Archives for Writing

2022

Ruins of An Abandoned Past: Steelworkers Park

Author: Renbin Su Program of Study: Masters of Law (LLM) University of Chicago Law School On a rainy and grey Sunday, my friend Renbin and I are finally on the 6th bus after several failed attempts to navigate ourselves via our mobile maps. 6th bus is Jackson Express, which comes all the way from Downtown and goes down to...
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2022

Milwaukee Express: A Summer Fantasy

Author: Tianyang Fu Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) There is something about arriving. Arriving somewhere you have never been to. When you step out of the plane, the train, or whatever transportation you use, the air is different: different in the color of the sky, the smell of the corner, the transparency,...
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2021

Binding not only a Community: Bookbinding at Hull-House

Author: Tommaso Bacci Program of Study: Divinity School PhD   Nowadays the craft of bookbinding seems like an acceptable hobby for voracious readers, for aficionados of antique items, or in general for whomever enjoys the flicking sound of folding, cutting, and stacking paper together and the smell of fresh paper, leather, and glue. It might sound surprising, then, the...
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2021

Cycling in Chicago: When Bicycle Culture Collides With Urban City

Author: Huazhi Qin Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS)   Having learned that Bicycle Magazine once ranked Chicago as the best cycling city in the U.S. is not a surprise to me. (Biking in Chicago, 2018) The first time I walked along the Lakefront Trail near Navy Pier, I was amazed by how...
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2021

Revisiting Bronzeville: Is Chicago’s Black Renaissance at Dawn or Dusk?

Author: Weiqi Wang Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) Concentration in Economics   />When I was virtually exploring the neighborhoods of Chicago, a sculpture named “Monument to the Great North Migration” grabbed my attention. Accomplished by sculptor Alison Saar, this monument is a self-evident attestation of a legendary historical event: the Great Migration,...
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2021

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge: Uptown’s splendor during the Jazz Age

Author: Flory Huang Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) As I was wandering on the Chicago Neighborhood website, hoping to find something exciting to write about, one article caught my eye: “5 Chicago neighborhoods for music lovers”. “This is it,” I thought, I have found my gem on this site. For the past...
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2021

The Second City in the Second City

Author: Jinglan Hong Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) Located at 230 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60614, sits a nationally-renowned comedy theater. Tthe Second City has been an influential improv comedy enterprise for the past decades. Its connection to Chicago is so obvious that one can see it from the name: The...
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2021

Exploring the Metropolitan Correctional Center: the Leniency and Harshness in Confinement

Author: Xinyi Zhao Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS)   The Metropolitan Correctional Center, located at 71 W Van Buren Street in the Downtown neighborhood, is a United States federal prison in Chicago. There are 28 floors within this building, accommodating perpetrators prior and during court proceedings and or those who serve brief...
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2020

Maxwell Street: A History of Racial and Cultural Integration

Author: Albus Gao Program of Study: SSD MAPSS   I have been a blues fan for years. It didn’t take long before I discovered that Chicago is essentially the birthplace of urban blues in postwar America. When I was browsing through the list of legendary blues artists in Chicago hoping to find some new music inspirations, a street in...
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2020

From Monroe St. to Louisville: When Moral Obligations become Radical Acts

Author: Nioshi Program of Study: SSD MAPSS As you take a (virtual) tour down West Monroe Street in the city of Chicago, you might walk past a modern-looking bricked building. It looks as simple as any other building in the lane and is easy to miss. If you go closer, you see a poster with the face of a...
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