By J.J. Tindall
GIMME BACK MY BULLETS
Put ’em back where they belong.
I ran to a gangfight and a
classroom broke out. HO-la!
I shouted out
DRUGS FOR
WHITEY!!!
Posted on March 11, 2008
Open Letter
Dear Urban Bicyclists:
Yes, yes, we know: You’re better than us. You care about the planet. You have a vast wardrobe of colorful biking outfits that you imagine make you look like you’re racing up an Alp in the Tour de France rather than the gentle slope of a paltry Lake Shore Drive overpass. You assume the people you leave in your two-wheel wake are marveling at the reds, greens and oranges, envying you.
We’re not. We’re thinking that most of you are a bunch of smug, self-satisfied, frequently dangerous jerks. We’re thinking you should lose about ten pounds before subjecting the world to those bike pants again. We’re wondering how you manage to keep on that ten extra pounds if you’re so damn active and healthy and wonderful.
That’s just a small part of what makes Mayor Daley’s proposed new ordinance for fining cars that even come close to bikes so incredibly annoying.
Posted on March 7, 2008
Jury Duty
By Nikki Golden
For those of you keeping tabs of the hour-by-hour coverage of the Tony Rezko trial, you might be thinking to yourself, “That can’t be the way they select a jury for such an important, much-discussed trial.”
You’d be partially correct. That’s actually the way jury selection goes for all trials.
*
I have always wanted to serve on a jury, so when the notice finally arrived in my mailbox, I was hyperexcited. After having seen the process, however, I’m a little saddened. Some things I learned:
1. A lot of people apparently don’t know the process of the trial – the fact that there is a defendant and plaintiff, what a civil trial is versus criminal, and what the judge’s and jury’s role is in the process. Thankfully, when you first show up, Lester Holt, who as far as I know hasn’t been a Chicago anchor – nor had a mustache – since about 2000, narrates a video that describes to you the whole process so you will know what’s going on.
Posted on March 6, 2008
Chicagoetry: After Midnight In The Latin Quarter
By J.J. Tindall
AFTER MIDNIGHT IN THE LATIN QUARTER
At midnight, the weather broke
in two, and warmth gushed in. I and I
were flushed out into the night.
I floated down North Avenue,
walking past a number of selves –
one drunk, hammered, maybe nineteen –
through the Latin Quarter.
Along the blue-black thoroughfare:
dollar stores, Mexican restaurants,
liquor stores, Puerto Rican restaurants,
Posted on March 5, 2008