My Favorite Thing Is Monsters was a total page turner. Emil Ferris used an effective 1960s horror movie motif throughout the story of Karen investigatMy Favorite Thing Is Monsters was a total page turner. Emil Ferris used an effective 1960s horror movie motif throughout the story of Karen investigating the mysterious death of her neighbor Anka in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. As a detective Karen discovered Anka's escape from Nazi controlled Europe, her brother Diego's secret past, her attraction to other girls, and how to cope with loss. Plus, the whole narrative was captured as a richly cross-hashed comic book drawn in Karen's notebook.
Karen uncovered the secretly heroic aspects of people who struggled to survive. Karen learned that tragic circumstances drive people to do things they otherwise would not need to do in order to get by. Karen explored how the ethics of those situations can prove hidden heroism in situations that many people look down upon. In one scene Karen is listening to a cassette recording of Anka describing her childhood growing up in a brothel. Anka introduced the story of her childhood saying- "People who have been loved by their mothers won't understand what I'm about to say-". But Anka's tragic life was something a monster like Karen could understand.
In her investigation Karen also realized there are other types of monsters besides the secretly heroic outcasts with which she was surrounded. "A good monster sometimes gives somebody a fright because they're weird looking and fangy... a fact beyond their control [,the kind of monsters Karen liked,]... but bad monsters are all about control they want the whole world to be scared so that bad monsters can call the shots..." These types of monsters start to emerge towards the end of the book which ended rather abruptly just like a typical superhero comic book.
I am curious about the next book in the series. The drawings throughout Monsters were so descriptive and rich - they not only struck on the chronology of events but got deeper into the heart.
This is a radical book despite being published in 1969. William Ellis describes the success of the West Side Organization (WSO), an organization creatThis is a radical book despite being published in 1969. William Ellis describes the success of the West Side Organization (WSO), an organization created by poor black men with some support by white Catholic clergy. The WSO helped to change racist policies and habits of low-skill employers to hire blacks. They also aided West Side residents in filing claims against neglectful welfare officials. They were a prominent organization for the time of their existence.
The radical aspect of the book is less the topic- although documenting the success of a poor-black community organization certainly is radical in itself- but rather the approach Ellis takes to his subject. At the very beginning he poignantly criticizes the anthropological academic establishment for trying to falsely claim objectivity by preferring observation of communities over engagement. Ellis on the other hand is upfront with his agenda of documenting and supporting the West Side Organization. I would say for half the book he reflects on his own position as a researcher and what the WSO meant to him which enriched the understanding of the subject.
In his reflection about his own place as a researcher, he found that on one hand his black racial identity allowed him a kinship to others in the WSO. While, on the other hand, his academic identity set him apart from others in the WSO, who were mostly not college graduates. This led into candid discussions about racial dynamics in research in which he clearly delineated the ways black people from the West Side often did not trust White people at all and when researchers came to study them they would "put them on" or just tell them exactly what they wanted to hear. He concluded one chapter with sobering words about how entrenched race relations are in the United States: "It is as difficult for white people to escape being oppressors as it is for blacks to escape being oppressed- and both battles must be waged by each in his own mind (p 134)."
Ellis found in his study of the Black founders of the WSO who were all from the neighborhood and had served time in jail that they each had a special combination of character traits that helped them overcome their internalized inferiority as a black person. "They must somehow have found their way out of the trap between the knowledge that they are oppressed and the belief that they are inferior (p 164)". And this knowledge translated into action to help empower their fellow community which could have only been done by black people like them. Ellis illustrates the necessity that fellow community members are the best allies to help lift other community members up....more
The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks was my introduction to this Chicago based poet and I was enamored by both her skill with meter and rhyme, which was notThe Essential Gwendolyn Brooks was my introduction to this Chicago based poet and I was enamored by both her skill with meter and rhyme, which was not always strict but very appealing, and impressed by her salient observations of race and class relations.
The following stanza about winter was taken from the poem The Anniad, which she wrote to exemplify time passing while her boyfriend was sent off to war, is a good example of her skill with meter and rhyme:
Seeks for solaces in snow In the crusted wintertime. Icy jewels glint and glow. Half-blue and silver rime. And the crunching in the crust Chills her nicely, as it must
Another innovation of this poem was the way the plot about her boyfriend's departure slowly gets revealed through the poetic appendices she associated with the poem.
As the Civil Rights movement grew she wrote vivid poems about race and class relations. In one she sharply criticizes wealthy Northshore suburban volunteers as they were trying to help poor black children. In it the well-intentioned volunteers were too prissy to handle the conditions of the children and would not touch anything. In another poem she rhetorically compared the struggles and death of wealthy White people to what she considered her own condition as a poor-Black:
Not that anybody is saying that [wealthy] people have no trouble. Merely that it is trouble with a gold-flecked beautiful banner.
Nobody is saying that these people do not ultimately cease to be. And Sometimes their passings are even more painful than ours. It is just that so often they live till their hair is white. They make such excellent corpses, among the expensive flowers...
She has plenty of insight regarding race relations and weaves them into many of her poems making catchy and wise phrases such as, "What we are to hope is that intelligence Can sugar up our prejudice with politeness." The revelation was provided by her verb choice of "sugar up" in order to depict intelligence dampening prejudice with politeness as a first step to improving race relations. Not only did she provide insight about the dynamic of racism but she also wrote empowering poems about staying strong as a proud Black-American directing listeners to "Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind." These are words I hope to keep close as we enter the depressing and regressive reality of President Trump's looming presidency....more
Neon Wilderness, Algren's book of short stories, was great. So I dived really deep into the Man with the Golden Arm- I got a 50th anniversary copy of Neon Wilderness, Algren's book of short stories, was great. So I dived really deep into the Man with the Golden Arm- I got a 50th anniversary copy of the book with reflections from Algren's friends and literary criticism of the book and I facilitated an online Facebook discussion of the book for which I reread the first part to get the story clear in my head. This book felt like an unsung classic and had a unique fatalistic spirit that I have never encountered before.
As with Neon Wilderness the Golden Arm had no heroes, there was a protagonist, Frankie, who was trapped by poverty, hustling, and his heroine addiction. There were a great variety of fascinating characters surrounding Frankie- his severely depressed wife, Sophie, who Frankie married out of guilt; a police officer, Record-Head Bednar, who feels impaled by the justice system after years of watching so many get processed in line-ups and prison; Sparrow, Frankie's accomplice, provided some comic-relief as he bumbled through all kinds of petty crimes; Molly, Frankie's mistress, tried the hardest to help Frankie clean-up; and Antek the bar owner kept a watch and an ear on the neighborhood and seemed to be like G-d of the outlaws setting the rules of the bar.
All these characters were very vivid bringing life to insightful prose about struggling in the underclass of society. The language throughout was plain and a lot of slang was used but it created such accurate and palpable scenes. After Frankie gets angry at Sophie, his wife, and breaks some dishes she decided to leave the pieces of broken dishes on the floor. "Yet her eyes took a sort of dry satisfaction at sight of the littered chards of crockery: she wouldn't pick up a single piece. Let it be like this when that henna-headed Violet Koskozka, always saying Frankie is too easy-going, come in." Sophie's passivity also exemplified how all the characters were portrayed as having very little agency over the challenges in their life.
Frankie best of all exemplified this insurmountable struggle against his circumstances- he was trapped by his heroine addiction, which he developed after returning from World War II. He wanted to get out of being a card dealer to make ends meet but there were no other opportunities available. In spite of his desires for a better life he was in constant survival mode. "There was knowledge of the long-hunted: to turn swiftly, with open claws at the very moment of disaster, upon the undefeated hunter. For the hunter there was always another day. When the hunted lost they lost for keeps." Algren focused entirely on "the hunted" throughout the book, and although no one was a hero a sympathetic view was opened up for people who are rarely considered subjects for more than a few sentences. Algren wrote an entire masterful novel with a cast of hustlers, coneroos, thieves, cripples, blind men, dealers, prisoners, and captains. He painted them all with the same sympathetic brush but did not omit the cracks, faults, or wounds....more
Nelson Algren described a Chicago I do not recognize. He described a Chicago that was mostly struggling neighborhoods where wealth and prosperity are Nelson Algren described a Chicago I do not recognize. He described a Chicago that was mostly struggling neighborhoods where wealth and prosperity are the exception in the downtown area and the Northshore suburbs. I know there are still struggling neighborhoods and downtown and the Northshore are still wealthy but there is much more in-between. Either way, I appreciate having Algren as an observer to report with clear and lively prose about a Chicago that has changed a lot since 1951 without apology.
Although Chicago may not still be quite the way he described it his themes still certainly apply to our lives. Algren was so class and justice conscious and his best observations timelessly cut the crap. "You can't make an arsenal of a nation and yet expect its great cities to produce artists. It's in the nature of the overbraided brass to build walls about the minds of men-as it is in the nature of the arts to tear those dark walls down." (p. 55) Something that still rings true as the US has the largest military budget in the world. And Algren continues with his observations of fine arts regarding the way wealth operates for its own benefit. "The city's arts are built upon the uneasy consciences that milked the city of millions... then bought conscience-ease with a multiple fraction of the profits. A museum for a traction system, and opera for a utilities empire." (p. 68-69) Algren was a writer who turned experiences, feelings, and references of the less fortunate into statements about society.
Algren also had a beat-poet's knack for flipping from discreet observation to revelatory musing. "For Chicago lives like a drunk El-rider who cannot remember where he got on nor at what station he wants to get off. The sound of wheels moving below satisfies him that he is making great progress." (page 86). Nelson Algren was a more cranky beat-poet but he seemed to have a deeper understanding of economic hardship which in Chicago: City on the Make he turned into great prose. ...more
I was told this is a good book to start with in reading Nelson Algren. All of these short stories were illuminating to various circumstances in which I was told this is a good book to start with in reading Nelson Algren. All of these short stories were illuminating to various circumstances in which no one is doing what they should be. For example, the soldier has gone AWOL in Europe, the boxer purposely loses to earn a little extra, and a casual drug user lovingly shares heroin with his girlfriend.
All throughout, Algren effortlessly and clearly describes the struggles of the lower-class with admirable empathy. In one story, he illuminated a universal desire for recognition. "For us the kid whose brother was doing a stretch [in jail] was as distinguished as a kid in another neighborhood whose brother was a college football star." In that story, where the opportunity for the "proper" kind of accomplishment does not exist going the other way takes its place.
In most other stories about World War II Allied soldiers are presented as heroes. For Algren, his stories never seem to have heroes- just people living through difficult circumstances. "It wasn't an [army] outfit. It was just a couple hundred oddly assorted Tennesseans, Texans, and Chicagoans who wanted to go back to their respected hills, ranches, and streets." I really appreciated the inherent complexity of characters who are not presented as heroes but rather, like a journalist recording events, as people struggling through circumstances. Algren's characters' decisions are naked of judgement.
A final bonus of the Neon Wilderness was a profile of issues that many white ethnic immigrant groups experienced in the 1940s and 1950s. Of personal interest was to learn about the experience of lower-class Jews, not the wealthy intellectuals that is common in stories from the 1970s onward, but the Jewish gambler or the Jewish boxer. Algren had a level of objectivity with his stories I have never read before and I am amazed....more
Completely brilliant comic book! Jimmy Corrigan pulled me in with its marvelous drawings and very honest story. My artistic ideal is something that acCompletely brilliant comic book! Jimmy Corrigan pulled me in with its marvelous drawings and very honest story. My artistic ideal is something that accurately describes its subject without embellishment or repressing relevant details. Usually this means I prefer art with subtlety and restraint and nothing extraneous or distracting from the message or impression. Jimmy Corrigan did this.
The illustrations were captivating and Chris Ware was able to allow the illustrations to tell the story without necessarily relying on dialogue to propel the story. In some entire pages the reader can view Jimmy as he sat in contemplation while looking out the window of his house- I got a sense of time elapsing at a gentle pace and Jimmy's loneliness. In addition, Ware used heavy outlines, a graphic illustration style, and repeated symbols that accumulated to generate a visual language as the story progressed. Although a little challenging, this made the story more compelling as it unfolded. For example, the event of Jimmy twisting his ankle was told through Jimmy's dream of himself as a robot falling down the stairs- it concluded with a novel and salient symbol: a robot hobbling with a crutch.
The story consisted of three generations, Jimmy, his father, and his grandfather. It focused on Jimmy meeting his father, who was absent most of his life, and was paralleled with flashbacks to his grandfather's childhood, which also included an absent parent. This made Jimmy Corrigan primarily an exploration of absence and drilled into the hole that was left in Jimmy and how loss infected relationships in his grandfather's childhood. By depicting abandonment in both generations and including some symbolic dreams the significance of these losses are vivid and quite sad. The marvelous drawings, including calm midwestern streetscapes and elaborate illustrations of the Chicago World's Fair, makes this level of sadness compelling. The illustrations describe this loss with perfect precision. ...more
Susan Nussbaum amplifies the voices of the most overlooked people- poor and disabled youth- living life, getting in fights, working through some roughSusan Nussbaum amplifies the voices of the most overlooked people- poor and disabled youth- living life, getting in fights, working through some rough circumstances, finding love and friendship. This book opened up a vivid glimpse into lives of teenagers, some who have no parental guardians, in a group home for children with physical disabilities.
Each chapter switched from the first person point of view of about five teens living in the home and from the points of views of about five of the employees working in the home. The joys were sweet and the pain was disheartening. Each was expressed with an authentic matter of fact tone from the character's voice embodied in that chapter. The subjective switch in view point allowed an engaging comprehension of the dynamics of group homes run by a contracted company and paid for by the State of Illinois. We see the motivations to cut corners in services for the youth from the point of view of the recruiter for the home. And then the sad challenges that financial bottom-line oriented policy creates from the points of view of the residents and staff.
Gracefully, Nussbaum, paints the lives of these teenagers with parties, crushes, insecurities, pranks, and political awakenings. Each has their own voice and life that is so distinct and marvelous. Even the insensitive and dense recruiter can be viewed with empathy.
While I acknowledge having more agency than many of the characters in this book, it made me think of the systemic issues that surround my life- When am I ruled by a "Good King"? or a "Bad King"? What can I do about it? I am grateful for this book because I learned about some experiences of disabled people that I am afraid to ask about and was totally oblivious to....more
I loved CROSSING CALIFORNIA because it described the lives of Jewish kids in West Rogers Park (where I grew up) with such charm. It was a great characI loved CROSSING CALIFORNIA because it described the lives of Jewish kids in West Rogers Park (where I grew up) with such charm. It was a great character study that revolved around Jewish teens and adolescents. Langer intimately and honestly brought the reader into a very specific place and ethnic group by describing relationships and lives without any sense of generalizing. Langer allowed situations and people to unfold in a very well defined setting. I was totally absorbed because I know this area so well, loved the nostalgia, and appreciated the description of everyday people growing up.
The sequel totally recaptured me. Again brought me to a place I know very well and back to characters that I wanted to hear more about. This time the transition is going from high school to college or college out into the big wide world. This time I loved the sense that these characters orbit around West Rogers Park as they try to explore the greater world. Some move on to New York and others move to another neighborhood in Chicago but West Rogers Park is the touchstone.
I just moved to Rogers Park and living so far north in Chicago does make it a universe of its own and this book expresses this neighborhood size universe through the lives of characters trying to explode out of it. ...more
First of all the cover by Chris Ware is such a succinct and stylish vision of Chicago- highlighting a lot of the little details that really strike a CFirst of all the cover by Chris Ware is such a succinct and stylish vision of Chicago- highlighting a lot of the little details that really strike a Chicago chord, the el, Modernist architecture, the lake, neighborhood two flats (on the back cover), and the Willis Tower ever present in the background.
This collection does similar justice demonstrating the little microcosms of existence that hop around the city. Stories about Chicago Housing Projects, an Eastern European immigrant finding a soccer team, local buddy-buddy political corruption, Bo Diddley and the Electric Blues, impressions from a Chicago winter, and more. It was such fun to see Chicago from so many new angles....more
I am impressed that Studs Terkel focuses on what everyday people want to say regarding race (primarily black vs white) rather than focusing on organizI am impressed that Studs Terkel focuses on what everyday people want to say regarding race (primarily black vs white) rather than focusing on organizers or out spoken bigots. Throughout the entire book, he humbly documents his conversations and really lets his interviewee be in full focus. Also his subjects are in Chicago so it has some personal geographic significance. The simplicity of the process allows so many layers of racial perception to emerge.
I learned a lot about the dual significance of the rise of Ronald Reagan's administration and the rise in popularity of Louis Farrakhan. Reagan's policies played on white fear and discouraged affirmative action by terming it obsolete or reverse racism, this resulted in a disimpowerment of Black Americans. Meanwhile Louis Farrakhan gained popularity in the Black community, at least in Chicago- who fostered Black pride but with antiSemitic undertones. It was interesting to read Black and White candid perceptions of Jews which apparently even in the early 90s still was definitely considered an "other"....more
I was completely blown away by the thoughtfulness of Richard Wright's reflection on his positionality as a black boy growing up. He has such a humble I was completely blown away by the thoughtfulness of Richard Wright's reflection on his positionality as a black boy growing up. He has such a humble perspective that is constantly critical even to the movements which offer more promise for racial justice. The writing is understated, succinct, and incredibly vivid. I have never felt or experienced discrimination to this degree and this book depicts its effects on the behaviors and pshychology of those who are oppressed and their oppressors so dreadfully clearly....more
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