#612: The Sounds of Dawn

March 25th, 2016 § permalink

The sounds of dawn are cars racing down Western.

The cars get more frequent but slower, the Doppler screams of early morning racers becoming moans as stray drivers morph into that thing called traffic.

The slow tear of an airplane comes overhead. A train groans by in the distance.

The sounds of dawn are movement, life. They’re of people getting to and from.

The sounds of dawn are the hiss of a kettle for some tea. It’s a cheat on my part, the only sound coming from within and the only sound not of motion. I’m not going anywhere. » Read the rest of this entry «

#611: Jimmy Marshall’s Children

March 23rd, 2016 § permalink

Every old settler knew little Jimmy Marshall, though few were aware that he was a physician by profession, and a dancing master by calling, in 1834. Always carefully groomed, he was to be seen in his silk hat, black frock coat, dark trousers, well polished boots and immaculate shirt bosom. He was at all times ready to trip the light fantastic; and he tripped it, too. How that nimble little figure would wind through the mazes of the Money Musk or the rollicking Virginia Reel! Those were dances that made his black eyes shine with a brighter luster than the diamond he so much admired…

When selling goods, Marshall’s limber tongue moved as fast as his nimble feet in a double shuffle. I yet seem to hear his “two an’ a ha’f, an’ a ha’f, an’ a ha’f, an’ a ha’f, make it three, three, do I hear? any more than three, three an’ a ha’f, an’ a ha’f, an’ a ha’f I’m bid, make it four,” and so on until knocked down. We shall never forget him as long as the red flag flies.

— Edwin O. Gale, “Reminisces of Early Chicago and Vicinity,” 1902

» Read the rest of this entry «

#610: Leaves on the Water

March 21st, 2016 § permalink

It was the chatter chatter chatter of Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish.

It was the eat eat eat of the herring, pelmini, pierogi and chilled vodka shots.

It was the schvitz, dunk, schvitz, dunk, heading from blistering Russian dry or Turkish wet steam rooms into a 41-degree plunge pool that had to be skimmed once in a while for stray leaves that had stuck to the Russian men when they beat each other with bundles of tree branch in the steam. » Read the rest of this entry «

#609: The Entrepreneur of You

March 18th, 2016 § permalink

A St. Pat’s Day scramble off the train, green-clad men and women who will be yelling or crying outside a bar in a few hours stand outside the station, happily planning their assault on Wicker Park’s alcohol reserves. Some gutterpunks smoking cigarettes and playing with their dogs hold up a sign that they need money to kill Donald Trump. An actual homeless man sits in a closed doorway, shaking a cup, his voice weak from the hunger the would-be Trump assassins play at.

And a young woman holds CDs.

“Would you like to buy my poetry?” she asked. » Read the rest of this entry «

#608: Political Action Committee

March 16th, 2016 § permalink

Before the polls opened, before the sun rose, they arrived.

Brought by pick-up by a man with slicked-back hair who kept calling one of them by the wrong name, the four yawned their way into the defunct Polish-language parish school to fill out poll watcher forms, then to the trucks for signs.

Signs after signs.

Signs for the committeeman they were paid to electioneer for, signs for his slate, his friends, aligned political candidates in races from local judicial seats to Congress. Paid for by different “Friends of” and “Citizens for” groups, but delivered from the same truck by the same four men who would spend the next 13 hours standing outside a closed parish school. » Read the rest of this entry «

#607: Amoeba or Gerrymandered Chicago Ward? Take the Quiz

March 14th, 2016 § permalink

Is this a map of Wicker Park or an amoeba about to split in two?

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#606: A Most Difficult Chicago Trivia Quiz – The Answers

March 11th, 2016 § permalink

On Wednesday, I put out an incredibly difficult Chicago trivia quiz.

The purpose, aside from the fact I’ve been all coughing and bronchial and wanted a story I could write from my sickbed, was to get people to explore certain sites I like, including this one, Atlas Obscura, the Chicago Collections Consortium, the Chicago History Museum, Mysterious Chicago and Curious City.

So I made the quiz goldanged impossible. (And Curious City, that thing we talked about? It’s handled.)

From the Fool Killer submarine to park bats to Iroquois Theater Assistant Chief Usher Archie Guerin, here are the answers you didn’t get to the 1,001 Chicago Afternoons Really Difficult Trivia Quiz. » Read the rest of this entry «

#605: A Most Difficult Chicago Trivia Quiz

March 9th, 2016 § permalink

You might know the Iroquois Theater Fire happened in 1903, but do you know the name of the assistant chief usher called to testify after?

Sure, you know that the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was at the U of C campus, but do you know what sport the room was originally made for? » Read the rest of this entry «

#604: Haunted

March 7th, 2016 § permalink

“Do you want to see a ghost?” he said, leaning forward in his wheelchair to me, his new friend.

He was long-haired and unkempt, with dirt dug deep under lengthening nails. He had the typical homeless earthy smell, coupled with that wet dog odor only white people seem to get.

I liked him a great deal. » Read the rest of this entry «

#603: In the Snow

March 4th, 2016 § permalink

Chicago’s at its best in the snow.

It’s cold and damp and miserable, “dibs” is childish and there’s nothing like a Chicago winter to make you feel the world is dreariness punctuated with mid-July.

But it’s pretty. The little flutter flakes cascading around warm me as they chill my skin.

And the people in the snow are wonderful. » Read the rest of this entry «

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