Chicago Style Graffiti

Along wall that runs under the El tracks just south of the Devon at Loyola's Lakeshore campus are these Graffiti murals: 

What do these murals evoke in you?  What do you think when you see them?  How do they make you feel?  What do you associate them with?

Some people who do not know any better will associate these with "urban" America or minorities or crime or vandalism or even street gangs.  While these associations may be true in some cases, many may not realize that graffiti is distinctly different from tagging and street art.  And as it's own art, graffiti has unique styles, including a Chicago style.

The Newberry Library covered the Chicago style in a presentation with Pengo, East and Dulce Maria Diaz available to watch at the Newberry's Youtube Channel here:

Here was an exhibition of Chicago style graffiti that was on display at the Epiphany Center for the Arts:

Also:

Here are 22 street murals from Secret Chicago.

Here is a guide to other street art in Chicago 

Chicago Made: Factory Networks in the Industrial Metropolis by Robert Lewis

Robert Lewis's book Chicago Made from U of Chicago Press,

From the lumberyards and meatpacking factories of the Southwest Side to the industrial suburbs that arose near Lake Calumet at the turn of the twentieth century, manufacturing districts shaped Chicago’s character and laid the groundwork for its transformation into a sprawling metropolis. Approaching Chicago’s story as a reflection of America’s industrial history between the Civil War and World War II, Chicago Made explores not only the well-documented workings of centrally located city factories but also the overlooked suburbanization of manufacturing and its profound effect on the metropolitan landscape.

            Robert Lewis documents how manufacturers, attracted to greenfield sites on the city’s outskirts, began to build factory districts there with the help of an intricate network of railroad owners, real estate developers, financiers, and wholesalers. These immense networks of social ties, organizational memberships, and financial relationships were ultimately more consequential, Lewis demonstrates, than any individual achievement. Beyond simply giving Chicago businesses competitive advantages, they transformed the economic geography of the region. Tracing these transformations across seventy-five years, Chicago Made establishes a broad new foundation for our understanding of urban industrial America. 

Table of Contents:

BUILDING THE INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS

1    Chicago, the Mighty City
2    The Suburban Solution
3    Four Factory Districts, 1860–1940
4    The Shifting Geography of Metropolitan Employment:

      Starts, Additions, & Moves

SECTION II.

NETWORKING THE INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS

5    The Metropolitan Geography of Firm Linkages, 1872–1901
6    Forging the Calumet District, 1880–1940
7    Chicago’s Planned Industrial Districts: Clearing and the

      Central Manufacturing Districts

8    Networked Space: The Connected Metropolis in the 1920s

9    Manufacturing Production Chains and Wholesaling

10  Local Production Practices and Inter-Firm Linkages:

      Chicago’s Automotive Industry, 1900–1940

Here's a review from JSTOR:

Meditation 1: Listen for Where the Ringing Ends and the Silence Begins

 

Listen for where the ringing ends and the silence begins.

This will force your mind to tune into the present moment.  Be aware of the moment you are in; do not surrender this present moment to the past or the future. Let this remind you to turn off distractions that pull your attention from being in the moment. 

From Medium, 

Are you listening?
Do you take the time to simply stop and listen — to yourself?
Our world has so many distractions. Some are important. Most can be a total waste of time and genuinely rob us of who we are meant to be. 

Distractions rob us of our ability to be at our best. Research indicates that silence gives us the space to be creative and think deeply about what matters. And yet, where do we find silence today? And, do we even want to experience silence? Modern studies indicate we do not. Why?
Our brains are constantly seeking dopamine. These distractions can use up all of our time and keep us from knowing what we should spend our limited and precious time on. What is the solution? Silence is our best hope for success.

From Huffington Post Listening to Silence; 

Silence speaks the international language of reflection. In many ways, it allows us to become more self-aware, to think about profound and trivial matters. Lawrence Durrell, a British author, said, "Does not everything depend on the interpretation of the silence around us?" Most of us have experienced conflict that can arise from a lack of restraint in speech. Are there such faults associated with silence? Gandhi said, "It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart." If you see the wind in its calmness, it has a peaceful and pleasurable quality to it but the same wind once in motion can turn violent in stormy weathers. The same can be said of words.

 

From Time magazine,

Across disciplines—from neuroscience to psychology to cardiology—there’s growing consensus that noise is a serious threat to our health and cognition. And that silence is something truly vital—particularly for the brain.

“Noises cause stress, especially if we have little or no control over them,” explains Mathias Basner, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in sound processing and rest. “The body will excrete stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that lead to changes in the composition of our blood—and of our blood vessels, which actually have been shown to be stiffer after a single night of noise exposure,” Basner says.

From TED, When Did You Last Take Some Time to Do Nothing?

Timuel Black

 

I was fortunate to work with Timuel Black, a Chicago historian, educator and activist a number of times for over a decade.  As an aloof undergraduate in Sociology 125; Chicagoland, I went on a tour of Bronzeville with him.  Then, as a graduate student at Loyola's Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL), I met him again and it was then when I fully appreciated his significance and brilliance. After that, I contacted him myself to bring teachers on tours of Bronzeville as a professional development opportunity.  We often stopped for lunch at one of his favorite soul food restaurants, Pearl's place before dropping him off at his house on Drexel.  He was incredibly down to earth and kind, but wise and so thoroughly knowledgable.  Then in January of 2009, in frigid weather, at the inauguration of Barack Obama I bumped into him.  By chance, we were both sitting in section orange.  I felt incredibly privileged to be at that event in that section with him.

Timuel was a Studs Terkel of Chicago's Bronzeville Neighborhood.  His book Bridges of Memory (in two volumes) captures the rich and complicated history of Bronzeville.

From the publisher:

A collection of interviews with African Americans who came to Chicago from the South. In their first great migration to Chicago that began during World War I, African Americans came from the South seeking a better life--and fleeing a Jim Crow system of racial prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. What they found was much less than what they'd hoped for, but it was much better than what they'd come from--and in the process they set in motion vast changes not only in Chicago but also in the whole fabric of American society. This book, the first of three volumes, revisits this momentous chapter in American history with those who lived it.

Oral history of the first order, Bridges of Memory lets us hear the voices of those who left social, political, and economic oppression for political freedom and opportunity such as they'd never known--and for new forms of prejudice and segregation. These children and grandchildren of ex-slaves found work in the stockyards and steel mills of Chicago, settled and started small businesses in the "Black Belt" on the South Side, and brought forth the jazz, blues, and gospel music that the city is now known for. Historian Timuel D. Black, Jr., himself the son of first-generation migrants to Chicago, interviews a wide cross-section of African Americans whose remarks and reflections touch on issues ranging from fascism to Jim Crow segregation to the origin of the blues. Their recollections comprise a vivid record of a neighborhood, a city, a society, and a people undergoing dramatic and unprecedented changes.

And his memoir is Sacred Ground: The Streets of Timuel Black

From the publisher,

Timuel Black is an acclaimed historian, activist, and storyteller. Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black chronicles the life and times of this Chicago legend.

Sacred Ground opens in 1919, during the summer of the Chicago race riot, when infant Black and his family arrive in Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama, as part of the first Great Migration. He recounts in vivid detail his childhood and education in the Black Metropolis of Bronzeville and South Side neighborhoods that make up his "sacred ground."

Revealing a priceless trove of experiences, memories, ideas, and opinions, Black describes how it felt to belong to this place, even when stationed in Europe during World War II. He relates how African American soldiers experienced challenges and conflicts during the war, illuminating how these struggles foreshadowed the civil rights movement. A labor organizer, educator, and activist, Black captures fascinating anecdotes and vignettes of meeting with famous figures of the times, such as Duke Ellington and Martin Luther King Jr., but also with unheralded people whose lives convey lessons about striving, uplift, and personal integrity.

Rounding out this memoir, Black reflects on the legacy of his friend and mentee, Barack Obama, as well as on his public works and enduring relationships with students, community workers, and some very influential figures in Chicago and the world.

Open, Free, and Clear or Restricted, Expensive and Built? The Tension on Chicago's Lakefront

 

The Chicago Reader 1991, How the Lakefront Was Won provides an insightful critical analysis of Lois Wille’s 1972 book Forever Open, Clear and Free: The Struggle for Chicago’s Lakefront and the mythos it created.

From the Reader,

Chicago’s public lakefront dates from 1836. That year three commissioners, appointed to supervise the sale of public lands to finance the Illinois and Michigan Canal, decided not to sell the narrow strip along the lakeshore between 12th and Madison streets. That muddy stretch, they declared on the plat, was to be “a public ground–a common to remain forever open, clear and free of any buildings, or other obstruction whatever.” These words were the legal foundation for subsequent court challenges to various building plans in what became Grant Park; and the spirit of these words undergirds the whole of the lakefront protection movement. 

It might do to examine that fateful decision more closely than Wille does, however. In 1836 the commissioners set aside land for a “common”–less a park than a public square. (The first U.S. urban parks as we would recognize them were not built until the 1850s.) Commons were used as parade grounds for local militia, for markets, public meetings, auctions, political rallies, and other business. Setting aside land for one was a sensible and commonplace provision in a new town, and arguing from that to a mandate for the recreational use of public land and a sweeping antidevelopment law has required some ingenious legal interpretations.

Most of the latter sprang from the pocketbook, if not the pen, of Montgomery Ward, the mail-order king who looked out over Grant Park from his Michigan Avenue office as if it were a sentry box. It was Ward who went to court four times, beginning in 1890, to stop a series of public construction projects in what became Grant Park, suing a succession of City Hall regimes eager to use the space for fire stations, armories, civic centers, museums, and libraries. 

And the 2021 book Lakefront: Public Trust and Private Rights in Chicago by Joseph Kearney and Thomas Merrill gives a more factual and legal history of Chicago's coveted lakefront.

From the publisher,

How did Chicago, a city known for commerce, come to have such a splendid public waterfront—its most treasured asset? Lakefront reveals a story of social, political, and legal conflict in which private and public rights have clashed repeatedly over time, only to produce, as a kind of miracle, a generally happy ending.

Joseph D. Kearney and Thomas W. Merrill study the lakefront's evolution from the middle of the nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Their findings have significance for understanding not only Chicago's history but also the law's part in determining the future of significant urban resources such as waterfronts.

The Chicago lakefront is where the American public trust doctrine, holding certain public resources off limits to private development, was born. This book describes the circumstances that gave rise to the doctrine and its fluctuating importance over time, and reveals how it was resurrected in the later twentieth century to become the primary principle for mediating clashes between public and private lakefront rights. Lakefront compares the effectiveness of the public trust idea to other property doctrines, and assesses the role of the law as compared with more institutional developments, such as the emergence of sanitary commissions and park districts, in securing the protection of the lakefront for public uses.

By charting its history, Kearney and Merrill demonstrate that the lakefront's current status is in part a product of individuals and events unique to Chicago. But technological changes, and a transformation in social values in favor of recreational and preservationist uses, also have been critical. Throughout, the law, while also in a state of continual change, has played at least a supporting role.

Here's Geoffery Baer's lakefront tour on PBS.  

Chicago Magazine has a 2 part tour of the Lakefront: Part 1 the Northside and Part 2 the Southside.

Sociology and MCAT

Since 2012, the MCAT has included sociological concepts on the MCAT.  In 2020, the MCAT was revised and according to The Saavy PreMed Blog by Ryan Kelly, it now includes more sociological concepts.

From the American Academy of Medical Colleges (AAMC), here are some review materials for the MCAT:

The AAMC's MCAT Guide details the sociological science portion of the test beginning on page 75 (photo below) and downloadable here:

 

Here is a "roadmap" to concepts as presented in various textbooks highlighted by the AAMC.

Khan Academy has an MCAT test prep.

Heather McKee Hurwitz provides resources on her weebly blog here.

MDhero review site has concepts and explanations.

Magoosh explains that because the MCAT is a norm-referenced test, it compares students to others taking the test.  Many students will neglect the social science portion so by learning this portion, you may give yourself a leg up.

National Museum of Mexican American Art

 In Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, a neighborhood that the Czech immigrants who settled it named after a town from their homeland, there is the National Museum of Mexican American Art.  This strange confluence is a great example of the changing identity of both neighborhoods and people that is highlighted by the museum's permanent collection, Nuestras Historias; Stories of Mexican Identities.

Neighborhoods, like societies, are dynamic.  They are constantly developing and changing.  Every moment is different and being recreated anew. Pilsen which was originally a home to Czech immigrants who have been replaced by more recent Mexican immigrants who kept the name.  This is how immigrants add to and remake neighborhoods and how societies grow, evolve and change with their immigrant populations.

Similarly, individuals' identities grow and change and evolve and they are complex.  The museum highlights the complexity and changing identities of Mexican-Americans.

From the exhibit,

Nuestras Historias (Our Histories) highlights the Museum’s Permanent Collection to showcase the dynamic and diversestories of Mexican identity in North America. The exhibition presents cultural identity as something that continually evolves across time, regions, and communities, rather than as a static, unchanging entity, and features ancient Mesoamerican and colonial artifacts, modern Mexican art, folk art, and contemporary works from both sides of the U.S.–Mexican border.

The vast diversity of Mexican identities demonstrated in these works defies the notion of one linear history and a singular identity.

Sociology and Careers

Careers Beyond Academia

Research institutions and professional organizations are great places to do research and use your skills from sociology while also networking. For example:

ASA has a number of full time positions, see here: https://www.asanet.org/about/asa-staff-directory/

There are a number of positions at the ASA and some are entry level.  I know quite a few people who worked at ASA and then spring-boarded into other positions, for example:

Senior Consultant Training and People Development (DEI), Paradigm

Senior Social Scientist, National Institute of Health

Manager of Community Outreach and Enrollment, For the Love of Children 

Program Officer, National Academies of Science 

 

Here are some videos from the ASA: 

• Careers for Sociologists in Practice Settings, a 9-part video series for people considering careers outside of the academy.
• 
  
• Careers in Practice Settings: Personal Narratives, where you can hear directly from 7 sociologists working in a variety of positions.
• 
  
• Thriving Outside Academia: Advice from Sociologists in Practice Settings, a webinar with panelists reflecting on how sociology serves them in their work, and offering tips for the job search.

Other Research Institutions:

PEW  https://www.pewresearch.org/about/careers/

Census  https://www.census.gov/about/census-careers.html

National Center for Education Statistics

Brookings Institute https://careers-brookings.icims.com/jobs/search?ss=1

National Fair Housing Alliance https://nationalfairhousing.org/careers-in-fair-housing/

Governmental Agencies:

Federal - Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Lots of jobs across the country, esp. in D.C.

Search for jobs beyond just "sociology" with key terms like research, analyst, social science,

Chicago's Office

Ex. Social Science Analyst

General Search 

Ex. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Municipal - Office of Inspector General (OIG)

From Northwestern U. 

Sociology and jobs in:

Law

Advertising

Marketing

Arts

Business

Law

Medicine

Non-profits 

For Undergraduates with a Sociology major:

Professor Ben Schmidt's website:

the sankey visualization below shows the myriad careers that sociology majors end up in:

From Karen Sternheimer's blog:

1. Tech Industry Research
2. Financial Planning
3. Government Agencies

This is from the American Sociology Association's website:

The 21st century labor market is fast changing, increasingly global and technology-driven, the jobs that you may apply for as a graduate may not even exist yet. To navigate the 21st century means being able to keep up with the changing world.
As society evolves, you as a sociology major will have the tools to critically analyze the world and your place within it.


This page from Huffington Post will help allow you to explore why some students majored in sociology, what skill sets sociology students learn.

Here's a post from Everyday Sociology Blog about majoring in sociology.


Also, for finding jobs in sociology:

This is a link to the ASA page on jobs.  Here is a brief overview of where sociology majors end up after they complete their bachelor's degree.

Here is a video about careers in sociology, embedded below:

Famous Sociology Majors

Famous sociology majors found at the ASA page here:  

https://www.asanet.org/about-asa/asa-story/about-sociology/famous-sociology-majors

And found on Ranker here: 

https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-people-who-majored-in-sociology/reference

And from Soc Images, an exploration into the sociology major and athletes here 

Jerry Harkness, Loyola University basketball player and 1963 NCAA Champion and star of the first NCAA D1 team to field 4 black starters. Highlighted on the History Makers page.

Amanda Gorman, Poet Laureate, Harvard University grad.  Read about her on the Everyday Sociology blog and on the ASA's page.

Bong Joon Ho, Director and Oscar winner 

Steph Curry, NBA All-Star and Champion, graduate of Davis U. Senior thesis was about advancing gender equity in sports.

Steph used his sociological mindfulness to respond to a 9 year old girl.

Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn, Abby Dahlkemper and Rose Lavelle from the U.S. Women's Soccer team

 

Michelle Obama, lawyer and First Lady of the United States, read a review of her thesis on the Racism Review website.

Ronald Reagan, President of the United States

Cory Anthony Booker, an American politician and United States Senator from New Jersey, in office since 2013. Previously he served as Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013.

Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary for President Biden 

"Kal Penn" Kalpen Suresh Modi, Actor and White House Liaison for Arts and Humanities under President Obama 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Mitch Albom, author Tuesdays with Morrie, sports writer

Alexi McCammond, reporter for Axios and MSNBC

Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, "Blues Brother," "Ghostbuster" actor, comedian, screenwriter and singer.

Michael Savage, an American radio host, author, activist, nutritionist, and political commentator.

Nina Dobrev, actress and model, played the role of Mia Jones, the single teenage mother, on Degrassi: The Next Generation, from the show's sixth to ninth season. Since 2009 she has starred as Elena Gilbert on The CW's supernatural drama, The Vampire Diaries. 

Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show


Arne Duncan is an American education administrator who has been United States Secretary of Education since 2009. Duncan previously served as chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools district from 2001-2009

Chante Stonewall is a Depaul University Women's basketball player, and the 
Big East scholar-athlete of the year, 2020.








Wellington Webb, mayor of Denver
Brett Schundler, mayor of Jersey City
Annette Strauss, former mayor of Dallas
Roy Wilkins, former head of NAACP
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Rev. Ralph Abernathy

Shirley Chisholm, former Congresswoman from NY

Maxine Waters, Congresswoman from LA
Barbara Mikulski, US Senator from Maryland
Tim Holden, Congressman from Pennsylvania
Saul Alinsky, father of community organizing
Saul Bellow, novelist
Emily Balch, 1946 Nobel Peace Prize winner (a social worker and social reformer)
Francis Perkins, social reformer and former Secretary of Labor
Richard Barajas, Chief Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Deepika Padukone, Indian film actress and model.