Good radio, bad poetry

A while back I mentioned the Odyssey radio program, produced by Chicago Public Radio and hosted by Gretchen Helfrich. Sometime in October, I turned on the radio between noon and one, and a different show was on. What happened to Gretchen?

According to the Chicago Public Radio website, Odyssey ceased production at the end of September. Gretchen was off the air.

Then, two weeks ago, I heard a familiar voice -- Gretchen was moderating a discussion of the Samuel Alito confirmation hearings. Is Odyssey back? Sadly, no. It was merely part of Chicago Public Radio's all-day coverage of the hearings.

Hearing her on the radio again has inspired me to write some free verse in the style of Paul Neil Milne Johnstone. Enjoy, to the extent that Vogon poetry can be enjoyed...

Ode-ssey to Gretchen

Eating lunch in my car, I
Listen to
You, Gretchen,
On the radio --
Listen to
Your voice, spicy as
My chicken sandwich;
Your probing questions are as
A straw
Through a plastic lid.
Tell me,
What is the meaning of
This, my ode to you?
Discuss.

Silly me

The last two months of 2005 I wrote some articles on torture, more torture, and other abuses of power. In some of the articles, I made reference to pending legislation that would curtail those abuses. At the time I had this crazy idea that it actually mattered what was in this legislation and whether it was signed into law or not. But President Bush has set me straight regarding my former foolishness.

In the case of Senator McCain's (R-AZ) anti-torture proposal, President Bush threatened to veto the defense appropriations bill if it were included. It would have been Bush's first veto in his five years in office. But he signed it anyway. So... it's a good thing, right?

It would have been, except that in signing the bill, Bush wrote a "signing statement" that essentially said that he has the authority as Commander in Chief to ignore the anti-torture provision.

Another part of the defense appropriations bill (one I disagree with) states that, effective upon the bill's signing, the courts would have no jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus petitions for Guantanamo detainees. (This is Div. A, Title X, Section 1005.) The intent was to keep new cases out the court system, but in the President's signing statement, he advocated throwing out all pending cases involving Guantanamo detainees.

Yet another part of the bill (Div. A, Title VIII, Sec. 8104) states that none of the specified intelligence-gathering funds would be available if the administration fails to follow the proper processes for conducting searches on U.S. persons (such as obtaining a warrant). Once again, Mr. Bush thumbs his nose at Congress. I think Congress ought to ask for a refund.

If President Bush didn't like the bill, he could have vetoed it, and then Congress would have had to pass it over his veto. Instead, he signs it, then does whatever he freakin' wants. 'Cause, dammit, he's the King Commander in Chief! I just pulled my copy of the Constitution out of my pocket, and I'm reading Article II. Hmm... I notice that the Founding Fathers spelled "choose" with a 'u'. But I don't see anything in there that gives the President the authority to ignore the laws passed by Congress. In fact, Section 3 says that the President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." (Section 4 suggests an interesting remedy.)

Plastic milk jug ring

Because I always buy milk in cartons by the half gallon, it had been a while since I'd been in possession of a plastic milk jug ring -- you know, the part of a milk jug cap that breaks away when you twist it open. Yesterday, I was filling the cappuccino machine at work with milk and needed to open a fresh gallon. It's my lucky day, I thought to myself. I took the plastic ring and put it in my pocket.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I emptied the pockets of the pants I wore yesterday. Across the room, my cat was curled up in her bed; she had been in a crabby mood all morning. I waved the milk jug ring at her. "Look what I found!" I said. As soon as my cat saw it, she let out what I can only describe as a feline squeal of delight. I tossed the ring on the floor, and she immediately jumped out of bed and began batting it around and pouncing on it.

At the pet store, you can buy all sorts of things to keep your cat amused: glittery balls, catnip mice, feathery things, motorized toys. But the best cat toy can be had for the price of a gallon of milk.

Broadway redevelopment

Thursday evening there was a community-wide meeting on zoning and development along the Edgewater stretch of Broadway. The meeting was hosted by the Edgewater Community Council (ECC). I wasn't able to attend because of band practice.

The southernmost portion of the area under consideration was the subject of a series of entries on this site:

Broadway update
Broadway survey: analysis
...and earlier entries on my informal Broadway survey

Under the old zoning ordinance, Broadway between Foster and Devon had one of the least restrictive commercial designations. Twenty or thirty years ago, it didn't matter so much what the designation was -- no one wanted to invest in the area anyway. This situation has changed over the last ten years, and now developers are licking their chops over this stretch of roadway.

Under the new zoning ordinance, effective November of 2004, Broadway was to be converted automatically to a B3-3 designation, which, as before, is among the least restrictive designations. But the alderman recognized that there was a disparity between the kind of land use allowed by B3-3 and what would fit with existing uses. To prevent the wrong kind of development, the kind that could cause harm to the community, she temporarily rezoned Broadway to a lower dash-2 density and initiated a process to get input from the community on what an appropriate zoning designation would be.

ECC favors B1-3 along the entire stretch of Broadway. This would allow six-story buildings, which would not be so out of scale between Granville and Devon. But this would be much taller than anything existing between Foster and Hollywood.

I prefer Proposal 'A', titled "Guiding Principles and Draft Zoning Map for Re-zoning Broadway (Devon to Foster)". The text does not identify the proposal's author (maybe I'm missing a cover sheet?). According to Proposal 'A', all of the west side of Broadway would be zoned B1-2. Most of the east side would also be B1-2, but cross streets with 'L' stops would be mostly B1-3 on the half block between the 'L' stop and Broadway. Also, the entire block between Bryn Mawr and Hollywood would be B1-3 on the east side of Broadway.

Almost appetizing

I took my cat to the vet for her shots this morning. Dr. Z thought we could try a prescription diet and see if it would help with the cat's vomiting.

I took home a bag of cat food made from duck and potatoes. Hmmm... duck and potatoes. I'm almost tempted to try some myself.

Blagojevich's brilliant idea

I'm being sarcastic.

This week, Governor Blagojevich (D-IL) pledged a million dollars from the state treasury toward rebuilding the recently burned Pilgrim Baptist Church. I lamented the historic building's destruction in my previous entry, but despite my desire to see it rebuilt, I must respectfully point out that the Governor is wrong.

First, it runs afoul of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Also, as Eric Zorn pointed out in his Chicago Tribune column on Thursday, the Illinois Constitution contains language that is redundant to the 1st Amendment that further clarifies the separation of church and state.

There are many good uses for taxpayer dollars: law enforcement, public education, roads, public transportation, etc. Building houses of worship isn't one of them, especially to the tune of a million dollars, and especially when the state isn't exactly swimming in cash. If Mr. Blagojevich wants to save the church, he is welcome to contribute money out of his own pocket.

On a somewhat related note, the same issue of the Chicago Tribune contains an article reporting on Cardinal George's (of the Chicago archdiocese) desire to have the State of Illinois help bail out financially struggling Catholic schools. The article is lacking in specifics, but once again, this would likely violate the Establishment Clause.

K.A.M.

News of a burned-down church at first struck me as only mildly interesting. Wasn't my church, wasn't in my part of town. But when I opened the Chicago Tribune to the inside pages, I immediately recognized the building in one of the photos: the old K.A.M. Temple!

Just about any illustrated history of Chicago's Jewish community will feature a picture of K.A.M., or Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv, and that must be how this unusual structure got imprinted in my memory. I never knew of the building's significance, or what became of it after K.A.M. moved out in the 1920s.

The Boston College Fine Arts Department website has an old postcard of the K.A.M. Temple from back when it was still occupied by K.A.M. (Lovely yellow sky and pink clouds.)

It was designed by Louis Sullivan (whose gravesite I visited just one week ago!) and considered one of his masterpieces. Sullivan's business partner, architect Dankmar Adler, was a member of the congregation.

According to the January 7 Tribune article, Pilgrim Baptist Church, an African-American congregation, has occupied the building since 1922. Thomas A. Dorsey was hired as music director in the 1930s, which turned out to be an important event in music history. Dorsey took traditional black spirituals and transformed them into modern gospel music. Pilgrim was where that music was born.

By the way, the inscription over the main entrance read: "Pit'chu li sha'arei tzedek, avo bam, odeh Yah." In English: "Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter them and thank God." (Psalms 118:19)

More tales from the Graves

Dexter Graves, that is. Not a lot is known about the man, other than that he was one of the first Chicagoans, he ran a hotel, and he died around 1844. About 65 years later, a new monument was commissioned for his gravesite, titled Eternal Silence. It might be one of the most chilling representations of Death ever created. Some say that, like a vampire, it can't be photographed, but as you can see, my camera proved them wrong.



The figure of Death was sculpted by Lorado Taft, whose far less creepy Alma Mater statue is familiar to alumni of the Univeristy of Illinois.

Be forewarned -- I could go on for weeks about everything I saw at Graceland Cemetery! The following picture is of the massive Palmer monument:



In the late 1800s, Potter and Bertha Palmer thought of themselves as Chicago royalty, and the temple they erected to their memories testifies to that. I took this picture from across a small pond in the center of the cemetery. Near where I was standing are buried Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bruce Goff, and Ruth Page, all modernists (in contrast to Lorado Taft).

At the north end of the pond is a tiny island on which lies the remains of architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham (who was more of a Lorado Taft kind of guy). The island is landscaped in a naturalistic style, possibly in homage to Burnham's colleague Frederick Law Olmsted, who was the architect of Jackson Park's Wooded Island. The path to the island was a muddy mess the day I was there -- Olmsted would not have approved.

Goin' to Graceland

Yesterday afternoon, on the last day of the year, I took a walk around Graceland Cemetery on the North Side of Chicago, the final resting place of many notable figures from Chicago's history.

I found the relatively modest tombstone of architect Louis Sullivan. Sullivan had died poor, and the burial was paid for by fellow architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Ironically, Sullivan is buried behind the neoclassical colonnade of piano-maker William Kimball's monument. Sullivan detested this style, considering it to be a cheap copying of a European aesthetic.



It's hard to see in the picture, but the large, round medallion on the tombstone is covered in the kind of intricate geometric designs that are characteristic of Sullivan's work.

New Year at Adobo

How did I spend the last hours of 2005? With bottomless margaritas, fresh guacamole, and a mariachi band. I enjoyed these at Adobo Grill in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.

I can say from first-hand experience that even highly-esteemed restaurants have been known to falter when throwing a New Year's Eve bash. But Adobo Grill did it right. To the proprietors of Adobo: ¡Olé!