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My birthday was Sunday, and before I rang in the big day, I decided to ring in someone else’s birthday: Mr. T’s. Timothy O’Toole’s in Chicago held a b-day bash for their former bouncer (back when the bar was called Dingbats) and it was a bit of a letdown. Sure, there were A-team-themed menu choices, but the promised costume contest was a bust: There was nary a Mr. T lookalike in sight!
All-in-all it was a lackluster birthday bash and I hope that next year is better.
In brighter, happier news, O’Toole’s did not disappoint. The bar itself is pretty cool with lots of TVs, a friendly serving staff and nice pool tables that keep you busy for a few hours.
Dev xx
Spotted at El stations across Chicago: hilarious signs urging Chicagoans to not feed the pigeons Melba toast or French Toast Crunch.
Dev xx
University of Illinois at Chicago students, workers and community members demanded on Thursday that the university’s budget be re-evaluated.
The university has laid off or eliminated seniority for 90 teachers and staff members, according to Amber Cooper, field organizer for the university’s graduate employee organization. UIC administrators have also indicated they might increase tuition and student fees, she said.
Cooper and other members of the United In Campaign Against Budget Cuts Coalition picketed the University of Illinois Board of Trustees meeting at UIC after addressing the board earlier in the morning.
“We came out today to this public meeting to tell them that they can’t be raising tuition,” Cooper said. “Increasing tuition harms working-class people who need to be able to go to this university. So if the tuition is increased again, every dollar’s increase is another student who’s not going to be able to afford to come here.”
A spokeswoman for the University of Illinois Board of Trustees declined to comment Thursday on the coalition’s concerns, and UIC officials could not be reached for comment.
During a break between sessions of the board’s closed-door meeting, Trustee Devon Bruce said that he was not told by the administration that people had been laid off.
“My understanding was that the administration was potentially placing people in furloughs,” Bruce said. “I was unaware we had laid off 90 people. That is deeply concerning.”
Board of Trustee member David Dorris was also not aware of any layoffs.
“People at the bottom cannot be cut,” Dorris said. “We need to protect those people who do the work every day. We may have budget problems but it cannot be put on their backs.”
Despite a slow start to the rally, there was no lack of enthusiasm as picketers chanted and waved brightly colored signs.
Sarita K. Heer, a UIC graduate student, said that as a teaching assistant in the art history department, she had to pay a quarter of her stipend back to the university in fees.
“I had to pay $1,199 for my tuition differential fee, which means that my stipend was going right back to the college,” Heer said. “That put me below the cost of living.”
Heer said that the fee is “sneaky” and “unfair” and that the university cannot tell students that tuition is not being increased and then take stipend money to make up the difference.
“The university needs to understand that they cannot balance their corrupt budget on our backs. They need to find the rest of the budget somewhere else,” Heer said.
In addition to protesting tuition and fee hikes, the coalition also called for no layoffs.
Cooper said that board members have promised to talk about the coalition’s concerns at length, a talk she said is crucial to making change.
“They want to start a conversation but we need to make sure it happens,” Cooper said.
Right from the beginning, I knew learning more about Chicago’s Romanian community was going to be a challenge. My apprehension came to fruition when I began my quest to find a subject to interview—completely unaware that my research would bring me to a stainless steel, kosher butcher shop in Rogers Park.
Characterized as a burgeoning and vibrant community, Romanians living in Chicago have a very proud heritage. The younger generations speak fondly of their parents, recalling stories of how they immigrated to America, in search of the freedom that only a democratic society could give them.
But all that was before I decided to begin my research on the community. Despite the appearance of progress and American-immersion that many acclimated Romanian immigrants put on, they are still very guarded and unwilling to open up to a reporter.
Where was this fifth-largest population in the country? Where were the estimated 65,000 Romanians living in the Chicago area?
After many rejections and an inability to find a true community location, I naturally came upon the Romanian Kosher Sausage Co., 7200 N. Clark St. Remembering that I had passed this lesser-known treasure in the North Side during my travels, I hastily returned and arranged to meet with the owner. Unfortunately, when I returned he was nowhere to be found.
I was begrudgingly greeted by a man with a heavy eastern European accent. When he realized I was not interested in purchasing any combination of chopped liver and brisket, his welcoming demeanor vanished almost entirely.
“It’s kosher food, but only a couple Romanian recipes. It’s just named that because of where the owners are from,” he said dismissively, requesting that his name be kept private.
I could tell he was not interested in helping me, nor would my request to interview the owner be granted. I was puzzled: How could a store named “Romanian” be unaffiliated with the Romanian community?
“The owner’s parents started it. They’re now deceased,” he said in response to my query about the store.
The more cold his demeanor, the more sense I made of the unsavory situation. Delving into the recesses of my knowledge of Romanian history, I knew that after many years of communist oppression under Dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, Romanian citizens became skeptical of revealing too much, lest their opinions be revealed to members of the political party. I knew it was wrong of me to rush to assumptions, but I was sure that if the butcher were at more of a liberty to say, he would agree.
In the middle of the twentieth century, community groups formed, especially among the Protestant Romanian population, according to the Chicago Historical Society. Groups like Bucovina Mission helped immigrants settle in Chicago and others, like the Romanian Missionary Society, Romanian American Alliance, and Romanian Freedom Forum were founded in the 1980s and ’90s to organize for political rights and protest Communism in Romania. In 1998, the Illinois Romanian American Community united these groups together in a Chicago-wide alliance. Many of these organizations have since disbanded.
It seems as if total immersion has seemingly come to the community. A full-American assimilation that has resulted in a re-organization of historical priorities. The Romanian-Americans I attempted to contact maintained the old-world fears of revealing too much, coupled with disinterest.
However I was still puzzled over the mysterious Sausage Co. How was it possible that a predominantly Christian population come to open a kosher shop? Perhaps it was my bashert (Yiddish word meaning “destiny”) to continue my quest of this illusive group.
Before I turned to leave the immaculate store, I looked to my interviewee one last time to ask if his store was affiliated with any other Romanian organizations in the city.
“There’s a couple of Romanian recipes, but it’s not a Romanian store,” he insisted again.
As I retreated to the exit, I noticed flyers posted to the door. The papers were displayed in every color imaginable and in all shapes and sizes—the black font on each, mainly written in Romanian.
-Ileana
Apologies for the belated post. But I still really want to share the crazy events of Thursday afternoon with our readers!
The day began very slowly. As one of my story ideas fell-through that morning, I found myself unable to file–and soon resulted to taking candids of Dev and I in the newsroom. Blame it on spring fever, but the weather outside was an absolute delight and I couldn’t stop thinking about long walks in the warm breeze.
Lurking.
Where my brilliant story ideas originate.
Paparazzi shot of Devin hard at work.
The best part of Thursday was my mistaken excitement over meeting with the Chicago Apartment Finders in Belmont to begin my apartment hunt. (Read: sarcasm.) If our readers gather anything from this post, please let it be that everyone knows NEVER to visit this organization for leasing assistance.
Knowing my time in Evanston is quickly coming to a close, I am looking to move on to bigger and better apartment prospects. I began my search with a search…how to go about finding a deal on a decent apartment, while not paying an exorbitant amount in rent. Google is a tricky beast. The first suggestion that popped up was to visit the Chicago Apartment Finders. So excited to move ahead with the process, I ignored my better judgement and made an appointment without looking up reviews of the agency online.
That afternoon was my time of reckoning. I should have known it was a mistake mere minutes after walking in the door. Our pesky broker sat me down and explained to me, with the intensity of an annoyed babysitter scolding a child, that she “works very hard,” and was not interested in helping me if the fruits of her labor would not be rewarded with commission. I retorted that, contrary to popular belief, I actually understand how commission works, but would not be pressured to sign a lease on an apartment just to make her happy.
That didn’t make her too happy either.
Ignoring all my online research and requests to see apartments that I had picked out, she explained that she knew best what would work for me and would wow me with her choices. What did I know, I went along.
Our first stop–and the resulting following stops– were in Andersonville/Edgewater. A very nice area, but not at all the areas where I wanted to live. The first place she took me to was a seemingly abandoned house. Ignoring signs saying “Beware of the dog,” my glorious broker kicked in, literally, kicked in the front door exposing a dark, dusty room. The wall looked as if it had blood stains, the bathtub with mold so fierce it was crawling out of the tub at me. The back window was cracked.
The day continued along similar lines. However it truly pinnacled when Ms. Angry Apartment Finder blamed my “glamorous taste” on the fact that I would never be satisfied with any listing. I wish I could say I laughed it off, instead I demanded that she take me back to Belmont–that I’d had enough.
She then had to audacity to kindly ask me not to write a bad review about her on yelp, all while she was texting on the blackberry and running through stop signs.
So essentially, the search is still on. Any suggestions (aside from Craigslist) for how I should go about continuing my hunt? I’m at a bit of a dead-end.
Hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend!
-Ileana
Since I arrived in Chicago, I have searched for a good English-style pub that feels like the real thing. Little did I know that the perfect place would be a stone’s throw from my office in the Loop.
At 111 West Adams Street, Elephant & Castle Pub and Restaurant is a chain that finally got it right: amazing service, authentic-looking surroundings, fast food turn-around, great beers on draught and English nosh that tastes almost as good as my Auntie’s (who is English through and through).
The true test of a good English pub is threefold. 1.) Serve a pint in a traditional 20 oz. glass rather than a 16 (this is how they do it in my Fatherland). 2.) Display your fish and chips the traditional way…in newspaper. and 3.) Meat pies are to be meaty, have a good gravy to filling ratio and have a pastry crust that is flaky, buttery and absolutely not calorie-conscious.
Does Elephant & Castle pass? Yes and with flying colours.
The pints are served in 20 oz glasses which means you get more of that delicious, heady Boddington’s for the same price you would at that McBar you go to with your mates on Friday night.
The fish and chips are adorable and served up in…what else?! Faux newspaper! Love it!
And what about the steak and ale pie I had? Oh, you guessed it. The crust was flaky, the meat was tender, the potatoes tasted creamy and the gravy was perfectly fattening made from giblets. You cannot get much more English than that.
Sure, Elephant & Castle may be a chain, but the food is so close to its English counterpart that if you close your eyes and tune out the American accents, it is almost as if you are in England!
Dev xx
The Ryan Education Center's opening for students and teachers was Monday. 600 Chicago Public School students from 20 schools were taken on a docent-led tour of the galleries.
via Medill Reports.
The Art Institute’s new Ryan Education Center, just a few steps inside the Modern Wing’s first-floor entrance, will be an educational headquarters for students, teachers and parents.
“We ask, philosophically, ‘What did the artist need to know in order to achieve a work of art?’” Robert Eskridge, executive director of museum education, said of the Center’s education creed.
A garden designed by Renzo Piano will be created in the Ryan Education Center courtyard in fall. This will create a connection between Millennium Park and the garden.
“Field trip offerings are designed to emphasize how the collection can support reading, social studies, world studies and a history curriculum,” he said.
The Center emphasizes how art can be effective in teaching across a school’s curriculum. An instructional asset is Renzo Piano’s airy, streamlined design, created so that in every living room and classroom in the Center visitors feel as if they are inside a work of art.
“Studios have glass walls that look out onto the spectacular Chicago skyline, revealing and justifying having an architecture and design curatorial department,” Eskridge said. “A rare department to have in art museums.”
The institution goes beyond exposing students to the “one time” field trip to the museum, said Grace Murray, coordinator of teacher programs. It connects what is learned at the museum, and provides teachers with follow-up materials to employ in the classroom throughout the year. However this instruction is not only for art teachers, but teachers of every academic subject.
A “serious institution to run,” the Center requires community support. A combination of corporate, foundation, and private funding has helped support and endow the Ryan Education spaces—initiated through donations from its namesakes, Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan, according to Eskridge.
The Kraft Education Center, located in the main building, will continue to be used as a family center but the Institute’s academic emphasis will be based in the Ryan Education Center.
The Ryan Center will be open the same hours as the entire museum, to better accommodate visiting teachers and their schedules. The Center space is free, located outside the barriers for admission, and is open to all.
The now one million square-feet Institute will officially open its Modern Wing to the public on Saturday.
Dev xx
I think all of you have read my first post on how I love/hate TimeOut mag. My main problem with the magazine is that even though I ordered a subscription, it had not arrived. That was a week and a half ago.
Today is Thursday night and though I had faith that TimeOut would pull through, alas, they have not. It has been 8 weeks since I ordered my TOCG subscription, as you can see by the e.mail below from TOCG, and still…nothing.
TOCG@kable.com to me
Thank you Devin Kidner,
We have received your subscription order. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery to your address at:
Devin Kidner
*****
*****
Chicago , IL *****Your total comes to $19.99 and you elected to pay by credit card.
Have a nice day!
Order placed Friday, March 20, 2009 10:01:10 PM
Before you say that I have not given TOCG a chance, may I remind you that I have called their hotline three times now and have had several TOCG staffers comment on my last blog entry.
I cannot be blamed for what I am going to do next – I am going to call tomorrow and tell TOCG that if I do not get my subscription for this week by tomorrow and all of the weeks to come, I am ending my subscription. This saddens me greatly because I truly love TimeOut. Come on guys, get it together.
Thoughts/advice?
Dev xx
Thanks to Groupon and my fabulous boyfriend, Tim, I had the pleasure of seeing my very first Cubs game on Monday night! Groupon offered rooftop tickets a couple of weeks ago with an all-you-can-eat and -drink deal. The tickets were about $80 a piece and totally worth it.
First, the food was amazing. It was a catered event with everything from salads to polish sausages, hamburgers and buffalo chicken wraps. There was even dessert, which included these absolutely delicious lemon bars with white chocolate mousse and frozen blueberries! Yum! Of course there was enough booze to have you hugging the toilet all night, but there was also a bunch of sodas and other drinks, too.
You would think you might lose some of the Wrigley Field charm by not being in the stadium, but that was not the case at all. The crowd up on the rooftop was just as unruly and drunk as they could be and the vibe was sweet. If you have a chance, score rooftop tickets and if you are lucky, maybe Groupon will offer another round of discounted tickets.
Dev xx
