Today’s Wisch List column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …

Fighting Chicago’s ‘Traffick’ problem

The WISCH LIST

July 25, 2009

Last Sunday evening in the Peace Garden outside Old St. Pat’s Church in Chicago’s West Loop, the weather was perfect.

And the topic at hand anything but.

Standing there on the grassy patch of tranquility adjacent to the 159-year-old cathedral – the only church to survive the Great Chicago Fire – were dozens of people, including many journalists, all in attendance for a vigil in honor of detained American reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling.

Taken into custody on St. Patrick’s Day near the China-North Korea border while reporting for Current TV on the issue of human trafficking, Lee and Ling were tried and sentenced last month to 12 years of “reform through labor” in a North Korean prison.

News outlets reported on Monday that the U.S. and North Korea have begun “delicate negotiations” regarding the future of Lee and Ling. And one day earlier, it was the hope of those at Old St. Pat’s – including Euna Lee’s husband, with whom she has a 4-year-old daughter – that their future remains bright.

“We appeal for amnesty for Euna and Laura,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said while delivering the opening prayer at the vigil. “That they might be returned to their families, that they be sustained and that their hopes be lifted … Faith will prevail.”

For the victims of the issue of human trafficking – the modern-day form of slavery that exploits vulnerable women, men and children in conditions of sexual and labor servitude that Lee and Ling were investigating – hope, sustenance and faith often are in woefully short supply.

The Chicago-based organization Traffick Free, however, is working to change that. And not only abroad, but right here at home in the Windy City, as well.

“That’s the biggest thing that people are surprised about,” said Nicole Culverson, the public relations lead for Traffick Free. “They all think human trafficking only happens in Third World countries, and not in the United States. Or, in Chicago, in particular.”

On Tuesday evening, as part of its ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the issue, Traffick Free held an outdoor screening of the 2007 film “Trade” at a patio on the Near North Side.

Based on a true story, the movie tells the compelling tale of a 13-year-old Mexico City girl whose abduction by sex traffickers sparks a frantic mission across the U.S. border by her 17-year-old brother to save her.

Depicted in the film are many of the ways that traffickers use the tools of fraud, deception, threats and force to transport people against their will for the purpose of performing commercial sex or labor acts.

The movie also shined light on the fact that human trafficking – on par with illegal weapons transactions as the world’s second largest criminal industry behind drug dealing, according to Traffick Free – is not just a global issue, but a local one, as well.

Last year, the U.S. State Department estimated that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States annually. Traffick Free reports that as much as $250,000 can be made from one trafficked woman in the U.S. and that, globally, slave traders in 2007 made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks.

Combined.

In large part because O’Hare Airport is considered a key transit location for traffickers to transport victims and disperse them to other cities and states, the New York Times in 2003 labeled Chicago as a national hub for human trafficking. In 2005, the FBI also designated Chicago as one of 13 locations of “High Intensity Child Prostitution.”

Traffickers also have been known funnel greater numbers of women into Chicago for sexual exploitation when the city is filled with large numbers of spectators or tourists.

The 2016 Olympics, no doubt would be one such occasion. And with Chicago vying for the 2016 bid, a petition was passed around during Tuesday night’s film screening urging the International Olympic Committee to issue a public service announcement regarding human trafficking.

Closer to home, Culverson said Chicago-area residents can do a number of things to raise awareness about human trafficking, both locally and beyond.

“As a consumer, they can make sure that things they purchase are made without trade labor,” she said. “And they can educate themselves and others on the issue by holding movie screenings at home and talking to people at businesses, churches and schools to make everyone aware of human trafficking.

“We just want to get people talking. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

For more information on human trafficking and ways to get involved in raising awareness, visit www.traffickfree.org.

… teach old dogs new tricks; put my pants on two legs at a time; lead not just a horse to water, but the whole damn herd; ignore the thorns and embrace the rose; be all I’m cracked up to be; turn over new leaves; show I do know jack about that; not just roll with the punches, but throw them; kill the cat with curiosity; believe I can indeed win them all.

(Just a little something I wrote up for a work project.)

Maybe it’s just me, but being Batman appears to be a lot more fun in the Philippines than it does in Gotham City.

Today’s Wisch List column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …

The day I became a Cardinals fan

The WISCH LIST

July 18, 2009

Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to my sporting allegiances I’m practically ashamed that my blood runs red.

You know, like, Indiana Hoosiers red. Or Wisconsin Badgers red. Or, heaven help me, St. Louis Cardinals red.

When it comes to my veins, I’m a blueblood (both Illini and Cubbie) through and through. But this past weekend, for the sake of this column, I forsook my lifelong fandom and did the absolute unthinkable.

I became – am I really typing this? – a Cardinals fan.

Yes, last Saturday in a social experiment done for your amusement I donned red as my identity went to the birds in one of the most personally uncomfortable experiences of my life.

Don’t ever say I’m not committed to my craft.

The whole thing began last week prior to the Chicago arrival of the Cardinals – and their flocks of fans – for a big weekend series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Out of the red (it sure wasn’t the blue), I was struck with the novel notion that it might be interesting if I transformed myself – the biggest Cubs fan I know – into a temporary Cardinals fan to see what it’s like to experience Game Day in Wrigleyville as a Redbirds rooter.

Well, since my hair isn’t long enough to feather and I had, you know, tossed all my stonewashed jean shorts and high-tops after junior high (I kid, I kid … OK, not really), I needed to do some shopping in order to pass myself off as your typical St. Lunatic on the prowl in the Windy City.

So, on Friday, I drove to Woodfield Mall after work to search for some Cardinals gear. At Foot Locker, I found nothing (good for them). And at Champs Sports, I thought I was about to strike out again — and perhaps save myself from this impending masochism – when I spotted a “Pujols No. 5” T-shirt buried beneath a pile.

Well, I was not wearing that thing. And instead went with the lesser of two evils, grabbing a red-and-white shirt featuring the Cardinals’ familiar script “STL” logo on the chest.

At the counter, I reluctantly gave the shirt to a perky cashier named Tiffany. She rang me up, and as I handed my credit card to her, I sneezed.

“Bless you,” Tiffany said cheerily in response to my apparent allergic reaction to red.

“Yeah, I’ll need it,” I muttered as I took the shopping bag and walked away – only to sneeze again.

On Saturday afternoon, the Cubs were scheduled to host the Cards at 3:05 p.m. So, about an hour before game time, I forced myself off the couch and forced the Cardinals shirt over my head.

Standing in front of my bedroom mirror with a scowl on my face, I looked like a Redcoat. And felt like Benedict Arnold.

This was going to be even more difficult than I thought.

To keep my soul from completely fleeing my body, I tugged a University of Illinois baseball cap onto my head before walking out of my apartment to face a Bizzaro Wrigleyville.

Trudging down Sheffield toward the park and pulling my cap as low over my eyes as possible, I became more self-conscious with every step.

Initially, my plan was to “Run the Bases” around Wrigley, visiting the four bars – Cubby Bear, Harry Caray’s Tavern, Murphy’s Bleachers and Casey Moran’s – that sit on the street corners around the ballpark.

Upon reaching Wrigley’s bleacher entrance, however, I knew that wasn’t happening. In my shirt, I felt itchy and incredibly awkward. I’d make an awful undercover cop.

Nevertheless, I made myself do a lap around the park and on Waveland, a Cubs fan shouted at me, “Cross the street, ya Cardinals fan!” I did, having never before been so happy to be yelled at.

By the time I reached Clark & Addison, however, that happiness had long faded and I needed an escape, so I slipped in to Taco Bell. An employee handed me my order, saying “Go Cubs” before looking at my shirt and stammering, “I mean, St. Louis. Go Chicago-Louis.”

Apparently, my personal conflict was contagious.

After holding the door open for a Cubs fan in a wheelchair – he didn’t say thanks – I hightailed it home, where I yanked off the Cardinals shirt, slipped on a Cubs shirt and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

On Sunday, I did my penance by attending both ends of the Cubs-Cards doubleheader while blissfully wearing blue.

As for the “STL” shirt?

Well, I’m giving it to my brother’s girlfriend. She’s from St. Louis and is a Cardinals fan.

But I like her anyway.

My full-time work as a writer for the advertising-marketing-innovation agency Maddock Douglas takes me to interesting places.

Including Big Sky Country.

Below is a shot of me and my new buddies, Caleb and David, on July, 6, hanging out beneath the rear bumper of a crop sprayer (no, they’re not midgets) at the fascinating — and friendly — Kingsbury Colony of the Hutterites, located about 60 miles north of Great Falls, Mont.

Today’s Wisch List newspaper column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …

Livin’ on The Ledge

The WISCH LIST

July 11, 2009

At the Sears Tower, they don’t just measure height in feet.

They measure it in celebrities.

Purchase a ticket for a trip to the top of North America’s tallest building and you’ll soon learn that the 110-story Sears Tower not only stands 1,450 tall.

It stands 262 Michael Jordans high, as well.

Or 313 Oprahs, if you prefer to measure in talk show queens.

Last week, however, atop the Chicago’s trademark skyscraper, it was a celebrity of a different sort – one with glass skin, but plenty of beating hearts – that was creating a buzz even MJ or Oprah would envy.

Say hello to The Ledge.

I did.

Braving the crowds – and the heights – a week ago Friday, I visited the Sears Tower’s much-ballyhooed new addition: A quartet of enclosed glass boxes known collectively as The Ledge because they stick out about four feet from the 103rd floor Skydeck.
And leave you peering 1,353 feet straight down.

Thanks to the unique attraction, which opened to the public on July 2, visitors to the Sears Tower can now get a panoramic view of Chicago that previously was reserved only for their dreams.

Or, I suppose, their nightmares.

On a clear day atop the tower, you’ve always been able to see 50 miles away in any direction. But now you also can stare 50 miles past your toes to Wacker Drive below.

At least, it seems that way.

Management at the tower said the notion to hang glass boxes from the Skydeck was sparked by years of watching visitors – think Ferris Bueller – press their foreheads against the glass walls to get a look down. Now they have an unobstructed view – and Sears Tower custodians fewer smudges to clean.

The Ledge’s boxes, which are about the size of large elevators and suspended by 30-pound steel beams, reportedly can support at least 5 tons apiece.

That’s equivalent to the weight of an elephant, which should make the queasier more comfortable when they step onto The Ledge. Although, discovering that the boxes also retract into the building when the windows get washed, might send them leaping right back out.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, the architecture firm that originally designed the Sears Tower in the early 1970s, spent a year and a half designing and constructing The Ledge. And among the challenges faced was that at times the Windy City’s wicked winds wouldn’t allow workers to construct the boxes from inside the tower.

Last week, however, many visitors seemed as if they could use a little wind – in their sails – as they flirted with The Ledge.

“I sort of went out there,” Waterford, Mich., teenager Scott Christopher said. “I stuck my foot out. But that was about it.”

Now, heights don’t particularly frighten me. But I still felt my pulse quicken a bit when I took my first step onto The Ledge. And after spending a couple minutes snapping photos and admiring the view, I then spent several more watching others do the same – or fail to.

Because, as amusing as The Ledge is, the real show is watching other people experience it.  It’s high entertainment.
Literally.

In my opinion, the view from the Sears Tower Skydeck has always been inferior to that of the John Hancock Building’s 95th-floor Signature Room. It’s shorter, but closer to Lake Michigan and looks down over the Mag Mile. Plus, you can get a Martini there.

The Ledge, though, is just the shot of adrenalin the broad shoulders of the Sears Tower sorely needs. After all, it’s been a rough year for the 35-year-old Chicago icon.

In February, its owners pitched the cockamamie idea of re-covering the tower in silver to improve its energy performance.  And now later this summer, Sears will frustratingly change its name to Willis after its new owner, London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, Ltd.

That move, to me, is akin to renaming Mount Rushmore, because the Sears Tower is more than a mere building. It’s a national monument.

One that features national figures, such as poet Carl Sandburg who has a quote painted on the wall by the Skydeck elevators that take you back down to the ground.

It reads, “Show me another city so glad to be alive.”

Sandburg just as easily could have said the same about Chicago’s people after seeing the faces of those who had braved The Ledge.

And even lived to tell about it.

To purchase tickets to the Sears Tower SkyDeck, visit www.theskydeck.com. My tip: Purchase online rather than at the tower. You’ll move through lines much quicker once inside the building.

I ain't afraid of no heights

First off, I want to Wisch everyone a Happy Fourth of July. Have a great one.

Secondly, here’s today’s Wisch List newspaper column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …

Digging in at Hot Doug’s

The WISCH LIST

July 4, 2009

At precisely 9:30 a.m. last Saturday morning, Darren Cahr parked his SUV at a quiet intersection on Chicago’s North Side and promptly hopped out.

The 40-year-old then strolled across the street, took a seat on the sidewalk outside a restaurant’s entrance and unfurled a newspaper in preparation for an hourlong wait.

Just to eat a hot dog.

“I’ve been doing this for years,” Cahr proudly explained as he sat on the hard concrete outside Hot Doug’s, Chicago’s self-proclaimed “Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium” that serves so much more than “just hot dogs.”

Within minutes, the line behind Cahr had grown to eight. And by the time Hot Doug’s finally opened for business at 10:30 a.m., the string of hungry folks waiting outside had swelled to nearly a hundred and stretched all the way down the block.

It was expected to stay that way all day long. Just like it does every Saturday, no matter if there’s rain, sleet, snow or sweltering heat.

And you thought the lines at the Taste of Chicago were extreme.

“For a true aficionado, there simply is no better place to experience a hot dog,” Cahr said explaining the madness behind his methods. “Hot Doug’s is the height of the encased meat art form.”

Yes, in Chicago, there is an art form.

And Hot Doug’s is the Louvre.

Owned by executive chef Doug Sohn and located at 3324 N. California Ave. in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood, Hot Doug’s truly is unlike any other hot dog joint that you’ll find in the Windy City – or anywhere else, for that matter.

In a town known for its grub, Hot Doug’s stands tall, boasting a true cult status among Chicago’s devoted “foodies” thanks to its fascinating menu (we’ll get to that), friendly atmosphere (Hot Doug himself is your cashier) and glowing accolades (in June, culinary guru Anthony Bourdain decreed Hot Doug’s as one of the “The 13 places to eat before you die”).

If Bourdain’s claim is true, then Brent McKinney is proud to say he can die a happy man.

“My two favorite restaurants are Gibson’s (Steakhouse) and Hot Doug’s,” McKinney, 35, explained on Saturday as he stood fourth in line waiting for the Encased Meat Emporium to open. “But I put Hot Doug’s slightly above Gibson’s because you can find other steakhouses.

“But you can’t find another place like Hot Doug’s in the city. You’ll never find another place like this.”

At Hot Doug’s, you can get traditional Windy City staples such as bratwursts, polish sausages and Chicago dogs (no ketchup allowed). But that’s not the main reason why most people go there.
Rather, they’re willing to wait more than an hour in line to sample some of the restaurant’s more exotic – or amusing – fare.

Each day the menu includes a variety of celebrity-themed sausages such as the “Keira Knightley” (formerly the Jennifer Garner and the Britney Spears) that’s described as “Mighty hot!” and the “Salma Hayek” (formerly the Madonna, the Raquel Welch and the Ann Margaret) that’s “Mighty, mighty, mighty hot!”

Beyond that, each morning at hotdougs.com rotating specials are posted that range from the Hot Doug’s BLT with bacon sausage, avocado mayonnaise, cherry tomatoes and iceberg lettuce to a Spicy Beef Sausage with Coca-Cola BBQ sauce and Colby Jack cheese to a Taco Pork Sausage with jalapeno mayonnaise and habanero Jack cheese.

Most interestingly, though, is Hot Doug’s “Game of the Week” special, a selection of game animal sausages that – if they don’t make your mouth water – will at least make your jaw drop.

“I’ve had a rattlesnake hot dog, kangaroo, elk, venison, buffalo, wild boar, rabbit …” McKinney said, ticking off the sausages he’s sampled.

On this, my first visit to Hot Doug’s, I skipped the wild boar and instead went with a BLT dog and an order of duck fat fries (available only on Fridays and Saturdays), described by many as the best in Chicago.

Hot Doug’s is only open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but McKinney makes those hours work.

“One weekend, I actually did a triple-dip,” he said. “I came here for dinner on a Friday, then lunch on Saturday and then dinner on Saturday. By the third time, one of the busboys did a double take. And I was like, ‘Yeah, me again.’ ”

McKinney said that weekend he spent a total of nearly four hours waiting in line outside Hot Doug’s. And he issued a caveat to anyone else considering a visit.

“Just Remember that Hot Doug’s only takes cash,” McKinney said.

The wait is worth it.

But it doesn’t take plastic.

I have no idea if Josh Womack is a potential Big Leaguer, but with bat tricks like these, there’s no doubt the guy has some Major League skills.