November 9 - 15, 2020 Vol. 28 No. 43
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Arts & (Home) Entertainment
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SportsWise
Most Chicago events and gatherings are cancelled until further notice. We are replacing our usual calendar with recommendations from StreetWise vendors, readers and staff to keep you entertained at home! 20 questions for the SportsWise team.
Cover Story: honoring Veteran's Day
During World War II, parishioners at Irving Park Lutheran Church wrote more than 1,000 letters to the pastor. Those letters were found in 2006 during a church renovation, which began the Return to Sender project: to reunite the letters with their original authors or family members.
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From the Streets
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Inside StreetWise: Honoring vets
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The Playground
Housing Action Illinois was among 11 housing and community development associations across the U.S. that staged the virtual Strengthening Resilient Communities conference in October. State Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) and New York Times bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi ("How to Be an Antiracist") were keynote speakers. StreetWise Vendor A. Allen remembers a letter from the Vietnam War that may have saved his life and introduces Robert Pope, a new StreetWise Vendor and a Veteran.
THIS PAGE: A letter by A. Holoquist, dated April 8, 1943.
Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher
dhamilton@streetwise.org
StreetWiseChicago @StreetWise_CHI
Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief
suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com
Amanda Jones, Director of programs
ajones@streetwise.org
Julie Youngquist, CEO
jyoungquist@streetwise.org
Ph: 773-334-6600 Office: 2009 S. State St., Chicago, IL, 60616
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ARTS & (HOME) ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS Since being stuck inside, which shows have you been watching? Which movies? Have you read any good books lately? Any new music releases have you dancing in your living room? StreetWise vendors, readers and staff are sharing what is occupying their attention during this unprecedented time. To be featured in a future edition, send your recommendations of what to do at home and why you love them to: Creative Director / Publisher Dave Hamilton at dhamilton@streetwise.org
Chicago Art!
Chicago's Music Poster History Chicago's unique and distinctive graphic design history can be traced to the contributions made in the genre of posters. From early posters advertising the World's Fair to those announcing independent rock musicians, festivals and concerts, Chicago's screen printing industry continues to be a lively and thriving enterprise. On November 10 at 4 p.m. join Chicago Collections Consortium's (CCC) panel discussion on Chicago's music poster history. Chicago's independent rock musicians, music festivals, and concerts will be explored while acknowledging Chicago's silk screening industry, which continues to be a lively and thriving enterprise. The conversation will highlight music posters found in CCC's member collections and those that are being produced today. Participants include: Kevin Leonard (Northwestern University, University Archivist); Thomas Lucas (Hummingbird Press); Alexandrea Pataky (High Lonesome Print); Jay Ryan (The Bird Machine); Steve Walters (Screwball Press). FREE. Reserve your spot at www. eventbrite.com/e/chicagos-music-poster-history-tickets-120241057239. A companion Workshop will be offered on November 12 at 4 p.m. The workshop requires a separate registration at www.eventbrite.com. Join Kevin Leonard in his conversation with printmaker Jay Ryan and musician Steve Albini as they share the processes involved in the creation of a music poster today. The discussion will explore the initial conversation with the client (musician),the source of artistic inspiration, and the printing process involved in production.
(HOME) ENTERTAINMENT
In the mind of an Artist!
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Virtual Lecture: Lynn Hershman Leeson Over the last 40 years, artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson (American, born 1941) has made pioneering contributions to the fields of photography, video, film, performance, installation, and interactive art as well as net-based media art. Hershman Leeson is widely recognized for her innovative work investigating issues that are now recognized as key to the workings of society: the relationship between humans and technology, identity, surveillance, and the use of media as a tool of empowerment against censorship and political repression. In this virtual program on November 12, from 6 - 7 p.m., the artist will give a presentation and be in conversation with Robyn Farrell, associate curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Register for FREE at www.artic.edu/events/5090/virtual-lecture-lynn-hershman-leeson.
Travel through Time!
The British Museum: Virtual Museum of the World Virtually visit the treasures of the world with this fully interactive experience “through time, continents and cultures featuring some of the most fascinating objects in human history.” Explore the collection of the British Museum from pre-history to the present including insights from the museum’s curators. Visit britishmuseum.withgoogle.com and start exploring!
Chicago History!
Chicago History Museum Virtual Tour of the Haymarket Affair Following the bombing in Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886, Chicago and the country changed forever. Eight men were tried for what they said rather than what they did. Author and historian Paul Durica will take you on a tour of places and spaces relevant to this story. This virtual tour is $5 or free for museum members. The tour runs for about an hour via Zoom. It will take place on Tuesday, November 10 at 4 p.m. Learn more at www.chicagohistory.org/event/virtual-tour-the-haymarket-affair-2/
Author Talk!
My America: Lilliam Rivera Acclaimed author Lilliam Rivera presents her latest novel, "Never Look Back" for the American Writers Museum. The program will be open to the public at 11:30 a.m. November 10 via Zoom. Learn more at: https://americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/my-america-lilliam-rivera/
Chicago Architecture!
Glessner House: Inspiration and Rivalry: Boston Architects working in Chicago, 1885 to 1900 The Glessner House is one of Henry Hobson Richardson’s two most important Chicago commissions. The Glessner House and the Marshall Field Wholesale Store were extraordinarily influential within the architectural community. They inspired many other architects in their work. In this lecture by William Tyre, executive director and curator of the Glessner House, we will explore how these architects and their Chicago buildings resulted in both inspiration and rivalry in a city that is well known for its architecture. This virtual event will take place via Zoom on Thursday, November 12 from 7 - 8 p.m. Admission is $10 per person or $8 for members. Learn more at: https://www.glessnerhouse.org/programs/2020/11/12/onlineinspiration-and-rivalry-boston-architects-working-in-chicago-1885-to-1900
Opera Classics!
Metropolitan Opera Free Nightly Streams The Metropolitan Opera, based in New York City, is offering free nightly streams of encore presentations from its Live in HD series. Each night, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, a performance will be available to view for 23 hours until 5:30 p.m. the next day. The streamed performances will include performances from the past 14 years. They can be found on their website at: https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/
Binge This!
The Office The Office is a sitcom television series that depicts the work lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The series is based on a British TV series that is also titled The Office. The Office features an ensemble cast, including Steve Carell. It originally aired on NBC for nine seasons and is currently available on Netflix. The show is well remembered for is the seemingly endless number of pranks that people played on each other. - Recommended by StreetWise Intern Nina Rothschild
-Compiled by Dave Hamilton, Suzanne Hanney, & Nina Rothschild
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Vendors Russ Adams, John Hagan and Donald Morris chat about the world of sports with Executive Assistant Patrick Edwards.
SPORTSWISE
A
game of
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Patrick: Hey, all. Welcome to this week’s edition of SportsWise! We wanted to do something different, so I call this session Twenty Questions. Whichever one of y’all wins during the 1st 18 questions— Russ: So six questions apiece? Patrick: Yep. That person gets to ask the next two questions about anything. John: Okay, so this doesn’t sound too bad—I’m in. Don: Let’s do it. Patrick: Russ, what did you think about the NBA Finals? Russ: Real simple: I enjoyed the Finals. Patrick: Okay. John, so what do you feel about the NFC East? John: Bums. Philadelphia Eagles—2-4, Washington Redskins—2-5, Dallas Cowboys—2-5, and the New York Giants at 1-6. Pure bums. Patrick: John, if possible, will you tell us how you truly feel? John: Bums. Philadelphia
Eagles—2-4, Washington—2-5, Dallas Cowboys—2-5, and the New York Giants at 1-6. Pure bums. Russ: John, you silly, man. Patrick: Don, I know you had the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, and, now, you you had it right with the L.A. Dodgers taking the World Series—seeing any pattern? Don: Well, my friend, apparently, the land out west is ripe with good vibes, because, to me, it appears the teams out there in L.A. are stimulated and ready to go. This just might be the year of Los Angeles. Patrick: Sounds right. Not that I’m biased or anything toward L.A. teams—well, except one…but that’s only because whether I’m biased or not, these guys will win. The Lakers are It…and, in my opinion, will remain It. Russ: Just had to get your stinkin’ Lakers in!
questions
Patrick: All right, all right… so, John, I’m curious about your mention of the NFC East: So, which of those teams in that division do you feel will escape the abyss of doom that the division is shaping up to be? John: Well, initially, I was with the Dallas Cowboys, but, now, with Dak [Prescott] out for the season—and possibly longer—I can’t go with the Cowboys. Patrick: So, who do you have? John: Today, I’m going with the Washington Football Team—yes, I’ve said their true, new name, dangit! But, yeah, I believe Washington is way better than they’re showing. Patrick: Okay, I might feel you with that…even though I really want Dallas to pull off a miracle season—at least get to the playoffs…with or without Dak Prescott at the helm. Don: Man, you’re crazy. Ain’t no need to even put your vibe
into something like that…because you know as well as I do that Dallas wasn’t gonna do it with Dak, and they damn sure won’t do it without the brotha! Patrick: Okay, you got me a lil’bit. Yet and still, it can happen. Don: Right. Patrick: Russ, what’re you thinking about the NFL in general? Russ: Definitely enjoying it. I really hope we make it through the entire season, including the Super Bowl. Patrick: All right, fellas. I have to come clean: There is no “winner” to this. I just wanted to get the best out of y’all—not that I needed it… but it was fun. Any comments or suggestions? Email pedwards@streetwise.org
Return to Sender
A Church Finds Letters Lost Since World War || by Stella Kapetan
On May 19, 1943, during World War II, LeRoy Segar Kussy was stationed at Sheppard Field in Texas and wrote a letter to his pastor at Chicago’s Irving Park Lutheran Church asking for a reference for his application for Air Cadet. “I also want to thank you and the church for sending me the lovely prayer book,” he added. The Rev. Joshua Oden tucked the letter in a box along with the more than 1,000 others from parishioners away at war with whom he corresponded. Kussy was killed 13 months later at age 22 when the B-24 bomber on which he was a top turret gunner was shot down over France. Seventy years later, in 2014, the church gave the letter to his family as part of its Return to Sender project. “I’m sure I was in tears,” Joan Hoyman recently said by phone from her California home about first reading her half-brother’s letter. “I’m in tears now.”
The Return to Sender project started in 2006 after Oden’s box of letters was discovered by three parishioners in a second floor, seldom entered, walk-in storage closet during a major renovation of the more than 100-year-old church building at Harding Street and Belle Plaine Avenue on the northwest side. The project aims to return the letters to those who penned them or a family member if the author was killed during the war or survived but has since died. The church so far has found recipients for the letters of 137 out of the 236 letter writers.
“My mother saw it and said, ‘That’s where I last saw my brother before he left and never returned,’” Juli Hoyman said. That piqued her curiosity about her uncle who was killed before she was born. Her research led her to the church site. She contacted Greenslade and then her mother, who can still recall how Kussy, nine years her senior, would pull her in her wagon and would walk with her on the Florida beach searching for colored seashells. “He was very good, very honest, very caring,” Joan Hoyman said. “He was lots of fun to be with. I loved him very much.” He is buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Neupre, Belgium.
“ He Was Incredibly Proud of Me”
Alfred Holmquist survived the war and died in 1969. To give his letters to his family, Greenslade had only to turn to fellow parishioner, Holly Lundquist - Holmquist’s daughter. “I was beside myself with emotion,” Lundquist recently said about learning of her father’s letters. “I was incredibly moved by them. I remember the feeling that I was now holding in my hands a piece of paper my father held in his hands a long time ago. I don’t have anything of my dad’s in his handwriting. They are a connection to another place and time.”
After the letters were discovered, they were given to lifelong parishioner and expert in the church’s history, Ralph Greenslade, to search for recipients. He said he and his wife “sorted them out, dusted them off, cleaned them and organized them by name.” In “a labor of love” he scours the internet, makes phone calls across the country and searches Social Security death indexes for next of kin.
Lundquist said her father, nicknamed Butch, was “a big family man,” devoted to her, her sister Bonnie and their mother Dorothy. He helped Lundquist with school science projects and taught her skills to be self-sufficient. “I learned to mow grass,” she said. “I learned how to paint. He taught me how to change a tire.”
Some families, like Kussy’s, discovered the project through their genealogy research. The Kussy family had a summer home in Florida during the war. Hoyman’s daughter, Juli Hoyman, was traveling through Florida in 2013 and posted a vacation photo on her Facebook page.
“He was incredibly proud of me,” Lundquist said, recalling that he left early from work to attend her National Honor Society induction and how happy he was when she headed off to college since he had to leave high school to help support his family as an apprentice butcher during the Great Depression. He was a butcher at various grocery store chains for many years.
During World War II, LeRoy Segar Kussy wrote to his pastor, the Rev. Joshua Oden, upper left, of Irving Park Lutheran Church, and asked him for a recommendation to become an air cadet, as underlined in red in his letter. Thirteen months later, on a mission to bomb an oil refinery in northwestern Germany, Kussy was shot down over France. His half-sister, Joan Hoyman, upper right, came into contact with the Return to Sender project through her daughter's genealogy research. Kussy is pictured at his confirmation and in uniform; his grave is in the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Neupre, Belgium.
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Alfred and Dorothy Holmquist's wedding photo, left and family portrait with Alfred, daughter Holly and Dorothy along with their other daughter, Bonnie, Holly's sister, taken at Holly's wedding six weeks before Holmquist died in 1969. BELOW: Leonard Hansen's confirmation photo.
Holmquist, like most of the letter writers, was the child of Swedish immigrants who had settled near the church in the area between Lawrence, Irving Park, Pulaski and California. He grew up with his parents, sister and four brothers in the house his father built on the 3700 block of West Agatite Avenue. He spent three years in the Army stationed in Germany, where he repaired ammunition. His letters to Oden reflect his deep faith and fondness for the parishioners. “Please include me in your prayers at the many fine services you have planned for Palm Sunday,” he wrote in April 1943. The following month he wrote: “This morning I attended Palm Sunday Service at the Post chapel. It was very nice but not like the beautiful service at Irving Park Lutheran Church. May God bless our church and our people." He died six weeks after walking Lundquist down the aisle at her wedding at the church where he had spent his whole life. Many of the letter writers shared common themes. They thanked Oden for his Christmas presents, prayer books and copies of the church’s newsletter, “Tidings,” that one wrote made him “as usual feel a lot better spiritually and mentally.” They mentioned they were attending Sunday church services, expressed their happiness at being remembered at the church and requested that parishioners write to them. Some expressed loneliness and a longing for home. Oden, who was the pastor from 1908 to 1954 and pastor emeritus until his death in 1969, thoughtfully tailored his responses to the individual and expressed interest in their experiences and well-being. He asked one “to please tell me about your daily program, what you do during the day, what type of amusements you are having. If there is any problem I can share with you, I shall be so glad to do so.”
The Search Continues
The church still hopes to find recipients for the letters of 99 writers. Leonard Robert Hansen is among them. Greenslade’s research showed that Hansen was the son of Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Hansen and was a student at Illinois Institute of Technology when he joined the Marine Corps in 1942. He fought in many bloody battles in the South Pacific and was killed on July 13, 1944 while guarding a cave entrance in Saipan in the Marianas Islands. Hansen wrote this letter to Oden 10 months before he died: “Dear Pastor, I am very sorry to have neglected writing to you before. I wish to thank you and the people of our church for writing me and sending me the gift for Christmas. I received that gift while I was on Guadalcanal and also a couple of letters from girls of our church. The messages were read in a foxhole that, I assure you, proved to be a great comfort. It was hard to get anything to read on that island and the ‘Tidings’ was read cover to cover not only by me but also a foxhole buddy of mine. Although there was death all about us, the island was very beautiful where bombs hadn’t done much damage. Church services were held rain or shine under the open skies except for tall coconut trees which gave little shelter. Yes, even some parts of war are beautiful and what little beauty there is, is fully appreciated. Yours, Leonard R. Hansen” For more information about the Irving Park Lutheran Church’s “Return to Sender” project, visit the church’s website at IPLC. org. Select the tab “Church Life and News.” The office email address is office@iplc.org.
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Tent city continues BLM discrepAncies along dan ryan in media coverage by Kenny Adusa
Black Lives Matter has issued a research paper arguing unfair media coverage, with “five lessons” stemming from its July 17 attempt to take down the Christopher Columbus statue south of Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. ``We have to be our own media,” BLM said in its first lesson. “The media coverage of the Grant Park action often directly contradicted the on-the-ground reports we collected from protestors.” CBS reports reviewed online showed that only four people were injured. Fox and NBC omitted this information. Their reports talked more about the police officers there than the protesters. A second lesson, said BLM, was that “Physical harm done to protestors will always be underreported: “63.9% of survey respondents reported that they were injured -- far more notable than the “four people” some news sources reported as hospitalized.” BLM’s third point was that CPD used “a range of chemical weapons for which there is little public information:” specifically, pepper spray. This lack of transparency, the activists said, made it hard for people to know how to treat their symptoms. CBS 2 broadcasts showed the use of pepper spray, people in pain and some gasping for air in the heat. Their fourth point was that being peaceful did not protect them from violence. This contradicts their statement because the protesters were seen trying to take down the statue. Their final point was that “Being peaceful” will not protect protesters from unrestrained violence. As a depiction of the man who “discovered America,” the statue had drawn fire from people of color and descendants of indigenous people who were already living here in 1492. The statue was later removed and the Grant Park Advisory Council Committee on Art, Monuments and Markers (formed before the protest) hosted a Zoom meeting September 8 to determine whether it would be returned, removed permanently, relocated, recontextualized or replaced. Comments were due September 25. www.streetwise.org
FROM THE STREETS
The Tent City alongside the Dan Ryan expressway at Ruble Street/ Roosevelt Road will remain until next spring, amid ongoing work on the Jane Byrne interchange -- and the pandemic, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. “We are in communication with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless regarding concerns for the onset of winter, capacity of shelters in the region, along with pandemic related issues,” IDOT Public Information Officer Maria Castaneda said October 29. “Before any work occurs in that area, we will coordinate work with the City of Chicago along with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to ensure everyone’s safety.” The encampment is home to roughly 30 people, and has access to a portapotty on Desplaines Street. Concerned that IDOT work would force them to move, Tent City residents and advocates chanted, “Give us a home or leave us alone,” at a rally on October 20. The Roosevelt Road Tent City was among four encampments that met October 24 to form a Chicago chapter of the National Union of the Homeless. Others represented were at Lawrence Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, 51st Street and Wentworth Avenue and 43rd Street and Western Avenue. - Photos and story by Suzanne Hanney
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Rep. Ramirez: No. 1 priority for me is making housing top priority for illinois by Suzanne Hanney
Twenty years ago, when State Rep. Delia Ramirez (DChicago) was a 17-year-old accompanying her mother to a Humboldt Park soup kitchen, she wondered why no one was doing more to provide housing and case management for its guests. And since Ramirez ran for state office in 2018, “the Number 1 priority for me is making housing the top priority for the state,” she said as the October 13 opening keynote speaker for the 2020 Housing Matters! online conference hosted by Housing Action Illinois in partnership with the Strengthening National Communities forum.
Because of the coronavirus crisis, Ramirez and state Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) have been able to engage suburban colleagues for the first time in a conversation about how to minimize the number of people losing their housing during the pandemic -- a number she said could hit 1.7 million. There is no Statehouse housing committee – yet – but they have been able to form a bipartisan working group. The conversation about housing is not a cookie-cutter one, she said, but one that differs from Humboldt Park to Rockford or East St. Louis. Even when she was running an organization in Logan Square, which today is highly gentrified but was Latino at the time, she said she saw a need for rapid rehousing, affordable housing, eviction prevention and even homeowner protection, because property taxes push displacement. Ramirez was able to introduce an emergency housing bill at the General Assembly’s special session in May that extended eviction protections to keep people off the streets and also helped make landlords whole. The bill did not pass, “but I was able to put housing on the map.” She won $390 million in financial assistance for renters and homeowners, out of a need she projected at $2 billion. The bill also laid the groundwork for formation of a housing committee in the General Assembly’s January session. Before they could move housing legislation, however, the legislators had to lay a groundwork of conversation from advocates about why housing is critical to child welfare, health care, environmental justice and criminal justice. “I asked DCFS [the Department of Children and Family Services] how many families had not been reunified because of housing instability. They had no answer for me.”
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Courtesy photo.
“My district is a tale of two districts: $2 million-dollar homes on the east, and $250,000 homes on the western part,” she told the forum. Yes, the cheaper homes have gone up in value, but so have their property taxes. “This year, because of the pandemic, they may be selling their homes because of taxes.” There’s plenty of buyers ready to flip the properties as an alternative to Lincoln Park.
While education has been the hot-button concern, advocates have to do a better job connecting housing to other issues, because “during the pandemic, it’s unstable housing and contracting the virus that could kill you.” With the state’s evictions moratorium set to expire November 14 and the federal law “confusing,” she is working with Housing Action Illinois and the Shriver Center on Poverty Law to introduce a bill to seal evictions records. “There will be thousands in the street, whether we like it or not. What I am afraid of is when a person is in the street that eviction flag will make it harder to find affordable housing.” The daughter of immigrants, Ramirez is the first Guatemalan-American in the Illinois General Assembly. She still lives on the same Humboldt Park block where she grew up. As a high school senior, Ramirez became the case manager and “mail lady” at the soup kitchen where her mother volunteered and realized how important it was for its 1,800 guests to have a place to send and receive mail. Years later, she became the founding executive director of the Center for Changing Lives, board chair for Latin United Community Housing Association and for the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.
'how to be an antiracist' author: focus on changing policies, not 'inferior' peoples by Suzanne Hanney
the wealthy and well-connected. Some would say racial capitalism is government policy for the wealthy and white. We want to transfer it to low-income people.” How do we address antiracism in a multiethnic community? “One of the things I have tried to argue in my work is we need to recognize racial groups as opposed to races: Latinx seniors, Black young people, Middle Eastern Americans.
Courtesy photo.
“We shouldn’t just assume a person of color is going to see other people of color equally. Recognize there may be cultural differences, but they are in the same battle against white supremacy you are.”
You develop communities by changing policies, not by developing “inferior peoples,” Ibram X. Kendi said as the national plenary speaker of the virtual Strengthening Resilient Communities conference staged by 11 housing and community development associations across the U.S. Kendi is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “How to Be an Antiracist” and founding director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. Before the mid-1400s, there was no such thing as race, Kendi said in his October 21 talk on “How to be an Antiracist Community Developer.” Some groups had darker skin, some lighter. But the transatlantic slave trade created one, black, “inferior” people. “To be antiracist is to recognize that race is like a mirage, but it has an impact on people of color, [and] to challenge actual policies that are the problem, as opposed to thinking something is wrong with Black and Brown people.” How can community development be more antiracist when many of its tools are market-based and therefore rooted in capitalism? Become “outcome-centered,” Kendi said. As you focus on providing universal housing or eliminating housing insecurity, tell the capitalist that “actually this is good for the market too, but I am not as focused on that as you are, [but instead on] equity and justice. “If we have to translate to our allies that this can be helpful to the market, that is what we should do. But we should never stop focusing on bringing health and well-being to the people. Be outcome-centered. We have to fight policies geared toward
Not long after the August 2017 Charlottesville, VA white supremacy and neo-Nazi “Unite the Right” rally, Kendi wrote that white supremacy was the nation’s biggest terrorist threat, but that it harmed White people too. He elaborated at the plenary, using the examples of the Civil War and World War II. When white supremacists recall history, “they reference a war that led to more White American deaths than all others combined or to the Nazis, who initiated a war that led to tens of thousands of deaths and nearly ruined Europe.” What policies would he prioritize toward social justice and equity? First, abolishing racial health disparities. Are they underfunded because they are related to race? Next, the economy, elimination of the racial wealth gap. And finally, racial justice. “How can we reorient funding from the police to organizations you work for, drive down the incarcerated population?” Takeaways for the advocates amounted to “getting real.” Tram Hoang, policy analyst at The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability in Minneapolis, said that hiring residents from the community would show you have your finger on the pulse. And instead of spending money on consultants, pay community members for their input. They can’t afford to attend meetings and receive just bus passes for their time. “Sometimes I feel we are so data-driven we dismiss people with lived experience,” said Bambie Hayes-Brown, CEO of Georgia Advancing Communities Together Inc., an association for nonprofit housing groups. Some of her colleagues had never been to an eviction court. “It’s so easy to dig up articles and pull together numbers, but if you go to these eviction proceedings and see how they dismantle people’s lives, people’s children, it gives you a whole other perspective than just data.”
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Vendor A. Allen reflects on the War and introduces new vendor who is a veteran When I think back on the Vietnam War, I remember my Uncle “Bud,” Frank Snow, who was a sergeant in the Marine Corps. He was our only family veteran and back then the news covered the Vietnam War daily. I was always concerned about his safety.
Meet StreetWise vendor and veteran Robert Pope
I was so concerned that at 15, I would fantasize about going over to Vietnam and saving my uncle from the brutality and harshness of war and destruction. I even asked my mother if she could sign me up as a volunteer when I turned 16.
INSIDE STREETWISE
My mother wrote a letter to my uncle and asked him if he thought that was a good idea.
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Of course, he wrote back and said, “No, now is not a good time.”
Robert Pope is a new vendor, a veteran of the immediate post-Korean War era.
I wanted to see the letter and sure enough, he did say, “No.” I was disappointed.
Pope originally signed up for the U.S. Air Force from 1954 to 1958 and was the only African American in his squadron. He said he wound up on kitchen police (K.P.) until he was tired of it. He was beaten and thrown down the stairs on more than one occasion. His major recommended that he resign before he got killed. Pope decided to take the major’s advice and wound up serving one year, from January 1954 to January 1955.
He was wounded and came home and explained to me himself why it was not a good idea. He had been protecting young soldiers my age from the brutality and harshness of war himself. That encouraged my heart. I would listen to him telling war stories. He would tell a few but always said he didn’t like to talk about it. He mostly told funny jokes. I think that was his way of forgetting what happened over there. It was his way of coping. My uncle is still a funny man. I’m so glad he said it was not a good time to come because I know of many who lost their lives or came back as drug addicts. I also had another uncle who was a veteran, Elijah Snow. He also didn’t like to talk about the war much and is also joker. I think they both used humor as a defense mechanism to keep from thinking about the harsh reality of war.
The Air Force had been formed a few years earlier and so Pope feels he was mistreated and abused because he was one of the first Black airmen. He said he is still fighting for his benefits. Pope is now a vendor at Belmont and Sheffield Avenues. He says he works to make extra money for his grandbaby. He’s a real nice gentleman whose heart is big and whose personality is good as gold.
Streetwise 8/17/20 Crossword To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 1 to 9.
Sudoku
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3 Daze 6 Dispatch
5 Triumphant 35 Porter cry 38 Work station 6 Test site 40 Bran source 8 Summer shade 7 Hoagie 41 Poetic 9 Range 8 Fragrant oil contraction 9 Dovetail 2 Stan’s partner 43 Forced in comedy 10 Exchange 44 Works of premium 6 Actor Wallach Michelangelo 7 Lukewarm 11 Rocky peaks 47 Relieved 13 Pathet ___ 8 Garden pests 50 ___ del Sol 9 Bumped into 14 Kind of board 52 Goldbrick 0 Mideast port 20 Sulk 53 Rose part 1 Sidesplitter 22 Black swan 54 Yarn 23 Medicinal 55 Condo division wn shrub 57 Without delay 24 Jack the ___ 60 Unlock, in 1 Athos, to 26 Altar boy verse 28 Dabbling duck 61 Grenade part Porthos 2 Calendar abbr. 29 Time div. 63 “Fantasy 3 Former Copyright 30 ©2020 Schoolboy Island” prop PuzzleJunction.com California fort 32 Shouted 64 Chapel vow 4 Weather word 33 Free-for-alls 65 “C’___ la vie!”
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Sudoku Solution last week's Puzzle Answers
Solution
Sudoku Solution
Find your nearest StreetWise Vendor at
PuzzleJun
Crossword Across 1 Cover story? 6 Biting 10 Beanies 14 Ponders 15 Pelvic bones 16 Curved molding 17 Ice house 18 Enact laws 20 Forest clearing 22 Before race or nature 23 Getaway 26 Buck’s mate 27 Routine 29 Saddlebow 31 City on the Po 32 Brainstorm 33 Femme fatale 34 Butter serving 37 50’s dance 39 Nova network 40 All My Children vixen 42 Schoolboy 43 Come to terms 45 Astringent 46 Affirm 47 Be generous 49 Meager 51 Nov. honoree 52 Nourished 53 Deserted 54 Ballroom dance 56 Evel Knievel, for one 59 Sea duck 63 Pad, maybe 64 Ignoramus 65 Itinerary 66 Huffy state 67 Farm females
68 Meddle Down 1 Pal for Pierre 2 Kind of nut 3 In poor health 4 Web journal 5 Tristan’s love 6 Diacritical mark 7 Sheltered, nautically 8 18-wheeler 9 ___ chi ch’uan 10 Newspaper article 11 Old World lizard
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12 Flower feature 13 Observed 19 Dagoba, e.g. 21 “You’ve got mail” co. 23 Liquid accident 24 Lecterns 25 Make better 27 Hospital figure 28 Bonanza find 30 Spy vs. Spy magazine 31 Rome’s river 33 Waterfall effect 34 Rice dish 35 Sharp as a tack 36 Broken
38 41 44 46 47 48 49 50 51 53 54 55 57 58 60 61 62
Opened wide Sprinted Acquire Least wild Dover’s state (Abbr.) Fun loving water mammals Assassinated Welsh dog River valleys Tacks on Dry off Utah national park Dutch city Solemn promise Twosome WW II zone Gym unit
www.streetwise.org
How StreetWise Works
Our Mission
Orientation Participants complete a monthlong orientation, focusing on customer service skills, financial literacy and time management to become a badged vendor.
Financial Literacy Vendors buy StreetWise for $0.90, and sell it for $2. The profit of $1.10 goes directly to the licensed vendor for them to earn a living.
Supportive Services StreetWise provides referrals, advocacy and other support to assist participants in meeting their basic needs and getting out of crisis.
S.T.E.P. Program StreetWise’s S.T.E.P. Program provides job readiness training and ongoing direct service support to ensure participants’ success in entering the traditional workforce.
THE PLAYGROUND
To empower the entrepreneurial spirit through the dignity of self-employment by providing Chicagoans facing homelessness with a combination of supportive social services, workforce development resources and immediate access to gainful employment.
Soluti
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TRANSITIONING MILITARY SKILLS INTO CIVILIAN CAREERS
ARE YOU A VETERAN LOOKING FOR A JOB? 50% O FF PREV
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MIZ MARTHA WASHINGTON James Ijames Directed by Whitney White GET PAID WHILE YOU TRAIN FREE CAREER COUNSELING By
The recently widowed “Mother of America”—attended to by the very enslaved people who will be free the moment she dies—takes us deep into the ugly and thorny ramifications of America’s original sin.
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