Yesterday we were privileged to get a tour of the South Side of Chicago by the one and only Wallace Goode, Director of the University Community Service Center at the University of Chicago. The entire group loaded into a big yellow school bus early in the morning and began our journey by exploring Kenwood. Wallace pointed out the homes of President Obama, Louis Farrakhan, and Muhammad Ali (whose house is currently on the market for $1.6 million).
From there, we traveled through a number of communities such as Chinatown, the South Loop, and Pullman. Throughout the bus ride, Wallace did an excellent job at presenting the group with new and interesting facts about the rich history of the area. One interesting thing we learned was that the Chinatown was originally in a different location, closer to Fullerton, but eventually moved to its present location near Bridgeport. During this portion of the trip, we also became more cultured citizens of Chicago and learned what the stars and stripes on the Chicago flag symbolized: two blue bars for the two branches of the Chicago river, and four stars for four major events in Chicago history – the founding of Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire, the Columbian Exposition, and the Century of Progress Exposition.
In the South Loop, Wallace highlighted the affects of gentrification-just a few years ago it was not a frequently visited area but with the addition of housing developments, a Whole Foods and a Fancy movie theater (and Starbucks of course!) things were quickly changing. In our journey, we also visited South Chicago (yay!) where Wallace showed us a huge lot that once housed a steel plant but was now unused partially because of the contaminated soil. It was disappointing to see such a huge plot of land that was not being used for the community. For most of us, it was the first time we had been so far south and exploring Chicago with the group was a great experience!
Overall, touring the South Side was educational, entertaining…and hunger-inducing. (You try riding through the delicious smells of Chinatown as lunchtime approaches.) Thankfully, we ended our tour at Yassa, a lauded Senegalese restaurant in the neighborhood of Grand Crossing. Deliciousness ensued in the form of plantains, jollof rice, lamb, chicken, fish, couscous, cabbage, and SPICINESS. For some of us (Imari, Alex G, and Zakia) the amount of spicy heat was culinary perfection. For others (Deanna and Sam) it was pushing it – we liked it, but it also made our eyes water. A lot.
Now that our bellies were full of the delights of West Africa, we were energized to play a rousing game of kickball on the Midway back at the University of Chicago. Two teams, each with SSPers from each of the three sites, were created and a showdown between Team Jacob and Team Awesome took place. It took a little while for everyone to get in the schoolyard groove (remembering the tricks of those games you played in the third grade is no easy task!), but eventually we got into the rhythm of forced outs and RKIs – that’s “Runs Kicked In” for all of you kickball neophytes. Zakia, Deanna, Alex, and Imari were all on the victorious Team Jacob and give their apologies to Sam and Whitney, members of Team Awesome, for the stomping they received.
We ended our day with a name game among all of the SSPers, and then said our goodbyes. We’re so glad that the South Chicago Team is now all together and raring to go!
–Zakia and Deanna
Team Awesome is ready for a kickball rematch the next time that we are all on the Midway!