Chicago’s History Museum

I really enjoyed our last day of class and thought it was a very appropriate ending point. It was cool how interactive it was, which made it more interesting to learn about. Everything in that museum showed us what took place in our city, how cool! We didn’t get as much time in this museum as other places considering this was one of the more interesting ones and had a lot to offer. One of my favorite exhibits was the section for kids to have more hands on experiences (when my son gets a little older, I will definitely be bringing him!) and there was a video that was playing that was particularly interesting to me, which involved actual residents of Chicago and their stories of where they live and are from; those sometimes can be the most informative when it gets real people involved. The “out in Chicago” exhibit was also a pretty interesting museum and would open the eyes of a lot of people and maybe even end prejudices against gays and lesbians, which would in turn bring together a more community feel within the city.

This class showed me how to look further than just being a tourist when taking trips to the city. I was taught many different ways to use our city than just going to the beach or visiting magnificent mile every time I am down there. There is so much more to experience and so much history in Chicago that since I have gotten a head start will be sure to take advantage of! I am glad I was able to be apart of this class and I really did learn a lot about the city that I love and live so close to. It was amazing to me how much I truly did not know or places I did not even know existed and realized that is something that needs to change in order for more people to really have a sense of appreciation for the history of the city they live in. There is so much more than just entertainment opportunities to take advantage of. A topic that would have been personally interesting to me to have discussed more in depth or at all for that matter would have been religion in the city of Chicago.

Is Chicago’s “tourist bubble” worth it?

This is a very difficult question because I cannot even fathom having that much money to be able to use in the first place…but I have kind of mixed feelings on this topic. Outsiders and residents of Chicago are always complaining on how the Chicago public school system is behind national achievements or how it could be better or that people are moving out of certain areas to go to a better school. Shouldn’t that money be used for our young peoples education?? On the other hand, Kovol points out from the Chicago convention and tourism bureau, in 2002, “Chicago remained first as a domestic business-travel destination, eighth for domestic leisure travel, and fourth for total domestic travel” (p.298). This shows that all the money that is being used for touristic spots are actually benefitting the city of Chicago, mostly through tourism and consumption. Isn’t that what most people want out of their cities is for travelers to come visit and consume? By using millions of dollars on building up things like Millennium Park or Grant Park, city officials are creating places for touristic events to take place and in turn create revenue.

In my opinion, I believe that certain parks are good for Chicago in terms of tourism and in terms of just making the city a better place to live in for the people of Chicago. But I do believe that there are much more important ways that any big city could spend their money on to improve ones living conditions besides spending millions on something like entertainment. I think the most important thing right now to use money on that will affect cities and how people live their lives forever to come is education. If education is shown to be the most important or a top priority than I think more students would take it seriously and not think that officials and leaders don’t care about it because of how their spending their money, and in turn think than why should I? “The city of leisure and entertainment, aimed at attracting locals and visitors, has caused a reorganization of planning policies and priorities” (p.296). Now back to the original prompt question, is this worth it? Overall, I think more of this money needs to be spent on things that will benefit our city and residents of the city for the long run.

Chicago’s Politics and Public Education

It was cool to have a speaker from the Teachers union of Chicago to be able to come in and talk with us in person. I didn’t agree with him on some of topics that were discussed during our class time. I have had personal experiences with teachers on tenure and needless to say they weren’t very good ones. It is sad because any student can tell when they have a teacher that is tenured because they are typically all the same; old and crabby.  I did agree with his statement though that it would not make sense to get rid of all the teachers that a school already has in order to reform a school, instead train the teachers that are there so they get a chance to adapt to the new environment and curriculum. Because who is to say that the new teachers coming in would be better than the current ones? They wouldn’t be anymore qualified. Extending the school day was another issue brought up during our discussion and I do not see anything wrong with is idea and his points implied that most teachers would be more than willing to have more time due to the fact that all their current time is spent learning for the tests rather than creating their own lesson plans. But what I did not think was right about this idea was the incentive that came along with teachers committing to this agreement. Although they made it out to be that this would benefit the students and more or less the teachers, the city officials and leaders seemed to be getting something out of it too. Another issue was the topic of Charter Schools and whether they are more benefiting than public schools and I have had to do research on this particular question and I do not believe the speaker gave an overall picture of what charter schools actually look like. I do not know exactly what the right answer to all of this is, but what I do know is that every one including, teachers, students, and leaders within our city all need to be to looking out for the STUDENTS best interest and not their own. I think that is said to be the main goal and on the outskirts made out to look like it is the main goal, but is not always the case when looking closer on the idea.

Chicago's Racial Divide

To be honest, I think there will always be a racial divide all across the world...why? Because we live in an imperfect world. Until we can convince people that the only true difference between everyone is the color of our skin or the things we value and believe, but that we are all human beings, there will always be some discrimination happening even if its subtle or barely noticed. The past discrimination that African Americans faced was actual actions taking against them and rules they had to abide by. The Jim Crow laws, housing discrimination, redlining, etc. things to that nature. Whereas today it is more stereotypes and racial discrimination that are happening behind the scenes through different groups in schools or trying to get a job. 

 If there was an answer to this last part of the prompt I would hope we would have already been trying to do it! This is difficult. I don't know if there is an answer that could get rid of racial discrimination. I think there are things that our world could be doing differently to better educate our young people. Racism and social class differences and problems are so often looked over and not talked about and we see this even in our politics or just sitting in a class where discussions like this come up. The subject is quickly changed. Why is that? That I believe is the number one problem! We need to admit and recognize there is a problem..that is the first step to solving any problem. This starts with our younger generation. This would lessen our stereotypes on what schools are the best or the worst or what neighborhoods people should stay away from. This should not only being taken place in the urban education but also in the suburbs. It is so often put in peoples minds who live in the outside perspective and is therefore easy for them to build stereotypes and for them to completely avoid situations.

I believe things like visiting the African American Museum can help start educate young people and it was really sweet to experience it for myself.

Immigrant Chicago

Immigration brings much diversity to cities, not only by race and appearance but also by what cultures and traditions they bring to America that everyone can learn from! In my experience, living in the suburbs, I come from a very diverse area and because there are so many immigrants there, it definitely defines my town. I always loved that about my town though, it brought in different values and traditions that people, even the town next to me had never experienced.This country was started because of Immigrants and people need to remember that.

Immigrants face many problems coming to America and being forced to assimilate to certain aspects of our culture in order to be able to fit in appropriately. Not only is their racial discrimination but there is also a lot of negative stigma on immigrants that are willing to work for less doing manual labor jobs (this is more taking place today than it did in the past). Americans look at this as they are taking our jobs and how unfair it is...but in reality would an American amidst the recession who is used to work a 9 to 5 desk job really being willing to lower his standards to do a manual labor job? I highly doubt it!

In another class of mine we just went through a whole section learning about preserving culture and how important that is to other ethnic groups. Americans are highly ethnocentric and as I agree when immigrants come to America they need to understand the basics of how American culture work I would never ask them to give up our culture! If anything it would be neat to spread culture more because it is important! I believe it is harder for Mexicans to assimilate to our culture than it would be for white Europeans solely because of physical features..which is a heartbreaking but true story of our America.

 I enjoyed going to Pilsen and being able to walk around the Mexican Museum. I feel like most people don't even think to go visit museums to broaden what they know about other races and I believe this could help lessen our prejudices. It shows that everyone has their own story and traditions. The day of the dead exhibit was really cool to me, to be able to see that holiday (who most people believe is associated with Halloween) is actually a celebration of lives of people in their family.

Hull House

Jane Addams lived where she worked and so did many of the volunteers. It was so interesting and cool to hear that many of the workers within the Hull House were doing it out of their own willingness in participating to better the city and not for money. The Hull House was filled with many different types of people, varying in race/ethnicity, age, gender..etc. and offered something great to the surrounding community. A lot of the things offered were specifically aimed to people who had immigrated and were trying to assimilate into American society. 

Not only did they have kindergarten classes, but also they offered art classes for adults, a place of social gathering and provided housing. The settlement house taught a variety of useful skills and education to help better the life of the people that came in, so they could end up moving out and start doing things for themselves. Her whole purpose in creating a settlement house was to help people help themselves. It gave the children a sense of what childhood should actually feel like and it gave the adults a sense of responsibility and importance to the society. I also believe the Hull House brought people together because they were all working together for a common goal in trying to improve themselves and the place they lived.

Jane Addams Hull house took more people off the streets and gave them useful tools to survive and function in a society. Jane Addams plan was to work with people on more of a personal level, actually listening to their needs and helping in any practical way that she could. This settlement gave the city of Chicago more of a purpose for the people and society as a whole rather than appearance and money making. I think more people and leaders especially should be more concerned about making communities around the city more wholesome and provide services and tools easily available for people of need to take advantage without feeling discriminated or looked down upon. This was not only a great accomplishment, but an important one that people are still learning about...that must mean something!

 

Cabrini Green

Every time I thought or even heard of, for that matter, about Cabrini Green it was always negative things; how dangerous or ghetto it was. I heard about the type of people that resided in that area and how much crime took place. In fact a lot of students from that area used to be sent to my high school because of problems or issues they were having. So when I first heard that they were tearing down the old Cabrini to make it nicer, my VERY first thought was, where are the people/families going to go while this building is taking place? And secondly, are they going to build the same amount of places to fit the amount of people that lived there originally? While I agree that Cabrini Green needed some help, I believe this did no good for the actual residents of that area except practically force them out of their homes to start the same kind of life in some other part of the city. Did this actually help our city out? Do the people that actually reside in close proximity to Cabrini Green actually feel safer with the news homes built? It would be interesting to actually be able to talk to people to get a feel of what their attitudes are about it.

After some of the readings, I began to see that a lot of leaders/planners of the city, including back to Burnham, are more worried about the appearance and the actual land itself, whether its making profit or at least looking semi decent, than the actually residents of Chicago themselves. We have been learning about the production of space in our Chicago Term class, and the rebuilding of Cabrini Green and the things around it made me think of what I have learned about the city as a whole. It is all about commerce and profit. They didn’t do this for the people, so they could live better lives but instead of the appearance and money.

As much as I enjoyed the opportunity of being able to have a tour led by the city/urban planner himself, some of the impersonal comments he made frustrated me. I did take into account that he is not PERSONALLY responsible for the displacement and homelessness of all the people from the old Cabrini Green but his lack of sympathy or compassion made it hard to accept the facts of it. The idea to rip down the old Cabrini Green to build and renovate a new Cabrini Green sounded like the city actually cared that, that part of the city was run down and not looked as comfortable place to be, so I thought they were actually going to do something about it! 

Plan of Chicago

As Burnham was planning out the future of Chicago, I believe that he ignored some pressing social needs or couldn't have imagined the depths of these needs while visually mapping out his plans before action. There are few key factors we would have to consider in order to be efficient in our planning. One of the most  important factors in re-creating or re-buiding an urban setting is taking into consideration population growth and how rapid that could potentially take place. This problem flows into the problem of housing, it is very overcrowded and the set up for lower class people is not sufficient. I think since the city grew at such a rapid pace, Burnham couldn't have known to consider this problem as in depth as it needed to be. This also creates problems of traffic in and out of the city and places to park. 

Another problem that he didn't elaborate on enough was actually in his 6 recommendations for transforming Chicago, and that was altering the park systems for more outdoor activity. I think this would have been an awesome transformation if it was more spread out among the city in all different types of areas. I think this is not only awesome for people in general to have a place of recreation and leisure time to have a place to go, but i am thinking more toward kids and young people. This would give them a place that is open and free to hang out at where it can be controlled enough where they feel safe, but not hovered. I think that this could give the city a more communal feel, where interactions could possibly take place rather than a city of loneliness. 

Even though Burnham's plan for Chicago was promoted not just to coworkers of the plan or leaders of the city, but it was also taught through school institutions and shown through film at local theaters. They were even somehow formed to fit into sermons at the local churches on urban planning, which I just found shocking, but showed Burnhams seriousness, passion, and determination to get this up and running. I think Burnhams plan didnt think far enough into the future. If we were to start a plan on renovating Chicago we would have to look further into the future than several years because as our world keeps proving to us, things are continously evolving and changing to fit the needs of the up and coming generations.

The Gold Coast

The tour to the North side around the Gold Coast area was very interesting considering I have never walked up that way before. I really liked how we did the tour right after we read the first half of the the Zorbaugh book. From being able to imagine what the Gold Coast looked like through the readings than being able to physically see it through the tour proved that the Gold Coast was a very wealthy area. As I was on the tour it was easier for me to imagine what it was like to live in the Gold Coast back in that time period. First reading how much work it entails to become an elite seemed unreal and almost not worth it, but viewing some of those houses I can see how one would feel the weight on their shoulders to  have more etiquette than the average joe. It was also cool to me how in the readings the Gold Coast was compared to many different types of neighborhoods within close proximity(So crazy how the slums are a mile down) and it compared and contrasted the surrounding and the people that resided in those areas.

 As you walk into the area the stores begin to change from normal chain stores to high end brand name stores. When you walk from the loop you do not see much housing but as you walk into the Gold Coast you see beautiful historic mansions or large homes for single families. I definitely observed more of an older generation than young people around this part, although altogether there were not many people outside. It almost felt to me like we were not even in Chicago anymore, but something that was consistent with city life was the lack of communal interactions. My favorite part of the tour was being able to walk in and view the drake hotel, instead of just walking past it on the way to North Side beach. It became more of a reality of what type of people live in that area and how out of place I felt!!

I am very interested in working in the inner city and so as interesting as this was to learn about, I am more excited to tour and learn about the slums of Chicago; that is where my passion lies. 

"Urbanism As A Way Of Life"

 In Wirths’ article, he makes the point that a city must include 3 different characteristics in order to be called a city. “For sociological purposes a city may be defined as a relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals.” I definitely agree that this description of a city still holds true today, but it is a somewhat vague definition and does not give someone of maybe a rural area a very clean image of what a city consists of. It does not give any specific examples of different parts of the city being more dense or heterogeneous than others which I think would help distinguish the difference better between cities and rural areas.

Something that Wirth fails to elaborate on in his article that I believe is a very vital part of city life is its diversity. I not only think that this is an obvious observation about a city, but also an important one. Chicago’s diversity makes up its culture and makes up how people interact and why neighborhoods change so drastically from block to block. This to me is the most fascinating part of a city, that you can find any type of person living in a city, variation in race, social class, ages, background, ethnic group, etc. you name it. Although in the article he mentions that differences are not only tolerated but rewarded, which I believe is a pretty bold statement considering that there are ongoing problems of segregation throughout the entire city. I believe that if the diversity and segregation problem was discussed more in what makes up a city, issues could be better dealt with.

Something that we talked about in class after reading this article was how media plays such a large role on how outsiders might perceive the city to be like. We talked about how the media more often than not is amplifying the problems of certain parts of the city that may already have a preconceived notion or stereotype as being a place to stay away from. If this was not already in our heads through the media maybe more things could be done to better our city instead of thinking that there is no hope or a place to completely avoid. I think this could have been elaborated more in Wirth's article to let people know that what they see through the media might be staged to look more dramatic than it actually is.

Overall this was a very interesting article and I never really took time to actually come up with a definition of what a city is myself, but it was cool to be able to piece together what makes up a city, especially a city that is so close in proximity to me.