tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post6400091446705452897..comments2023-11-05T06:51:51.312-06:00Comments on Here Comes Johnny Yen Again...: Take the Star Out of the WindowJohnny Yenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06561248220244037567noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-5119055346098361562007-02-03T10:23:00.000-06:002007-02-03T10:23:00.000-06:00Bubs-
Thanks.
I love that neighborhood near Nort...Bubs-<br />Thanks. <br /><br />I love that neighborhood near Northeastern. I got my teaching certificate at NEIU, and loved walking through that area. Beautiful housing. When I went to Haugen, I'd get a CTA token twice a week so that my friend Steve and I could attend gifted classes at Petersen Elementary, there on Foster and Kimball.<br /><br />That's funny-- I drive right by Gordon Tech on the way to work.<br /><br />Albany Park is on an upswing now. Their condoing a lot and people are buying houses there. <br /><br />Have you been through Albany Park lately? They built a new middle school on what was the north end of Jensen Park recently. They tore down the old synagogue to make a parking lot for the middle school. <br /><br />Vikki-<br />Thanks...<br /><br />Lu-<br />Lincoln Avenue had an interesting history. My great-grandfather, the anarchist bomb-thrower, owned a bakery on Lincoln at one time, about the 4100 block. <br /><br /><br />Natalie-<br />Thanks! That's funny, because I lived in Rogers Park, on Morse, just west of Clark, 20 years ago. It was my first apartment after college-- I answered an ad for a roommate in the Reader. The neighborhood then was on a downward spiral at that point-- drugs and crime. I know it's getting better these days. I hope, unlike Lincoln Park, it's able to maintain its diversity as it improves economically.<br /><br />Ten S-<br />Adam played floor hockey the last couple of winters in the Oriole Park field house. It's not too far from my ex's house (she lives in Norwood Park). <br /><br />It's hard to convey to people who weren't around then, that time. It was bitter.<br /><br />Chris-<br />Thank you!<br /><br />Erik-<br />My father was working nights in 1968-- he'd just started working for IBM the year before. He was downtown the night of the Democratic Convention riots, and witnessed what went on. He really hated old man Daley from that day on. <br /><br />Toccata-<br />Melancholy sums it up beautifully. <br /><br />I'm sorry about your brother.<br /><br />Your story about your brother's room reminds me of an old girlfriend, whose brother had died at the age of 24. He was morbidly obese and died of a heart attack in his sleep. He didn't work and still lived with her parents when it happened. They kept the room exactly as it was when he died. It was not very healthy. I think that it had a lot to do with them being from a very patriarchal culture (she was Honduran), and the brother was venerated, unlike she and her sister. It deeply affected her. She was one of the most intelligent people I've ever known. She put herself through college and grad school, yet, could not be recognized by her father for her successes simply because she wasn't male. The anger from this was incredible, and made worse by the fact that she wouldn't acknowledge it. It damaged our ability to communicate, and I hold this largely responsible for the end of our relationship years ago.Johnny Yenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06561248220244037567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-37340555509673989442007-02-02T20:29:00.000-06:002007-02-02T20:29:00.000-06:00When my brother died his bedroom door was closed s...When my brother died his bedroom door was closed shut and the inside remained the same, forever untouched. I used to sneak in there and go through his toybox and try to remember every moment of his existence. I hated that closed door and the heavy silence that fell upon our house. That star in the window reminds me of that door and a family forever changed.Toccatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08391155885852708204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-75987914691177116502007-02-02T20:14:00.000-06:002007-02-02T20:14:00.000-06:00The image of the star still hanging gave me shiver...The image of the star still hanging gave me shivers and a deep sense of melancholy.Toccatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08391155885852708204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-2811073562389242932007-02-02T16:21:00.000-06:002007-02-02T16:21:00.000-06:00Excellent post, Johnny. I lived in Justice, IL, 19...Excellent post, Johnny. I lived in Justice, IL, 1965ish-1968ish before we moved on to St. Paul, MN. It was a totally crazy scene, lots of unrest, disturbances, Vietnam, all of it. Had a great impact on me, living in the Chicago area in such a wild time.Erik Donald Francehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02332500850365598564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-26413887818970424182007-02-02T13:58:00.000-06:002007-02-02T13:58:00.000-06:00Really touching post, Johnny. Thanks.Really touching post, Johnny. Thanks.Some Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06899082993897012313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-73216093853325142722007-02-02T12:58:00.000-06:002007-02-02T12:58:00.000-06:00We lived way northwest in the city, Oriole Park. I...We lived way northwest in the city, Oriole Park. It too was a heavily blue collar neighborhood with a lot of first generation immigrants. I had forgotten about the blue star. I apparently am a little younger than you, not by much, but my memories of those times were the next door neighbor boy leaving for Viet Nam and then joyously being welcomed home about two or three years later. He always was really nice to me and my brother and sent us souvenirs shen he was away. I was so little that I don't know what I thought of where he was, I just remember how happy everyone was when he came home. He wasn't the only one. The boy kitty corner from our house went as well. I don't know about any others because my world was pretty small then, but I do remember the blue stars. Every once in awhile I drive through the old neighborhood. In mine, some has changed and some is just as I remembered it. Thanks for helping me remember times gone by and how to put it all in perspective.Tenacious Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15133857720793708520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-68136805537796162272007-02-02T12:52:00.000-06:002007-02-02T12:52:00.000-06:00Beautiful post. It is odd how neighboorhoods cycle...Beautiful post. It is odd how neighboorhoods cycle. I wonder what Rogers Park (where I live) will ook like in 20 years. I hope that it remaind the hodgepodge of ethnicities it is today. It's the whole reason Ilive there.Foofahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11490919763408427647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-26464248572685937102007-02-02T12:00:00.000-06:002007-02-02T12:00:00.000-06:00My mother grew up in Albany Park back when her fam...My mother grew up in Albany Park back when her family was one of the few non-Jewish families in the neighborhood. I love the timelessness of some Chciago neighborhoods. Walking up Lincoln Avenue is such a great way to see the old and new side by side, particularly when you get up past Foster.luluhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468418041443316689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-64568523065335716242007-02-02T11:43:00.000-06:002007-02-02T11:43:00.000-06:00Nice. Very nice.Nice. Very nice.vikkitikkitavihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01501311175482530001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33543511.post-27450883455043586702007-02-02T10:39:00.000-06:002007-02-02T10:39:00.000-06:00You describe those neighborhoods perfectly.
My ...You describe those neighborhoods perfectly. <br /><br />My bride grew up just north of Albany Park, near Northeastern U, and I remember taking the 82 bus with her over to the Ravenswood el at Lawrence and Kimball. A lot of the guys I went to Gordon Tech with were from Albany Park, and we bought our first house there in 1987.<br /><br />The imagery of that blue star in the window is so sad.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09747874295331152779noreply@blogger.com