Thereby the grace of God, go I
Readers of this blog (and the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune ) have been aware of a kind of class warfare taking place in Uptown. It’s no secret. Articles have been appearing in the media for about three weeks. As someone who has written for and about the homeless and under-housed (See Orphan Girl ) I am very sensitive to this issue. The issue of zombie-fying the homeless. And, to be fair, not all those targeted are actually homeless—maybe they’re characters, troubled, alcoholics—they are, for whatever reason, poor people. They are the OTHER. They remind us that we have a comfort zone and we better retreat back into it. I understand. But I also believe that these individuals are human and have rights. Lately I’ve been reading about Vivian Meir and Henry Darger. Both artists, both truly “different.” Vivan Meir was a nanny on the North Shore who often after the kids boarded the bus to go to school took off with her camera, making forays into downtown Chicago or out on he...