Saturday, December 3, 2011

writing chicago, continued




I posted a piece a few weeks ago about the white marble women in the Art Institute of Chicago, which ended up also working perfectly for one of my assignments in my Writing Chicago class about place. Now, today I only have six more pieces to write about the city before I turn in a portfolio of work next week. But because I have no new work, and because it is a city that has been much-written about (did you know that the University of Chicago has produced more Nobel laureates than any other?) here are a few clippings from class readings to give you a taste of Chicago writing.

"Chicago . . . forever keeps two faces, one for winners and one for losers; one for hustlers and one for squares . . . One face for Go-Getters and one for Go-Get-It-Yourselfers. One for poets and one for promoters . . . One for early risers, one for evening hiders." Nelson Algren

"Now, with a new kind of mayor, whose blackness is but one variant of the Chicago norm, and a machine - which like the old gray mare ain't what it used to be - creaking in its expected way, all bets are off. Race, though a dominant theme, is but one factor. It is still the arena of those who dream of the City of Man and those who envision a City of Things. The battle appears to be forever joined. The armies, ignorant and enlightened, clash by day as well as night. Chicago is America's dream, writ large. And flamboyantly. It has - as they used to whisper of the town's fast woman - a reputation." Studs Terkel

No comments:

Post a Comment