Revisiting A Dickensian Tale of Hard Times - Then and Now

As the play Hard Times For These Times opens at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago, a character is asking his “betters” how he can acquire a divorce. He’s told that it’s not for “people like him” and basically, he has to suck it up and keep working for starvation wages. He is coerced into refraining from being active in a labor union organizing in the fictional Coketown.

From there, we view the life of the upper classes in mid-nineteenth century England and see how they interfaced with the poor and lower working classes to ruin and trample on any sense of dignity they may have had. I won’t provide any spoilers by telling you how the tale ended. You may decide to read Hard Times by Dickens or to go see the play at the Lookingglass Theatre. It was very artfully done using the circus as both a metaphor and a reality of what happens to peoples’ dreams.

After that, read the book Being and Homelessness – Notes From An Underground Artist by John H. Sibley. While Hard Times takes place in England in the 1850’s, John Sibley’s book is a memoir and treatise on homelessness that he published in 2011 about life in contemporary America. John Sibley is an artist and writer who found himself homeless in Chicago for a brief period of time. He was able to extricate himself from that state when someone offered him a good paying job. In his book, Sibley expounds on his ideas as an artist and human being reminding us that if someone is homeless, that is not the totality of who he is.

I was reminded of both books last night when my husband and I volunteered at the all-night homeless shelter run by Interfaith Action of Evanston. It opens on nights that the temperature goes below fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. Its location moves among six faith-based organizations. Sad to say, it is difficult to find enough volunteers to keep it open every day of the year or even every day of the winter – which in the Chicago area usually lasts from December 1^st to April 1^st. Winters in Chicago can be brutally long and horrendously cold. I can’t think of anything worse than being homeless here in the winter.

I’ll never forget Illinois’ wonderful Senator Paul Simon addressing the Illinois NASW (National Association of Social Workers) about how in Dickens’ time, people asked, “How can England, the most powerful, wealthiest country on Earth allow this to happen [to its poor people]?”

Senator Simon went on to ask how we as Americans in modern times in the wealthiest country in history could allow the same thing to happen. How could we allow our fellow citizens to be homeless and/or food-insecure? Then he left us Illinois social workers to figure out how we could help to get America on a better track.

That question is just as pertinent now as it was years ago when Senator Simon addressed us. And so, I ask everyone of you Readers to ask yourselves the same question: How can we Americans allow this to happen? In 2018, I challenge us all to do something about it.

Warmth on a Chicago Winter Day

I’ve lived in the Chicago area since 1974. It’s a great place to live, but I’ve always felt it would be even better here if they put a retractable dome over the whole area so that we wouldn’t have to freeze through our long, frigid winters. Unfortunately, that’s not feasible, but the city of Chicago has found a partial solution. Since the 1960’s, they’ve been building, improving, and adding to a Pedway under about five miles of downtown Chicago. It’s a maze that they’ve made easier to navigate in the past few years by putting good signs along it's many paths. Prior to them putting up that signage, it was really easy to get lost there.

Helping us to navigate this maze, the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) www.architecture.org has been giving a walking tour of the Pedway. We took this tour led by Ellen Shubart, CAF docent, who did a great job of shepherding us through this network of underground walkways.

The Pedway was constructed to help people get out of the cold and to connect all the transportation.

The tour begins in The State of Illinois Building, the James R. Thompson Center at 160 North LaSalle. This post-modern building was designed to depict the transparency of government. This was a concept of then governor James Thompson, for whom the building was named, - a fact I was unaware of prior to taking the tour. Four Illinois Governors have gone to prison since I moved here so I found that very humorous. It set a tone of levity for me for the rest of the tour.

Looking up toward the ceiling of the Thompson Center

Next, we went down to the Pedway and saw an entrance to the CTA [Subway]. One can walk on the Pedway from the Ogilvie commuter train Station to the blue and red lines of the subway to the South Shore Line commuter station without going outside. If someone is lucky and works in an office building with an entrance in the Pedway, he (she) can avoid going outside an entire day. How great is that!

The Pedway isn’t merely a walkway, however. Underground are various stores and restaurants and even a stained-glass exhibition. We were able to go to several buildings of interest either historically, architecturally, or currently. Thus, I learned how the County, City, and Court buildings are connected.

Then it was onward to the Cultural Center, the former central Chicago Public Library Building. This beautiful beaux arts building is a landmark and worth a visit by itself. Tours of the building are given Wednesday through Saturday at 1:15PM. In addition, the Cultural Center houses temporary art exhibits and lunchtime concerts each Wednesday at 12:15PM. All of these are free to the public.

Dome in the G.A.R. Hall

From there, we went east and entered through the Pedway to the Prudential Building, the Aon Building, and the Aqua Building designed by the famous architect Jeanne Gang. As we walked, we could see the progression of architecture in Chicago and the world through the decades. And best of all, on December 19^th, we didn’t have to go outside at all to see any of them.

Remembering Latkes and Another Fight for Freedom

Tonight, we Jews will celebrate the third night of Hanukah and remember that long ago victory for religious freedom. I’ll also remember our recent visit to the National Underground Railroad Center www.freedomcenter.org. in Cincinnati. It will be a great melding of two traditions.

view of Ohio River seen from the museum

Since Cincinnati was the first place on the northern side of the Mason-Dixon Line, across the Ohio River from Kentucky, it was the first place that runaway slaves came to in their pursuit of freedom. As such, it’s a perfect place for this museum to be housed. The museum’s permanent exhibit has a great mix of videos, still exhibits, and interactive exhibits allowing the visitor to experience this excruciating time in American history. It also includes exhibits of struggles for freedom going on today.

Right now, there are two temporary exhibits well worth the visit. One was an exhibit about slavery still being practiced now in 2017. The struggle for freedom never ends and it was good to be reminded of it. The exhibit includes discussion on human trafficking, children forced into grueling labor and unable to escape, as well as slavery being practiced today in the 21^st century in Libya and other parts of North Africa. It is a shocking reminder that we can never become complacent and think that the fight for human dignity is won and done.

The other temporary exhibit – The Kinsey Collection of American Art & History - is very powerful. The exhibit will be there through April 2018.

Bernard and Shirley Kinsey were able to amass an amazingly extensive collection of art, artifacts, and historical documents spanning 400 years of history. If you go to the exhibit, expect to spend two to three hours there. Bernard Kinsey primarily collected artifacts and documents while Shirley Kinsey found heretofore undiscovered African-American artists. Together, their collection is very comprehensive. There are copies of the Dred Scott decision, the Missouri Compromise, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution outlawing slavery and displays of objects common in the daily lives of the slaves.

The exhibit of various African-American artists’ work is a great complement to the historic. I was taken by the expressions of anger and despair seen on the faces of the people in the pictures. That sense of emotional rawness is rarely seen and felt so realistic. At the same time, on view is the power people felt as well as they fought to be free.

The Kinseys were active in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s. They spent four decades gathering this amazing collection. It is an impressive life’s work. Together they have provided the public with an insight into the lives of slaves – those who fought for their own freedom and those who were able to reach safety and then helped others make it to safety as well. If you can’t get to Cincinnati to see this exhibit, look for it to arrive at a museum in your city and make a point to go see it. 

Teatro Vista's Play "Fade" Resonates To Everyone

Teatro Vista www.teatrovista.org, housed at the Victory Gardens Theater www.victorygardens.org in Chicago, produced the masterful play Fade that explores class barriers and gender discrimination as they affect the Latino Community. While it’s about two Mexican-American characters, this play is universal. It was written by Tanya Saracho and directed by Sandra Marquez. The actors -Eddie Martinez and Sari Sanchez – do a great job of bringing the story to life.

Fade begins with Lucia starting her job as a script writer for a television show. Abel, the janitor, comes into her office to clean it. As they talk to each other, they discover that they are the only Latinos working at this television studio. This gives them a comfort level that launches a very unusual friendship. Although they are both Mexican-Americans, the difference in their socio-economic statuses soon becomes apparent. What ensues is drama at its finest. I urge anyone who has the opportunity to see this remarkable play which is playing through December 23^rd.

Eddie Martinez and Sari Sanchez in scene

After every performance, some ensemble member stays for a talk back. The audience was ethnically diverse the night we were there making the discussion especially interesting. Does Lucia speak differently to Abel than she does on the phone to her college-educated colleagues? Do we all speak differently depending on who we’re talking to? Do we consciously change our speech patterns when addressing people from backgrounds other than our own?

The subject had piqued my interest since reading the very articulately written book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. This book is about an African-American teenager living in an inner-city neighborhood who has witnessed two of her best friends murdered by police. Afraid for her safety, her parents enroll her in a private school that is predominantly white and upper middle class. As Starr switches between her home neighborhood and her school, she consciously changes her speech patterns and the subjects she allows herself to discuss. This phenomenon has been referred to as “code switching”, an apt name for a frequent phenomenon in our multi-cultural, class-based society.

I have found myself code switching much more often since the 2016 election especially since the events in Charlottesville this past summer. While before I always felt safe as an American Jew able to say anything, that is no longer the case. I feel secure in Chicago and a few other parts of America and with the people I know. In other places, I find myself on guard wondering if the feelings expressed in Charlottesville have always been there. Staying at a hotel in Cincinnati where we visited our children, the hotel manager asked if we would return for Christmas. Hearing the slight southern inflection in his speech, I was put on guard. Instead of explaining that we were Jewish, didn’t celebrate Christmas, and besides our grandchildren had different winter break times, I just said, “I don’t think so.”

I wonder how often I will be code switching in the years ahead and how many others are doing it more frequently than they did before November 8, 2016. It makes Fade especially timely. If you have the chance, go see Fade. You won’t be disappointed.