National Geographic and NPR have fascinating story on Paris catacombs:

• Interactive Map of Paris Catacombs
• Jacki Lyden's story on NPR

Chicago's got it's own underground historyOf course there's the CTA's subways, but there's a lot more going on underneath us. Some of us learned about the Chicago Tunnel Company's 60 mile underground freight network 40 feet below ground in the 1992 Chicago Flood. The photo above is from tunnels at the corner of Randolph and State Streets.

And then there's the ginormous Deep Tunnel project of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, one of the largest civil engineering projects ever.

Like the Paris catacombs, Chicago has a story to tell of what we do with our dead, which reveals much about the city's history, development, politics. There's the mass grave of Camp Douglas POWs from the Civil War, the Couch mausoleum still in Lincoln Park from when it was a main cemetery for the city, and the current controversy over the cemetery where a new O'Hare runway is planned...For more on Illinois graveyards, visit graveyards.com.

Mark your calendars for some great events for students who want to explore Chicago, coming up this week and next:

TODAY Oct 1-31

Art Here, Art Now
Off Campus (see description)
HyPa and the University of Chicago invite you to celebrate Chicago Artists Month: Chicago's theme this year, "the city as studio," explores the impact of the urban environment on Chicago artists and their work, and the contributions that artists make to the vitality of our city. Art Here, Art Now is one of 12 Featured Programs for the 2010 Chicago Artists Month activities.

View local artists' installations 24/7 in the windows along 53rd Street and watch local artists at work during studio hours every Saturday in October from 1pm-5pm.

THURSDAY: Oct 14

Tutoring Volunteer Info Session

5:00-6:00 PM
Reynolds Club, South Lounge
Learn about tutoring and mentoring opportunities in the local community from the University Community Service Center and representatives from local education organizations.

Oct 17

Reel Jazz Films

Where: HyPa Gallery, 5226 S. Harper Ave. in Hyde Park
When: 3:00pm, every Sunday in October

- "Jammin' the Blues" (1944), Oscar-nominated short featuring Lester Young, Red Callender, Illinois Jacquet, and Marie Bryant
- "The March of Time presents American Music" (1937) Jukebox films featuring Cootie Williams, Laurel Watson, and the Lindy Hoppers
- "Symphony in Black" (1935), featuring Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday
- "Ration Blues" (1945), featuring Louis Jordan, Una Mae Carlisle, and Hilda Rogers
- "Jumpin' at the Woodside" (from 1941 film Hellzapoppin'), featuring Slim Galliard, Slam Stewart, and the Lindy Hoppers

Each Sunday in October, the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival and the Hyde Park Alliance for Arts and Culture present an afternoon of rare jazz films from the 1930s through the somewhat recent past, shown on genuine 16mm film.

How much: $5 suggested donation

Oct 21

Great Conversations Lecture Series: An Evening with Earl Shorris

12:00 - 1:30 pm - SSA
5:30-7:30 PM - Gleacher Center
Earl Shorris is the founder of the Clemente Course in the Humanities, the award-winning global program that uses the humanities in antipoverty efforts. A contributing editor of Harper's Magazine, he has received the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Clinton, and the Condecoracion de la Orden del Aguila Azteca. His books include Riches for the Poor: the Clemente Course in the Humanities, The Politics of Heaven: America in Fearful Times, New American Blues: A Journey Through Poverty to Democracy, and Under the Fifth Sun: A Novel of Pancho Villa.

A different take what Chicago legends are:

• See John Hodgman's Four Dubious Fables of Chicago from the Chicago Humanities Festival. He insists that Chicago is mythical, although there may be Chicagoans...
  
• A recent Trib article pointed out some strange anachronisms on Google maps (thanks to the Map Room blog for the reference).
• Chicago Home for Incurables (thanks to the Library for the Info).  I've been on staff at UofC for almost 10 years now, and the online zoning map labeled my office, the Court Theater, the Smart Museum, and the Young Building as the Chicago Home for Incurables. For better or worse, the city's zoning map is now updated, at least for the 5500 block of South Ellis.

While we're on the subject of Chicago legends, this Sunday and next, Doc Films is screening "The Front Page" and "Scarface" (1932 version with Paul Muni). Scarface is the story of an Al Capone figure's rise and violent fall. The Front Page is based on the play by Ben Hecht, former Chicago Daily News columnist.  Check out One Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago - a new edition published by UofC Press last year.

The City as a Resource for Learning

 

Courses: Winter 2010 - A list of classes in which you can study Chicago

This Winter, many UChicago students will be advising local non-profits, driving along 100 miles of the Michigan-Illinois Canal, and studying the community organizing tactics of Saul Alinsky. These are just a few of the topics of Winter's Chicago Studies courses that will engage with our city through subjects like Urban Geography, and What is Civic Knowledge?

 

According to Bart Schultz, the director of the Civic Knowledge Project and the teacher of next quarter's What is Civic Knowledge? and The Chicago School of Philosophy, Chicago is a critical resource for students of political and social movements. Though UChicago is sometimes known for its cloistered campus and inward-focused lens, "part of the point of my courses is to suggest that the actual history of the University of Chicago ... really challenged the divide between theory and practice," Schultz says, citing the famous education theorist and Lab School founder John Dewey.

 

In fact, the hands-on activities that his and other Chicago Studies course emphasis are exactly how Dewey wanted UChicago students to learn, he adds.

 

"Both courses offer the opportunity to combine classroom and experiential learning... [the Chicago School of Philosophy] will take a field trip to Jane Addams' Hull House."

 

Schultz is team-teaching What is Civic Knowledge? a special "Big Problems" course for College third- and fourth-years, with Margot Browning, Associate Director of the Franke Institute for the Humanities and Director of Big Problems.

 

"We really range across the history of Chicago and the history of the University of Chicago from the original settlements in the Pottawattamie to looking at future plans for 2020 and 2040," he says. "We read a lot of absolutely wonderful material, everything from [President Barack] Obama's Dreams of our Father, to classic Chicago authors with an emphasis on political mobilization."

 

"We're not interested in teaching 'here are the three branches of government.' [Civic Knowledge] is actually about the basis for community organizing, civic friendship, a healthier and more participatory democracy," he says.

 

The Business of Nonprofits

In Debra Schwartz's class, the Business of Non-Profits, students will be doing more than studying community activism; they'll be consulting with and advising local non-profits and then presenting their work to the rest of the class. Schwartz will also bring local non-profit leaders in to speak to the class.

 

"We cover the history of the non-profit sector and, much of it is rooted in work in Chicago, most specifically at this University," she says.

 

Like Schultz, Schwartz links the value of her course material to Chicago's rich history of public service work and University research.

 

"Some of the most influential leaders were Jane Addams and her colleagues, some of whom were on our faculty. One of the great insights they had at the time was that Chicago was tremendous urban laboratory. [This city] gives us the opportunity to really see upfront the kinds of problems we're trying to address through social policy."

 

She adds: "I don't think you can get quite the depth of experience without this hands-on piece, if you want to really understand the role that a nonprofit plays and how difficult it is to do nonprofit work well."

 

Non-Profits is an offshoot of the CS-RSO Campus Catalyst, and enrollment is limited to participating students. The non-profits range from the Hyde Park Art Center to tutoring and childcare organizations.

 

"It's a very diverse group of students," Schwartz said, ranging from Economics majors to Public Policy, Art History and Physics students. "I think it's great, because the kind of organizations we work with have diverse" services and goals.

 

 

Making Pictures

Judy Hoffman is bringing Chicago Studies to her Documentary Film Production class.

 

As part of this two-quarter-long sequence, students will work in groups to document either a portrait of a Chicagoan, a social issue or an historical narrative.

 

"This is a cinematic social inquiry, using the city as a laboratory for investigation," Hoffman says. "I try to encourage [my students] to get off campus and look at the city and its people, to figure out what really needs to be said."

 

Past projects have ranged from profiles of Chicago political figures to more experimental meditations on the city's landscape. Hoffman considers her students fortunate to have the entire city as inspiration and stomping-grounds for their documentary shooting.

 

"Chicago has I don't know how many ethnic groups, like 140, so its an opportunity to clearly to explore the landscape of the city and how a built environment informs how people live. Ranging from Mies Van der Rohe to the Chicago Housing Authority, there's a lot of different ways to look at the city," she says.

 

Urban Geographers

Love for Chicago's built environment and diverse landscape also informs Michael Conzen's upper-division class on Urban Geography.

 

The course, according to Conzen, will examine the role cities play in national and regional urban networks. He will lead students to the Regenstein library to view its collection of historical Chicago maps and documents, and on a hundred mile-long fieldtrip along the historical Illinois-Michigan Canal, stopping in the small towns "that make up the Chicago hinterlands" along the way.

 

Why make Chicago a focal point of the course?

Conzen says the benefits are clear: "Being a geographer, I believe very strongly that the visual landscape around us [help students] put their book learning on the line; they see what works terms of the consequential landscapes and environments that have been created as a result of the forces that they're reading about."

A reminder to all photographers: the Chicago Studies Flickr Pool is always looking for new views of the city. Here are some of my favorites:

Are you upset that the Sears Tower is changing its name to the Willis Tower? If so, you're not alone. Thousands of Chicagoans have been so moved by this turmoil that they've turned to Facebook protest groups to voice their concern. Members of Chicagoans against Willis Tower, presently the largest group at 5,344 members, express their feelings through wall postings criticizing the "HORRIBLE!!!!!!" "absolutely oppressive" and "gay as hell" nomenclature. Some members favor positive action, suggesting that "if they adamant about keeping the name willis, we will have to do something like get everyone to call it BIG WILLY. : )."

Will these Facebook rumblings turn into the next Grant Park protest or police riot? Only time will tell. As one Chicagoan against Willis Tower puts it, "SEARS TOWER! THIS NAME CHANGE SHOULD BE ILEGAL PPL SHOULD GO TO JAIL FOR THIS! lol."