chicagodads

I was supposed to publish the Chicago on the Cheap section on Friday. I didn’t. Maybe it was because I was trying so hard to get my head around my own family’s personal economic crises (there’s always more than one), then add on to that Wall Street’s problems, then how that affects Main Street and its problems and then how that affects the global economy (this is how it was explained to me by Governor Sarah Palin) that I got distracted from telling you how you can avert your own financial crisis by going to cheaper entertainments.

Therefore, I did not tell you to not sleep on the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, which happened all day on Saturday at the DuSable Mueum, the Hyde Park Art Center, various halls at the University of Chicago and asundry places nearby (including the Checkerboard Lounge which I only want to believe has anything to do with the famous Chess Records). The music was free, but I doubt the Goose Islands were also.

Also, Cassandra Wilson played at the Symphony Center on Friday, but those tix started at $34, so it was not cheap. And My Bloody Valentine reunited on Saturday at the Aaragon Ballroom in Uptown, but that show was sold out already, so no need to get our ears undone over that.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds also reunited, and I’m sure they felt good - or as good as mope and grinding furiosity could feel. They did sold-out shows on Sunday and Monday night at the Riviera.

… Umm, so I don’t want to belabor the point, but here’s what I think you should do if you (like us) don’t have money: invite your friends over for a game night. It’s not a party, you don’t necessarily have to play games, you can rotate your friends, you can play stimulating games, verbal games, chess, checkers, Scrabble, any one of a thousand Monopolies, Scattegories, Apples to Apples, dominoes, Life, Chutes and Ladders - shoot, it don’t matter. Once a week. It doesn’t have to be the same group of friends and you could make up the rules for the invite no matter how arbitrary it is. Doesn’t always have to be at your house, doesn’t have to be every week or even regular. Maybe just a one-shot deal. And you don’t even have to play games, or not necessarily all night long.

The point is, it’s an opportunity to mix and mingle with other grown folks. For longer events, you can watch a movie, but it’s nice to be able to talk to grown folk about grown-folk things.

‘Cuz babies don’t really speak much, y’know?

 Ok, I know that this goes against what I’ve been saying for the last four days or so, but I thought that there were significant parts of the SNL take on the debate last night that were funny, particularly the parts that relate to Obama and corrupt Chicago connections (about where the marker reads 6 minutes). Fred Arminsen’s apparently been playing Obama on the show. I originally thought that was a bit peculiar, not so much because of race, but because I wasn’t sure Arminsen could pull off playing a high-profile person like that without turning him into one of his really eccentric characters (although he pretty much also plays Larry King straight-up. But LK is pretty much a caricature of himself). I must say that his mannerisms are very much dead-on. But I think that he should play around with the character a bit more.

For one, Obama’s big enough to take a satirical hit.

For two, he’s hip enough to get it.

On a note not so relevant to this blog, but I’m thinking relevant to Americans and epecially if you’re disheartened by the partisan bickering during the debates, you can fact-check their claims here .

And also, because Chicago, like everywhere else, has a Main Street (wait. Do we? No. A State Street, though.), here’s a breakdown of the Wall Street Bailout Plan .

Finally, in implying that Illinois Senator Barack Obama is coming out of a corrupt political machine, are the McCain ads - and notice he’s repeated the attacks elsewhere, although I don’t particularly recall him saying them at the debate last night - proclaiming anything true? Is there any truth to be seen in these vicious and laughable attacks?

Well, Obama is from Chicago and he did not work to reformn the politics here. Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is known for being a reformer in her native Alaska. It may not be as true or as extreme as her handlers would like us to believe (by the way, they’re horrible! She’s a miserable mess on tv, she doesn’t have any answers and doesn’t even know how to spin. At least when the pros are spinning, we get something interesting that at least looks like an answer.)but at the least she has a story to deliver on that line. Obama can’t really say that. He has no “Bridge to nowhere” line (or gaffe) which, to a degree, is a fault.

But then again, again neither did Truman nor Kennedy.

But who could blame him? Obama was not going to bury his career and his wider aspirations by taking on the DDM. The Machine, as it is, uses a lot of energy to keep itself going. There are those who feel it is their call to bring it down, piece by piece. That is not Obama’s call. He would have spent his energy just trying to get a foothold against them. If the Republicans are so worried about it, why can’t they come in here and make headway against it? Oh, that’s right.  They spent the last of their political capital in waging what seems to me, a racist battle against the late Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor. Harold Washington was no Richard Daley - J. nor M. And that’s what scared so many Republicans and Democrats back in the 80’s.

Washington, by the way, would be the person who inspired Obama to come to Chicago. Not Daley.

One last note: Even though Obama bided his time with the DDM, I wouldn’t be surprised if, God forbid, Obama loses the presidential election and then turns around and decides to run for mayor. He just might make it too. Even though Chicago’s as full as racial fear as anywhere else in this xenophobic nation of ours, he may track enough black, liberal and young votes to oust the perennial paternity.

I could live with that.

Need some proof that Obama is not from the Chicago political machine? Did you watch the debates? Good, now recall or cue up any Chicago politician, especially our beloved Mayor Quimby-Daley. Notice any resemblance at all? Rambling, repeating, enraged, frantic finger-pointing (not that Obama wasn’t being entirely gracious with McCain, but at least he backed it up with facts/history), blame on the media. Those are trademarks of a Chicago pol. Obama is not part of that tradition.

Nor really of any other tradition that I can think of. As hinted yesterday, the relationship between Barack Obama and Richard M. Daley probably most closely resembles the relationship between Adlai Stevenson and Richard J. Daley - only in reverse. Daley has his share of enemies and tends toward the “friend of mine enemy is mine enemy” route. And Obama came up under some enemies of Daley. Rich was always weary of Barack anyway. Though the one never directly challenged the other, neither endorsed the other either. Daley only gave a lukewarm embrace of Obama during his Senate and Presidential races because it’s clear that Obama is a hometown golden boy and not allying himself with that kind of power in this region would be dangerous and would erode at some of the boss’s power bases - most specifically the African-American vote.

Illinois Democrat Adlai Stevenson - two-time contender for president and both times defeated by former General Dwight D. Eisenhower - arose from the seed of what would become one of the most powerful political machines in the 20th century US.

Harry S. Truman (whom many consider one of the greatest of US presidents) came up from under the tutelage and arm of Kansas City “boss” Tom Pendergast (not to be confused with Teddy).

Joseph P. Kennedy was, to say the least, ambitious and controlling and wielded whatever formidable power he could amass to put his sons into the highest offices of power. Owning a prime piece of real estate in Chicago would help.

According to Mike Royko, the elder Richard J. Daley was enthusiastic at first about one of his own raising to the ranks of governor and then president. But his favor cooled against Stevenson as he decided he did not care for the fastidiousness, the intellectualism, the perceived elitism, the liberalism, or the reform platform of Stevenson.  But he did promise John Kennedy (whose family owned the Merchandise Mart and who, like Daley, is also Irish and Catholic as well as Northern and Democrat) that he would hand him Illinois. That’s something that Stevenson wasn’t even able to garner for himself. Daley felt that Kennedy was one of his own.

Yet, it wasn’t until Kennedy was in the Oval Office that he started to sense the dramatic sea change in culture and began to be more progressive, more idealistic, more, how shall we say, liberal and reformist.

Obama, on the other hand, isn’t like any of these other cats.

Well, about the same things that this commercial connects - absolutely nothing but loose association and insinuation.

Hell, that video reminds me exactly of this video . (Sorry, apparently we’re experiencing difficulty with embedding. There’s a political metaphor here about the freedom of the press, ain’t there?)

I know that the Obama campaign hasn’t run as smooth and honest a campaign as he has promised he would. Anybody remember the “100 years war” myth? McCain merely said that the US should keep a presence in Iraq for a hundred years if necessary - sort of like in Germany or Japan. Except that:

1. Japan and Germany struck us first.
2. Any way you slice it, it still sounds like ‘conquer and divide’ to me.

However, I digress. The McCain campaigns are full of bullsh*t. And though I like to watch Mayor Daley squirm and yell obscenities and make bold-faced lies on television (don’t know if I have video of that. I’d love to see it, though. For now, print will have to be enough.), we deserve better than what our local politicians are already serving up in silver shovel doses.

We’ll do some history tomorrow.

According to Forbes Magazine, Chicago tops the nation in stressful living. They have come to this conclusion based on such facts as our high unemployment rate (which is worrisome, for sure), its air pollution (ranked #7), and its density (ranked #2) coupled with our high gas prices (always around the highest in the nation), we are a lock-in for the title of ‘Most Stressed-Out City in the US.”

Of course, the Mayor of this fine town would disagree with that assessment. And who could blame him? This may be one area where he’s right.

According to Roosevelt University Professor Jonathan C. Smith the study is way off anyway.  Smith, who heads the Stress Institute at Roosevelt , calls the Forbes research “outdated” and “pseudo-science”. Smith says that nowadays scientists measure individual’s perceptions to their helplessness and the availability of coping mechanisms.

The price of gas is more a “nuisance” than a life-altering change (such as losing body parts or property due to natural disasters, which can certainly ratchet up the stress). Smith goes on to say that just because so many live in such a compact area doesn’t account for stress either, at least with those who chose to live in the big city. “I would be stressed out if I had to live in Alaska.”

(source )

h/t to David Swanson

She loves pasta shells now. Really, she loves any food that she sees us eating, which is kind of a relief in that we don’t have to buy as much special foods for her (well, actually we do; but that’s because she’s just eating more). But it’s also, of course, a bit worrisome in that she doesn’t have, y’know, grinding teeth or proper chewing etiquette and whatnot.

And if she practices our diets, well… she may not be in such top fine conditions by the end of the calendar year.

But, I ask you dear readers, who could argue with this kid and a banana?

The Times has a nice little helpful article about helping to train children to eat right , rather than giving into their every whims (and it starts out with a story that I’ve found pretty common) or trying to force children food that they’ll outright reject later because it was pushed on them.

h/t to Scot McKnight

I stole this idea from Scot McKnight, who regularly features the exotic coffees he’s roasting/tasting while he blogs and/or teaches. As to why I’m posting it on ChicagoDads? Umm… if you’re a father, you don’t need to ask. Besides, look at the cute toys littering our little abode…

As you can see, I’m a bit of a hippie, a bit of a Frenchie and a bit of a synthetic creamerie.

I like my french press, but it doesn’t work so well with regular-ground coffee, and since I have yet to pony up the big bucks to buy my own grinder, and since my coffee pot is broken, this odd combo will have to do. The Target brand of coffee seems to taste all right, though. At least it’s good on my conscience. And none of the bitterness that Starchunks is known for. And it tastes a bit better when it’s fresh, hot and filled with International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Yes, it’s already that time of year.

I started yet another blog (to go along with Left Cheek) called Better Bridge Building. It’s a link page to news and info on not-for-profit (NFP) organizations and non-governmental-organizations (NGO). Part of the reason that I’m doing this is because I believe that it’s just good business. Part of the reason is that I want people to be more aware of what NGO’s and NFP’s do. Raising awareness and transparency is always a good deal I think.

And part of the reason is that my wife and I are working on starting an NGO, if the Lord so tarries. We would like him to. What I believe that this means for us, besides a million other organizational, networking, and paper-work projects on the burner at this moment and in the remote future (not to mention fund-raising in the further future) is to find what works and what doesn’t, to see how good NGO’s and NFP’s are working and build on those models. Why reinvent the wheel if it’s parts are working right?

For the week of September 19th through 26th

Tonight: The World Music Festival Chicago is wha’s happening. Ensemble Al-Kindi focuses mostly on classic Arabic music, and will be performing a Sufi liturgy. The group will be performing free at the Claudia Cassidy Theater at 11am and at the Pritzker Pavilion at 6pm. For more performers and info: (312) 742-1948, cityofchicago.org/worldmusic or myspace.com/chicagoworldmusic .

Saturday: Cordero (as part of the WMFC) is playing what The Chicago Reader describes as “warm, distinctive Latin indie pop” at the Empty Bottle at 9pm (Western just south of Division in the city). $10/21 & over.

Sunday: John’s Drive In at 5900 S. Ashland has the greasiest of greasy spoons, if that’s what you’re after. 5900 S. Ashland Ave - four blocks north of the Green Line’s final exit; (773) 925-6177.

Monday: It’s Pabst Blue Ribbon Mondays. Several local bars have 1-2 dollar PBR’s. Update when I re-find the list (sorry. I’m lame.)

Tuesday: City North 14 Theater doesn’t advertise this, because everybody already knows. Six dollars for a first-run movie Tuesday nights. They probably don’t offer the free popcorn anymore, but some of us don’t have money to buy the drinks to go with them in the first place. 2600 N. Western; (800) 326-3264 #1642.

Wednesday: “Where the Girls Are: Conquering the Gender Gap in Music and Film” workshop hosted by the Decibelle Music and Culture Festival. $5 suggested donation at the Center on Halsted (3656 N. Halsted). Included shops are Electronic Music 101 at 6pm; Music Biz 101 at 7pm; and at 8pm Film Skillz 101. (303)946-9227 or decibelle.org.

- or EPMD, $18 in advance at the Metro (not necessarily my definition of cheap, but had to throw that in there). 3730 N. Clark.

Thursday: TV on the Radio sent out its third album on Tuesday night. Get out all three and show the babies you still know how to rock! Alternatively!

Friday: Dollar shows. The one in our neighborhood (conveniently called The Logan - 2646 N. Milwaukee; 773-252-0627) offers their second-run movie screenings for three dollars. Even at night. For that price, you can afford the outrageous prices at the little vendor. It’d be a nice gesture, at least. We could keep them in business and they could continue to show outrageously horrid movies like Space Chimps, Death Race and Get Smart along with masterpieces like Wall*E.

Gives me the willies.

Something is just not right with this story.

A young woman trying to pay her way through grad school is auctioning her virginity. (note: eBay rejected the bid) Now, since she’s going to do it in a brothel in Nevada and since it won’t be necessarily to the highest bidder, but to a man that she deems as “nice”, she’s not so bad off, is she?

After all, she was a woman’s studies major in college. She believes that the choice to sell her sex and body is “empowering”.  And, heck, she survived through college without having sex, so she’s not gonna give it up for just anybody.

Of course, this leaves out the fact that the only people who are empowered by the selling of sex (which includes porn and brothels; certainly also includes sex slaves and victims) are the ones who profit from it without having to give away their bodies. Or the fact that she wants to be a family therapist (I can imagine how inane and simple-minded sessions with her solutions are going to be…). Or the fact that her auction is being handled by the guy who runs the brothel that she’ll be doing the deed in (sounds like a pimp to me).

Can you imagine what her reply was to one-night-stand suitors? “No. I’m saving my sex for auction.”

In summation, this girl is m***ed up in the head.

h/t to Marko

In case you’re having trouble coming up with a name for your first or next child (hopefully, this is done before the child is born. But then again, they won’t remember it anyway, so there’s no rush), we are presenting the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator . Or, maybe you like the sound of Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper and wanted to know what your name would be if you were born to Sarah and Todd, this is the tool for you.

In case you’re thinking it’s completely random, I ran my first and middle name through there twice and came up, both times, with Package Wichita Palin.

However, with just my first name inputted, I am now Strike Chipper Palin.

I knew there was something good about that family. It can’t all be that bad , right ?

h/t to Marko

Chicago on the Cheap will be a regular feature on Fridays. The idea is that trying to get out of the door is getting harder and harder to get outside the doors these days, what with what Alan Greenspan has deemed the worst financial crisis he has seen in his very, very old life . (Of course he helped to spur the climate that led up to this fiasco, but that’s a different story.)

It’s even harder for parents, single, fathers, married or whatever. So, some events will be for the kids, some for the whole family and some for that so-needed getaway. Some events that we’ll list will also be one-offs or part of a small series, but others will happen on a regular basis; so it might be a good idea to keep tabs.

Also, if you have clues, tips, suggestions or you can recommend a nice spot for a night out on the town, please send it our way via the comments or email me at jasdye (at) gmail (dot) com.

Up here in the silly northern Midwest, we’re feeling aftershocks of the Hurricanes. And it’s pretty weird weather, even by Chicago standards.

Of course, some of us like it here in the middle of the city and next to the bottom tip of Lake Michigan. We Chicagoans are willing to stake our drawn-out and bitterly cold winters and severely shortened summers on the fact that we don’t get tornadoes (well, apparently there was one exception, but we were out of the country for that one so it doesn’t count), we don’t get hurricanes, monsoons, mudslides, earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruptions, avalanches or entire seasons made completely out of rain. We have other problems, but to me at least they seem minor in comparison.

However, I do feel for those who have been struck by these hurricanes as of late. Certainly those in the Caribbean lose a lot every year around this time. And those around the Gulf of Mexico and in Florida are constantly at risk (my heart even goes out to those foo’s in Galveston who decided to ride out the storm. Then again, did they have a means out?).

But even here we have the after-effects of the hurricanes. For a couple of days, it was raining so hard we couldn’t take the baby out and she suffered massive cabin fever (what are we gonna do during the winter? Oh my lanta). And now I’m looking at pictures of people rowing a canoe in the streets of the neighborhood just north of us. People in the ‘burbs lost power and I saw video from my wife’s old neighborhood of the North Chicago River rising nearly to the bridge.

Click here to view pix from the Chicago Tribune and readers.

I mentioned before that I would speak about the choice of Palin and what I consider to be the experience myth (in light of, say, Abraham Lincoln) and then backtracked as it wouldn’t be appropos for this blog.

Well, I did post on it, over at Left Cheek . Take a look and tell me what you think. Or don’t.

A post I did just before that, however, was a bit more appropriate for this blog. A woman lambasts the Republican Party for choosing a woman to be next in line for the lead leader in the nation. Yep.

And, further, she throws shame on Mr. Palin for bothering to be a stay-at-home dad. I had no idea that God is angry with me for deciding to physically care for my child while my wife uses her vast knowledge and talents to bring home the ground turkey (except for the fact that I do all the grocery shopping).

I wonder if she’ll vote for Obama…

You can read about that here .

This is part of an ongoing, periodic series started with Millennium Park.

Let’s face it, Chicago is Mayor Daley’s town. All the stuff you may have heard about Daley Sr., from the mid-50’s to the mid-70’s (including the big focal point at the 1968 Democratic National Convention) is pretty much accurate. Richard I was a big boss. He was an efficient boss, and didn’t have the dirty bribes reputation. But let’s just say that he had it his way and that, yes, often the squeaky, well-connected wheel got the grease. A wonderful book that gave me some insight into this was the late, great Mike Royko’s Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago .

Richard II is very much the same man that his father was. From the late ’80’s until at least the foreseeable future, he’s the head kahoona. And what he says goes, does so - with or without question, with or without hesitation. The big difference, from what I can tell, is that Daley the younger isn’t as efficient as his father, but he can at least look like he is, what with bike lanes everywhere, a “greening” of the city offices and the sprawling of the boulevards and parks (at least a few miles around downtown).

There are major boondoggles that are either being worked on or being set up, and the Chicago Olympics 2016 bid is  the biggest of them. But I’ll speak more of these expensive failures-in-the-making later. For the time being, you can follow up with the alt-weekly The Chicago Reader’s Ben Jarovsky and Mike Dumke’s blog on city politics at Clout City .

It’s an interesting read if you’re not from the city. A necessary read if you are. (Consider the fact that we’ll be 240 million dollars in the red by the end of the year. Now, ask where this money is going or where it’s going to come from.)

oh my dear sweet jesus.

Shortly after our child was born in the middle of last summer, they took her away. Something didn’t go down right her tubes, they said and they wanted to keep her in for safe-keeping, testing and monitoring. So she was moved in to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit. Me being a teacher and it being Summer, I didn’t have to work, but I did have to look for work as well as run errands for us. I remember staying with my wife one night and getting up at six in the morning to see our daughter before leaving. As the nurse let me in and stand over her little plastic box, it was all I could do to keep from literally breaking down at the sight of the tubes jutting through her little body, arms, hands, feet and all. If you’ve ever seen the end of the televised series The Hulk , you’d have an idea of the pervasive sadness

But in the end, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with Jocelyn and she was and is a strong girl (sometimes a little too strong). Over the course of three days, we saw quite a few babies who were in much worse condition than her, often about half to a third of her size and weight. And while some mothers and family were there to watch over their newborns, other children were neglected save for the nurses.

I wouldn’t know what to do in such situations. I just about break down every single time I hear about something happening to a little one because I can only imagine my daughter in the same situation. I can only imagine losing her. And, honestly, God that scares me.

I can’t imagine the bravery that these people faced, the day-to-day heroism that it was to feed and care for their little child. God bless them, and each person who is facing similar obstacles.

<object width=”425″ height=”349″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/th6Njr-qkq0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0×5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/th6Njr-qkq0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0×5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”349″></embed></object>

Click here if video doesn’t play.

Alas, summer is over. The weather in Chicago (as it is all over the continental US from what I understand) is a bit screwy, but it’s just not shorts and water, water everywhere weather anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Autumn, but Fall in an area like Chicago where there is already a scarcity of green is rather depressing.

To mark the last day of Summer (ie., Labor Day), my wife and I took our little princess to the Crown Fountain at the Millennium Park just east of the Loop in downtown Chicago and west of the lake. The Millennium Park is probably the greatest of the major expensive boondoggles done in and for Chicago. It was years and years behind schedule before unveiling and was dozens of millions above and beyond budget, costing both city dwellers and individual and corporate donors tens of millions of dollars that we may never receive back in generated income.

But as far as failures go (and more on that in a continuing, periodic series) it is a wonderful one. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion , Cloud Gate (aka “The Bean”), BP Bridge (unfortunate name…), and the Crown Fountain are beautiful and useful works of grand public art. Unlike, say, Soldiers Field.

The fountain is a rectangular space bookended by two massive tower sculptures. The sculptures are about five feet tall and have thousands of LCD screens to project images of talking people or cascading mountains. The spaces in between the screens are where most of the water drizzles out of.

Every few minutes however, a person’s “mouth” will open up and the fountain will sprout. On this particular day, the children - all twice the size of our daughter - were waiting with expectant squeals to be drenched.

As you may notice, the little rubbery things between the screens can easily be damaged. Thankfully, they can also easily be put back into place.

Btw, because of space constrictions on this page, I do not often add images. Unfortunately, the image of this site suffers, I think, from that. But if you would like to see more images, including more from this event, please check out the Family Dyegest.

Show me more news like this: To infinity and beyond!

A man and his son (who has autism and largely non-verbal) go for a swim in the Florida coast. Twelve year old Christopher got caught in a current and started floating away from his dad, Walter, and the shore. His father tries to catch up, but is losing track especially as it’s getting pitch dark.Throughout the nigh, he calls out to Christopher yelling out the Buzz Lightyear catchphrase that the boy is so attached to, “To infinity and beyond!” Christopher responds to dad’s call each time; however, the boy’s voice is growing more and more faint each time until Walter can no longer hear him.

The next morning, the father is picked up by the coast guard. They ask if he would like to go to the hospital or continue with them on their search for the boy. Walter stays on board but below deck, fearing seeing the boy’s lifeless body above water.

Several minutes later, they call him up and ask him to look at the helicopter above. They found Christopher who, apparently, was having the time of his life until the jellyfish started getting close. Walter later recalls,”I never kissed so many Coast Guard men in my life!”

Walter credits his daughter (who called 911 after losing sight of her family and who was his inspiration to keep afloat overnight when he thought he had lost Christopher), the Coast Guard, the calm and collected Christopher and, finally, Buzz Lightyear for getting them through the  fourteen hour ordeal.

hat tip to Jeffrey Overstreet