I’ve been using some less common words to indicate what I’d like to have you do with the glimpses into the lives of the people in Studs Terkel’s Division Street America: Words like “interpret,” and “assess”. I’m trying to help us see that different people experience the same place in very different ways. A bartender and a patron experience a bar in different ways: a middle class person experiences a ride on public transportation in a way different from a person of either the upper class or the lower class. Ultimately, each resident of a city has to make peace with this/her city in his/her own way. From outside, we can look and make judgments about how these individuals are interacting with their urban environments–note the small victories and defeats, the triumphs, the joys, the disappointments, and ultimately we can evaluate whether a person has made the best of his/her circumstances. Has “the city” been used to best advantage? Has the city diminished the life or perhaps the spirit of the dweller? What opportunities have been missed.
Above, a street chosen at random on the North Side of Chicago, but filled with various types of houses which were prominent in the video on Chicago Neighborhoods. What evidence is there that the building on the right has been converted from a different use?
Walk down the street to see how far you have to go for some of life's little pleasures. Would you be interested in visiting the Tantra Novum Institute? (Find it yourself. I'm not going to do all the work).
Again, I don’t want us to think at the level of the old Horatio Alger “Rags to Riches” stories. Though the city is big, we have to think small, we need to make something out of these vignettes.
By simply “counting off” I’ve divided the class into five groups of six (one group gets seven–there are 31 of us). I’ve also assigned each person two of Studs’ persons, mostly by luck of the draw. A couple of you get three. As you’ve noticed not all of these men and women get equal time--some sections are less than a page long.
You'll find the groups and the characters assigned under the second title bar at the top. Here’s what I want us to do.
On Monday, we’ll try arranging the chairs ln a donut shape, seven chairs in the inner ring, the rest in an outer ring. I’ll ask groups to occupy the center ring for 15 minutes or so, and discuss half their characters among themselves, with the rest of us listening over their shoulders. We’ll do as many groups as we have time for, and continue with the same process on Thursday. Those of us in the “listener’s circle” should feel free to ask questions about the characters being discussed. When possible, perhaps group members can identify what part of Chicago forms the center of their character’s world.
We’ll continue with this process. If by lucky chance we get through the first round of all the groups on Monday, we’ll proceed to the second round. If not, we’ll finish up what we didn’t get to Monday, and then proceed from there. I’ll give us time on March 31 to do some advanced planning in groups. If this experiment needs refinement I'll get in touch with you by e-mail. Just keep your heads up.
