I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I lived in a very welcoming neighborhood. As a child, I had many friends on my street. We would ride bikes, climb trees, visit the playground at the local park district, and stay outside until the streetlights turned on. The families on my street always looked out for each other, so we didn't worry too much about safety. All of my friends attended the same school and participated in the Chicago Park District's activities such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, music and dance lessons, and open gym events. The park district hosted an annual gym show so the kids could perform for their families. Residents would get together on most Sundays to talk about issues in the neighborhood and share meals and stories. …show more content…
Chicago also has multiple arena and stadiums to attend sporting and concert events, including Wrigley Field, US Cellular Field, Soldiers Field, United Center, Rosemont Theatre, and The Chicago Theater. I also visited Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo on the lakefront, and Brookfield Zoo which is located Southwest of the city. If you want to spend time on Lake Michigan, there are many beaches for swimming, and piers for boating. I can honestly say that Chicago has a lot to offer. I never had a boring time. Of the many things I miss about not living in Chicago, one of them is the food. I love Chicago hot dogs, pizza, and Chinese cuisine. Chicago neighborhoods have multiple, family owned restaurants and hot dog stands. You have enormous menu choices from hamburgers, cheese fries, hand dipped ice cream and shakes, hot dogs, gyros, giant fried shrimp, Italian beef, and one of my favorites, the "Confused Chicken Sandwich". Chicago also has multiple family owned pizza "joints", such as Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, Old World, Home Run Inn, and my two favorites, Amato's Pizza and Giordano's. The best Chinese food I've ever tasted is made in
The book In the Neighborhood, by Peter Lovenheim is a very interesting look into the lives of residents in modern suburban neighborhoods. His neighborhood in Rochester New York mirrors many communities across the country. He paints a familiar picture of a community that waves at each other as they drive by, yet do not know the person they are waving at. This disconnection of people that live their lives so close to one another was completely unnoticed by Lovenheim until tragedy struck his community. One night in 2000, a routine activity that Lovenheim practiced, walking his dogs, exposed his consciousness to the lack of association he shared with those who live in close proximity to him. As he approached his street he observed emergency vehicles
Many of these ethnic groups still reside where their relatives first lived when they arrived many years ago, whereas a majority of the ethnic groups have dispersed all over the Chicago land area, creating many culturally mixed neighborhoods. Ultimately, all of these ethnic groups found their rightful area in which they belong in Chicago. To this day, the areas in Chicago that the different ethnic immigrants moved to back in the 1920s are very much so the same. These immigrants have a deep impact on the development of neighborhoods in today’s society. Without the immigrants’ hard work and their ambition to establish a life for their families and their future, Chicago would not be as developed and defined as it is now.
If you ever find yourself in Baltimore there are some things and places you must go and do. First of all there is Lexington Market which stretches over two blocks. This centuries old market has more than one hundred and fifty stalls and vendors offering fresh vegetables, seafood, meats, baked goods and prepared foods. You can find some of the best crab cakes known to man here, you haven't had a real crab cake until you taste one without all the bread filling. The sweet meat of blue crab is held together by egg, a tiny bit of bread crumbs an more crab meat. Camden Yards is also a must see. It is one of the most beautiful baseball stadiums in the world. Instead of the traditional hotdog stands you will find pit beef sandwiches and Natty Boh. I highly recommend you go on a food tour if ever in Baltimore.
With this in mind, Chicago is a wonderful place to visit and live, however it does have it light and dark side. Millions of people visited Chicago for it cultural events, annual festivals, to walk, jog, or ride a bike along the lakefront. Visit the Planetarium, museums, Art Institute or ride up to the 103rd floor of Willis Tower. Take in a movie go shopping down Michigan Ave, or State Street. Nevertheless, be careful of the dangers hidden in some of the neighborhoods in Chicago.
The setting of the story is Chicago’s South Side. This area of Chicago was known as the “capital of black America” (Manning), and according to Andrew Wiese, Chicago used to be known as “the most segregated city in America” (118). These seriously contradictory statements are true. Chicago’s South Side was home to William L. Dawson, who was the most powerful black politician at the time, and Joe Luis, who was a boxing champion and was known as the most popular black man in America (Manning). It was the most popular place for blacks to migrate to during the Great Migration, and the population grew from 278,000 blacks to 813,000 blacks. Most of the neighborhoods located in the South Side were poor and highly segregated from the rich white neighborhoods located just outside the South Side (Pacyga). The housing in these areas was very poor as well. Most of the African Americans at the time lived in a small apartment called a kitchenette. These were cramped with a small kitchen and small rooms (Plotkin). Lorraine Hansberry describes the Youngers house as a worn out, cramped, and very small apartment (23). She also talks about the small kitchen, living room, and bedrooms (24). These apartments were not ideal, but it was all that many African Americans could afford. If African Americans tried to move nicer neighborhoods, whites would perform violent acts on them (Choldin). This violence was recorded in a African American newspaper, known the Chicago Defender (Best).
The Chicago Cubs are an interesting part of Illinois history, even if they are not always successful. The history of Wrigley Field, the famous players, and the stories behind every game are why Chicago loves the Cubs. It is the atmosphere of the friendly confines when you walk in through those gates. It is jumping out of your seat when the ball is being hit out of the park. It is things as little as singing the 7th inning stretch with all the other Cub fans around you. Rooting for the underdog is special, and that is why Cub fans are so loyal. The history, players, and stories of Chicago Cubs Baseball are the reasons why it is an important part of Illinois history.
Growing up on the south side of Chicago in the roughest neighborhood in the city I learned a lot from others and just observing my surroundings. At times, I would always think to myself my situation could always be worse than it was, and that there is always someone who is doing worst off than me. But my situation turned from being in a bad position to being in a position where my mother would come to lose her mother and our home that we had been living in, all in the same year. After losing her mother and bother my mom lost herself in her emotions and shut down on everyone and with that came the loss of a home for me and my siblings and her job. Shortly after my mom began to go back to church and so did we. It was the first time in a log time that we had attended church and it played a big part in a learning experience for me and my siblings. Through the days that came to pass going to church sparked a desire of wanting to help others who had or are struggling to get by. My mentor, Pastor, and teacher deserves appreciation for helping my mother through a hard time and keeping me and my siblings active in a positive manor.
There have been many weird things happening in Illinois in the past 100 years. There has been a whole bunch of mysterious fires and weird things happening at churches. There has been many unexplained Phenomena like weeping statues or weird poltergeist. Although there is a lot more phenomenas, there are also been some local legends like The Demon Butcher and The Axeman. Weird and creepy, there are a lot more local legends and phenomenas that i'm not going to explain.
Chicago has played a major role in American Literary history. As African American writers struggled to express their unique literary voice, they sought to celebrate diversity of the American people and to develop a unifying national identity for themselves (Woolley).
Chicago When I first watched Chicago at the movie theater, I was not fully satisfied. I wanted more, so I went back to get some and watched it six more times with different friends and family members! Last summer during a visit to my native Mexico City, I had the opportunity to watch drag queens perform several numbers from the movie musical. They did an amazing job, without surpassing the outstanding performances of the actors in the film. Last year, I visited NYC for the first time and indulged in the rows of the Ambassador Theatre.
An experience that significantly stood out to me was when I moved to a different quadrant of the city, which was mainly composed of white communities. Prior to moving to this new quadrant, my family and I resided
food needed to be flawless. One look outside, from the close quarters of such a
Moving from a highly diverse community to a less diverse community has to be the weirdest yet interesting culture shock I ever had to deal with. As a young child, I did not know about the outside world. I thought everyone rides the bus or the metro, graffiti on the wall is normal and traffic wouldn’t matter as much since everything I needed was within walking distance sometimes. There were shocking things I learned once I moved to Nebraska.
The two neighborhoods that I chose to use for this assignment are vastly different. The main reason is because they are on opposite sides of the country. The first neighborhood that I visited is the one that I grew up in. This neighborhood is in Connecticut, on the East Coast, all the way across the country from the neighborhood that I currently live in here in West Hollywood. Most of my family lives in Connecticut and Massachusetts and I’m the only one who lives on the West Coast. A big difference is that the neighborhood in Connecticut has houses that are more spaced out, have larger lawns, and very many more trees. There are very few apartments there, unlike where I live now where my entire street is almost all apartment buildings.
The city was blinding me with shining lights that you could see from space. It was glistening in the night and dull by day. There were cars parked all alongside the streets and traffic jams every corner.