Catherine Gillis

Today has been a very interesting day. Meeting Catherine Gillis has been a wonderful experience. I was expecting a long speech about food and the right way to eat, but to my surprise, she talked to us about the study she conducted with Dr. Kelly Moore on Social Class and Cultural Meanings of Eating. When I was listening to her speak about this study, I was shocked to see how people actually take the time trying to figure out what families eat in certain communities.

Knowing that people care about the health of others is something amazing. I was curious by the overall idea behind "food deserts" and "food swamps" . Food deserts simply means the lack of grocery stores around a community of low income, while food swamps have plenty of fast food restaurants all over communities, of low income. When discussing this issue about how much this affects families and their eating habits I became aware of reality.

Many low income communities do not have access to grocery stores that are healthy for them to buy cheap, affordable food. I think this is one of the main reasons why the African American community does not live as long as the middle-class whites. African American communities suffer from diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and many other unhealthy conditions that target them into being a unhealthy community.

People who look down at all of these communities blame the people, but it is not just about blaming people to eat healthy. I mean it is something dangerous when you are living an unhealthy life, but if they are poor, how will they obtain the money needed in order to buy healthy, fresh vegetables? These problems make the community suffer because of the lack of grocery stores and because of the lack of money. I believe people have been getting used t0 living in poor and unhealthy conditions because they have no other option; when there is no money to provide the healthiest foods for their families then we have unhealthy people.

Going back to Catherine's study, I found it extremely interesting to see how Michael Pollan brought reality into the table by saying that "Americans are eating fast, processed food and they are not eating together as families anymore". I believe this is true becasue many families just buy food outside, some do not even eat at home, and others are too lazy to cook after a long day at work. I think that time has become a major concern. Mostly everyone is behind the clock rushing to work, worrying about traffic, preparing for the next meeting they will be helding and other stressful reasons that leave people exhausted. The las thing they want to do is think about getting home to cook.

Throughout this study, we see how low income families rely on the government either for food stamps or for WIC Food. The study was based on the interview of 27 people who were all approached at the WIC Food center in Western Chicago, Illinois. These people ranged from the ages of 18-50 years old. All of them had an income below 185 %. 24 of the people were African Americans and only 3 Latinas, there were only 4 men and 23 women who are just few individuals that make up the "Food World".

Overall, this study was done to show how middle class whites waste a ridiculous amount of money in a "healthy meal" while low income people are trying to do anything in order to make a few dollars to bring food to the table. Out of the 27 people, 6 of them go to fast food restaurants such as McDonald's because they love the double cheeseburgers. Many eat at home because of the quality time they spend together with their family members, while some just rely on restaurants for "take out".

The saddest part about this study is to find that most people do not view it as a preventative health activity. The only problem they see is the lack of grocery stores in the area which causes them to buy unhealthy foods. Even though some people do have diabetes and other diseases, they do not change their diets unless diagnosed with a disease or seeing other family members sick.

Nowadays we see nutrition information and diets changing. Before in the 1950s we would have parents telling their children to eat as much as possibly in order to be healthy, and now we see children being overweight. It all depends in how society manifests such topic. I believe that poverty is the main reason why people suffer from such diseases in these communities because of the lack of grocery stores as well as the lack of information. We do not want our children being overweight, we do not want certain communities suffering more than others, we all want healthy people in a healthy world. Overall, I hope change can come before death rate increases due to these problems.
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It is my last blog! The class has come to an end. I am happy to have been part of such a great class. I would like to thank Joel and Liz for doing an amazing job teachign us all about Chicago. I really enjoyed every trip and al lthe tours around the city. I will never forget summer 2010. It was an amazing experience also getting to know Jill and Annie two great people. ( I already knew Jose).
Well over all, thank you so much Liz and Joel for it all, it has been such a great pleasure meeting you guys!

Walking Tour of Millenium Park with Tim Gilfoyle

Millennium Park is just an amazing park to visit. When I was young, I used to visit this park with my family very often. I remember how beautiful I thought it was, how big the buildings were, and how much people visited the parks. I always wondered why it attracted so many people, and now I know why.

Chicago is such a great city. It is magnificent because of it skyscrapers, historical places and its grandiose parks. Once at Millennium Park, we had Tim talk to us about the history behind this area. In 1834 the Chicago River was not as it is today. Before, it was shaped in a weird way that was known as its sand bar which made it harder for people to enter. In 186 it was said that public ground was set to be ... " A common to remain forever open, clear and free of any building...". This meant that nothing could be constructed were Millennium Park stands. This was based on the ideology that parks should always remain open. I think this was a very good idea. This thought is what has made Chicago what it is today. Having open space is also important. Even though buildings are necessary for offices and hotels and all important necessities, open space makes the area look more alive by having people around.

As we go back into history we see that after the Chicago Fire, everything around Millennium Park was wiped out. In the 1870s a temporary structure was built in order to represent the advancement the city of Chicago had done after the fire. Later in the 1880s, this structure was turned into the Art Institute.

What I thought was very interesting was the grain elevators that used to be the highest skyscrapers at one point.

In the 1900 Grant Park opened. Grant Park because a busy place because of the cars that began taking over and the garages that were available for the cars. The first garage was available in 1854. I think garages are very useful, but they did not seem to be so beneficial in the areas that they used to be built on.

Later in the 1980s, Lake Shore Drive was renovated making it more "straight" as it used to be in an almost "zig - zag " structure, making it harder to drive and causing too much traffic. I did not know that Lake Shore Dr. once looked, so, weird, but now I think it has a beautiful view as you pass all along Lake Michigan.

A very interesting thing that I learned today was that the Illinois Central converted the railroad areas into parking spaces. In 1850, there was a contract that said that you could use this place for only railroad purposes but that did not happen. Later on this space was used to build parking space for Soldier Field parking.

Once at the park, we began talking about the importance behind the Crown Fountain. This fountain was designed according to the Crown family’s taste. This happened all because Mayor Daley did not want to fund the entire park as he knew it would be too much money to give away directly from the city's funds. In order to change this, Daley asked John Bryan from Sara Lee Corp. to help him raise money in order to constructs Millennium Park. At first, the plan was to raise $25 million, but Bryan raised up to $250 million. This was the chance to create an iconic symbol for the city of Chicago. Compared to other cities, Chicago lacked something special, and building this park would be the solution.

Many donations were given such as the Wrigley Corp. which gave $5 million, Harris family gave $20million for the Music and Dance Theater and the Crown family gave $10 million for the Crow fountain. Because of their donations, the families could do as they pleased with the areas, each designed their area however they wanted. I think this was fair enough. The Crown fountain holds 122 thousand small tiles. it weighs 10 lbs, it is 50 ft. high, 23 ft wide and 16 ft deep. The very interesting feature about this fountain is that it has 1,000 different faces of Chicagoans. Their faces appear on the fountain as water is being poured from the fountain.

It was amazing to hear that the engineer had to be careful when deciding how much water would fall and how strong the water current would hit the ground in case of causing any harm to children who would go under the water fountain to get.

The fountain’s main purpose was to be opened the 12 months. Even in the winter time this fountain functions by keeping the faces of the people, but no water. It is interesting because there are two exact fountains each facing each other. The idea behind the faces was to keep a conversation going between the people, or faces in the fountains.

What I found to be the best part about this fountain area is that it is a very multicultural area. This brings people from all over the city and all over the world together. Everyone gets to enjoy the beauty of art and architecture without any rules and regulations, just enjoy.

Another sculpture is the "Bean" or the Cloud gate. This is just a beautiful structure. Even though it weighs so much and it has been the most expensive sculpture costing 23 million dollars to have it built, it is magnificent. It is quite interesting to hear it being called Cloud Gate as it is the gate way to the sky and the clouds because of its unique reflections all around the "bean". This is my favorite part of Millennium Park!

I think that Chicago has definitely transformed over the years. It has been through so much in order to be what it is today. Even though the city has spent a ridiculous amount of money to have Chicago in such a great shape, it looks amazing. I just love Chicago!

Wrigleyville

Go Cubs Go!

Today has been a very exciting day for me. We visited Wrigleyville and Lakeview. Today's tour guide was Larry Bennett, who is the author of last night's reading (Revamped stadium… new neighborhood?). Before anything, I would like to thank Larry for such a great tour around Wrigleyville and Lakeview.
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Our first stop was Wrigley Field (the Cub's Stadium). As we stood in front of the stadium, we had Larry telling us a bit of history behind the controversial stadium. Wrigley field is located in Lakeview. Before being part of Chicago, it used to be an Illinois Township (1889). During this time Lakeview was made up of middle class and the working class. Its population declined after WW11, and it’s now a very densely populated area. After this occurred, the middle class moved to the suburbs (again, a sign of gentrification). The good thing about having this stadium built was that the space was all vacant; no houses were destroyed in order to build this huge stadium.

The stadium opened in 1914. Later after being called a few different names, in the 1920s, the Chicago Cubs Franchise bought the "Cubs Park". This name has been the most memorable.
Later, in the mid 1920s, Wrigley (the gum company) bought the stadium, naming it after its company; Wrigley Field.

Later in the 1980s, Wrigley sold the stadium to the Chicago Tribune. After the Tribune took charge of the stadium, non-profiting institutions were needed in order to provide for the stadium's economic stability. Neighborhood institutions became dependent on the ball team such as bars, sports stores, restaurants, etc.


When we stare at the actual stadium, we see many different additions to the stadium and a lot of renovations. First of all, the upper stand was added in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the panels on the side of the stadium were also added. The bleachers were very limited, but there was a significant expansion in 2007.

In 1988 the addition of lights was the most controversial. As the reading mentions, this would produce disruptions to the quiet residents who want to sleep in peace during the night, the addition of lights meant nighttime games, before this there was only day time games. This addition of lights created so much controversy among the community and the Chicago Council. The people where afraid of change, noise, and the light that illuminated the area around Wrigley. In the end, the lights were added, it added night life around the area and even though it did disturb the neighbor boors, the lights benefited the stadium.

I agree that the lights will be bothersome for the residents. What I also began to think about was the risk of violence after the night games. Most people come to drink and once the game is over, they obviously go outside, creating chaos, disturbance to the people who are already asleep. On the other hand, this will benefit the community. The businesses around the area will make extra money and this will attract tourism. The roof tops have become very popular to the point of adding them around the buildings that surrounds the stadium. There rooftops look great, it gives this Lakeview area a special twist to the building's architecture. I believe Wrigleyville is a very special area in Chicago, its uniqueness makes it stand out, even though it causes a bit of chaos; nothing is ever perfect.
Once we hit Southport, we saw how gentrification has affected this area. A new Jewel Osco is being constructed, restaurants are along the street, houses look great and the area has a different view compared to Clark Street. Clark Street is just full of bars, sports stores and business that benefit from the fans.

Overall, the tour was great. I got to hear more about the history behind Wrigley Field.
After this was over, we went back to CURL to discuss today's experience.

Once at CURL, we began discussing about Wrigley Field's development over time.
What was the most interesting about this conversation was that it leads to a whole different topic. We began discussing about society and how it plays a major role in the behavior of the people and the obvious difference between races. I think this has been the best discussion we have had so far, and i hope it won’t be the last. I am very happy to see how my classmates and I have opened up a bit more and now we talk about anything.

Today has definitely been a great day!

Homelessness

I believe that homelessness is increasing the poverty rate in the city of Chicago. I believe homelessness is such a very delicate topic to talk about if you do not have knowledge about the topic.


Before last night's reading (Homelessness over 50: The Graying of Chicago's Homeless Population), I was not aware of how difficult the elderly are living in the streets. Older people from the ages of 50-64 are the biggest group of homeless whose population is increasing as time goes by. What I found to be the saddest part about this statistic is that these people cannot work, they cannot afford three meals a day, they cannot afford to pay for any medications they can need. Keep in mind that most elderly suffer from diabetes, hypertensia or chronic illness.





After the reading, I still had many questions about the plenty of homeless people who are on the streets looking for a way to survive. I wondered if the city of Chicago is doing something to help the homeless by providing shelters and other facilities in order to help them survive. I see so many poor people on the streets all around Chicago and I always wonder why they all end up being homeless. Maybe bad circumstances, unemployment or just bad luck that lead these people to become homeless but in the end, we will never really know what happened to every poor person in Chicago.

Thanks to today's speakers, all of my questions were answered. First, we had Ruben Miller, a social worker who spoke to my class about homelessness and poverty. What I found to be the most interesting fact about his own personal research is that out of the 120 homeless people he interviewed, 20% are veterans. To me, this shows how the government does not care about its military soldiers who at one point, served to protect this country, and now, their own country are letting them die alone in the streets.

Reuben Miller told us how he spent some time working and interacting with prisoners at cook county jail. He was telling us that most of the inmates were Black and Latinos. To my surprise, 80-90% of the inmates were Christians and/or Catholics, but what was even more shocking was to know that 50% of the prisoners were below the 50% poverty level. I was not aware about the fact that many if not all of the prisoners are poor. Once they are released from jail, these people have a harder time bringing themselves up and tend to fall into the poverty rate already existing in Chicago.

We also talked about welfare and what it is. As a class, we agreed that welfare is government assistance, its getting food stamps, the link card, social security and Medicaid. It was a very interesting lecture because we all had the opportunity to express our thoughts on welfare. As a whole, we thought that welfare was given to the poor people, especially mothers with children. It is also given to the unemployed, and to lazy people. Overall, our conversation on welfare was very interesting. Having us, four students, each from a different background and life style, we all came to the same conclusion about welfare, and I thought it was very interesting how we all think only the poor receive welfare.

Once we continued our conversation on homeless people, we began to talk about how homeless people abuse the money we give them. I believe this is quite true because in many cases, poor people do not want our help, they just want cash. I once offered food to a homeless man and he did not take it, all he wanted was money. The sad thing is that this money is being used to buy drugs and alcohol in order to feed on addictions. I think that being homeless is the worst thing anyone can go through. Living on the streets is so devastating especially when it is winter time when harsh weather conditions can be deadly.

Learning more about how people are trying to help out the most needed motivates me into doing something to help out as well. I give money to the poor because I believe that giving out a dollar or two to someone who has nothing is the right thing to do. We need to stop being so selfish by taking everything for granted and we need so start lending a hand to the poor. Even though some people are too greedy and have negative thoughts about the poor, these people should know that because of this same reason, this neglect towards the poor is the main reason why poverty does not end in our country. I believe we should all help each other out as much as possible even if it takes you to give a poor person a dollar once in a while.

After Reuben left us thinking about how much homeless people are suffering and why society treats them the way they do, we had Michael speak to us about CURL's involvement in a 10 -year plan to help end poverty in the city of Chicago. At first, I was not surprised to hear about this 10- year plan because I thought many people at one point, tried to do something about homelessness and probably failed. Once I heard Michael speak about how serious this project is, I was very impressed at how it is being handled. First, there has been a reduction in the amount of shelter home in Chicago, from 80 to 18. This is very terrible for all of the homeless people because now, where will they go? Well, the answer to this would be this project. Its purpose is to create emergency homes then transfer the homeless people into interim housing where they will be giving between 30-100 days to work and to improve their life styles a bit, after that they will be taken into permanent homes which will be available to them at all times.

When I was listening to Michael, I began to think so much about the possibilities of the project failing, what would happen next? Is there a back -up plan? I asked Michael a few questions about whether or not these homes will have enough space for space for so many poor people. I am actually worried about the older people who need the health care, hopefully they will receive the help they need.

What I found so shocking to hear was the fact that housing the homeless benefits society and the city by being cheaper than having people on the streets. Michael was telling us that it is much more expensive having people living on the streets, if they get arrested and end up going to prison, if they end up going to the emergency room, who will pay for all of this? It is just crazy to understand that yes, this definitely benefits the homeless but behind it all, this is primarily done in order to benefit society and the state from wasting time in their veterans and the rest of the homeless.

Over all, today was a very interesting day. I have learned so much more about homeless and the plan the city of Chicago has in order to end poverty and homelessness which is such a great thing. I am very happy to hear how many agencies and how many people are willing to take part in this project in order to make it a success. Hopefully we will see results in the next few years, even better, in the next homeless count which will take place in January.

Meeting Congressman Mike Quigley & More...

Meeting Congressman Mike Quigley was very exciting. Once we entered the small conference room I was so anxious to meet such an important person. After he began talking to us about his political life, I noticed how simple he was. I was actually shocked he was not wearing a suit and speaking all proper. I was so shocked because my school and I have visited Springfield and visiting the representatives was not the best experience. Mostly every representative was either too busy, not at the office, or at very "important" meetings, excuses to avoid our presence.

On the other hand, Mike Quigley is such humble and amazing person, and because of everything he has done for Illinois, I believe he is a great congressman as well.

It was such a great conversation. Even though my classmates and I were a bit shy when asking questions, he kept telling us all about experiences with president Obama, the time he visited the troops, and everything he thought and felt about politics in Chicago. What I thought was the best part about talking to Mike Quigley was when he gave us advice as to what to do without lives and our education.

After meeting with Mike Quigley, we headed over CURL where we had a brief discussion about Chicago politics and the Daley’s before having lunch with the staff. When discussing how Mayor Daley (father) became so powerful, I was shocked to hear how he had to choose between the White people and the Black people. In order to keep his campaign strong and from being re-elected, Daley has to support the white people, and keep the black people isolated from his plans and from Chicago. I thought this was unfair to the black community because they were the main race that kept re-electing Daley (father). Throughout history, we have seen Chicago at its lowest point and I do not think anything can be any worse than the Chicago fire. What I am trying to say is that nothing can get extremely bad in Chicago, as the worst has already happen. Having the Daley’s in office for such a long time has given Chicago a huge reputation, good or not it is up to the people, but they had done a great job in keeping the city together.

Even though both father and son have been corrupt, even though some people like them and some don not, the Daleys have done an amazing job in building Chicago from nothing to what it is now. Nothing is ever perfect, they both failed in certain parts of their careers as mayors, but in the end, we see Chicago as it is today.


After discussing about the Daley’s, we had lunch with current students at Loyola and the staff. This lunch was great. We had the opportunity to meet amazing people. We had the privilege to have lunch with them all, and I thought this was such a great opportunity and a very nice gesture from our teachers that planned this. What I liked the most was being able to interact with such great people. They are all working in different projects, but most of them are working on a project that deals with homelessness which I thought was very interesting.

Today was a great day. I got to meet a great man, Congressman Mike Quigley, and I had the opportunity to meet great students and staff from Loyola. Overall, today was full of surprises, great people and delicious pizza!

Chicago Center for Green Technology

Nowadays, we hear a lot about recycling, reducing the burning of fossil fuels and going green. , Hearing this makes me wonder how if Chicago is doing anything to help its environment. When I heard we were going to go visit the "Chicago Center for Green Technology", I did not know what to expect. What I found interesting to hear before going to the center was that these types of places help provide employment, make Chicago greener, and it definitely makes Chicago more sustainable.

Once we arrived at the center, I was surprised to read all about what the center provided for the city of Chicago. It was amazing to find out that this was originally built in 1952. This building used to be a building that "recycled construction and road-demolition debris". What left me speechless was the fact that this place had filled "17 acres of land with 70 foot high piles of rubble".

After being taken care of by Major Daley, this site became one of the most important places in the city of Chicago. Chicago Green Tech helps by increasing energy efficiency, reducing vehicle emission and by using less harmful building materials. As we walked around the area, we saw a huge garden, full of different kinds of plants that are native to the area. These plants are being watered naturally with rainwater that has been stored in rain cisterns. These rain cisterns are huge containers that store all of the rain water that falls on the roofs. Instead of falling to the ground or the sewers the water enters the cisterns which conserves up to 12,000 gallons of water. I thought this was amazing.

As we walked around the area, we entered a small house that was all sustainable on its self. It had solar panels for used for the light, it had special cooling device, recycled materials, and toilets that automatically managed the amount of water used.

I thought this house was just amazing. It has a great kitchen, a nice living room, a beautiful bathroom and its benefits are more than enough to take it into consideration when looking for a great home.



The last part of the building that we visited was the roof. To me, this was the most amazing part of the whole tour around the Chicago Green Tech building.

The roof was full of solar panels that provide 28.8kW of power. This system of using solar panels... "converts the sun's light into electricity for the building and provides almost 25 % of the building's power". Seeing how this works is amazing. What we also saw in the roof was a green garden. The garden was very pretty and very green. Even though it has been raining a lot in Chicago, the plants seems to survive the harsh weather. I wish every building had a green roof, which would really help out the environment.

Once the tour was over, I realized how much people take for granted. We have been learning about gentrification, wage theft, harsh working conditions and so many problems that Chicago has faced and is facing throughout its history, but taking time and considering the valuable things is another story. I believe people should find the best solutions to gentrification without affecting the people that are already living in the areas. I think that Chicago is an amazing city with so much potential of becoming a better place for people to live in, and if its people work together, we can all make it work. People need to be aware of their rights as employees, they need to have the opportunity to defend their community against gentrification, but overall, as a nation, we should all focus on changing our daily habits in order to help the environment.

Tour to Pullman

When you hear "Chicago" you think of the Magnificent Mile, of skyscrapers, busy streets and great restaurants, but what do know think of when you hear "Pullman" or "Southeast Chicago"?
Frankly, when I first heard of Pullman I had no idea it was located in Chicago. I had heard about Southeast Chicago, but I had never been there. Thanks to today's tour, I have witnessed history.

As we travelled South through Lakeshore Drive, I was thrilled with how beautiful Lake Michigan looked. Once we reached the end of Lake Shore Dr. I noticed the dramatic change in the area. What was supposed to be a "beach" was more of untreated plants overgrowing in the area. I was so shocked to see how reaching a certain point, you see so much change, so see much more space, less tall buildings and more houses. Once we hit our first stop, I was just amazed at how life has changed. In an area where only trees and plants live, used to be a whole working mill.

In 1875 mills were recruiting European immigrants. Irish, Scotts, English and Germans were employed because of their good working skills. Later, many were unemployed because they were not helping the mill owner's make any profit, the better the worker, the more money it is needed to be paid. What I found the most interesting was that the steel mill that once stood in the area were now, only grass is seen, produced the steal that was used to make the McCormick place and the Sears Tower.

What was very intriguing was the condition in which this land was, and still is. Even though it has a river system and Lake Michigan, it still has environmental problems; toxic land. This is made it harder to keep the mill running.

As of today, Major Daley is planning to create a "mini city" in this land and investing $48 million. Hopefully if the environmental problems can get fixed, this major project can work.

If we focus back to how life used to be for people working in these mills, we can see so much devastation. Working conditions were horrendous, the places were dangerous, low wages became a huge issue and many people began to speak out.

This picture below used to be a Steal Mill Hall. Because of so much injustice and harsh working conditions, steal workers began to organize themselves. Even though some supporters were considered "communists", they still remain strong. There were plenty of violent clashes with unions and workers.

On our way to Pullman, we saw plenty of housing that were built in the 20s and 30s for steel mill workers. Seeing these houses, made me imagine how life could have been for so many immigrants. Many had to move into areas close to their jobs because transportation was not the easiest.

As we moved along the area, we saw the first church build for Mexicans. In 1923 the National Shrine of St. Jude was built with the help of the Spanish Peaking Congregassion. I thought this was very interesting because back then, religion was very important. Living in areas with people from other countries made it harder because of the language barrier. Having a church and a small community where support was given was the best thing anyone could have, even if economically, families were struggling to the point of becoming homeless.

As we entered Pullman, I saw nothing but streets. What caught my attention the most was Pullman himself. I had no idea he was a cruel human being. At first, he managed to keep his workers all together. He promised to take care of all of their needs and then he moved on with his plans. First, he banned alcoholism because to him, this was the cause of so much poverty.

In order to keep his people on check, he built the Green Stone Church. His only intention in building the church was to control all aspects of the worker's lives. I just found it amazing to believe how Pullman was able to restrain his workers from health care just because he would not make any profit from it.

As we moved out of Pullman, we entered what used to be "Back in the Yards". Now, all we see are factories that used to be part of the meat packing era, as that is what I call it. As we moved along the area, we just saw one building standing that survived through all of these years.

In the end, I was just amazed to see so much land that used to be very important to Chicago, and now, it is nothing. The land is now unattractive, there are no buses that pass by the area and the population is not high at all. We have moved from gentrified areas to areas that that have no value, no attraction, and sadly enough, no future.

The thought that remained in my mind, was that, why not gentrify the area, make it better, build buildings, expand the houses and attract people in order to create attractions strong enough to extend the CTA bus transportation route. Hopefully, these areas will not stay abandoned...