I woke before dawn to view the lunar eclipse. An oak tree and light cloud cover obstructed the view outside my apartment, so I hopped into my car and made my way toward the Adler Planetarium at 2200 S. Lakeshore Drive.I found a crowd of roughly two-hundred gathered at Adler. Sixty-four cars and vans lined the Planetarium’s driveway, joined by a half-dozen local morning news crews and a solitary motorcycle. To my chagrin, the clouds were as troublesome at Adler as they were in Hyde Park.The Planetarium staff was busy serving coffee and doughnuts to visitors. After taking a few shots of the gathered crowd, I approached Santiago, an Adler Planetarium volunteer. He was showing a group of seven young males a star that his telescope was pointed toward–a star located over 3 billion light-years away.Casual visitors were seated along a grassy knoll that pointed toward the moon. I noticed a young man sitting by himself on the bottom edge of the knoll.
DC: Is this your first time viewing a lunar eclipse?Tom: Yes, it is.DC: Where are you from?Tom: I’m from Cleveland, OH actually.DC: Oh, wonderful, I’m from around those parts.
Tom revealed that he’s originally from a western suburb of Cleveland. He moved to Chicago on Friday to start his freshman year at Columbia College studying computer animation. He was accompanied by his roommates Nate and Tim. Tim was dressed nearly head-to-toe in black, and he sported a black FCUK hat atop his head. Tim has a talent for photography, so I asked Tim if he’d show me photographs he had taken over the course of the day. He pulled out a beautiful digital SLR camera and flipped through a roll of images he made of downtown Chicago and the eclipse. He also told me about his skill at repairing broken iPods. Working alone, he replaced his 30GB hard drive with an 80GB version.I chatted with Tom until the eclipse reached totality. The moon turned a deep orange-red in response, before turning pitch-black and disappearing completely from view. The news cameras struggled to capture the occasion. How do you represent nothingness on a television screen?When CBS News went live, the moon was obscured behind the clouds, so the production team simply replayed a clip of the moon taken from earlier in the evening. Before its departure, the WGN news van driver slowed in front of the CBS News truck.
WGN Cameraman: “Hey, check out this new van they got for me.”CBS Cameraman (shaking his head): “Wow, new paint and everything.”
All this time, Adler Planetarium staff-members are circulating through the crowd offering answers to any and all questions that were raised. A man in a safari hat conducted a countdown to the eclipse. A video clip of the event is available here.
Warning: Only those statements enclosed in quote marks represent exact quotations. Unless it’s in quote marks, I’m paraphrasing. However, all statements attributed to an individual below approximate Karen’s original statements, and insofar as I recollect, match the general spirit of the conversation.
I met Karen X on a crowded Metra train hurtling toward the Michigan/Randolph stop. She was sitting beside her brother, whom I’ll call Robert.
DC: Are you headed to work?
KX: Yes, sure am.
DC: Where do you work?
KX: I work for the greatest country in the world, and the greatest to have ever existed.
Disarmed, I couldn’t suppress a grin. This woman Karen exuded pride and confidence.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. “Do you work for the US government?”
KX: I work for the Railroad Retirement Board. It’s the only federal agency in the country that’s headquartered outside of Washington, DC. Yes, I work for that idiot from Crawford, TX.
DC: Do you mean George Bush? Are you an anti-war demonstrator?
KX: I’ve been on demonstrations against the war for years now, all over Chicago.
DC: And you’re pretty comfortable sharing your feelings on George Bush?
KX: Someone needs to speak out.
Her voice boomed through the car. Perhaps Karen was exhibiting too much confidence. Others sitting nearby were beginning to stare. I spoke in an even lower tone of voice, hoping that Karen would catch on. Karen seemed oblivious.
DC: Is the Railroad Retirement Board separate from Social Security?
KX: Yes, the Retirement Board predates the Social Security Administration. But we’re very much like the Social Security that you’ll draw from when you’re the right age.
DC: I doubt I’ll have much returned to me by Social Security. I will receive far less, at least, than what I will be putting in.
KX: That’s because my generation has aborted and contracepted your inheritence away. Morals are a lot looser these days than they used to be.
DC: What do you mean?
KX: “There used to be 10 workers paying for every senior citizen retiree. Now it’s the exact opposite: there’s fewer workers than retirees.” That’s why your generation is in trouble.
By now, Karen’s voice had reached a decibal level usually reserved for rock concerts, so I thought it best to talk to her brother about the White Sox. Her brother is a lifelong White Sox fan, but it was impossible to communicate with him, for as I learned, he’s afflicted with autism.
Karen was also traveling with another friend whom we’ll call Chris. Chris worked for sixteen years at a plant based in Chicago. After sixteen years of service, Chris was earning roughly $14/hr. Then his company outsourced his department to the third-world. Chris’ income was cut by more than half after the reorganization, since the best job that Chris could find pays $6.75 with no benefits.
Karen stepped in to offer her own perspective: “If you were a business owner, would you pay $14/hr plus benefits to an American, or would you hire an illegal foreigner who will work twenty hours a day—only eight on the book—and is willing to accept whatever the employer wishes to pay?”
I parted ways with Karen, Robert and Chris shortly afterward. Karen moved Robert by the hand, steering him in the direction he needed to go. Chris plodded toward another day on the job. Karen, for her part, left with a broad smile.
[Picture of Karen and Robert embracing -- Coming soon]
Check out this article from the Chicago RedEye, titled “We have a wiener–with a $50 ticket”. The (ostensibly anonymous) author, whomever she is, is simply brilliant. Her word economy is remarkable. Here are the choice cuts (err, quotes):
- 1. “A massive hot dog clogged Chicago’s main artery Thursday morning”
- 2. “A police officer wrote the ticket and affixed it to the wiener’s foot-long side mirror“
- 3. “The entourage got a grilling from the officer”
- 4. “The company neither condones nor relishes such action”
