The annual UIC Urban Forum took place today. Mayor Daley spoke at the opener and then took part in one of the panel discussions later on. Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel also was there -- participating in a lively discussion along with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Motorola CEO Greg Brown and moderator Judy Woodruff.
Discussion at these things tends to lead to platitudes ("collaboration", "shared resources" -- and considering the venue -- "more support for education"). My favorite moment came when Woodruff went on and on about people's "anger" and Rahm pointed out that it might have something to do with the economic situation. "But why does the press focus on it then," Woodruff asked. Rahm looked at her and smiled: "that's the subject for another panel".*
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* Quoted from memory.
So what am I doing on a Sunday morning? Why shooting video at the annual convention of the International Reading Association at McCormick Place, of course! Partnership READ, a joint UIC-CPS program to improve literacy in the Chicago Public Schools is doing a whole series of presentations throughout the day and I got volunteered to videotape at least three sessions.
Daddy had good tastes. The apartment at 155 W. Burton Pl. was his 'bachelor pad', designed by friend Sol Kogen, where he lived in the Fifties. At the time, he was owner of United Film & Recording Studio on Erie & St. Clair and producer/announcer of the German-language radio show, The Germania Broadcast.
I remember seeing a short film of the place. It was a duplex with my mother and grandmother waving from the 2nd floor. That's about all I remember -- by the time I was two we had already moved further north to Barry Ave. near Pine Grove. Note on the Kogens: One of the Kogen brothers was our first pediatrician. Another was our dentist.
[h/t mommy]
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sun, 04/04/2010 - 5:28pm.
Following up from last week, here's what I heard on the El going to Skokie last night:
"Attention Passengers: Please do not attempt to board the train -- the doors are closing".
Actually the delivery for this one was pretty good, though again, a touch on the long side.
Has anyone else noticed drivers on the El announcing at every stop:
"Do not attempt to board the train. Doors closing."
That's a huge mouthful to say. No wonder they flub up every third stop or so. But what really gets me is that cognitively I don't think this works. In such a quick moment before the doors are about to close, you really need something snappier, simpler -- something like:
"Stand away. Doors closing."
I think that would work better.
With an early voting location at the CPL branch at Lincoln Park -- just across the street from DePaul -- you can't get any more convenient. Not surprisingly, for a (February) Primary, traffic was light. I walked right in, no waiting, no line.
No break for me. Sometimes when people are off, it's the best opportunity to do big systems changes.
I'm redesigning the template for our site at MPOW and I've been telling everyone for months that I'll have the thing up by the beginning of the year. So it's time to put up or...
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Tue, 12/22/2009 - 12:21pm.
I was in Berlin when the Wall came down. In fact I had been living there since 1984.
I had just woken up from an early evening nap when one of the people from the Wohngemeinschaft where I was living told me the Wall had come down.
This seemed strange since it looked perfectly intact only an hour before when I had gone to sleep.
Of course my room-mate was exaggerating. In fact, the Wall hadn't come down -- it had simply opened up. That's an important distinction which I'll get back to in a moment but at that point it really didn't matter. I like everyone rushed out to welcome the incoming East Germans at Checkpoint Charlie, buying a bottle of Sekt (German sparkling wine) along the way.
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