Top 5 places in Chicago. Blog 16

There are five places that I like to go to often when I'm in Chicago.

1) The Metro. It is my favorite rock venue in Chicagoland. They have anything from local acts to mainstream popular artists that play there! It is in the Wrigleyville area, so it's convenient to grab food or drinks after concerts.

www.metrochicago.com

2) De Pasada. 1519 w. taylor street. They don't have a website, but they serve up some of the best tacos, burritos, and guac and chips... and it's close to UIC campus!

3) Millennium Park. This is a no-brainer. Who doesn't love just walking by and seeing the bean? In the summer or spring it is great to lay outside and read a book, or experiment with photography. It's a perfect spot to get a view of the loop, plus it's beautiful at night!

http://www.millenniumpark.org/

4) Bongo Room. 1152 S. Wabash. Okay, so I love breakfast food. This place is modern and serves up some mean potatoes and omelettes. It is usually packed on weekends, but the service is quick!

5) Reckless Records. Yes, independent record shops still exist! I love going into one of their three locations in Chicago and seeing what's up and coming, plus they sell used dvd's and cd's and have lots of free posters and stickers to give away to music lovers like me!

http://reckless.com/

Random Blurbs Blog: 15

I was walking around in the loop today to visit a friend who goes to Columbia. She lives on the corner of Van Buren and Wabash. The weather was perfect tonight and we had walked from her apartment to the House of Blues. I can't really explain it but seeing all the buildings and attractions at night blow me away. I am so lucky to get to see the Sears Tower every morning while walking to class, and learn about all the things that Chicago brings. A lot of my friends ended up at schools in the middle of a farm, like University of IL Champaign or Southern Illinois. At first, I wanted to experience the full 'college life,' that those people get in farmland schools. But I am so glad that I got to experience something different: going to a good school surrounding one of the most brilliant cities there is today. I remember walking down by the Chicago Theater and the news station on lake and state for the very first time years ago. It blew me way, the excitement and entertainment of Chicago.

In the past few years that I've lived here, Chicago has taught me many things from patience (those darn cta busses and trains!), loyality (you've got to give it up for the sports fans), and much much more. I've interacted from the richest to the poorest of them all. A lot of my high school friends ask me what the 'city life' is like, and all I can really say is that there are NO words for it.

Funny Post. Blog: 14

I read a really funny article about Chicagoan's and their habits. These points made me laugh the most.

-You don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do.
-You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
-You can distinguish between the following area codes: 847,630,773,708, 312, & 815.
-Your school classes were canceled because of cold.
-Your school classes were canceled because of heat.
-You have two favorite football teams: The Bears, and anyone who beats the Packers!

For the entire article, go to:

http://www.windycityart.com/fromchicago.htm

Gentrification Blog: 13

Every time I go to my friends' apartments on Taylor Street I know that I am seeing gentrification happen all around UIC campus. I live on the corner of Roosevelt and Halsted, and years ago, the stukel towers and university village didn't exist! In this class and one of my other soc classes, I've learned a lot of things about gentrification. I feel like when we look at the term, we just think of places being torn town and they become innovated and rebuilt into more expensive places to live. I actually looked up the definition of 'gentrification' on wikipedia and on there it said that gentrification is linked to reducing crime rates, increasing property values and renewing community activism. If you walk past Little Italy on Taylor and Racine, you see a lot of local shops and restaurants and new housing. A lot of apartments have been built there and mostly college students live in them, since the working class that was once there may not be able to afford it now.

My and my friend thought about gentrification and this is what we came up with:

"Gentrification is when white people with too much time and money on their hands get bored in their upperclass neighborhoods. they look for new ways to make money and expand their urban power by buying up cheap property in urban areas and giving new life to the region via renovation and construction of new buildings/business districts that cater to a growing populace of young urbanites. the newly built areas offer the the possibility of great financial returns on the real estate investments because the well-to-do white folks who buy up the property buy cheap and sell high after they fix up the neighborhood. these border neighborhoods tend to be very popular with the "hipper" young adults in cities. said hipsters are concerned with two things when looking for housing - 1. the cheapest rent possible so they can afford their expensive smoking and designer jean addictions and 2. being viewed as on the "cutting edge of trend setting". freshly revamped (gentrified) neighborhoods give hipsters the best of BOTH of these worlds. the new neighborhoods aren't established enough to demand expensive rent price tags but also maintain cultural integrity of the former lower-income inhabitants, thus adding a "flavor" and "flair" to the area, producing that perfect blend of urban intriguing chic that hipsters are so fond of. the changing of formerly undesirable neighborhoods into trendy hot spots has really taken off in recent history and is quite controversial as it displaces thousands of lower income inhabitants out of their homes and eventually the gentrified neighborhood grows so popular that it becomes another rich white hood, and the new generation of inhabitants start the whole process over again and the cycle repeats at nauseum. in essence, bored white men kick poor people out of their neighborhoods, turn dumps into hipster chic apartments/condos, and create hip neighborhoods in the outskirts of urban areas."

I think our definition beats wikipedia's.

Chicago Music. Blog: 12

I figure as we talk about the great city of Chicago that I mention some bands that came from around here. One band is Wilco. They have a song called "VIA Chicago" and this is just a short lyric from that song:

I know I'll make it back
One of these days and turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught, I wont get up
And I wont go to sleep
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Via Chicago

I like how music can make me think of the great windy city. Their album cover was a painting/portrait of the honeycomb marina towers! When I get to thinking about it, a lot of artists refer to Chicago and whenever I hear them, I usually know exactly what they are talking about.




Everytime I see the honeycomb towers, I refer to them as "the Wilco tours."

Some other good music that came from the windy city!
-The Smashing Pumpkins
-Styx
-Andrew Bird
-The Smoking Popes
-Kanye West

Jill's Blogger. Blog: 11

So I was lurking around the blog post list and decided to look at Jill's blog. We've been in a bunch of communication classes together before, and I thought " why not!" She has some funny blogs and some insightful ones as well. I cracked up when she said "Sorry I wasn't in class today... I was sick. Well, not really." Either way, I especially liked the random entries she wrote on urban cities (and sex and the city!)

One of the entries was on 9/11. She brings up an interesting point to whether or not we are safe in our own country. Cities are cracking down on immigration, but at the same time, I feel like immigrants are a large part of what makes our cities so vast and keeps economic standards up. I also agree that immigrants should follow the rules our elders have, and they should learn our language and traditions in order to work in our country.

She had also written down a list of cities she had been to. I've been to some of them and know exactly what she means! I was in New York and spent $100 dollars in one day's (and nights) worth of drinks, food, and transportation! Just don't ask me how much of it was on drinks. ;) Most of the other places she had been do, I haven't. With the exception of Louisville, which was a very quaint and calm town. I'll end this post with a list of cities i've visited.
-New York City
-Portland, Oregon
-Vancouver, BC
-Seattle, WA
-Tampa, Florida
-Hong Kong, China
-Osaka, Japan

There are so many more, but I won't bore you with a list of every town I've been in. Those are just some of my favorites!

The Metro Chicago Immigration Factbook Blog: 10

The factbook that I am about to discuss talks about the trends and patterns of immigration to Chicago. The topic I would like to go over are the ports of entry. In class we had discussed Edgewater as a major one today. The major area is north of Sheridan street and an upwards of 5,500 immigrants have settled there since 2000. In the 1990s,' one dominating place for immigrants to arrive was in Lincoln Square. The main area is the cross street of Western and Lawrence. Since the 1990's there has been a shift of immigration entry ports to the suburbs of Chicago. All the major ports are located within several miles of each other, mostly all on the north side.

As more immigrants come into the city, the socioeconomic conditions of houses lower. High schools become less competitive. Some of the reasons the factbook noted was that perhaps immigrants didn't have time to get well educated or a well paying job when they moved here at first. At the same time, you see a sense of communitiy with local shops and churches. Immigrants help each other out for those who seek advice and assistance.


This is a picture of approximately where Edgewater is.

The Hull House! Blog: 9

How could I forget our visit to the Hull house! Jane Addams was the first woman that ever received a Nobel Peace Prize. She spent the majority of her life at the settlement house in Chicago - the Hull House. I had never been inside the Hull House until we had our tour a little while ago for class. The one place I had been in before was the 'conference' room. It was in a SOC class I had last semester and people hold musical acts or traditional meetings in there all the time! I found it fascinating that they were able to preserve, or at least keep what they could of the building. It gives you a real sense of what the place was like when it was first built.

I thought the painting of the Hull House was funny, because it was just what the artist had imagined it to look! I didn't know that the pillars and the '3rd' floor didn't exist in the original foundation of the house.

The girl who talked us through the different parts of hull house was very good at giving us examples of how life was lived.

At the end, there was an entire question on Addam's friendship with Mary. I don't know what her 'lifelong companion' Mary Smith had to do with it all. I wish we had more information on Mary Smith and exactly what she helped with at the Hull House.


An early picture of the Hull House.

Funny thing on Chicago accents. Blog 8.

Not too long ago, when I had a friend visit from South Carolina, I was reminded of our "Chicagoan" accents. How we unnecessarily drag out our "ahh's." Having lived here for so long, I neglect the fact that my accent may be very noticeable to those who don't live in the Midwest! My friend Adam just reminded me of this. I was talking about Madison, Wisconsion to him when he said "mAAHHHHDAHsin" in a joking matter. I told him I didn't say it like THAT but he assured me that me and everyone around Chicago had the same accent. That's when I really listened to what he was saying. We do indeed drag out our A's, because when he spoke, he says "Chicago" instead of "Chacaaaahgo."

I was recently also in New York City. The Long Island accent is spectacular. My friend's mother had it, and I was so amused by how she spoke. Even my friend Erica has a bit of an NY accent, even though she's lived here for several years of her life. Anytime I hear accents, British, Southern, foriegn... anything... I get very entertained.

Revealing Chicago, PIcturing Chicago, Chicago Imagebase Blog: 7

This has to be one of my favorite blog posts! Photography is one of my favorite hobbies and getting to view different parts of Chicago is a treat! This picture is actually one that I took on a walk around millennium park.

Revealing Chicago: This website is very interactive and I liked how you can choose from many different neighborhoods. I actually clicked on an area and it was a picture of UIC from west to east. They mentioned how it was a great research school that was founded in 1890. From the beginning, they admitted minorities and women where other universities wouldn't! Another thing I really enjoyed about this website were all it's views from up high. It gives a perspective on what the city looks like as a whole, not just bits and pieces that we see. There were pictures of more rural parts of Chicago, and it was great to see other perspectives of this vast city.

Picturing Chicago: I was clicking through and saw a lot of pictures from the magnificent mile in the past few years. It's always very nice to see different perspectives; I myself have seen the same buildings and streets, but the way the photographer makes them look makes me think that every individual sees our great city differently.

Chicago Imagebase: Our very own UIC came up with lots of digital maps of our city and this is actually very helpful in getting around.

In Chicago, whenever I have my camera with me I tend to take pictures of interesting artwork - whether it may be graffiti or local shoppes or restaurants with cool decor. I would actually be interested in taking a day around Chicago just to take in the nightlife around wicker park. I would photograph these aspects of Chicago because you can't find anything like it in other places, and especially not the suburbs.