True Chicagoans Don't Have Peanut Allergies

True Chicagoans don't have peanut allergies, they don't eat soy nuthin', they eat gluten, raw!

Neil Diamond and a Chance of Meatballs

On Friday we celebrated Liam's first week of school by attending an outdoor movie at his school, Mitchell. There is nothing better than elementary schoolers jammin' to Neil Diamond's greatest hits such as Coming to America, Thank the Lord for the Nighttime, and Cherry, Cherry. All that was served up with the main attraction, the whip smart comedy, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. So much fun.

Impunity

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First Day of School

Well my dream of having my children walk to school like i did will not come true. I am proud though that Liam will be among the third generation of students in my family attending the CPS. I am glad that the public schools here in the city still has something to offer my children and that we haven't given up on the system. I am excited for Liam and Ella starting school together on Tuesday, I plan to take the morning off to take him to his first day at Mitchell. I hope to give him some token or object to mark the day. Maybe a watch, time is ticking, they grow up so fast, but look forward to the next 12-18 years of this journey.

Whip it! Whip it good!

I haven't been around the block much since Katie and the kiddos have been in Wisconsin. A lot of craziness happens around here that most wouldn't flinch at someone OD'ing on the sidewalk, or shots ringing out, or someone getting beat down while children play. I have rarely seen my neighbors shocked at an event over here, until today. No one could have anticipated a bicycle riding pimp, pulling out a bull whip, and slicing the noggin of my neighbor. No one.

Happenstance is Dead!

There use to be a time when you could happen upon some place and be in awe, to really feel like you had discovered a gem, that only you knew about, and you could be able to, only if you wish, share it with those that were in your life, the ones who could appreciate and cherish the place as much as you did. You could have your own little close knit community of those in the know. Today, that is gone.
Last week I received a stack of Time-Out Chicago magazines. The overwhelming amount of in the moment, what to do and where to do it information that was in these weekly magazines blew my mind. The competition between bloggers, tweeters, zines publishers, yelpers, online site barkers, and app developers to mine the city for the most events and most obscure places dwarfs the oil industry's search for new oil fields. The new peak oil worry should be one's ability to stumble upon something or someplace.
On Friday, I went to St. Paul, Mn., I brought the previous week's Time-Out, the magazine sent out four writers to live and breathe the Twin Cities for four days. What came out was an itinerary that leaves nothing in the Cities to be discovered. How cool am I going to be traveling to Minnesota, to eat Hmong food in Frogtown, St. Paul, going to a farmers market at the history museum, taking a kayak excursion to Minnehaha Falls along the Mississippi River, taking the light rail to a Twins game in their new stadium, and ending the night in the diviest bar, for Zombie night, in the Lyn-Lake area of Minneapolis, the "Wicker Park" of the Cities. I have just consumed an intentionally manufactured experience by people hired to create a false sense of happened upon.
I guess if you have the money and know how, you have the ability to capitalize on these happened uponed experiences. I am also overwhelmed by the those in Chicago that have parlayed the money for the Olympics into a full blown effort to exploit unknown or uncharted areas by tourists or local consumers of the next dive bar or cool shot for Flicker. These monied individuals have financed something called Eat, Pray, Love Chicago, and a full on army of individuals from the Department of Tourism and people that do not live in those 77 neighborhoods, have done a very superficial job of giving neighborhood history, landmarks, and cool places to visit from their limited perspective. In the past, the definition of place was gleaned from individuals that lived in that place over a period of time. We should ask ourselves, who defines meaning and history of where I live. Today, place and space is being cheapened and sanitized for the next quick fix. I can say I've been somewhere cool and edgy because the Reader or that blogger did the dirty work of finding it in the first place, I can experience a far off place, or a dangerously hip place in the ghetto without being there because it has been geo-tagged, or made virtual via Google Earth or streetview. I can miss out of visual and spiritual minutiae of a place because my hand held device augments my reality of that place, it acts as my viewmaster overlaying and mashing restaurant, accommodation, travel, historical information, and other people's You Tube, Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Four Square feeds so that I have all the data about that place, that may have originally taken decades to define, all ready and for me to consume, without any conscience effort, in minutes' time. What do we do when every quiet, corner of this city and world has been shared? What will be left to discover?

Wow, I Haven't Blogged in a Long Time

I haven't blogged in almost three months, lots has changed in those three months. Officially, I started up the guerilla historical society. Currently we are closing in on 800 fans, not bad. I love that we have been able to play with the whole idea of "place" and what defines a place. What has defined a place throughout history has been something gleaned over time by individuals living there. What we have attempted to do is define this place, North and Pulaski, oh by the way, this area was never called North and Pulaski, just by creating the Facebook page and by getting it out in cyberspace, we have just created the definition of space and place in time, not in the historical sense of the fixed, gleaned definition, but through the medium of the social networking site we have created a fluid, working, ever changing, wiki-nition of this place. Right now our fans skew in the 45-65 range. Through their comments, and online interactions with each other, a perception of this neighborhood's history has been conceived based on their recollections and experiences during a certain time period. However,as time goes on, as online demographics of our fans grow and change, the definition of this place will morph and mutate. Is this good or bad, I don't know, it is very new. Our hope is that the definition that arises in dynamic and maliable enough that we can bridge the gap between all people that have been affected by this space and place through time.

Butt Face

I have a serious penchant for potty humor, it makes me laugh. So, a month ago Eric and Emily went out of town and left Eleanor with our family. I came up with a fool proof plan to make Liam and Ella laugh. I invented "butt face". I squeeze my face cheeks together, and blow. It made such an exquisite, wet farting noise that both Liam and Ella almost peed their pants. I kept doing it and doing it, and they almost threw up laughing.
Now I haven't heard or seen Ella copy this invention at her house, maybe she has forgotten, maybe her parents scolded her when they saw her imitate it. Liam however, still loves it to this day. Initially, it had made me laugh so hard , but upon reflection I have realized I have created a monster. Think of what it may be like for your child say and imitate "butt face" in church, how about the doctor's office? Not funny, actually now that I think about it, I'm imagining Katie have to embarrassingly explain "butt face" to the pediatrician, "butt face", "butt face", "butt face", ha ha. Actually, sorry Katie (snicker, snicker). So now, we're trying to redirect Liam by convincing him to say "fish face" instead of "butt face". So far, it's been a half-ass success.

What Are You?

Being half Puerto Rican and half Ukrainian with a Serbian last name sounds like it has its perks, but you're not accepted by Puerto Ricans because your not "Puerto Rican enough", Ukrainians bug out because you show up with your grandma at their Orthodox church and they're thinking, get this Puerto Rican guy outta here. Serbians don't know how to handle you and you don't know how to handle them because you dont look, talk, or act Serbian, you're only Serbian by last name( my dad was adopted). I get "are you Jewish, I thought you were Greek or Italian or something, don't you have a Polish name, you can't be Hispanic because you don't speak Spanish, what are you?" The truth is I'm none of these things, I'm a Chicagoan, true, bleedin' baby blue and red. This is the only one identity I can hold on to, without insecurity, with confidence, without having to explain and justify. As a Chicagoan I am just me.

Fwd: Logan Square Blogger Entry #3

Here's an excerpt from The Logan Square blogger: "Gentrification really pisses me off. I mean how can we maintain the diversity of Logan Square with its cool bodegas, Spanish speaking Latino residents, many of whom make below the median income, and the great dive taquerias and places to get the famous "jibarito". People have the right to stay in the neighborhood with out young professionals taking over. The Latino, Spanish speaking couple that live under me have told me numerous times how they lament the loss of their friends of ten years over the last year,in our two unit building. With globalization transforming our cities, young,white, urban professionals are taking neighborhoods,like mine, which are up for grabs, with cheap rent, awesome gritty bars and greasy spoons that my friends like to hang out in, and turning them into another Starbucksville or bland anywhereland. The Latinos,those that speak Spanish, and those of lower median income, making less than $24,000, of this neighborhood, need to fight against this influx of, for lack of a more appropriate nomenclature, yuppies.

Ugh, I'm glad I got that off my chest. The injustice of gentrification just incenses me, so glad that I am on my toes, trying to totally be aware of how other people do things and just aren't aware of the unintended consequences they have on other people's lives. Well, I am off to a rally of sorts, I'm taking my old rusty, trusty, Schwinn to a bicycle themed art installation at my favorite coffee shop in the whole of Logan Square, New Wave Cafe, there I'm sure I'll find a bunch of homies that cuncur, as we embibe PBR and eat elotes and taquitos."

Rearview Sunset

My friend Brett Champin published a book. It's called Rearview Sunset- A Novel.

Demolition of a Cabrini- Green highrise

Check this out.


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Izens Shoes

Izens Shoes is one of the only original shops still in business here on the North and Pulaski strip. If you need shoes, dress or gym shoes, this is a place I encourage you to go. It still eeks out an existence with Payless and Footlocker across the street and the $10 dollar bootleg shoe place on Grand and Pulaski. Those of you that romanticize mom and pop stores, this is the real deal, and needs to be celebrated.

Mr. Izen's Story:

"My grandfather, Samuel Izen, came to Chicago from Russia with his 17 year old son Julius around 1903. They opened a very small shoemaker's shop on the near south side in the vicinity of Maxwell and Halsted Streets. He lived in back of the store to save money so that they could send for the rest of the family - my grandmother Peltie and the children Rose, Max, my father Morris, Molly, Ben and baby Libby.

"My father and mother opened a Florsheim shoe store on North Avenue near Crawford (now Pulaski Road) in 1923. The businessmen in that area flouished because the Pioneer Trust and Savings Bank on the corner was one of two banks that remained open during the great depression. IZEN'S SHOES is still in that location. It retains the Izen name even though it is owned by people who bought the business from our family."

- Author unknown

Auto Show

I usually wouldn't go to the auto show, but I went with Liam. If there is any place to realize Liam's fantasy of driving an automobile, its the auto show. It was two hours of climbing into and out of cars and messing with buttons, lights, and the radio without anyone yelling at him. Liam also loved riding up and down the 50 foot tall escalators through McCormick Place. The whole day was kid led, no adult agenda, I loved it,and so did Li.

St. Liam

Liam busted out with a little theology today. We were sitting at the kitchen table is when and I asked him what he learned in school today. He said" sin is when you kill a lamb". I laughed and asked him what else he knows about sin, " he said when you have sin in your heart you don't go to heaven with God" and " when you don't have sin in your heart, you don't go to heaven either". I told him that is when you do go to heaven. Soon, Katie came over and I asked him to repeat his knowledge of sin. Katie gave him a good definition, " Sin is when you do something that God doesn't want you to do, when you sin you say I'm sorry, and God forgives you." We asked him to try it.Then, knowing that he can't have pop, Liam sipped the straw from my Subway beverage, and said, " Sorry, God." We laughed and told him that he couldn't just do what he wants then ask for forgiveness, when he wants to do something he knows he shouldn't, he should tell himself, no. So, he went for my pop again, and before I could shield him, he said no. He proceeded to pretend to be tempted and deny himself about five times. Pretty funny, I realize that I can't just expect Liam to pick up concepts about God or morals only from his Baptist preschool, or from Sunday School, we are the ones that should be molding his spirtual life and understanding first, this is an awesome task, difficult when I may be childlike in my own pursuit of God, but necessary nonethless. Thanks Liam for you theological pursuits and insights.

Happy V-Day

I love when majorly famous people fall. The saying goes, "pride before the fall". John Mayer and Kanye West exemplify that saying.It serves as a reminder of how human we are. And while it is great to see those guys get their just desserts, it also serves as a reminder to me that while I am not a famous a hole musician, I too am an a hole a lot of the times. My self centered attitude is not far off from those dudes, and it takes saying something things stupid, or many things stupid, to realize how much you hurt people and to be really able to listen to them about how your actions and attitude affects them, without getting defensive.

So I want to put it out there that that time came this today, I just finished fighting, then talking to Katie, and came to realize how much I need to work getting over myself and really putting her and the kids as a priority. Katie just puts so much of herself into Liam and Ava, and managing our families' life , and I mean I just don't get it; and I get ticked off when she asks me to take out the trash, pick up laundry, spend to talking to her about her day, or get off my butt and do something, and I'm wrong. I need to reject my passivity for the sake of my family and my relationship with Katie. So here is my love letter to for all to see, I recognize what I need to do to get our lives on track for this season in our life and I commit to doing it.

Food and Liquor

Our block club has been diversifying its interests, the winter slows a lot of the craziness in the neighborhood, so rather than tackling problems, we've kinda taken the opportunity to build into developing relationships with residents on Karlov and Kedvale, to the west of us, meeting politicians that represent our block, and by getting to know business owners along North Avenue and Pulaski. Dave initially became friendly with the of Don Carlos restaurant while working the polls last week. That bloomed into a conversation that included ideas for opening a high end wine and specialty beer shop next door to the bar,that will offer panini's, imported cigars, food, and a lottery machine. The owner wanted to meet with the community about the idea. So, Dave, being the organizer that he is, gave an invitation to the man to come to our block club meeting last night.

Dave also fliered the three blocks to get people to come to the meeting. We did get one person from Kedvale, and multiple people from our block. Dave led the meeting by encouraging the man to detail his plans, show his approval letters from the alderman, and chamber of commerce, as well as to give details about committing to hire local unemployed people and youth, especially from our block. The audience peppered the man with concerns that ranged from keeping the place clean, to our concerns about another liquor store in our area, to actually scrapping the plan in an effort to provide space for a head start program. He seemed intent on his plan to open the store within six months. Dave gave the man our unequivocal support, but I said we needed to thin about it. Generally, the owner left with a petition signed by all that support the project, and a general sense of agreement from the block club that we want to support local business, we as an entity will not get in the way of a liquor store, although most rather have a day care, so as long as we can keep him accountable to his agreements and that we will have enough of a relationship with him to approach him if the business begins to have an adverse effecton our community. All this to say, it was a good meeting, the beginnings of a respected community organization, albeit a little scrappy one that has its hands in the happenings of our neighborhood. Thanks for your work Dave.

Super Dave

We had record snow in Chicago, and Dave shoveled to whole west side of the block and helped neighbors shovel out their cars to get to work on time. Later, he fliered the blocks of Keystone, Karlov, and Kedvale, as well as all the businesses on the 1500 block of Pulaski, and the businesses on the 4000 block of North Avenue. Dave wants to have a super block club that takes the triangle bordered by Grand, Pulaski, and North Avenue, can't say I don't dream of a community organization myself. Dave made a connection with the owner of Don Carlos bar and wants to inform residents of a new venture the owner wants to bring to the neighborhood.

By the way, on a random note, Dave worked the polls last Tuesday, he seems to be the only proud Republican on the West Side. Yesterday,he was yelling outside that if we don't get our politicians to listen, he is going to make sure they vote Republican, he also screamed his belief in smaller government for the whole bloc to hear. I have to say I love this guy, I can't imagine our block without Dave. If we leave, things will be o.k.

Great Movie Accents

Just like all movie lovers, I love great actors and actresses, moreover, I appreciate when actors change their accent to fit a regional dialect of their character.

Great Movie Accents:

Brad Pitt- Snatch
Daniel Day Lewis- Gangs of New York
Leonardo DiCaprio- Blood Diamond, Departed
Mel Gibson- Braveheart

Any star from Australia, Britain putting on an American accent.

Rachiel Weisz, Eric Bana, Kate Winslet,Nicole Kidman, Toni Collette, Christian Bale, Anthony LaPaglia, Bob Hoskins, Emily Blunt, Ben Kingsly, Hugh Jackman, and Cate Blanchett.

True Chicago Snowstorrm

RIP Animal Kingdom

Born and raised in Chicago, I feel like an old sage, although I am only 32. I grew up before the gentrification of this city and in my young age I can tell you tales of old.

I spent most of my childhood in a Polish neighborhood near the intersection of Milwaukee and Pulaski. We'd have to take Milwaukee Avenue down to Logan Blvd., to the Expressway, to Fullerton to get to my grandma's house. You'd pass tons of Polish deli's, bakeries, and clothing stores. Old furniture shops and five and dime stores. One store you'd pass was Animal Kingdom, my only template for a pet shop. Its neon sign with a little puppy and jungle themed mural in front becnoned you in. And when you got in you got to see tropical fish, rabbits, gerbils, among other live animals. The real treat of Animal Kingdom was the fact that they had a real live tiger in a cage, along with chimps, and parrots. As a kid there was nothing better than to see a real tiger in a 10x10 foot cage, up close. In later years, when I came back to Animal Kingdom, that tiger and chimp were replaced with a coyote and some other kind of primate. The economy and hipsters did that place in. Those hipsters love a kitchy, ethnic neighborhood full of taverns and cheap rent and empty storefronts ripe for the pickin', but they sure don't like caged animals or puppy mills. So another True Chicago vestige of old is gone forever,probably replaced by some hipster lounge or club called Kuma's Corner 2, The Avondale Inn, The White Eagle , or worse even, Animal Kingdom.

Fwd: Logan Square Blogger Entry #2

Last night, was at the Handlebar, ate some nut soup. My Native-American friend Tatanka from El Paso, Gunther from the Global Transportation Alliance, and I were talking about all of the systemic problems that lead poverty and violence in the lives of African American youth, we all proceeded to " unpack our knapsack of white privilege" and pledged to, sometime in our life live in the "hood" as a way of solidarity and undermining the systems that bring people down. I feel in some way we were able to do that later in the evening. We went to the Hispanic, I mean Latino, part of Logan Square, and hit up a dive bar on Fullerton, close to Pulaski, called the Leevee.

It was a great time to mingle with the proletariat, I mean I drank my Old Style with, next to a Guatemalan immigrant, I tried to talk to him about how I thought his people subjugated by the Chiquita Banana Co., he didn't know what I was talking about, but I felt we connected. Gunther stood close to a gentleman in his 60's, and struck up a conversation about what its has been like living in Logan Square so many years; while he wasn't expecting a racist rant at all the dumb Polaks, Puerto Rican gangbangers, and the Spanish signs at Jimenez he can't read, I think Gunther got the man to appreciate the real sense of joy he feels living in a diverse, multicultural got ethnic neighborhood. Tatanka, just wanted to leave, so we did. What a night, as I rode my bicycle with Gunther on his unicycle, and Tatanka on stilts, down Fullerton, I could hear a faint whisper of the men we met..... "thank you for spending that brief moment in time with us and being practitioners of your convictions, you are doing your little part to make this world right."

True Chicago Guest Blogger: Eric Runyan

[Guest author’s thoughts] Friday night, after the creator of this informative blog and I helped get our kids to bed for the night, we took the invitation to attend a local “political rally” (can’t think of a better term). From what I could tell this event was put on by our alderman for all the candidates that represent or could represent the people of his ward. I must pause here for a second and say “the people from his ward” were greatly outnumbered by the politico types, the candidates and their right hand men and women.

Because we have kids, which we care more about than this gathering, we arrived late
(8:00 for a 6:30 start time). But we were right on time. As we walked up to the door, we spot Cynthia Soto (someone had to point her out to us) walking out, she currently represents our district in the Illinois house. Perfect, this is the person we wanted to see. We had some questions to ask. Immediately we started talking to her about the issues we have been trying to contact her about for the better part of her term with no real response or action. To make a long story short, she seemed to have little care towards what we were talking about and said we have to understand things are busy, that she is in the middle of a “contested” race in the primary so everything she is doing is focused on winning this campaign. Everything? Just a question I wish I would have asked, “Do you take vacation days when you are not working on matters that affect the constituents of the 4th district?” This was sad to hear.

I opened the door and who is it that I see, the governor of our great state Pat Quinn. (I seem to have just read our great state is accumulating the greatest financial deficit in its history and isn’t shrinking. And focusing energy on campaigning to get re-elected is the best we can do at this time? Another guest blog. )

I never thought I would be a part of something like this. I came to realize I think this was a political machine party. I don’t really know what that means, but it seemed to have a certain look/feel to it…how we were included on the invite list is a mystery to me.

Now to the real meat of why I was asked to contribute to this blog. As we were watching the candidates take the stage and give their stump speeches about why they are the best person for the job, I was thinking to myself ‘what is this that am I at?’ No one said anything that mattered. Buzz words and slogans flew everywhere. Nothing about what you believe or what you care about or what you want to do if elected. Just yelling to convince the people who are already on your side you are the best vote. Did I mention yet, I am not sure how we were invited or why they thought we were the right people for this gathering?

Don’t get me wrong…I love the democracy in which I live and take part in. I know I have it wonderful compared to many other parts of the world where this letter/blog would put me under scrutiny just for thinking/writing it. Our system is manned by and for people that can express how they feel… the beauty of our system, right? A question that swirled in my head for the better part of the night was what forum do candidates have to express where they stand and it not be about yelling and getting you to think they are the best because of some 25 second catch phrase you give to me and the rest of the non-listening audience.

I probably wasn’t at the right event for this to take place, but plenty of candidates were willing to hand me their political flyer and remind me what number to punch to take a look at the people/organizations who endorsed them. In the same short time, you could have just talked to me. I know time is short and there are many more important people than I, but 1-2 minutes engaging in a conversation would go a long way. I am not asking for an emotional connection but something more than the words you throw around that I feel like you’re not even sure that you mean.

This was never clearer than with a candidate running for a sub circuit judge. As we were walking out, she found it important enough to approach us and make sure we saw her face and knew what number to punch (when we voted). When we gave our home address and asked if we could even vote for her, she replied she didn’t think so. We then seemed to be less of a priority. She then proceeded to turn around when someone else needed her attention. Not an “excuse me” or “could you wait a minute” or anything like it. We waited for a few seconds and when it was apparent she wasn’t coming back to us, we walked out the door. Needless to say, I threw her literature in the trash.

I need to end with one positive from the whole night. As we were about to leave, I saw a candidate for one of the sub circuit judges, Steven Fruth. He appeared to be getting ready to leave but I asked him, “In one minute tell me why you should be the judge and what will you do to serve the people that elect you?” He graciously explained who he was as a person and the things he felt were important to him (why do we elect judges?). I then went on to ask him about the most current ruling of the Supreme Court in regards to campaign contributions. He answered honestly giving us the reasons in which he rooted his opinion. He had time for us. I liked that.

Good Luck

From Gapers Block:

"If you're looking for some help in deciding on who will get your vote in this Tuesday's election, here is some help from the Sun-Times, the Trib, Vote for Judges, Chicago Bar Association, the Independent Voters of Illinois, the Chicago Federation of Labor, Crain's, and finally, further coverage from the Reader and Windy City Times. Good luck."

Black Tongue

This morning I woke up with a black tongue, I got nervous. When I googled it I found out that my condition ws called black, hairy tongue. I was stressed I might have some kind of stomach cancer considering my weak stomach for the last few days, it turns out that my saliva reacted weirdly to the chewable Pepto-bismol tablets I ate last night. Thank God.

Getting Older

Soon I turn 33. I have waited forever to look my age, and I finally feel like I am. I mean, I weigh a couple years ahead of my age, so I have been waiting for my physical features to catch up. Well, I finally got crows feet, I have a furrow over my brow, my sideburns are starting to fill in, and I think I can grow a man mustache.

Puking

I can count the times I've thrown up in my life in less than two hands. On Thursday I added to my count. Its not good to eat a whole loaf of raisin bread, a baguette of 9-Grain bread, chicken medallions, and a banana split, and get the stomach flu. The good thing about this sickness was that I learned a method of not tasting my puke, I hold my nose, I recommend it. I felt over the sickness today and partook of at least three cups of coffee, a roast beef sandwich, Lou Manati's pizza and some wine...don't feel good. No puke, thank God, at least stuff is not coming up, just going out the other side, I can handle that.

Irony

Driving up Pulaski from I-290. I see a lot of foreclosed, boarded up houses and apartment buildings plastered with political signs for next week's primary.

Guerilla Historical Society Update #1

I found a photo of North Avenue and Pulaski from 1934 in a Special Collection of photos from the Weast Side of Chicago. I've got to check it out at the Harold Washington Library downtown. It comes from the Campbell Collection #277. There are apparently more photos from our area dating back to the turn of the 20th Century. Also, Bethel Church has a bunch of photos of the church and the neighborhood dating back to 1896. I am going to be allowed to check them out, amybe even achaive them.

Vote Februry 2nd

Don't think it doesn't matter. Your choices are few.There are some Green Party challengers and even fewer Republicans in Chicago. We effectively have a one party system in this city and county, and if this were the Federal Government we'd start a revolution. So few people vote here, so your vote does make a differnce. True Chicagoans vote.

Check out your ballot and some editorials here:




http://elections.chicagotribune.com/



http://elections.chicagotribune.com/editorial/

My Favorite Puerto Rican Actor

Luis Guzman is hands down my favorite Puerto Rican actor. I love it when I see this guys face on a film.For years I swore that the villain in Ghost was the same guy. However, I was mistaken.

Star Sightings

Every once in a while when I movie is being filmed in Chicago I happen upon the set. The first time this happened I was at the Field Museum and saw a scene from the 1988 Kevein Bacon/John Hughes film She's Having a Baby. Later, I actually met some movie stars, I shook hands with Robert Downey Jr. and was snubbed by Tommy Lee Jones on Irving Park Rd., during a break from a scene from the 1998 sequel to the Fugitive, U.S. Marshalls. I also saw David Duchovney and Minnie Driver slow dance over and over during the filming of a scene from the 1999 movie, Return to Me. Another time I saw the irrepressible actress, Helena Bonham Carter walking down Michigan Avenue, in town filming the dark Steve Martin comedy, Novacaine.
However, there is one star sighting that burns in my memory. It is my encounter with the most asinine and arrogant actor ever to grace the silver screen, if you think I'm speaking of local thespian Jeremy Piven you are wrong, you must meet Billy Zane.
The fateful night began at 11:45 during a summer night in the year, 1997. Daniel, my brother, and I were going to a midnight showing of the future Bruce Willis, Michael Clark Duncan blockbuster, Armageddon at the McClurg Court theater downtown. We sat down a little toward the back. From the corner of my eye, I notice a gentleman sporting a Donegal Irish Tweed hat covering a cleanly shorn head, a white collared shirt, two top buttons unbuttoned, white slacks,and white shoes, but I didn't pay much attention. Then some girls came running up to the gentleman, in the commotion the gentleman exclaims in a snarky voice, " Oh no, Armagedden outta here." My brother and I looked back, our contempt muscles flexing, at the lameness of his pun. Soon a Puerto Rican man came running up the aisles,yelling "Oh my God, its Billy, Billy Zane, I love your work on the Titanic." Soon a swarm of people began to surround Mr.Zane. He entertained the crowd with his half humble stories of working with Michael J. Fox on Back to the Future, Sam Elliot on Critters, and of his title role in the adaptation Sunday comic, The Phantom, co-starring Kristy Swanson, of the original Buffy the Vampire fame. His sordid tales were interrupted by the house lights dimming. Soon the crowd was ready to watch that summer's second and best cinematic turn at portraying an asteroid's potential to end all human existence. As the previews were about to begin, the motion picture began to become distorted, maybe some snafu with the projector, all of a sudden a bellow cracks from in back of us, "FocUS!". O' Billy Zane, with his method acting, trying to be the hero. The whole movie I felt this knot in my back, I couldn't shake the cringe that Mr. Zane elicited in me. To this day whenever I see Billy in print or on screen, I remember that fateful day I ran into a famous movie actor and realized that they are not just like us, sometimes they are just an ass.

Cook County Commissioners

Last night we had two candidates for Cook County Commissioner come to our block club meeting. I have no illusions of grandeur that this kind stuff is going to change the world. I'm no revolutionary or system guy, I know this because one time I said said to my Principal on my first day teaching, and I quote " I am going to change the system in CPS", and that didn't happen. I do believe in incremental change. I do believe in education and connecting the dots. What I mean is that little things like knowing who is on the ballot before the election, who your candidates are by name and face, what they stand for, knowing the address of the polling place make a difference.

Let's connect the dots, my alderman won a landslide victory in 2007 with 70% of the vote, just 3,400 votes. There are 370 registered voters in my three block precinct. If we organized to get our three 1500 N. blocks of Keystone, Karlov,and Kedvale to vote, we would've had over 10% of the vote. We have the power to make change, in the political sense, at this small scale and over time. Oh I think its a travesty that only 15% of the registered voters in my ward voted for my alderman. I'm suggesting we can wrap our heads around this thing; politicians look at numbers and just a small coalescence of grass-roots, registered voters in forgotten places is scary and can get an elected official's ear.
My goal last night was to facilitate a situation that would allow my neighbors in this remote, unassuming part of Chicago to feel like they have a voice, that big struggles and complaints that we have everyday about how the system fails us doesn't fall on deaf ears and we're not always just pissin' in the wind. The goal was to educate neighbors so that they weren't voting on February 2nd blindly, it was also to get some aspiring politicians to get comfortable in our basement, tell us what they do or like to do, tell us their platform, and take questions. I found it to be beautiful. Simple, beautiful, radical Democracy.



P.S. If you want to get a better blow, by blow perspective on the night read this post by Emily called Politics:



January 8, 2010 by runyanthree

We had the 2 candidates running to fill the seat for Cook County Commissioner at our block club meeting last night. How humbling to see two politicians shaking our hands in their thin little black dress socks (because everyone takes off their shoes before they come in to the basement). It was really interesting to hear more about the politics and inner workings of Cook County (which short of NPR, I know very little about)…how much money is spent, how much they make, bits and pieces of their role in the overall functioning of our city and who likes and does not like who. And of course the commitment to end patronage. They were able to provide some specific things they would do and then avoided other questions. Dave famously asked many questions and even explained at the end that we felt all politicians were full of shit. Diana talked about her horrible experience at Cook County Hospital regarding her current kidney stone and Dan asked for money for our block club to start a summer program. I loved the opportunity to connect a name and personality and I told Bill that I think he should arrange it each election in some capacity. Oh! I almost forgot the most important thing–while one candidate was here the other arrived with his Dunkin Donuts and coffee for everyone. Bill told us later that when he went out to greet the candidate and his crony that the guy had fallen down our stairs and was mad so he went to wait in his car. With our recent snowfall the stairs were slippery…whoops. Bill had fun imagining him fly down the stairs in his nice suit. He told Bill he would only be able to stay for 15 minutes but must have had so much fun talking about himself that he stayed for over an hour (and then apparently went to go ice his back). So just so you know any day now we might be sued for all we have.

Doppleganger

Over the last year I have gained over 20lbs. In February I weighed as low as 206lbs now I'm 227. I am beginning to look less and less like Wilmer Valderrama, formerly of That 70's Show and currently the Voice of Handy Manny on the Disney Channel, and more like the great character actor Oliver Platt from such great movies as Beethoven, Disney's The Three Musketeers,Dr. Doolittle, and the Oscar nominated Frost/Nixon.