Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Tony Gulizia started his music career early, at the age of 8, working with his father, and, later, with Joey, his brother.  Tony studied music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.  It was there the Gulizia Brothers formed.  In 1979, the talented musical duo began working, in conjunction with the Nebraska Arts Council, in the Artists in Schools program.  By 1990, their involvement in music programs for youth had escalated to leadership in the Mid-America Arts Alliance, involving themselves increasingly in Artist in Schools programs spanning a 7-state region. 

     In 21 years, the Gulizia Brothers have completed well over 250 residencies, and have worked with well over 100,000 students, grade levels K through 12, as well as with college and university students.  In 1992, Tony, his wife, Liane, and their three sons moved to Edwards, Colorado.  Tony and Liane both work as music educators with the Eagle County School District. Tony, a superbly talented musician and composer, maintains a busy schedule, performing virtually every day of the week in Beaver Creek.  In 1997, Tony and Joey received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education.   His passion is his music—and, of course, working with young people.   He is accompanist for the Eagle Valley Children’s Chorale, which is directed, of course, by Liane Gulizia.  Tony has a great love for music.  “Viva la musica!!!”  says he. 

     His albums include Beautiful Friendship (composed of music accomplished in collaboration with Andy Hall, Joey Gulizia, Ron Cooley and others) and Rocky Mountain Magical Holidays, in which Tony is featured prominently as “one of Colorado’s finest artists and musicians.”

About Frank Trujillo

     “Frank is truly a superb poet and lyricist,” says Tony Gulizia.  “For me, when I think not only about Columbine, but also all the acts of hatred and violence in our country today, one of the most impressive lines is when he says, ‘We can absolve this only through God—resolve this only in love.’  I’ve seen a lot of his stuff.  He puts a lot of thought into everything he writes.”

     Trujillo, married for 30 years to Linda Ortiz Trujillo, a 1^st grade teacher, is himself a former teacher, school administrator and university professor.  He holds a doctoral degree in Educational Administration and Supervision and has taught at The University of Texas at El Paso and at California State University, Sacramento.  Originally from New Mexico, and for the past 15 years a resident of Sacramento, California, Frank is the owner of Aim for Eleven/ProTeach Publications.  He is perhaps best known nationally as one of the contributing authors of the popular book Chicken Soup for the Soul.  His posters and esteem-building messages are found in virtually every school in the country.  He speaks on a variety of topics to audiences throughout the country.  He is a poet, an essayist, and a songwriter.  Two of his songs, I Want to Live On and A Bridge to the Future—songs written in collaboration with Rogeniv Mamauag—debuted in Washington, D.C., on the occasion of the 53^rd Presidential Inauguration.  I Want to Live On has been used nationally, over the course of the past several years, to advance and promote citizen participation in the important cause of organ and tissue donation.   He is, in all ways, an advocate for children and for building us all a better future.  “First and foremost, I am a teacher,” he says.  “I am very, very proud to be a teacher.”

     His writings, many of which focus on teacher and student empowerment, are exceptionally inspirational and motivational in nature.   Titles include The Power to Teach, Who Builds the Builders?, A Letter to My Students, Giver of a Lifelong Gift, A Teacher Is, Home-School Construction Project, Bilding Me a Fewchr, If Education Was Truly a Priority, and You Are the Wind.   Many of his posters have been handsomely framed and now occupy strategic positions where they can be enjoyed by thousands in schools and school districts throughout the country.  A complete catalog of available materials is available by contacting ProTeach Publications.

     Having involuntarily been thrust into his latest “project” in April, 1999, Frank has recently completed a manuscript for a full-length book.  Bearing also the title What Happened to Love?, the book, he informs, is being targeted for national distribution in January of 2001.   “Either that or if we get picked up by the right publisher, maybe we can release it by mid-September, 2000, around the Day of Atonement.”  When asked why this date, Trujillo says, “Atonement is a Jewish fast day.  Now, I am not Jewish, I’m a Catholic.  But when they fire-bombed three Jewish synagogues here in Sacramento several months ago they attacked me.  When they injured and killed those children in Littleton they might as well have been attacking my own children.  When they kill those innocent women and girls at Yosemite, or children in Arkansas, when they injure children at a synagogue in LA, when they kill an innocent Filipino letter carrier, they might as well be taking aim at me. If they kill an African-American in Texas or a Puerto Rican in New York City or a Native American in Albuquerque, I take it real personally.  It is time that all of us pull together and put an end to hatred and violence.” 

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