Melting Pot: Political Correctness

This may come as a shock to anyone that has never been to Chicago before, but it is so much more than just the “Chicagoland area”. I will show you why this is an issue.

To others, we’re “The Windy City”, “Chi-raq”, and “Chi-town”. It upsets me that people don’t acknowledge (or perhaps don’t even realize) the ethnic diversity we have, from Englewood and Pilsen to Albany Park and Greek town! Many neglect the fact that we have over 200 neighborhoods in 77 communities; people consider Chicago simply one large area, but are able to recall that there are five boroughs in New York City.

Looking closely at this photo, it’s easy to see the “W” flag across the street, pinned on an apartment building with a fire escape. You may have noticed the tree, but did you see its base, surrounded by the Greek key? I found this very interesting because I recognized it as if the roots of this tree grow within Greek heritage and culture.

My personal favorite neighborhood has always been Greek town, certainly not because of my culture, but because of its ability to remain true to cultural values and not being westernized as heavily as surrounding areas. Truthfully, it is relatively one of the smallest neighborhoods based on density; but collectively, it supports and make up what everyone else knows as “Chicago”.
For this project, I will travel to at least fifteen different neighborhoods and record the cultural differences that make us a individualized city stretching over 234 square miles.

In response to Malchik and Hollis, is walking a luxury, a privilege, a necessity, or a right, and why? What are the threats to walking? How does where you live influence how you live? According to Malchik, walking is a privilege that is wrongfully ignored by those that have it — the people. Similar to voting in political scenes, many citizens avoid it as much as possible. We’re given feet that used to be mainly for this sole purpose of walking, but now that cars exist as a form of transportation, we merely walk to our driveways and garages. In many cases, homes with garages and/or driveways in gated communities, which is described by Malchik as commonly having “No Trespassing” signs. What effect does this have? These signs discourage us from using our feet to wander and explore and learn new things. Everything has become territorial and we are (over exaggeratingly) prohibited from crossing the invisible line.