Curbed Chicago: How and Why Chicagoans Decided Our Flag Kicks Ass

Via Annalee flickr

The municipal flag of Chicago is an enduring symbol. The Mayor wears a lapel pin version of it and in addition many local websites and local t-shirt makers uses elements of this flag in their designs. For example consider the header for my other blog, The Sixth Ward. I would dare say no other US city comes close to Chicago although some have even more simpler design elements. Recently Curbed Chicago addresses why Chicago's flag is so popular.

A catchy political slogan???

What you see @ http://www.michaelscottcarter.com/

If I recall correctly when I was in elementary school me and a group of friends at the time started a clique that was named for the Nickelodeon Network. And our "leader" was also named Mike, but somehow we created a slogan for him "I like Mike". Not sure who created it, but it was catchy.

Not sure how it came about, but it almost certainly matches another famous slogan - "I like Ike!" - created in time for a past US Presidential campaign. It's possible that this was an inspiration for that back then or even now.

Truth be told, I wonder if the Mike of "I like Mike" - in this case Michael Scott Carter - is the same as the one that I knew. Haven't seen or spoken to him in years, but it would be cool to know that I once went to school with someone who is making moves on the state level here in Illinois.

Alas, Mike got my attention today finding a statement of his on the Capitol Fax this morning. An e-mail he sent to supporters noted that Illinois has 110 counties as opposed to the 102 it actually does have. Rich Miller quipped.

I wasn’t aware that Illinois had annexed southern Wisconsin. The “Illinois Dells” somehow just doesn’t have the same resonance, but I suppose I could get used to it.

Heh, and the comments weren't very kind to Mr. Carter either. They roasted him for that gaffe in his e-mail and then noted that they don't trust a man with three first names.

Well I'm trying not to go full on negative here. He would definitely be a different face to the 2014 race as it's noted that he's reportedy a Black Conservative Republican running for state treasurer. Also he's said to have worked with the Chicago Urban League. He's ready for the attack of the "liberal attack machine" in this race.

As for the screenshot up top, it would be great if it went viral and it just had to be preserved for posterity. Who knows how far this gent will go in politics?

VIDEO: Watch This Dilapidated House Transform Into a Theater

[VIDEO] Found this via the Curbed National website. This is very cool, perhaps this could be used on various blighted and foreclosed properties in any city that likely would be torn down anyway. Hopefully such a structure could be moved anywhere for exactly the purpose of an open air theater.

Forbes: America's Top Colleges 2013

I got wind of this because on another site it was noted that 16 HBCUs were part of this year's list. Some familiar colleges were on this list especially Morehouse, Spelman, and Clark-Atlanta. Other HBCUs I expected to be on this list weren't, but hey surely these lists don't make or break a school. Some of the other big names schools were omitted because they decided to falsify data such universities such as Emory University (also in Atlanta) and Bucknell University.

Morehouse was noted in the article: "The biggest mover-shaker was Morehouse College, the only all-male historically black college in the U.S., who jumped 235 spots to No. 285."

#facepalm part 3

[VIDEO] Our esteemed State Rep. Monique Davis was on The O'Reilly Factor on Thursday to talk about her comments made on a Detroit radio station regarding cops shooting young people. She never walked back her comments and still maintains that she was only repeating what her constituents were saying to her. Bill O'Reilly was right to say that with her credibility as an elected official it was irresponsible to repeat such a statement unless there was evidence of such activity.

With that in mind, just because one is an elected official doesn't make them credible. For airing out such a statement is Davis more credible now than she was after making those statements, I would say unlikely. She does appear to be quite a spitfire over the years especially being named the worst person in the world after essentially attacking an atheist at a state legislative hearing years ago.

We have a member of the Illinois House or Representatives - who just so happens to be Davis' colleague whether I'm sure she likes it or not - who has been indicted for soliciting a bribe. Not only was he indicted but last year he was booted from the state House. However, he was re-elected last year to his old house seat because he refused to quit the race even after he had been removed from the house. Does anyone view him as credible now?

In any case another part of the discussion was the most important issue facing Black-Americans. O'Reilly wants to argue that it's the family, but Davis didn't really talk about that and stated that it was the lack of services, jobs, and education. It's hard to disagree with that to be sure, but Davis never talked about the family lives of many of these young people.

Speaking only for me, I never consider the family. I recognize that the family life of a lot of our young people are very imperfect. Would a father make more of a difference in the home? Haven't the slightest clue to be honest.

Personally I do believe before having children one should get married first. It doesn't always happen that way and there's nothing but evidence of that. However, I think anyone who has children should strive to create a nuclear family that includes a father at least.

Of course we could talk about the disintegration of the black family, but let's also recognize that having mother and father as head of a household could be a good thing. It's certainly excellent if mother and father were on the same page as far as what's in the best interest of the children. And hopefully that means at the very least the children go on and do something productive with their adult lives and stay out of trouble with the law.

Hat-tip The Blaze

McArdle: Why Your Little Alma Mater May Go Extinct

If you read Instapundit you see a lot of posts about the "higher education bubble". In one recent post he found another example which explains that admissions as some schools are more selective and college enrollment has decline thanks to the job market & cost of tuition. He goes on to explain an unfortunate side effect to the changing higher education environment:

Many of the hard-hit schools seem to be historically black colleges. Here in Washington, for instance, Howard University is in the middle of a bruising board fight, thanks in part to falling enrollments. Renee Higginbotham-Brooks, vice chairwoman of the board of trustees, prophesied that "Howard will not be here in three years if we don't make some crucial decisions now." This strikes me as unlikely -- Howard was founded by a congressional grant after the Civil War, and I doubt that Congress will let it go under. But the threat is undoubtedly real for other historically black schools.

The concentration of enrollment declines among the schools that serve poor and minority communities raises some uncomfortable questions. On a positive note, this may mean that kids have access to a better class of school. On the other hand, it may mean that the schools best equipped to serve those kids fold, leaving nothing in their place. While I'm on the record as saying that we should probably send fewer kids to college, this isn't the way that I wanted to accomplish that. Rather, I wanted us to stop relying on rank credentialism, and to think harder about viable alternatives for kids who may not be academically inclined.

So to illustrate what's happening to the not so big name schools of academia the author points out an historically Black college such as Howard U.

I'm a long way from evaluating how Universities are doing, but I can only talk about myself. I don't regret getting a degree what I do regret is not being more academically inclined not just when I got to school but before I graduated from high school. My background was a long way from being a serious student.

So anyway there are a number of things to consider. What kind of students do universities want? What alternatives are available for high school seniors who don't seem inclined to go to college? What should we expect from a university other than allowing access to a university education and/or a degree?

Witness to lynching of Emmett Till has passed away

I just learned about another chapter in the sad case of Emmett Till. Until today I had little idea that there has been a witness to what happened to this teenaged boy in Money, Mississippi:

A key witness to the 1955 deadly beating of a black teen in Mississippi, a case that opened nation's eyes to the discrimination African Americans faced in the 50's, has died of intestinal bleeding, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Willie Louis, a Chicago resident, was 76 when he passed away from intestinal bleeding on July 18th, the newspaper reports.

After the trial in the murder of Emmett Till, Louis fled to Chicago in fear for his life, changed his name and slipped out of the public for nearly 50 years, according to the paper.

Louis was born in Greenwood, Miss., his wife, Juliet Luois, reportedly said he lived with his grandparents who worked as sharecroppers.

Mike Smalls, a teacher who has studied the landmark case, has told the Chicago Sun-Times that Louis was "one of the unsung civil rights heroes."

What happened to the young Mr. Till has still got to be the saddest case ever considered and unfortunately he wasn't going to get justice in 1950s Mississippi. And it took Mr. Lewis time to finally come out and tell his story as a witness to this unbelievable crime.

I would've like to see his interview on 60 Minutes!