CHICAGO CARLESS

(Photo: The more things change, the more they remain the same in Chicago.)

The following is a Chicagoans Project guest post from Richard Murray, scribe of the blog, Pilgrim Path. For the genesis of this project, please see here. To tell your story on CHICAGO CARLESS, email me at mike (at) chicagocarless (dot) com.

My earliest memory (or so I have been told) is being two years old year old and not so ceremoniously introduced to my new Lithuanian toddler neighbor in a sandbox. She began yammering at me in baby Lithuanian. I responded in baby English. We seemed to understand each other just fine. That’s life for you, on the southwest side of Chicago.

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(Photo: Father and son velo-bond on a sunny Lake Shore Drive morning.)

The following is a Chicagoans Project guest post from Gordon Mayer, vice-president of Chicago’s Community Media Workshop. For the genesis of this project, please see here. To tell your story, email me at mike (at) chicagocarless (dot) com.

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(Photo: Would this face of celebrity ride the bus?)

The following is a Chicagoans Project guest post from local Chicago blogger Jasmine Davila. For the genesis of this project, please see here. To tell your story, email me at mike (at) chicagocarless (dot) com.

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(Photo: Never let the vehicle deter you from the road you want to follow.)

Last night during Community Media Workshop’s 2008 Studs Terkel Awards at the Chicago Cultural Center, one of the winners, Sylvia Rivera, the general manager of bilingual public radio station Radio Arte, shared this comment from the stage:

“You write the story of your life. You create your own legend.”

In two sentences, Rivera described my dilemma.

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(Photo: How long does it take to admit what you no longer are…and what you’ve become?)

Lately I’ve been wondering about my place in the world. Maybe it’s the New Yorker in me that keeps bringing that question up. New York has long history of considering itself the center of the universe. Take a New Yorker out of Gotham and he’s bound to feel disoriented.

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(Photo: No GORE-TEX grows on the CTA’s snazzy new–and surprisingly clued in–president, Ron Huberman. Credit: alfiemartin.)

Saturday morning, I was honored to be included in CTA Tattler’s invitation-only meeting with CTA President Ron Huberman. In addition to meeting personal heroes Kevin O’Neil, publisher of the Tattler, Tony Coppoletta, perhaps the fiercest (and most knowledgeable) transit advocate in Chicagoland, and my favorite Chicago Carless fan, Cheryl Powell, I got to to discuss my major concerns about the CTA, at length, directly with the agency’s very committed prez.

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(Photo: Got what he got the hard way, and he’ll make it better each and every day.)

“Remember people that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there’s still some things that make us all the same. You, me, them, everybody, everybody…”

“HELP!”

The Friday evening IM was as unexpected as it was emphatic. Fifteen hours til the movers were coming, and he wasn’t done boxing yet. Good thing he was only moving next door. They say you learn a lot about a person when you help them move. Mostly, things you never expected to find out.

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