Chicago 6 Corners

Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf, May 30th 2007

Zack

José Olivarez, May 29, 2007

Zack was first whiteboy
I ever trusted.
Met him in the third grade.
You can’t be
a wigger in third grade,
but Zack was first whiteboy
my mom refused
to let me befriend.
My mom didn’t have
a problem with white people.
She prayed to a white blue-eyed
Jesus, and told me to get
a white girl to take care of me.

Letter

Amy Jirek, May 29, 2007

I left in January and head back east, happily because
I was tired of being alone. There. And while it was only
one week, it was a bad week, a long week. I missed home
but I wasn’t going back there. It felt too much like vacation
now and I just didn’t belong in that town anymore at twenty-one. Twenty-one,
my dad thinks it’s still young. I think that it’s five years past turning sixteen
that seemed to happen in five minutes. But that’s beside the point. I miss you.
I left too quickly and for the week I was there I was almost
someone else. I didn’t want it to be that way.
Too late. The next days were long and I continued to analyze again
and again what might have been. But what a waste
of time. Every morning I still smell the rustic scent—that mixture
of sweat and cologne and saltwater. I miss the weather too—
but who cares. Everyone misses the weather. But I see tshirts
sometimes, and street signs, faded jeans and thunderstorms,
and I hear songs and voices—and sometimes even
half- familiar laughs and for a small part of a second
I feel like you’re here

Pooch & Shoo Movie Review:
Spiderman III + Pirates of the Caribbean III = the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine...in a Johnny & Orlando Sandwich)

By Robert Puccinelli and David Shuey, May 29, 2007

Shoo: New webzine, our first review, and we’re covering … the third installations of Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean, movies that together looted $1 billion worldwide by Memorial Day. I know that you expect better from a newbie webzine with a local perspective. And when it comes to these global mega-events, I feel some unearthly black goo corroding whatever positives or negatives I could possibly spout. Especially when there are countless original cinema offerings in Chicagoland: 30-plus films at the Gene Siskel; gobs of artsy-fartsy Music Box fare; and a smattering of the old and semi-new at Doc Films. All these have been available to the ticket-paying public since the Summer of Sequels and Blank Ideas Bonanza started May 3 climbing atop Tobey Maguire’s yoga-toned shoulders. Hey, I hyperlink them to assuage my guilt – knowing any regular filmgoer could rattle off a handful of more promising flicks. Robert-o-D2, come in.

Pooch: It’s hard to choose between a 12-hour Jacques Rivette movie (Out 1) and a nearly 3-hour Johnny Depp blockbuster, but everybody already knows the Rivette franchise, so we felt it worthwhile to enlighten our readers. After all, if art doesn’t help us evolve as human beings, then what is its purpose?

Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf, May 27th 2007

A Chicago Media Activist Takes On Springfield

Mitchell Szczepanczyk, May 22, 2007

On Wednesday, April 18, I boarded a chartered bus with about 40 friends. We travelled from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois to lobby against a controversial Illinois state bill (House Bill 1500) which, if passed, would decimate public access television and seriously threaten rights-of-way of local communities across the state.

The bill is being promoted heavily by area phone companies (most notably AT&T), who want to set up their version of cable television. However,  they don't want to have to pay for cable public services like public access cable channels, nor do they want to acknowledge negotiating authority to local communities. Just ask a number of Chicago suburbs which are being sued by AT&T for asserting that authority.

The major phone companies are pushing for what are termed "state video franchises". Rather than negotiate with each individual community  where cable TV would be brought in, as is done now, phone companies would negotiate just once, with the state. This, they claim, is more "efficient" -- but the likely effect is that local communities would have far less control over cable policies and money for community services.

This is one big reason why municipalities and mayors' organizations across Illinois oppose the bill--including the Chicago City Council, which is considering a resolution against the bill.

Health Savings Accounts: An Alternative in the Health Insurance Industry

Lee Posey May 18, 2007

I’m skeptical of the government’s ability to provide quality healthcare. Imagine if going to the doctor were like going to the DMV: long lines, poor customer service, that dirty feeling when you finally get out. Scary. And do you see how much the government already takes out of your paycheck? It would make more sense to be able to use that tax money in a way that benefits you, individually, instead of letting the government regulate it. I don’t trust the government that much, no matter who’s in charge.

As an alternative healthcare practitioner, I see the effects of our failed system on a daily basis. I hear my clients saying things like, “I need to go to the dentist, but I don’t have insurance,” or, “I sprained my foot, but I couldn’t do anything about it because I don’t have insurance.” I sympathize with them, because I know how it feels to one of the uninsured. But I also tell them that you aren’t required to have insurance to go to the doctor. You do not have to use insurance to receive health care.

There are alternatives to becoming a slave to the health insurance industry. We must change our perception and find alternatives, or the system will never change. One such alternative, a Health Savings Account (HSA), was made public in a provision of the Medicare Act of 2003.

Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis

Jack Slowriver, May 21, 2007

On May 11, 2007, Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) held their annual Mother’s Day Rally in the late afternoon sunshine outside of the Thompson Center. One sign, held by a woman who was clearly ardent on the subject, said “Educate Not Incarcerate.” Another read, “Our Future is What We Leave Behind,” meaning that when mothers are incarcerated their children often suffer. They have trouble doing well in school and too often end up in prisons themselves.

Denise Acevedo, a member of Visible Voices, a weekly women’s peer support group operated by CLAIM, is the mother of one such child. Speaking at the rally, she said, “My daughter was an ‘A’ student, but due to our separation she’s doing poorly in school now. She completely shut down and she’s been rebelling. I regret missing opportunities to be there for her during important times in her life. If the Illinois Department of Corrections had alternative sentencing to provide treatment and keep mothers and children together, I’d have a better relationship with my kids. My whole outlook on life would be different,” Acevedo said to the crowd.

Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf, May 16th 2007

Chicago’s New May Day Tradition

By Megan Chapman, interviews by Cindy Schaarschmidt, May 16, 2007

The numbers are down, but hopes are up. Over 150,000 marched for immigration reform on May 1, 2007 in downtown Chicago, compared with the 400,000 on May 1, 2006.

Standing on the corner of Dearborn and Jackson, at the edge (or at times in midst) of the forward-marching crowd, a friend and I speculated about the numbers. The police count of 150,000 was already being reported online when we had left our offices. We came up with a variety of hypothetical explanations for why the numbers would be more than halved from one year to the next. The leading explanations were:

(1) People don’t have hope. It’s taking too long to negotiate immigration reform legislation in Congress. Apathy sets in again. We’re not going to change anything.

(2) People do have hope. We’ve already won half the battle – there’s a Democratic Congress, the President is on board and making stump speeches again. It’s just a matter of time. No need to skip work.

(3) Reaction motivates more than pro-action. Last year’s House Bill 4437 struck a chord amongst immigrant communities and advocates. And, frankly, most sane, humanitarian-minded folk. While recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have been dramatic and threatening, they do not motivate the same fervent reaction as the drastic HR4437 enforcement measures or the media captivating Minute Men.

(4) Sequels don’t play as well as the originals, at least not in activism.

None of these lines of thought are meant to discount the grand numbers that did turn out to march for miles in the sun and rally in Grant Park. There’s nothing little about 150,000 (plus) bodies. Ask anyone who has tried to organize an anti-war march or a Sudan rally … or an anti-immigrant march, for that matter.