My dad and I playing in the leaves, circa 1992 - one of our little trees in the background
We all have that box somewhere - the box of stuff that only means something to you. Old cards, pictures, notes. A ticket stub or a letter.
In my box, there's a big chunk of wood - pine, cut by a chainsaw.
When I was a little girl, my dad used to bundle me up in the dark, early hours of cold Saturday mornings. We'd drive around the farm on a tractor, me holding a bucket with saplings on my lap, pine needles brushing my nose. One by one, we'd go around the perimeter of the property, planting each little tree.
One day, my dad would say, these little trees will be big, beautiful trees. We'll be able to rest in their shade.
A couple years after my dad passed away, I was taking a walk through our property when I discovered some of those trees had been cut down. A few of those pines had grown in the way of a local power line, and the power company had hastily cut them down.
Logically, I understood they had to cut them down.
But part of
me didn't care. When you lose part of your past, all you have are the
things that are left to prove it existed. I didn't have my dad anymore.
But the trees proved he had existed, that he had loved me.
Ickes back in June, before demolition began
I hadn't thought about this in years, but it came to my mind as I drove down to Harold Ickes on Monday morning.
Allmycolleagues
have written about Ickes by now. The near South Side development is
being demolished. Six of the eleven buildings will be razed by
December, and the few remaining will be closed next year.
In
the news business, you always want to be first. I could have written
about Ickes sooner, but there was one person I had to talk to, the
person who had helped me really see Ickes in the first place: Audrey.
I met Audrey Johnson back in March
at the National Teacher's Academy, the school that's right next to the
housing complex. She lives in Ickes and works at the NTA, where four of
her five kids go to school. She was sitting on a panel of residents who
were answering questions for a third grade class doing a research
project on their neighborhood.
Audrey Johnson talks to a class of NTA 3rd graders
Audrey
told the kids how beautiful it was when she moved in. How everything
good about her childhood happened at Ickes. How she and her friends
would go to the Henry Booth House, the social service center on site,
and pay a dollar to do after school activities for a whole season -
dance, sewing, cooking, writing. As she talked, tears came to her eyes
and her voice cracked.
Sometimes, there's something about a
person that you just connect with. And I connected with Audrey. Audrey
helped me see Ickes, in a way I'd never seen it before.
The
first time I saw the Ickes buildings, I was stunned. They frightened
me. A friend asked me what they were like, and I said it was sort of
like seeing a homeless person who's been on the street for years -
missing teeth, hunched over. I think most outsiders view the buildings
that way. There are windows gone and units boarded up. The paint is
peeling from the doors, and the cold cinderblock is mean and
institutional
Audrey, September 2009
But when Audrey spoke, I got the feeling that she didn't see the same thing that I saw.
When
she looks at the buildings, she sees her whole life. Her friends, her
family. Her childhood, and her own children growing up. She sees all
the beautiful parts that I can't see.
She's not delusional. She just sees what I saw in the chunk of pine - part of her life.
Audrey's
trees - the buildings at Ickes - are being torn down, slowly and
surely. They put up the fences, ripped out the windows, tore out the
insides. And Monday, the wrecking ball began swinging.
Monday
was when I finally found Audrey. She had been sick, or we had just
missed each other several different times. I've been looking for her
for two months, convinced I couldn't write this story until I found
her. I saw the life of Ickes through Audrey's eyes, and I needed to see
its death through her eyes too.
So, we walked along, taking a tour through Ickes and through Audrey's life. We stopped at 2430, the building Audrey grew up in.
That's
why I like being a reporter. Your life is full of other people - their
ideas, their words, their memories. You spend so many moments in your
day, thinking about how other people think. It's as close as I can come
to seeing through another person's eyes.
Both the former Robert Taylor Homes/Stateway Gardens and the Ickes homes are visible from the southern branch of the Green Line, which I have frequented in my travels to and from Hyde Park in my three years in Chicago. When I moved here in 2006, it was just as the RTH were beginning to be vacated and eventually demolished. It was like I saw the whole thing in slow-motion, the identity I was forming of my new city changing day by day. Now the same thing is happening with Ickes--I used to see people out in front of the buildings, sitting on the steps, and playing basketball from the windows of the train. That eventually stopped, and now I can see the effects of the wrecking ball punching slow holes in the skyline, like when you slowly lose your baby teeth.
The way the social fabric and landscape has changed on the South Side in just those three years is something that is difficult to even put into words, really, and Megan, your perspective definitely emphasized the complexities of this whole CHA "master plan". Thanks again--and I do love the videos so much.
It is about time these monstrocities were torn down and valuable land was placed back on the tax rolls.
The "projects" have become too much a way of life for its current residents. The intent was to help people during a rough patch, not become a multigenerational housing option.
Those of us that pay the bills, the taxpayers, are tired of carrying this load for freeloaders.
Floyd said:
Yeah, so what's your point. What do ou REALLY know about this subject or the people in them?
SHUT UP, IF YOU HAD CLUE YOUR IQ WOULD STILL BE YOUR SHOE SIZE. YOU'RE JUST ANOTHER MISINFORMED RACIST.IF YOU KNEW THE NUMBER OF HARDWORKING PEOPLE IN PUBLIC HOUSING WHO DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SYSTEM AS I'M SURE YOU DO ...GETTING EVERY TAX BREAK POSSIBLE..PAID WITH TAX PAYERS MONEY... I COULD GO ON BUT YOU STILL WOULDN'T GET IT
Lets just say if you haven't lived in the projects and you were privledged & blessed not to have to live in Robert Taylor, Stateway, Ickes, etc... Kudos to you, but don't pass judgement on people that have, I too lived in the Ickes projects at one time for 17yrs, my mom was a single parent and raised 3 kids there on her own, when we moved there, it was beautiful, the people were great, and we got along with everyone, I'm sure my moms intentions were not to live there for the rest of her life, but it was a short fix at the time, or so she thought, but for whatever reason, it worked for us, speaking for me, I was determined more than ever some 17yrs ago to get my mother out of the projects after we saw the deterioration of the people of which drugs took over, everyone was not on drugs, or hung out, at one time, people cared about themselves and through it all some of us survived. I am now the owner of my own corporation, I own real estate through out the city, and I'm not patting myself on the back either, I reflect on where I came from all the time, because if I didn't know the struggles I wouldn't be who I am today, no matter where you live, or how you live, its up to the individual. Projects are everywhere, but because of a diffrent income levels, they are viewed diffrently, a lot of highrises have been funded by HUD even on the gold coast, in reality we all have lived in a box in one way or another, but if you have a little money, they are called condos. You could still be living next door to a drug dealer, crack head, or an embezzeler of millions of dollars, it comes in all forms in all parts of the world, whether it be in the projects, a home, a condo, a mansion etc... well you get the picture.
Lets just say if you haven't lived in the projects and you were privledged & blessed not to have to live in Robert Taylor, Stateway, Ickes, etc... Kudos to you, but don't pass judgement on people that have, I too lived in the Ickes projects at one time for 17yrs, my mom was a single parent and raised 3 kids there on her own, when we moved there, it was beautiful, the people were great, and we got along with everyone, I'm sure my moms intentions were not to live there for the rest of her life, but it was a short fix at the time, or so she thought, but for whatever reason, it worked for us, speaking for me, I was determined more than ever some 17yrs ago to get my mother out of the projects after we saw the deterioration of the people of which drugs took over, everyone was not on drugs, or hung out, at one time, people cared about themselves and through it all some of us survived. I am now the owner of my own corporation, I own real estate through out the city, and I'm not patting myself on the back either, I reflect on where I came from all the time, because if I didn't know the struggles I wouldn't be who I am today, no matter where you live, or how you live, its up to the individual. Projects are everywhere, but because of a diffrent income levels, they are viewed diffrently, a lot of highrises have been funded by HUD even on the gold coast, in reality we all have lived in a box in one way or another, but if you have a little money, they are called condos. You could still be living next door to a drug dealer, crack head, or an embezzeler of millions of dollars, it comes in all forms in all parts of the world, whether it be in the projects, a home, a condo, a mansion etc... well you get the picture.
That is just the point, your mom did not raise three kids on her own. Part of raising kids is providing a roof over their heads. That burden fell on the shoulders of taxpayers such as me and my parents.
So yes, in your own words, it "worked for you" living off the fat of the land, off of other peoples labor. Well guess what, those of us pulling the wagon are getting tired of the people riding on the wagon.
Floyd said:
You are a sorry bitter person. You don't deserve an internet connection.
I can speak for my experience about the Ickes. I didn't live there came to visit family there every summer. When I came to visit meet really nice people. Got to experience life. I didn't see it as a hood . I saw it as place were people were trying to just live an survive by any means necessary. And if you truly think we are all do that no matter where we live in the best or what society considers the best or the worst. At the end of the day we all are just trying to make it an wants whats best for our families. So to judge we are not in a place to judge. The young lady that wrote this story was just giving her point of view and a person that actually lived there. She was not judging it she just said before she truly got to know what's was inside on the Ickes her thoughts. That why they say don't judge a book by its cover. So now after she was inside the book she could truly understand. If you can't understand that then your slow.
DMLawyer like Hoover, whom I know said get a life.Everyone has needed a hand every know and then. I am a product of the Ickes, yes I was a single parent raising a daughter.Yes the government assisted me to stay and school and get a job.. I graduated from high school with a 1 year old, I have been gainfully employed over 20 years. I have my own insurance Agency in Calumet City, I am a home owner and I pay taxes just like you. I am also attending college full time to become a teacher, there are many stories like mine from the housing projects. There are also bad stories no matter where u live there are good and bad situations. If u are one of the fortunate people who has never received a government help than may God continue to Bless you. Never say never.
Megan good story
14 Comments
Jimmy Greenfield said:
Fantastic read. Great work, Megan.
rhoticity said:
Both the former Robert Taylor Homes/Stateway Gardens and the Ickes homes are visible from the southern branch of the Green Line, which I have frequented in my travels to and from Hyde Park in my three years in Chicago. When I moved here in 2006, it was just as the RTH were beginning to be vacated and eventually demolished. It was like I saw the whole thing in slow-motion, the identity I was forming of my new city changing day by day. Now the same thing is happening with Ickes--I used to see people out in front of the buildings, sitting on the steps, and playing basketball from the windows of the train. That eventually stopped, and now I can see the effects of the wrecking ball punching slow holes in the skyline, like when you slowly lose your baby teeth.
The way the social fabric and landscape has changed on the South Side in just those three years is something that is difficult to even put into words, really, and Megan, your perspective definitely emphasized the complexities of this whole CHA "master plan". Thanks again--and I do love the videos so much.
DMLAWYER said:
It is about time these monstrocities were torn down and valuable land was placed back on the tax rolls.
The "projects" have become too much a way of life for its current residents. The intent was to help people during a rough patch, not become a multigenerational housing option.
Those of us that pay the bills, the taxpayers, are tired of carrying this load for freeloaders.
Yeah, so what's your point. What do ou REALLY know about this subject or the people in them?
dwhooveriii said:
SHUT UP, IF YOU HAD CLUE YOUR IQ WOULD STILL BE YOUR SHOE SIZE. YOU'RE JUST ANOTHER MISINFORMED RACIST.IF YOU KNEW THE NUMBER OF HARDWORKING PEOPLE IN PUBLIC HOUSING WHO DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SYSTEM AS I'M SURE YOU DO ...GETTING EVERY TAX BREAK POSSIBLE..PAID WITH TAX PAYERS MONEY... I COULD GO ON BUT YOU STILL WOULDN'T GET IT
Ashley Gross said:
What a beautiful story, Megan. Hats off to you for being so compassionate and conscientious.
Prime Real Estate said:
Let me just say, that if you haven't lived or walked in A
Prime Real Estate said:
Lets just say if you haven't lived in the projects and you were privledged & blessed not to have to live in Robert Taylor, Stateway, Ickes, etc... Kudos to you, but don't pass judgement on people that have, I too lived in the Ickes projects at one time for 17yrs, my mom was a single parent and raised 3 kids there on her own, when we moved there, it was beautiful, the people were great, and we got along with everyone, I'm sure my moms intentions were not to live there for the rest of her life, but it was a short fix at the time, or so she thought, but for whatever reason, it worked for us, speaking for me, I was determined more than ever some 17yrs ago to get my mother out of the projects after we saw the deterioration of the people of which drugs took over, everyone was not on drugs, or hung out, at one time, people cared about themselves and through it all some of us survived. I am now the owner of my own corporation, I own real estate through out the city, and I'm not patting myself on the back either, I reflect on where I came from all the time, because if I didn't know the struggles I wouldn't be who I am today, no matter where you live, or how you live, its up to the individual. Projects are everywhere, but because of a diffrent income levels, they are viewed diffrently, a lot of highrises have been funded by HUD even on the gold coast, in reality we all have lived in a box in one way or another, but if you have a little money, they are called condos. You could still be living next door to a drug dealer, crack head, or an embezzeler of millions of dollars, it comes in all forms in all parts of the world, whether it be in the projects, a home, a condo, a mansion etc... well you get the picture.
Prime Real Estate said:
Lets just say if you haven't lived in the projects and you were privledged & blessed not to have to live in Robert Taylor, Stateway, Ickes, etc... Kudos to you, but don't pass judgement on people that have, I too lived in the Ickes projects at one time for 17yrs, my mom was a single parent and raised 3 kids there on her own, when we moved there, it was beautiful, the people were great, and we got along with everyone, I'm sure my moms intentions were not to live there for the rest of her life, but it was a short fix at the time, or so she thought, but for whatever reason, it worked for us, speaking for me, I was determined more than ever some 17yrs ago to get my mother out of the projects after we saw the deterioration of the people of which drugs took over, everyone was not on drugs, or hung out, at one time, people cared about themselves and through it all some of us survived. I am now the owner of my own corporation, I own real estate through out the city, and I'm not patting myself on the back either, I reflect on where I came from all the time, because if I didn't know the struggles I wouldn't be who I am today, no matter where you live, or how you live, its up to the individual. Projects are everywhere, but because of a diffrent income levels, they are viewed diffrently, a lot of highrises have been funded by HUD even on the gold coast, in reality we all have lived in a box in one way or another, but if you have a little money, they are called condos. You could still be living next door to a drug dealer, crack head, or an embezzeler of millions of dollars, it comes in all forms in all parts of the world, whether it be in the projects, a home, a condo, a mansion etc... well you get the picture.
DMLAWYER said:
That is just the point, your mom did not raise three kids on her own. Part of raising kids is providing a roof over their heads. That burden fell on the shoulders of taxpayers such as me and my parents.
So yes, in your own words, it "worked for you" living off the fat of the land, off of other peoples labor. Well guess what, those of us pulling the wagon are getting tired of the people riding on the wagon.
You are a sorry bitter person. You don't deserve an internet connection.
kj said:
Megan, once again beautiful work.
lique2010 said:
I can speak for my experience about the Ickes. I didn't live there came to visit family there every summer. When I came to visit meet really nice people. Got to experience life. I didn't see it as a hood . I saw it as place were people were trying to just live an survive by any means necessary. And if you truly think we are all do that no matter where we live in the best or what society considers the best or the worst. At the end of the day we all are just trying to make it an wants whats best for our families. So to judge we are not in a place to judge. The young lady that wrote this story was just giving her point of view and a person that actually lived there. She was not judging it she just said before she truly got to know what's was inside on the Ickes her thoughts. That why they say don't judge a book by its cover. So now after she was inside the book she could truly understand. If you can't understand that then your slow.
bridgett jackson said:
DMLawyer like Hoover, whom I know said get a life.Everyone has needed a hand every know and then. I am a product of the Ickes, yes I was a single parent raising a daughter.Yes the government assisted me to stay and school and get a job.. I graduated from high school with a 1 year old, I have been gainfully employed over 20 years. I have my own insurance Agency in Calumet City, I am a home owner and I pay taxes just like you. I am also attending college full time to become a teacher, there are many stories like mine from the housing projects. There are also bad stories no matter where u live there are good and bad situations. If u are one of the fortunate people who has never received a government help than may God continue to Bless you. Never say never.
Megan good story
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