriers." Gussom's personal inspiration is his mother, Marlene Daniels, who was a cheerleader for five years for the Washington Redskins and a choreographer for them for five years. Prior to that, Ms. Daniels worked as an executive assistant to Emmett J. Rice - a former governor of the Federal Reserve Board, current Cornell University economics professor, and the father of Ambassador to the United nations-designate Susan E. Rice in the Cabinet of the President-elect.
"My mother is always open and active and doing something. Even at age 69, she is cheerleading in life, never likes to see people in despair.
She read an article in the Washington Post about a family doing badly, and she took kids she didn't know from Adam into our home while raising the four biological children she already had. She says you can't claim failure. If you claim failure, you will be looking for it, and mishaps will follow your whole life.
Gussom's brother, Al, known for his great wit ("people need him to make them forget about their problems") is a railroad legend -- now retired, having worked there for many years. His niece, Terry; his son, David, and nephew Anthony are award-winning professional steel band musicians. "It's all about how you respond to challenges. I respond to them as lessons. Lessons that will catapult me into something better." "So what do people like Obama and Biden have? They can extend across different boundaries.
They have shown you use your hardship as a blessing. And they've also been afforded the opportunity to see and experience how different classes of people live. "In fact, Obama can flip the script; he's lived on food stamps. He knows what upper class people have to do and what poor people need to have. What he has to do is let the highly important people know that they need to do to help poor people. "Most people voted for him because they are feeling a sense of urgency. He's giving more than rhetoric. You feel that he is the one." Saturday morning, January 17th, President-elect Obama and his family will hold an event in Philadelphia then board a train for Wilmington, DE, where they will be joined by Vice President-elect Biden and his family. Together, the families will travel to Baltimore for another event, before finally arriving in Washington, D.C. -- the final leg of the 2-year journey to the White House. A group of everyday Americans from all walks of life who have made "extraordinary contributions to the life of this country" - people like Gussom -- has been invited by Obama and Biden to join them on the Whistle Stop Tour to Washington, D.C. on Saturday. They include: a champion for workers' rights, the soldier who became an advocate for servicemen, women suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; those who have lost their jobs and struggle to cope in economic turmoil, and those who work tirelessly to make real the dream of a better future for their children. The group of Americans traveling with the Obamas and Bidens will also appear on stage with them at the public events. Said Gussom, "Obama conducted this Presidential election and this inauguration so beautifully. His song belongs to all the people and there ain't no age, no colors in music. Crosses all barriers. That's what art does."
