Bodies are strewn over the grass in Grant Park. Errant appendages fall out from under the shade as bass rumbles in the background. A blonde ragdoll is smiling at the sky while a friend on either side moves her towards the water filling station. Young men in Thompson-esque Hawaiian shirts and flat-bill hats comment on a girl’s ass cheek peeking out of high-waisted shorts.
“I’d like to get to know her.”
It was 1:30 in the afternoon. I came in early for my volunteer shift at Lollapalooza, a three-day music festival in the Loop, the central business district in Chicago, Illinois.
Music festivals are places of worship for subcultures of the population that find solace from disappointed parents and meaningless jobs in music and drugs. But Lolla is a bit different. Because you can’t camp on the property for $30 (like a majority of music festivals) and must fork over at least $200 a night on a hotel room, Lolla has always been a festival for the more affluent.
For three days the flush goers stroll through the Chicago city reality on their way to an illusion, concocted of Red Bull and MDMA. They peruse past dirty fingernails holding bent Chick-Fil-A cups with a thin layer of pennies, nickels and dimes on the bottom. And make it a point to not look the homeless in the eye.
I know we register the inequality, but we’ve become so far removed. And we defend our minutes kept, not pulling change from a clutch with the “American dream”–people with less are not working as hard.
There’s not only a tiredness in their eyes, but a surrender… in knowing that acknowledgment is a currency just as hard to come by.
The displaced that make camp under the Kennedy Expressway were acknowledged last year by alderman, Rey Colon who erected five foot concrete blocks between the bridge’s support beams. With pointed tops, homeless people are unable to sleep on top.
It’s unclear why the alderman thought this made any sense. Instead, ragged clothes are hung over the pointed tops to air out and the blocks like bedroom walls provide privacy for the homeless residents there.
The sidewalk under the bridge has been turned into a group house or sorts. A thin walkway remains, where neighborhood residents can stroll through to their better-fitted homes.
Here too, bodies are strewn. Legs hang out from under blankets covering dirty faces. A dread-headed ragdoll slouches over his outstretched legs. For probably most of his life, he’s dove into peace of mind, fabricated with heroine and small treasures, like the perfectly-shined red apple atop his wire shopping cart.
Four young ladies walk through the “railroad-style apartment,” a man looks up. “How are you beautiful ladies?” I smile, but don’t catch his eyes.
The “American dream” is a hard thing to look in the face.
*Apologies for not getting more pictures; it’s something I’m working on.
Just for your info- my super small hotel room cost $343 per night plus $64 for parking! But did enjoy being with family. I feel very blessed to have such talented family.
Very nice observation. It has seemed to me over the last decade or so that the reason the “American Dream” is so hard to look at, is that it is a fantasy which began a slow death during the “me, me, me” heyday of the eighties and has all but disappeared. It is more of a dishonest political sound bite these days than something which anybody could reasonably attain.
But, I’m a somewhat cynical old liberal, so what do I know…
This actually answered my drawback, thanks!
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Please, I beg you–if you want to be a writer, study writing.
Examples:
1) Your first paragraph freely switches tenses from Present Progressive (“Bodies are strewn…”) to Simple Present (“Errant appendages fall…”) to Present Progressive (“A blonde ragdoll is smiling…”) and back to Simple Present (“Young men […] comment…”).
2) Unnecessary comma: “For three days the flush goers stroll through the Chicago city reality on their way to an illusion, concocted of Red Bull and MDMA.”
3) Word use: “They peruse past dirty fingernails…” To “peruse” is to look over, as one does with jewelry at at jewelry counter, for example. I believe you were trying to make the point that people were walking by homeless people WITHOUT looking.
4) Occasional incoherence: “I know we register the inequality, but we’ve become so far removed. And we defend our minutes kept, not pulling change from a clutch with the “American dream”–people with less are not working as hard.” I really can’t decipher this paragraph at all–was there a typo that jammed parts of several sentences together? And the next sentence (“There’s not only a tiredness in their eyes, but a surrender… in knowing that acknowledgment is a currency just as hard to come by.”) — just as hard to come by as what? Does this refer to the previous, indecipherable sentence? I’m lost.
5) Comma issues again: “…by alderman, Rey Colon who…” Either place the comma after his name, or set the name off by commas before and after. A comma is a pause–if you don’t hear it when you read the sentence aloud, don’t put it in.
6) Subject-verb problem: “With pointed tops, homeless people are unable to sleep on top.” The phrase “with pointed tops” has to refer to the subject of the sentence. The way it’s written, the homeless people are the ones with the pointed tops. Better to say, “It is impossible to sleep on the pillars’ pointed tops.”
7) Disappearing commas: “the blocks like bedroom walls provide privacy” Where did the comma go? the phrase “like bedroom walls” should be set off with commas at either end.
8) Where do I start? “For probably most of his life, he’s dove into peace of mind, fabricated with heroine and small treasures, like the perfectly-shined red apple atop his wire shopping cart.” What does “he’s dove into” mean? Later in the sentence, I assume you mean “heroin”, the drug, and not “heroine”, a female hero. Side note–grammar notwithstanding, a heroin addiction is a bald assumption.
I don’t make these notes simply to be a grammar nazi. If you have an idea you want to express, the work involved with getting the actual writing right will help you clarify your thoughts, and will help ensure that your readers will understand what you’re actually trying to say.
Diane,
I did study writing actually. Sorry the piece was so confusing for you… But when you’re working from the road on tight deadlines without an editor, things slip. Thanks.