Think Globally, Act Loco

I always find it crazy how some of those that fight for justice on global issues seem to get it wrong on things that are local to where they live. It is easy to fight against some far away injustice like the Iraq War, Darfur, or some human rights abuses in Myanmar. It's easy to rail against concepts like globalization, Empire, and climate change. But, what is harder is fighting the injustice of not loving your neighbor.
I love this quote from Kit Hodge from the site Neighbors Project; Kit introduces a conference her organization has been invited with the title: Foreign Policy on Your Block


Does the idea of pre-emptive force make you shake your fist? But do you blast your music late at night knowing full well that it pisses off your neighbors? Do you believe that thoughtful foreign diplomacy that aims to prevent war? But do you avoid your neighbors at all costs and complain directly to the landlord/condo board/police about them whenever they bother you? Do you want the U.S. to actually participate in the Kyoto Accord? But do you avoid invitations to join your block's clean and green team?

My belabored point is the old cliche, "think globally, act locally." It's great -- perhaps imperative -- to have an informed opinion about what's going on around the world. But it's also easy to be a hypocrite, complaining about a country's refusal to try diplomacy before war, while we default to calling the police on our neighbors for small irritations. Foreign policy isn't usually about altruism; it's a practical tool to ensure that the world is livable. Same with neighbor policy.

This is a long preamble to us plugging Worldview's Global Activism Expo in Chicago.

Let us practice foreign policy where we find ourselves and love our neighbors as we would love others across this world.

Driving Techniques- True Chicago Style

Any True Chicagoan knows that the best way to reach your destination fast, when running late, is to roll up into the right lane, pretend to turn and when the light changes, proceed to cut off all those stuck in traffic. The Chicago Pick and Roll.
Another technique: When driving through residential streets it is best to speed up, tap the brakes at the stop sign, and then roll right through. When navigating residential streets with speed bumps, it is best continue driving at top speed,and swerve to the right or left of the speed bump, where it is at it's lowest elevation, this way you can avoid damage to your car on your way toward your destination.
Lastly: A True Chicagoan knows that when the epressway is jammed it is best to take any street that does not follow the famous Chicago grid. Milwaukee Avenue, Elston Ave., and Nortwest Highway will get you to where you need to be in no time.

The Jesus Manifesto

Check this website out. It is a clearinghouse for propaganda: sites, blogs, and zines for any Christian against the "Empire", codeword for America, and those that are serious about "Kingdom Living." You might find it interesting. Let me know what you think of it.

http://www.jesusmanifesto.com/

Liam

My son has been obsessed with vehicles for the past couple weeks. He climbs up onto the coffee table near the windows in our apartment and will spend hours, if we let him, anticipating school buses, trucks, and cars rolling down our block. He can even recoginize mine and Katie's car from the window, sometimes he anticipates my arrival from work and shows up at the window waving hi and shouting "Dada".
So, this week we've made an effort to take our baby on his first bus ride, take the El downtown, and attempt to ride in a taxi. When he was downtown, he couldnt contain his joy at the constant barrage of yellow taxis and buses like the ones he sees in his books. Today Liam will get another chance to ride in that taxi, we have to be downtown to meet a lawyer at 10:00 this morning.

Tree Hugger

Everyday I drive down School Street on my way to my job at my old elementary school, past my my old block, and my old house on 3312 N. Keystone .In the spring and early summer and fall I get to experience a lovely canopy of mature urban trees until it clears onto a lifeless steppe right before Karlov Avenue. Call me a tree hugger if you want, but I've always have had a soft spot for those trees along School Street and on my block, so about a week and a half ago, I noticed an empty space where the tallest tree on Keystone once stood and I felt an emptiness in my heart. Whenever I visited my old block the space felt almost exactly as it felt how felt when I lived there almost twenty years ago. Now feeling has changed, I feel as if something was stripped from me, a reminder of my childhood. My memories can never come back to me as fresh as they once were.


If you ever read a book about trees, the best book to pick up is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The tree gives its all to the boy/man and the man never truly appreciates it until it is gone, just a stump. Urban trees hardly ever get their due. If they make it, they take forty or fifty years to mature, and the ones that make it get cut down cuz they screw up your plumbing. If anything, I appeal to those that live in Chicago... appreciate our urban forest because trees bring life and a feeling of permanence and security to the space where you live. And if you can, this coming April 25, plant a tree in our great city and give a blessing to our future residents.

Hizzoner: Mayor Richard J. Daley

Check dis play out. Make sure you have someone to come with. This is a love letter about Chicago, it's history, and it's politics as seen through the almost 20 year administation of Daley. After, read the book American Pharoh to get more background information of the man that changed our city.

What is a bodega?

I usually get these google alerts for Humbodt park and West humboldt park and I keep getting blogs and internet articles about "Humboldt Park" the movie being fimed here. It's a movie " that follows a family reunion during the holidays in the Chicago neighborhood of Humboldt Park. John Leguizamo and Freddy Rodriguez have been cast as brothers in the clan. JayHernandez plays a friend of the family who works there. Melanie Diaz is a former lover of Rodriguez's character and friends with the clan's daughter. Mercedes Ruehl is the matriarch and Alfred Molina is the father who owns a bodega." Bodega? What is a bodega?

I thought maybe it was some kind of store and I was right. Apparently bodegas are what we in Chicago like to call, corner stores. See what happens when Nuyoricans write a script about True Chicago Puerto Ricans. Maybe Freddy Rodriguez, who grew up in a Puerto Rican niegborhood, in Chicago no less, should have read the script before it went into production.