Keeping It Simple

Local historian Elaine A. Coorens kindly gave me copy of her book, Wicker Park From 1673 Thru 1929 and Walking Tour Guide.

In the early 1900s there was a lot of neighborhood news, per the excerpts in Elaine's book, which I've been thumbing through since earlier today. Even going on vacation for a few weeks was enough to warrant a blurb in the local Wicker Park neighborhood newspaper, along with the traditional announcements for births, weddings, and deaths.

It's all simple news, the stuff people were fixated on, yet it's somehow important, too. And, not just because so much time has passed, but because this is a documented record of the kind of stuff people cared about back then, and I think still care about now, too, though the news is disseminated through the medium of social vs. traditional media.

Elaine is a reporter for a site called the Examiner, which, like the Windy Citizen, also banks on the enthusiasm of volunteer reporters interested in what's happening in the neighborhood on a very micro-level. Many of these volunteers like myself have what the pros call "image libraries," and lots of content to share about the neighborhood. It's the kind of coverage that maybe a hired gun could do, but sometimes it's better seen, and recorded on the front lines, or at least that's my two cents. Maybe I'll toss it into the fountain at Wicker Park.

A link to a story Elaine wrote about a head librarian going on maternity leave is pasted below. It seems like the kind of thing that would be in the Wicker Park newspaper back in the early 1900s, yet it's - at least in my opinion- refreshingly simple, and relevant to the community, as were some of the other small things I witnessed today, like a bake sale by an artist collective called Chipped Red Polish, to benefit the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, two first cousins that opened a new clothing store together, and a tabby cat that hangs out in his owner's store, all pictured here.

http://www.examiner.com/x-8861-Chicago-Wicker-Park--Bucktown-Examiner~y2009m5d7-BucktownWicker-Park-Head-Librarian-takes-leave