The New The Roots Album Will Make Your Day

Screenshot of the protagonist in The Roots' "undun"

A new album from The Roots will drop December 6th that is relevant to our course. It's called "undun" and tells the story of a young inner city youth who makes a decision that "undoes" his entire life. There is a single released for the album and a few videos online. Here is how the album is described on the rap band's website:

"undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999). Through the use of emotives and Redford's internal dialogues the album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out 'on the corner'. Utilizing a reverse narrative arc, the album begins as the listener finds Redford disoriented--postmortem--and attempting to make sense of his former life. As he moves through its pivotal moments he begins to deconstruct all that has led to his (and our own) coming undun."

The idea of "the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out 'on the corner'" clearly relates to our own discussion of environmental determinism beginning with Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives, but strikes an interesting balance between individual responsibility and social failure. Here's how the band further describes the story of Redford:

"undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but he wasn't born criminal… he's actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment... At the end of the day... isn't that what we all do?"

"undun" album cover

Since the album is not out yet, there's not much to go on. But I love the cover. It reminds me of our discussions of Riis and Vergara, and how despite the lack of basic services provided to inner-city communities by municipal governments, the urban poor nonetheless often transform their own neighborhoods, like the boys here making a playground out of these abandoned mattresses.

One of the songs that has been released with an accompanying video is called "Make My." The title clearly references the famous line from Dirty Harry spoken by Clint Eastwood's vigilante protagonist to a partially wounded black bank robber who is contemplating reaching for his gun. The song though clearly recontextualizes this classic showdown.

"Making my day" has a different meaning for the protagonist of "undun." He is clearly struggling to survive below the poverty line and wondering how he will be able to survive:

"They told me that the ends would justify the means
they told me at the end, it would justify the dreams
That I’ve had since a child, maybe I’ll throw in the towel
And make my, make my, make my, make my
Departure from the world"

I'm not posting the "Make My" video teaser one line, though you can find it here. (It does interestingly revise the classic showdown scene as an instance of a young black man killing another young black man.) Instead, I'll close by sharing the video for the track "tip the scale," which references the scales of justice that seem tipped against inner city minority youth:

Efficiency and Human Nature

Efficiency as defined by Wikipedia:

Efficiency in general describes the extent to which time or effort is well used for the intended task or purpose. It is often used with the specific purpose of relaying the capability of a specific application of effort to produce a specific outcome effectively with a minimum amount or quantity of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.

     In the late 1800's, Frederick Winslow Taylor developed methods of labor productivity, one of many types of efficiency, called Taylorism. Taylorism was largely accepted by industries seeking to increase profits and reduce waste. Despite looking good initially, this "efficiency" also met a lot of criticism. In the early 1900's the Senate in fact banned Taylor's methods when an investigation found the majority of workers to be hostile towards the amount of control the managers had over them. Similarly, in Taylorism, workers with talent and potential were treated the same as unskilled workers creating a system that catered to drones, not humans. I find this historical context helpful because it is an example of how "efficiency" does not often work well with human nature.

     In Blade Runner, Ridley Scott shows us a world full of "efficiency". Technology has advanced far enough to enable street vendors to do DNA tests on synthetically manufactured snake scales and housing shortages are clearly no longer an issue. However despite such advances there are clearly major problems still plaguing the city and in fact the majority of people have fled off-world. In the world of Blade Runner, replicants have been created for the purpose of colonizing other planets. Such a feat by genetic designers, creating robots that are superior to the creators themselves, would be looked at by our society today as amazing and extremely beneficial. However, as seen by the goal of the Blade Runners which is to "retire" the replicants, these technological advances have gotten too far out of hand and the efficient city which we had been working towards for hundreds of years is no longer efficient for humans.

The Two-Face(s) of Justice in the City

So we were all drawn to this class by how great a teacher Mr. Dean is ... along with the Batman quote that he used at the end of last school year to entice us to sign up for this class, "Joker: They'll be doubling up at the rate this city's inhabitants are losing their minds. Batman: This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good." Batman -- the Dark Knight. But why the Dark Knight? What happened to the White Knight?

This takes me to one of the iconic Batman "villians" Harvey Dent, better know as Two-Face. Starting off as the clean-cut district attorney of Gotham City and an ally of Batman, Dent goes insane after a criminal throws acid on him during a trial, hideously scarring the left side of his face. Due to this, Dent becomes schizophrenic, bi-polar and adopts the "Two-Face" persona. He becomes a crime boss, choosing to bring about good or evil based upon the outcome of a coin flip. Occasionally he is on the side of Batman and other times he is trying to shoot him.

Once the White Knight of the city, pursuing justice under the law, Harvey Dent becomes a metaphor for the duality of the city. A district attorney and a crime boss, a hero and an enemy. The definition of good and evil is too complex in the city, as shown by a schizophrenic psycopath flipping a coin to make the decision on what is just. What this is saying is that in the city there is always going to be good with the bad and justice in the city is obscure in definition. Was it just that Harvey Dent be scarred for life on shit luck? It brings about a new type of justice in the city, one that is not so politically correct. The White Knight's chivalric justice is gone. One cannot expect the White Knight to just kill the bad guy while following the rules. Now to be able to do good one must also break some rules (the idea of the ends justify the means).

What Two-Face also shows is that it really is not possible to have a White Knight in the modern city. Two-Face throughout his career has represented good and evil combined, the hope of the city and the destruction of the city, and the pure luck that the city is ruled by. This complexity skews the ability to obtain justice through the old style of chivalry that the White Knight used. Due to this complex idea of good vs. evil and justice vs. corruption, it is simply impossible to avoild breaking the rules to achieve "true" justice.

Two-Face's approach, although encompassing this idea, is unhealthy. Batman is the true Dark Knight because he has been able to balance the good and evil to maintain justice in the city. He might break some rules to get to a good conclusion. For example, in the movie The Dark Knight (2008) Batman takes the blame for all the people Harvey Dent killed, after he kills Dent to save the son of a man Dent kidnapped. This way the city could look upon Dent as the White Knight district attorney he used to be and not the maniac he became. It is easy to see the complexity of this "justice." Although it came at a price and followed no set rules, he was able to achieve the closest thing to what he believed to be good. Even then the end might not be complete justice, but this must do for the Dark Knight.

"It's happening now. Harvey is that hero. He locked up half of the city's criminals, and he did it without wearing a mask. Gotham needs a hero with a face."

--------------------------------------------------

Here is another clip I found that has many of the same ideas. It seems that the Joker really has this seered into his head, this idea of justice.

One Great City

The musical group, the Weakerthens, began playing together during 1997 in Winnipeg, Canada. The members of their band are John Samson (lyricist, guitar, and lead vocals), Stephen Carroll (guitar and backing vocals), John Sutton (bass, backing vocals), and Jason Tait (drums). Their music is a reflection of where they are from and John Samson’s lyrics focus on issues of hope, isolation, and survival within a society riddled with injustice and a culture commodified in every possible way.Their song “One Great City” is about their hometown, which happens to be Winnipeg where they formed

.

The song is told from different angles beginning with the underground of the city working its way up until it reaches the highest point. The song lyrics and its title are contradicting because the words of the song paint the city to be repetitive and something far from great. It begins with the day ending, and the night shadows covering the city with a “darker gray”. The song describes a lot of the cities features and personality through its lyrics.

The first verse of the song introduces the city starting from the below the ground. It sings, “a thousand sharpened elbows in the underground,” and this refers to the underground mall which is called Winnipeg Square. It is nicknamed the underground and is located underneath Winnipeg’s downtown and major office buildings. Its location makes the vast majority of people who go to the mall there mostly business people and the description of “a thousand sharpened elbows” refers directly to the business people. The following line of “that hollow hurried sound of feet on polished floor,” adds to the description of the high end working class who move swiftly and the fact that the floor is polished lets us know that the mall is well kept because it is meant for the wealthy. The next line takes the angle of the city to above the ground and says, “In the dollar store the clerk is closing up and counting loonies, trying not to say I hate Winnipeg.” This line is meant to show how the other half of Winnipeg lives aside from the wealthy. The dollar store clerk works to provide for himself, while the high end probably shops at the underground mall. The idea of the store clerk counting loonies hints that there are probably people in a worse living state then the clerk which would make it understandable for the clerk to say I hate Winnipeg.

The song then switches the perspective to a normal person on the street.

the driver checks the mirror seven minutes late

crowded riders' restlessness enunciates

the guess who suck, the jets were lousy anyway

the same mood every day

and in the turning lane

someone's stalled again

he's talking to himself

and hears the price of gas repeat his phrase

I hate Winnipeg

This verse then goes to talk about life in general in Winnipeg. How it can be repetitive and the most interesting thing in someone’s day would be being late to where they have to go in their schedule. Everyone has the same attitude everyday and their mentality towards things in their life never change because they rarely experience something new or better. The lines, “and in the turning lane, someone’s stalled again,” may refer to how a person has a chance to change his life or the direction they are headed, but is stuck and just can’t escape the city. The ending line of this verse that says, “And hears the price of gas repeat his phrase, I hate Winnipeg,” just implies one of the few problems of society.

up above us all,

leaning into sky

our golden business boy

will watch the north end die

and sing 'i love this town'

then let his arching wrecking ball proclaim:

"I...hate...Winnipeg"

This last verse talks about the golden boy which is located on top of the legislature and was the highest point in Winnipeg. He faces north because that was where the founders of the city believed the future of Winnipeg was held. The ironic part of this is that the North End of Winnipeg is the rough end of the city. The Statue which was suppose to symbolize hope,

business, and a promising future, points to the dying north end which is referred to in the song. Like in the song, he is meant to sing “I love this town” ,but rather he truly represents the rest of the town in symbolizing the corruption that occurred in Winnipeg.

The title of One Great City may not seem to mesh with the lyrics, but the role of this song I believe is to have people reflect on their hometowns as well. Every town is like someone’s Winnipeg. After living in a place for so long, things get old, people begin to notice the flaws in the city, and when people try to leave they always manage to return. The city is a part of them as much as they are part of the city. There is a hidden love for their hometown under all the negatives. It is where a person is from making a town like Winnipeg One Great City.

City Flash Mob

City Flash Mob

    
   A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, respect or artistic expression. Flash mobs are often organized via telecommunications. social media or viral emails.
   The term flash mob, first coined in May 2003 in Manhattan, has became one of the defining terms for a urban, liberal and richly cultural city. Most of the major cities in the world, for example, New York City, Shanghai, Sydney, Paris, etc,  have had flash mobs in the urban center. Surprisingly, even Austin has its own flash mob organization, see here.

    

  Flash mob shows how closely related the city is. With the aid of current technology, almost everybody can participate in a flash mob despite his color, race, language or culture. Words spread via social networking sites like Facebook or blogs, as well as by word of mouth, text or email. Various groups of people converge together and function as a whole. Flash mob reveals a city's unity at its best.

These are the cities where the most famous flash mobs happened.

                                                    NYC

                                                                     Paris

                                                             Shanghai

                                                                Sydney

"Muslim cab drivers save Jewish bagel shop"

Here is a link to an NBC article I found to be relevant to our most recent course text, Lush Life. The story connects to the theme of coexistence in the city, which we have explored in recent discussions. It tells the story of two Muslim cab drivers who come together to save a kosher Jewish bagel shop which was started by a Polish immigrant in the 1920s.

The Suburbs

The TV show Weeds, created Jenji Kohan, critiques and compares inner city and suburban life in America. Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) plays a white, middle aged, widowed mother who begins to sell marijuana in order to maintain her wealthy suburban lifestyle after the death of her husband. Nancy lives in a wealthy suburb called Agrestic in California. Agrestic is a symbol of a perfect, wealthy, white, American suburb. In every episode, Kohan critiques this "perfect" white suburban lifestyle with the theme song "Little Boxes" written by Malvina Reynolds.

"Little Boxes"

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky tacky,¹

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes all the same.

There's a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses

All went to the university,

Where they were put in boxes

And they came out all the same,

And there's doctors and lawyers,

And business executives,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course

And drink their martinis dry,

And they all have pretty children

And the children go to school,

And the children go to summer camp

And then to the university,

Where they are put in boxes

And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business

And marry and raise a family

In boxes made of ticky tacky

they look just the same.

There's a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

"Little Boxes"

"Little Boxes" portraits white suburban life as dull. Everyone goes to the same university, everyone gets the same job and goes to the same coffee shop before work. Reynolds argues that this wealthy white American dream causes people to conform to what society believes is the correct way to live and raise a family. However, it really just makes everyone into the same boring person.

Nancy breaks the mold. Although, she still wants to enjoy her life in suburbia. She doesn't have a really job or money to support her family, so she resorts to selling weed. This brings up an interesting contrast. For many wealthy white families, the attraction of the suburbs is to avoid the violence, drugs, and conflict of the inner city. However when Nancy decides to start selling weed, she brings these inner city problems to Agrestic. For instance, at the end of season 3, Nancy buys protection from Guillermo, another drug dealer from the city. As a result, Guillermo begins a "war" between rival drug dealers to protect Nancy's business in Agrestic. However, when Guillermo burns down a local weed farm, it causes Agrestic to catch fire and burn to the ground.

Weeds also illustrates the racial tension between white suburbians and Nancy's black drug dealing partners. In an episode in Season 3, Nancy buys a grow house in Agrestic, and her black friend and partner Conrad moves in. When Conrad's sister and mother go on a walk in the neighborhood, they meet a jogger, who waves and smiles, then runs to the other side of the street to continue jogging. This jogger shows the tension between races that can still make some people uncomfortable. Suburbia has high taxes and is for high income families. As a result, wealthy white families are usually the ones who move to the suburbs. So when this jogger sees Conrad's black mother and sister, she becomes uncomfortable because they just seem out of place.

The Two Sides of a City

A view of Houston cityscape

In Houston, Texas the roads are wider and the buildings are more impressive. People don't come to Houston for its beauty or its climate; on the contrary, they come for the business of the city. Houston isn't the prettiest city but she gets work done. The city is always active because there is so much to do in such a big place (taking up more than 500 square miles making it slightly larger than the size of New Jersey). Houston is where the big boys come to play, and when I say big boys I am referring to the fact that Houston is home to the second largest number of fortune 500 companies (second only to New York City). Houston is an international power house for energy, being that it is the largest city in the state that first struck oil. Also, Houston has unrivaled medical facilities which many people flock to in search of the newest and best treatments for illnesses. This innovative city is not for everyone though. Some might say that Houston is a gross place and its design is not aesthetically pleasing to them. Houston is a moving active city that could be seen as over populated and its traffic seeming to go on forever. The climate is hot and humid. There is so much pollution from the surrounding industry but this, to me at least, makes the sunsets all the more beautiful with colors that didn't paint the sky until after the industrial revolution. Just as every coin has two side so does every city have two views.

"the surrounding industry" of Houston and a sunset over Houston

Fast Car Meets Paradise City

Both Rock songs “Paradise City” by Guns and Roses and “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman tell the same underlying message. “Paradise City” was produced in 1987 and “Fast Car” was produced in 1988. Guns and Roses is a white rock band and Tracy Chapman is an African American artist, both giving the same view on the city from a different perspective. They sing of the city as a wondrous and great place to be at a first glance, but in reality it is not the pretty picture that it’s painted to be.

The lyrics from the chorus of “Paradise City” state “Take me down To the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, take me home.” This portion of the song is stating the city as a place of paradise; it makes it sound like the place to be. Tracy Chapman does the same in her song “Fast Car” with the lyrics, “We won't have to drive too far just across the border and into the city you and I can both get jobs and finally see what it means to be living.” In a later verse she describes the feeling she remembers from the city, “See I remember we were driving, driving in your car the speed so fast I felt like I was drunk city lights lay out before us and your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder.” She describes the city as a place where she can make something of herself and that being there gives her a good feeling. She describes it as an inviting place.

Now looking at the rest of the lyrics from each song, the city is described as a cold, a deceitful, and a hard place to live. From the Guns and Roses point of the alternative aspect of the city is expressed in the lyrics, “Just a' urchin livin' under the street I'm a hard case that's tough to beat.” He compares himself to an urchin which is a bottom feeder on the sea floor. In another verse the lyrics state, ”Captain America's been torn apart Now he's a court jester with a broken heart.” Here Guns and Roses is talking about America as the mighty nation it is as corrupt and torn down. Tracy Chapman gives her perception on how the city will be at first, ”I know things will get better you'll find work and I'll get promoted we'll move out of the shelter buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs.“ She knows she will have to work from nothing and build her way up. Later her lyrics express another understanding of the city, ”You got a fast car and I got a job that pays all our bills, you stay out drinking late at the bar see more of your friends than you do of your kids.“ These lyrics express how city life can change and corrupt people and their values.

It is interesting how these two different artists from diverse backgrounds come to the same conclusion about the city.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gunsnroses/paradisecity.html

http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/tracy-chapman-lyrics/fast-car-lyrics.html

"Lush Life"

 "Lush Life" - Hartman and Coltrane

I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingue traces that used to be there
You could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day, twelve o'clock tales

Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness of a great love for me
Ah yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong

Life is lonely again and only last year
Everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A trough full of hearts could only be a bore

A week in Paris could ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it

I'll forget you, I will while yet you are still
Burning inside my brain romance is mush
Stifling those who strive

So I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And there I'll be
While I rot with the rest of those
Whose lives are lonely too

     The song "Lush Life" is a jazz standard written by Billy Strayhorn in 1933-38. Along with "Take the "A" Train," "Lush Life" is one of Strayhorn's signature compositions, having been covered by many widely known musicians such as Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, and Queen Latifah. The song has a low tempo, but is full of complex chord changes that result in a dreary, and almost dissonant sound at times. Listening to this song reminds me of Toni Morrison's novel Jazz because the frequent chord and key changes which constantly change the mood of the song  echo the sporadic mood and perspective changing of the narrator in Morrison's novel. The lyrics of the song also parallel different themes, places and even characters from Jazz. The "come-what-may places" that Strayhorn refers to are the jazz clubs that were prevalent throughout the early 20th century. These are the very same jazz clubs that Dorcas was drawn to in her time with the Miller Sisters. Another theme the song and book have in common is the theme of loneliness and getting left by someone. Strayhorn states that he was wrong about the "smile tinged with great sadness of a great love," which parallels the dynamic between Dorcas and Joe. After Dorcas stopped seeing Joe, Joe could not stop thinking about her, much like how in the song, Strayhorn states that "Burning inside [his] brain romance is mush." The "Lush Life" that Strayhorn refers to in the final stanza of the song is a life of going to "dives," or jazz clubs. The significance in the title "Lush Life" for the novel written by Richard Price is that in the book, the lower east side is an incredibly dense and diverse area, and although the word lush literally means dense with vegetation, the lower east side is lush with an array of different backrounds, histories, and cultures. 

      

Queen Latifah's rendition of "Lush Life"

Tiananmen Square Protest of 1989

The Tiananmen Square Protest of 1989 took place in Beijing and is an example of violence within a major city.

In the morning of May 4th, almost 100,000 students and workers protested in Beijing by demanding freedom of media and a better communication between the communist government and the student representatives. In addition, the protest group urged the Party to accelerate political reform as it had promised previously.

The government, however, rejected the proposal and only agreed to talk to a few student representatives, which also proved to be futile. The situation worsened when groups of students occupied the symbol of Beijing, the Tiananmen Square on May 13th, which was two days prior to the highly-publicized state visit by USSR's General Secretary Gorbachev. Hundreds of students went on hunger strikes, lasting more than a week.

Initially the Communist Leader Deng XiaoPing hoped to control the chaos through verbal warning to the students, but as the demonstration grew bigger and bigger as students from Shanghai, Xi'an, and Wuhan also joined the protest, Deng sent soldiers and tanks from the 27th and 38th Armies of the People's liberation Army to clear the area around Tiananmen Square. On June 4th, when the riot could not be contained by the soldiers anymore, tanks were ordered to crash the cars and even students protesting in the square. Although the Chinese government blocked the official death toll, the total fatality number was rumored to be around 7000 to 10000.

Both of my parents have experienced the riot themselves as they were both living in Beijing back then. From their point of view, I could conclude that the root of this disaster was the failure of communication within the city. My mom, an undergraduate student at the time, was actually a part of the demonstration. As she recalled, the student protest was a mess since the group lacked the true leadership that can provide the demonstrators a real chance to talk with the government officials. The leaders within the Party also failed to communicate with the students as it refused to let the young population give them advices about national policy. Furthermore, both the government and students had trouble in terms of their relationship with the military. The PLA, for example, was forcibly sent by the government to suppress the protesters. Initially when they were not allowed to open fire, students harassed the soldiers by spitting, cussing, and in some cases even physically abusing them. So when the government on June 4th ordered the army to hit back, huge number of deaths was inevitable since hatred between the military and the civilians was already severely elevated beforehand. This example had shown that malfunctioning communication within an urban city could seriously threat the city's security as the violence in Beijing could have been completely avoided if the military, the government, and the students had a better understanding of each other.

Source: Wikipedia

Jamaican Me Crazy

When people think of visiting Jamaica, they imagine a tropical paradise of beautiful beaches and green mountains where people do nothing but dance and listen to reggae music. And this is the Jamaica most tourists will see.

But my freshman year at St. Stephen’s, I got the opportunity to see Jamaica as it really is with the soccer academy. The beaches and mountains are not as picture perfect as the brochures suggest, and life is sometimes hard for Jamaicans. Still there’s a lot of beauty and joy to be found even in the hidden Jamaica I saw.

When we first arrived in Montego Bay, on the northwest coast of the island, we did experience something of the stereotypical Jamaica. The song “Welcome to Jamrock” was playing loudly over the speakers outside of the airport, and the smell of ganja was thick in the air. On the two and a half hour bus ride to go sixty miles across the island to Kingston, the stereotype was quickly replaced by less familiar impressions of Jamaica. First the drive itself was pretty scary because the roads over those picturesque green mountains were narrow and steep.

Second, the city of Kingston was much poorer and more rundown than you might see in the beach side resorts. Even the nicer areas of town would lack what any of us would consider to be basic features such as clothes dryers. The prep school where a former St. Stephen’s boarding student went looks no nicer than the oldest and most neglected schools in our city, quite a contrast to St. Stephen’s. Without the school’s name on the side, one might easily mistake it for a prison.

Life is also not a nonstop party. On our trip we visited an orphanage, not a place most tourists would visit. Still, despite the poverty, the Jamaicans we met were almost universally happy and friendly. The orphans greeted us with smiles, merchants along the road were happy to introduce us to local snacks, and life in many ways seemed very similar to life here in the states. The cities in Jamaica that I saw were rougher and dirtier than I was expecting but were also warm and welcoming.

Chicago

The Ciy of Chicago, also known as "Chi-town" or "The Windy City" is the third most populated city in the United States, and is the largest city in Illinois. Chicago is a very unique city. It is very clean and well maintained with many flowers lining the medians. Unlike New York City, the people that live in Chicago are very friendly and not pushy. Chicago has a different mix of architecture from some of the oldest buildings to new and modern ones built within the past 10 years. A very historical building would be the "Water Tower Place" which was the only building left standing after a huge fire in the early 1900s. An example of a more modern piece of architecture would be "The Bean." The Bean is a symbol of Chicago portraying how it has grown to be a great center for music and tourism. There are large outdoor musical amphitheaters which is a great environment for people to gather.




Home of the Chicago Bears professional football team, the Chicago Cubs professional baseball team, and the Chicago Bulls professional basketball team; Chicago is a city very well known for its sports teams. The Cubs play on the very famous Wrigley Field shown to the left. In chicago, everyone are die hard fans no matter what sport you are talking about. Whether it is baseball, football, basketball, or hockey, Chicago locals are serious about sports.


Chicago holds a huge music festival called Lollapalooza on its very own Grant Park. From Grant Park you have the view of the downtown Chicago skyscrapers. Everything in Chicago is easily accessible. Near Grant Park is a great museum district that holds something for everyone from art to science.

The Natural City

 We've been waiting all our lives
for things we've always had but have no eyes to see.
Something new is going to happen,
The most natural thing but nothin' we'd expect.

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes.

How do cities understand?
We drink our wine and wonder why we're really here
What's the point of even asking?
You take the good and bad and make the best of it.

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes.

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes.
have you watched the cities move
does nature fall before this age of industry
for today I'll let it go
you've been good to me have I been good to you?
All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes

The song "Buildings and Mountains", by the Republic Tigers may seem like meaningless existentialism to some, but I want to explore an idea that they bring up: Is there a connection between the city and nature? In a black & white world, the answer is no, but when looking at the grey area they are in many ways connected in how they are defined. Just looking at the lyrics, in the chorus, they say that both buildings and mountains will arise; in the same way that nature grows and changes, sometimes shaped by humans, the cities develop in the same way. They ask "how do cities understand?" as though there is some connection between the city and its inhabitants, as though the city is made to be perfect and these flawed creatures live within it. It talks about cities moving and nature falling before it, but not in the form of a statement, but in a question. This brings up the question of is nature strong enough to resist the growth of this mechanized city, or does the city replace it all together. The Republic Tigers might be right that the city itself could be "the most natural thing, but nothin' we'd expect".


In many ways, the city does replace Nature. A passage in the nior novel, The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler, really brought my attention to this idea. The passage reads:

"It's beautiful." I pulled up beside a loading platform. We got out. I listened. The hum of traffic was a distant web of sound, like the buzzing of bees. The place was as lonely as a churchyard. Even after the rain, the tall eucalyptus trees still looked dusty. They always look dusty. A branch broken off by the wind had fallen over the edge of the sump and the flat leathery leaves dangled in the water.

Looking at this scene, it seems very desolate and that nature has been destroyed by the city that developed in novel, but I view it as more of a new kind of nature, what the Republic Tigers would say is the most natural thing, but nothing you would expect. The layer of dust that coats the trees acts like a haze that is spurs the evolution of the trees to last in the city, as though the layer of dust protects them from being destroyed by the city, but changes them so that they are now something less than a tree, and the leaves from it are now leathery as a means of adapting to the city. The bees that would be found in nature, carrying pollen for plants to grow and reproduce, are replaced by cars that carry cargo or people that allows for cities to grow and reproduce. The empty spaces that formerly belonged to nature are even now used for churches and people. The stereotypical view of the city is that it destroys nature to make room for the city, but this passage almost shows how the city doesn't destroy nature, but instead forces it to change with the city in order to survive. 

In more modern times, there have been efforts made in society to try and restore nature to its former glory before the city, within the city. This notion of making a city "green" simply by making it more energy efficient and using new forms of energy. The currently accepted "bad" non-sustainable energy sources are plants that use coal, nuclear, gas, or similar fuel sources; what is know as "good" sustainable energy sources are solar panels, wind turbines, or dams. So what society considers to be "green" energy sources are the sun, wind, and water. Ask any biologist what plants need to grow and survive and he'll most likely tell you, the sun, air, and water. So are these new buildings that claim to be "green" so far from plants themselves? If you think about the economic advantages of using sustainable energy sources, inside such large (non-residential) buildings, businesses develop and grow inside them, and not having to pay as much for energy over the long run can lead for more growth, maybe creating branches, spreading out. Just the phrase green energy makes people think of a city that can get all its energy through the same methods that energy is made in nature to in some ways make the city more like nature. City and nature are two contrasting things that are becoming more alike as they both try to grow and thus have to grow into the other.

Imperious Corporalis

Ok, I just wrote up an invisible city. Not the most original idea, but here it is anyway. The city ended up becoming really very morbid and creepy, so read on if your into that. Don't worry, I am not a closet murderer despite what the article might suggest.

Eventual doom inhabits the devouring freeze of the intergalactic void. Peace is not afforded to the stillness of this oblivion. Here, peace is the ancient luxury of saints and fools.

Implacably stalking the monolithic void field is the ether strider known by some as the Imperious Corporalis. The bio crafted, space borne city has hunted the ageless millenia in brooding silence. Its mysteries were long ago submerged beneath myth by the heretical Termafex Seers. Travelling at sub-light speeds, the vessel is currently a momentary detail above the splinter planets of Thraxia Prime.

The enfleshed city is a bleeding jewel in the unspeakable vastness of the void. Pillars of bone grown by flesh magics developed in the Dark Age of the Krieg Mechanicus form the exoskeleton of the vessel. Gnarled, fleshy tendons descend from these pillars like spider limbs to chain the dread guardians forged in their thousands in the catacombs of the flesh smiths. These tortured citizens can always be heard moaning their nightmare catechisms to the emperor-in-flesh. The psychic chorus of their pain nourishes the psi-plastics of the craft's growth nodes, swelling the bone gardens. Eons of bloody cacophony have bloated the vessel's grisly halls and flooded its sinewed blood gutters like a ripe, privileged mosquito. Prepared for its next meal, the Corporalis directs its gaze toward the blue morsel below...


...The sun has left behind it a horizon of brilliant pink hue. A man watches as a pair of fighter jets scythe the view like two naked women sprinting through a flock of fleeing flamingos. He'd seen that on a cable show once. Never forgot it. He wondered about the fighter jets. This was the first time he'd seen any fly over Manitou Springs. He looked straight above him and saw the faint outline of some sort of... bizarre experimental aircraft. As it drew closer, he began to make out bone and tendons and sinew. He vomited. A drop of blood landed on the pavement in front of him. It had begun to rain...