Interlude 1: A Mt. Prospect Photo Journal

One late afternoon last week, I looked out the front window to the school fields right across the street.  Hundreds of geese were resting, or lining up along the curb to drink the rainwater that was still falling gently through blazing sunlight.


I walked out of the house into the warm rain and sunshine, and saw everything drenched in a gold light. I took a few pictures before the sun quickly set over the fields.

Looking over the rooftops along the back of the house, I caught a perfect rainbow...

Even though the end of the rainbow seems to be on our roof, I'm still looking for the pot of gold....

We Interrupt This Blog....

Heavy winds have dominated our lives since Tuesday night, and caused an interruption to this Journal...

Last night as I was feverishly writing my reviews of "Midnight in Paris" and the Windy City Gay Men's Chorus Pride Concert, all of the power went out.

We were not the only ones to lose electricity in our home:  ours was one of about 300,000 to be left in the dark.

Early in the evening, heavy dark clouds hung on the horizon over the high school football fields.  Lightning stabbed the darkness and the air hung as hot, heavy and humid as a jungle.

Then the wind began to blow.....

We lost out lights, Internet, TV, refrigerator, radio, stove, everything but our hot water and our phone.  We had one lantern flashlight. The clothes I had just taken from the washer and put in the dryer, were now simply wet and immobile in the dryer. Much of our food in the refrigerator would go to waste, so we donated it to my parents, in exchange for the use of their clothes dryer. 

It seemed like the whole world just stopped, without our electricity, save for the horrifying winds pummeling the front of the house, bending the nearby enormous pine trees to their breaking points.....

I felt a kinship with our ancestors, who had nothing but fire as the darkness surrounded them. They began to tell made-up stories, so as not to be consumed by the fear of darkness, or driven insane with inactivity.

This morning we listened to the radio in the car as we drove through town at 6am to get coffee.  Storms downed trees all over the suburbs.  Wind gusts measuring 80MPH were measured.

We could not even believe what we saw driving down our neighborhood streets.  I have never seen so many broken  branches, limbs and trunks.  It was unsettling seeing our neighbors, stunned as they tried to drag heavy branches to the parkway where the Village workers could remove them, or attempt to axe or saw big logs, some of which had damaged the gutters, roofs, and windows of their houses.

It is especially sad, these large magnificent trees stripped of their branches and their dignity, some completely damaged, others looking wounded, waiting for their jagged and torn parts to be cleanly cut. 

Mt. Prospect is a "Tree City USA".  You can tell from the photos what the town has lost.  Mark got some pictures of the storm-ravaged neighborhood, all within a 6-block radius surrounding our home...Check them out below...

It was disclosed by the National weather Service later this evening that Mt. Prospect was hit by a small tornado, of a 5-minute duration, traveling a path about 200 yards wide over two miles.

We heard from the Mayor of Mt. Prospect say on the car radio that due to the unusually heavy damage, power may be out until Friday morning, or even Saturday in some areas. 

Our house--our whole street--was spared the heavy damage.  Ironically, with the field across from us, we had less to barricade us from the wind.  Apparently, the tornado or microburst was well behind us...but not far enough to prevent the power outage.

Tonight I am writing from a hotel room in Evanston... Tomorrow, after work, I will look for a comfortable place with wi-fi, and post my long-overdue reviews....

A Close Call Last Friday--A Sunday Journal

A number of personal incidents this past week have caused me to reflect with some urgency on the challenges of just getting through the day.  For now, I want to record my thoughts and feelings about just one of the incidents, if for no other reason than to give myself some comfort, and to exercise the narrative writing muscle....


Before long, (maybe even later tonight), I will return to what I know and enjoy best: views on visual and literary arts; recommendations (or condemnations) of the most recent films and plays; looks back on older works; political rants; and stories about our animal friends.


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A truck driver with 50 previous traffic violations and citations crashed his truck into a Metra commuter train last Friday morning.


The accident occurred just minutes after leaving the station in Mount Prospect, our home town suburb, where Mark catches the train to work every morning, and where I often board the train to the city.


Fortunately for Mark, he just missed being on the crashed train, having boarded the one previous to it.


(For movie fans, the Metra is the train system involved in the recent film "Source Code". )


Accidents and close calls happen frequently. Often, what happened Friday was the result of stupidity and bravado, when drivers speed across the tracks after the gates are down the alarms are sounding, and all precautionary signs are flashing.  Too often, they win this game of "chicken".  Unfortunately, the perpetrator of Friday's mayhem was unable to outrun his fate. He was killed on impact.

Trouble is, a lot of innocent people were injured, and many more were inconvenienced. The conductor was seriously injured.  The second car burst into flames, and the violent pitch of the train sent bags, work papers, books, and other personal items slamming against the walls of the train.  Many passengers had to kick out the windows for emergency escape.  No passengers died.


Trains were unable to run back on that line during the afternoon rush hour. Hundreds of people were left stranded in the city.  Fortunately for Mark, he was able to take an alternate line to Evanston (home of Northwestern University) and I was able to drive there to meet him and bring him back home.


Had Mark been on that train, and if something unspeakably serious occurred, I just don't know how I would react, and bear up under that. 

Illinois has had a long shameful history of putting dangerous drivers back out on the streets.  Former Governor George Ryan is in prison for a license scandal that resulted in the deaths of a vacationing family with a van filled with children.


It is sort of natural to try to avoid the constant fact of how fragile life is, how quickly it can change forever.  I suppose I have to give up the naive notion---I used to call it trust, and hope--that when you kiss a loved one goodbye before work, you can count on seeing that person again at the end of the day. 


On the other hand, it's best not to dwell...  Just give it its due....   Nothing in life is safe...But then not every activity will result in tragedy.

Mount Prospect Illinois: My "Old" Hometown, An Unlikely Cultural Mecca--"Idol", "Glee", and "Blues"

Town Motto:  "Where Friendliness is a Way of Life."

Mount Prospect, Illinois, is the town where I grew up; and now, it is my home town once again. 

My parents still reside in the little house they bought almost 50 years ago, and my roots here go deep. After many years of residence in Iowa and Arizona, years that seem like separate lifetimes, and having just moved from another Chicago 'burb, I have come full circle.

Almost 14 years ago, I met Mark, who purchased a similarly small house near the local High School, for the convenience of his two young sons.  Now that the boys are grown, Mark and I have the opportunity to share this home together.  It's cozy, welcoming, has a festive back patio and yard, and is filled with sentiment, art and music, film, and good memories. (It's the white one on the right, under the perilously large pine tree.)

My condominium sold after years of attempts. When the buyer said "Yes", at once I was in a rush to pack, arrange a time with movers and charity pickups, meet a closing deadline--and then wait some more, as the buyer, who requested a quick move, is now experiencing delays of his own.

Across the street from the house is a large field used for youth soccer, football, and baseball games, as well as band concerts and fireworks displays. It's an active location, but  far removed from the more sophisticated "gay meccas" of Boys Town and Andersonville in the city, where many of our peers reside.  Joggers love it.  Geese and seagulls flock there by the hundreds (truly!) at certain times of year.  Maggie (our basset hound) loved to romp there, or just sit quietly on the vast expanse of lawn with me.  Once, she escaped the fenced yard, and we were frantic...until we found her sitting next to a bench full of kids watching a soccer game.

Here's another angle on our "cottage", and regular readers would easily find it.   Maggie is still very present in what will always be "her" home.

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IDOL MANIA

This nondescript suburb of just over 50,000 residents lately has come under the media spotlight, and is now the unlikely source of hugely popular culture.

Most recently the town has become known as the home of American Idol Finalist Lee DeWyze.  Signs and T-shirts uging everyone to "Vote 4 Lee", or "We Be-Lee-ve", are nearly everywhere, and there's little escape.  The town's obsession is humorous and harmless, and has produced a positive, if fanatical, energy. Lee's fortunate chance to sing on national television attests to television's lasting power to legitimize most everything.  Everything is more real if it's on TV...and now the the town feels touched by fame, and is basking in attention.

I don't know Lee, but he seems like a nice enough fellow. I do find some gentle irony watching a fanfare for him played by the marching band of the high school where he was once kicked out for fighting.  His is a nice story of discovered talent, redemption, and humility.  If he wins it all next Wednesday, it could be a first...Mt. Prospect townspeople holding a riot on Main Street.


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GLEE CLUB

Mount Prospect is also home to Ian Brennan, one of the creators and writers of that modest little TV series called "Glee.  In a recent exclusive interview,  blogger Jackie Tithof Steere found Brennan to be gracious and open about his days as a member of the choir of Prospect High School, which served as the inspiration for the show.  You can read the interview here.

In response to the question if the success of the show now causes Brennan to be recognized on the street, he humorously replies that one of the best things about being a writer is that no one hassles you!


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SERIOUSLY KID-FRIENDLY....AND HUMOROUSLY BLUESY


Last year, no less respected a publication than Business Week selected Mt. Prospect as the best town in the country to raise children!

Mount Prospect, a suburb 25 miles northwest of Chicago, was not only the best place to raise your kids in Illinois, it topped our list nationally. It has low crime, great schools, and homes for a wide range of incomes. Children have access to ball fields, hiking trails, skating rinks, indoor swimming pools, recreational centers, stores, restaurants, and multiplex movie theaters.

And finally, Mt. Prospect is home to the Blues Brothers.  To anyone who remembers the 1980 Belushi-Aykroyd film based on their SNL characters, the "bluesmobile" driven by Jake and Elwood was a Mt. Prospect Police Car.  The actual car can be seen on the second floor of the Blues Bar on Elmhurst Road downtown.

So ends my tourism promotion of our average little town.  So come join us!  The train is always on time, I mowed the lawn today, and we love to have guests over for a barbecue.  My new life in "old" Mt. Prospect promises to provide an active and intersting summer (provided we can make frequent escapes to Downtown Chicago!)