What is important to me is not only attention to the lack of up-keep to this school building itself but the surrounding area.  The area look fairly run down and there was obvious disinvestment of the area.  There was a huge building on Wentworth and 67th that has been abandoned for many years.  The building covers many blocks and appears to have at one time been a hospital or some other large building of importance.  There are no nice houses in the area, there are no lofts or condos in the immediate area.  There are no visible grocery stores or busy shopping areas.  There are hardly any stores seen in the area.  There was a liquor that I saw, along with many churches.  From one intersection I could see three different churches on seperate blocks.  I could see many apartments that were boarded up as well.  Areas like these create students that have perspectives that allow for destructive thinking.  Areas that are not invested in with time and money produce youth that are not invested with thought proceses of time and money.  In some ways these youth are products of their environment.

I stumbled across this article in the Chicago Sun-times newspaper early Tuesday morning.  The article discusses the body of a twelve year-old girl that was found dead in an alley in the Englewood community area of Chicago.  The girl has been missing since November 16th, when she never returned home later that day.  Community activists were figting with the media to give more coverage of the story to help with overall awareness in hopes of bringing the girl home alive.  Unfortunately the media did not choose to give any light to this specific case. 

The reason I grabbed this article is because many things are happening, and not happening with this neighborhood.  The media was unable for whatever reason to publisize information about this young girl being missing when it might have helped to save her life, however it was deemed acceptable to allow her to be mentioned now that she is dead?  It is very interesting what criteria is used for who or which stories are news worthy, and which ones are not?  This area is showcased in the news, but only when something horrible like this happens.  I don’t keep up with the daily events of the entire area, however I don’t believe that nothing has happened positive in the area that would not have been showcased in the media had it been in a different demographic neighborbood.  Areas like Englewood are not uncommon in our country.  The murders, violence, beatings and highschool pregnancy rates are related.  This area has too much of some things such as drug selling, prostitution, violence, liquor stores, and currency exchanges.  This area does not have enough of things likes jobs, effective community based organizations, state and federal government support, public schools that are properly funded, effective city infastructure, and opportunity.

Until we stop pointing the finger saying that areas like this are “their” problem and we admit that it is “our’ problem nothing will change.  Until a structure has been established that will make it possible for people to live without resulting to dubious activities nothing will change.  This area needs change, along with many other marginalized areas in our country.  We need large scale socital change to make a true difference.

This video that I found on “youtube” is one that highlights an issue at the Chicago Public schools, violence.  This video clip is taken from msnbc news.  The clip shows a group of what appears to be high school students in a large fight.  The reason that this event made the news is because one student involved in the incident was beaten to death.  Issues in and around the Chicago public schools involving the students is a very large issue in Chicago, and the core reasons involve everyone in the country. 

The Chicago Tribune has posted that “Last school year, 34 students were killed and another 290 shot on the streets of Chicago, the district said, despite a panoply of programs to decrease the violence. The previous school year, 23 students were killed and 211 shot, according to district totals. None was killed inside the schoolhouse walls, but Huberman said schools must take the lead in addressing the problem.”  From the 2008 to 2009 school year there have been thirty-seven murders involving students. 

As we can see from this video along with many other visual sources that have been covering what  is going on with the Chicago youth, there are major problems.

The article I found in the Chicago Tribune about some the issues happening at Christian Fenger Academy on Chicago’s south side was insightful.  I really began to think about some of the problems and ways of thinking that some of the youth in area might be using.  This article helped me to create new questions and routes of thinking that I did not have before I read the article.

Some youth that attend Fenger High School was interviewed and they gave their perspective of the the issues at hand.  The youth talked about tension between kids from two separte neighborhoods.  The kids are from the immediate Roseland community area and a public housing area known as the Altgeld Gardens.  The youth protect the names of their areas and have so much respect for their respective neighborhoods that many will fight to honor their hometowns.  These ideas of protecting the name of a hometown, along with many other social issues are main contributors to the death and continued violence on Chicago’s southside and in the schools.

This video taken off of “youtube” highlights some of the core issues visible at a local Chicago high school called Robeson.  The video is from CNN has insight from a clincal psycologist, and an attorney and co-founder of a women’s empowermmnet network.  The three discuss some of the nationally known problems at Robeson high school, the large number of pregnant girls and mothers. 

The story gave light to some of the problems that could be happening with the line of thinking with some of the girls.  The story also gave some insight to some of the situations that the girls might be living in at home.  I was glad to hear how some of the blame was placed on all of us and how he support the poor morals through our teaching of youth and the media.  Often the affect that our society plays is ignored when that is one of, if not the largest element affecting things. 

The video gave a few examples of what could be done to fix this situation.  I feel that not enough attention was brought to the local instituions both political and social in the immediate area that allow circumstances such as these.  The entire neighbor hood that the school is in is where these students probably live.  If they all live in the same neighborhood and they are all having similar problems I think that we need to look at what is happening or not happening in there neighborhood.  If we look at the residences of these students we will see that they are in one of the worst areas in Chicago to live in, based off of elements from crime rates, to low median incomes.  The problems are very deep rooted at Robeson and the surrounding area, they need social reform.

This link is to a report done on Robeson High School in Chicago, Illinois. 

The high school located in Chicago’s Englewood area is largely known.  What is unfortunate about this school is that it is known for many negative things.  Data such as 14% of the schools girls being either mothers or pregnant is one statistic.  The school having a larger percentage of children dropping out than graduating is another unfortuante stat. 

It is common knowledge in Chicago that this school has issues.  There are even some surface level explainations as to why the students are in such poor shape.  What appears to be lacking is deep assesment as to why this school in particular is in schambles and how to fix things.  Very seldom is there a fast and easy method of fixing things that are involving people, however there are only a few people attempting to create social change for these students.

The name of the article is Woman’s Wheelchair Goes Unfixed Because of States Budget Woes.  The article is about an elderly woman who has health issues and uses an electric wheelchair.  The woman was is a former state employee and her wheelchair has broken.  The state has failed to pay for repair services in a timely manner twice in the past.  The woman’s wheelchair has broken yet again and the state is taking their time with sending a payment for repair. 

The repair company is not blaming the woman, but they are not providing their services until the state of Illinois pays them.  The state claims that they are in the process of sending payment and getting her chair fixed.  All the while with this confusion the woman is going without the freedom and lifestyle that the chair gives to this eighty-three year old woman. 

It appears to me that once again those who lack money and some level of domination through power are being treated badly.  This woman is elderly and because she is not in a position to effectively fight for herself she is being negleted.  The elderly and the youth in many ways become the victims of masses.  Age is a dynamic that is used to margnialze people, and in large cities such as Chicago this happens all  the more frequently.  The state is in great financial trouble this is true, however those with income will not be forced into situations such as this elderly woman who lives in a nursing home.

My overall opinion of the blog is that it is very well written.  I appreciate the clairty that the ideas and thoughts are given under.  The preciseness of what is meant and why really helped me understand the conclusions being drawn on subjects.

I think the title of the blog Whistling is Forbidden, and the explanition of the title was amusing and clever.  The images adding greatly to the overall appearance of the blog. 

When reading some of the articles I found that I did not agree with some of the conclusions drawn.  It appeared that there was a lack of being sociologically mindfull in some of the analysis.  An example of my disagreement with the perspectives was the blog “Equity in Action.”  The analysis of dayworker’s that was heard from an on campus panel contained excellent anayisis of what was going on from a micro point of view.  What I felt was missing was an overall viewpoint of why these people were in the positions that they were in and our countires contraversal past with using immigrants as workers.  I felt that the article “Gentrification of the Third Ward” had a good understanding from the standpoint of political leaders, corporate giants, and the middle and upper classes.  It appeared that an accurate account of what the poor and working class goes through in those situations was missing.  In the article “Years Later, Blockade Still a Sensitive Issue” I had very mixed feelings about.  I saw a very clear description of the people involved and some of there surface level feelings toward eachother in the crisis.  I enjoyed the arguement of how race was not the primary element.  I found myself wondering why an explanation of discrimination on social class was missing.  Xenophobia was mentioned however I feel that was not the core issue. 

Overall from the article informing the reader where to go for great pizza, the article of  a good book to read, and the blog of The Green Mill were all excellent.  I felt that the blog showed many different sides to Chicago, and cities in general.  I was disappointed at the social critiques that were made on various articles and subjects.  Overall good work and one thumb up!

The categories on the census changes over time because our society changes over time.  Our census shadows what elements of our society are of the most importance at that time, and those are the questions asked.  The questions also change every census because the structure of our society changes and what is politially correct is constantly changing. 

From the census cagegories of 1890′s the term “Free white persons” was used.  This wording implies that during that time not all white people were free.  This reminds us that in early American history this country was made up of many indentured servants, and during the early time of indentured servitude race was not the primary factor.  There is a question about the age of “Slaves.”  This question asked a slavemaster to document the ages of his slaves.  This question reminds us that America was built on the backs of forced labor and captivity.  Discrimination and inequality have been built into the American society and for a very long time the country has been a slave state.  In 1890 a qustion about “Free colored persons” is asked referring to all blacks who are free and there respective ages.  This question shows that not only were white’s not free in early America, and neither where blacks.  The primary tool used against people for purposes of inequality was not race, but social class.  There is a qustion which asks a person’s “Christian name.”  During the time of 1890 the majority of people in the United States had the religious affilitaion of Christianity, and this is implied with the question.  It is assumed with this question that someone would not be in America and not be a Christian. 

In the 1970 Census there is a question “How is each person related to the head of household?’  This qustion implies that households might contain people that are not immediate family members, considering one of the possible answers is “roomer, boader, lodger.”  Societies change over time and this is seen because in 2009 the largest minority in the United States are Latino’s at around 14% of the population.  In the 1970 census the question about picking a color or race does not even mention Latino’s or Hispanics.  Instead a breakdown of people from Spanish speaking countries is listed as ”origin or descent.”  In almost all of the qustions asked the pronoun for men is used.  Almost all of the qustions assumes that the person completing the census questions is a male.  This invisiblity of women, and assumption of maleness shows our traditional American misogeny.  The questions “What country was his father born in?, What country wah his mother born in?, When did he come to the United States?, Did he live in this house on April 1, 1965?, Where did he live on April 1, 1965?”  These qustions and probably many more assume the only person taking this census are men, or if women are taking this census it is ok to call them by male pronuns because they women and not as important as men. 

These census qustions show how our society has changed over time.  The questions show how people are defined and how it changes.  A person color or race is purely a social concept and not a biological trait and this is shown by how almost every ten years we change what defines people as which races.  America has never honestly been the “land of the free,” because since we began keeping social information we have been able to revisit how and when we have enslaved and discriminated against all people.  Our country has deeply rooted in the assumption that men are important and women are not.  This patrichal assumption is evident in all of our census questions and answers.  This critical analysis is not meant to say that our country is horrible and things will never change, but our country has been horrible and we can change.  Things in America have not been the way they have because it was meant, or natural.  In contrast we have supported actions behind ideals to make America.  If we supported actions behind ideals for a more equal America we would certainly have it.

Joel Kotkin uses resources such as some statistical data, and an article by Richard Florida titled The Rise of the Creative Class.  Kotkin’s data suggest that some political leaders assist with welcoming into there cities this “hipster set,” as Kotkin notes.  these people have jobs that are not standard blue collar professions.  These people have varying levels of secondary education and creative jobs that allows them to make good amounts of money annually.  These hipster’s enjoy making money and going out and spending it.  This concpet of making a lot money, and spending a lot of money is the exact mindstate that mayor’s and political officials love to hear. 

Kotkin uses data from Richard Florida’s article which studied the creative class in the United States.  Kotkin attempts to take the research a step further by showing this class of people not only being important in the United States, but worldwide.  Opinions such as one from mayor Ken Livingstone claims  “Culture, not commerce, is London’s heartbeat.”  Ideas such as this support the idea of this viably cruicial “cool city strategy,” that Kotkin talks about.