Mad Men is back. And so is Don Draper. Here’s Don’s Guide to Picking Up Women in just four easy steps. Or so.
Bueller, Bueller … Anyone know the way to Shermer, Ill.?
Today’s Wisch List column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …
Bueller, Bueller … Anyone know the way to Shermer, Ill.?
The WISCH LIST
Aug. 15, 2009
Scour a roadmap of the Land of Lincoln, and you won’t find it anywhere. Plug the town’s name into Mapquest and you’ll get bupkiss. And if you ask a Chicagoan for directions?
Well, whatever you receive in return, it’ll be wrong.
That’s because the town of Shermer, Ill., doesn’t exist.
Although, I hardly let that stop me from setting off in search of the place this past Sunday afternoon. And, as it turned out, I actually found Shermer to be all across Chicago’s North Shore.
There were bits of it here in Highland Park and pieces of it there in Winnetka. I found stretches of Shermer in Northbrook and in Evanston and in Kenilworth.
The town may be mythical. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely fictional, too.
Just ask Ferris Bueller.
After all, he calls the place home.
On Aug. 6, legendary filmmaker John Hughes, who directed such iconic ‘80s teen comedies as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and created the 1990 smash hit “Home Alone,” died of a heart attack at 59 while visiting family in Manhattan.
Hughes grew up along the North Shore and turned it into the backdrop of adolescence for an entire generation. And this week he was remembered at an invitation-only memorial service in Lake Forest attended by the likes of Vince Vaughn, Ben Stein and Matthew Broderick.
Since my invitation must have, you know, gotten lost in the mail, I decided to instead stage my own memorial service for Hughes by seeking out Shermer through a local tour of famous movie locations that can hold its own with anything the hills of Hollywood can offer.
Meant to loosely represent Hughes’ hometown of Northbrook – which once was named Shermerville – Shermer served as the setting for 16 John Hughes movies, including “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Weird Science,” “Uncle Buck,” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
And my personal adventure through this imaginary suburb began with me driving north out of Chicago to Evanston, where leafy neighborhood streets look as if they come directly from central casting.
At 2602 Lincoln Street, I puttered – without my car backfiring – past the house where John Candy as “Uncle Buck” babysat his brother’s kids. And less than a mile away, at 3022 Payne Street, sits Samantha Baker’s home from “Sixteen Candles,” where a girl (who wasn’t Molly Ringwald) came out to get the mail as I traveled by.
Leaving Evanston, I then weaved my way north to 230 Oxford Road in Kenilworth, where Steve Martin’s character arrived – finally – for Thanksgiving dinner with his family at the end of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
And next up was Winnetka, where I made a quick jaunt past the real estate office at 583 Chestnut Street that employed Katie Bueller (Ferris’ loving mother) before arriving at 671 Lincoln Avenue, where Macaulay Culkin was so famously left “Home Alone.”
Tooling west, I then headed to 2300 Shermer Road in Northbrook, site of the football field at Glenbrook North High School that Judd Nelson’s character marched defiantly across in the closing scene of “The Breakfast Club.”
After driving up Shermer Road – and seeing Northbrook’s water tower appear on the horizon (the “SAVE FERRIS” message on it is long gone) – I popped in at the Northbrook Historical Society and was greeted by the board president …
“Judy Hughes,” she said, much to my amusement, before adding, “No relation. But I get that all the time … And my son’s name is John Hughes, so he got a lot of kidding in high school.”
Hughes – Judy, that is – said that the filmmaker’s passing was the talk of the Northbrook Days festival held in town last weekend.
“It’s sad,” added Liz Green, a lifetime resident who appeared as an extra in “Uncle Buck” when she was 14. “Everyone has a John Hughes story growing up in Northbrook. I still remember kids at (Glenbrook North) wearing T-shirts that said: ‘If it’s good enough for Ferris, it’s good enough for me.’ ”
After bidding Northbrook adieu, I headed into Highland Park and rolled past 1407 Waverly Road, where heartthrob Jake Ryan hosted the wild party in “Sixteen Candles,” before making my final – and favorite stop – on my tour:
The house at 370 Beech Street where Ferris Bueller’s pal, Cameron, sent his father’s Ferrari flying out of the garage and into the wooded ravine below.
I think I could still hear the glass shattering.
So, while Shermer, Ill., exists only in the movies, its homes are firmly planted in reality. And they’re all there just north of Chicago for you to see.
Although, if you do, remember to respect them as private residences.
Otherwise, I’ll send Dean Rooney to look for you.
Gone Fishin’ …
… Well, gone tanning in South Florida is actually more like it.
In any case, the Wisch List is taking the week off.
But, I’ll be back with a new column next week. See ya then.
Bored of Trustees, Chief Illiniwek stirs
Today’s Wisch List newspaper column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …
Bored of Trustees, Chief Illiniwek stirs
The WISCH LIST
Aug. 1, 2009
The Chief is dead.
Or, is it long live the Chief?
“Chief Illiniwek is not dead,” said Steve Raquel, who portrayed the University of Illinois’ beloved – and vilified – symbol as a student in Champaign during the early 1990s. “The university just isn’t recognizing him due to NCAA restrictions.
“But, we have a Chief on campus. We have an assistant Chief on campus. We have a Chief outfit. And we have opportunities to dance.”
And now, perhaps, new life.
Ignored thus far in the swirl of the high-profile admissions scandal that continues to engulf the state’s flagship school – and now threatens to swallow its administration whole – is the saga’s potential impact on the future of the embattled Chief Illiniwek who, you might be surprised to learn, is still battlin’.
“We find it all interesting,” Raquel, of Naperville, said on behalf of the Council of Chiefs, a group comprised of Illiniwek’s former portrayers. “Very interesting.”
On Tuesday, University of Illinois trustee Lawrence Eppley – who chaired the school’s Board of Trustees in 2006 when it made the controversial decision to retire Chief Illiniwek as the university’s symbol – became the first casualty of the admissions scandal when he stepped down and urged his fellow board members to follow suit.
“The public’s confidence in the University must be restored,” Eppley wrote in his letter of resignation to Gov. Pat Quinn, “and one way to begin to restore that confidence is to make a clean start.”
Eppley’s acknowledgment of responsibility in the secretive admissions process that, according to the Chicago Tribune, saw more than 800 politically connected applicants gain preferential treatment since 2004, was a far cry from his claim two weeks ago when before the Illinois Admissions Review Commission he said of his role, “It seemed benign back then.”
As a U of I alum who wasn’t politicked into school and a longtime defender of all things Chief, I almost choked on the irony of Eppley’s apparent worldview:
Clout, benign. Chief Illiniwek, anything but.
But, if anything, we know all too well in this state that politics plays a role in most everything. And that includes college, as the Tribune has reported that, in 2003, Eppley was handpicked by Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s inner circle to serve as chairman of the U of I Board of Trustees, allowing him to leapfrog more veteran trustees and then serve in the powerful role for six years rather than the customary two.
In recent years, it’s been the opinion of many Illinois alumni, including myself, that politics have seeped far too deep into the university’s decision-making.
That’s coming to light now through the admissions scandal, but it was just as apparent when Chief Illiniwek was eliminated in spite of enormous popularity throughout the state.
Raquel said that at the time of Illinwek’s ouster, the Council of Chiefs didn’t feel that the university did enough to find a compromise and “Because of political reasons and to keep people’s jobs, they bowed to pressure.”
You don’t say.
On Wednesday, Tom Livingston, a member of the alumni association’s board of directors and a former Chief Illiniwek, told the Illinois Admissions Review Commission that his group would like to have a bigger role in recommending trustee candidates to the governor. Currently, the governor appoints all nine trustees but a push is on to fill at least six of those positions through election.
“If the selection process for trustees goes back to a vote of the Alumni Board, it’s at least feasible for the board to be open to revisiting the issue of the Chief,” Raquel said. “In the past, we’ve felt it was very politicized.”
In his July newsletter, Honor the Chief Society co-founder Roger Huddleston wrote about the admissions scandal, “The players that seem to be in the hottest water are those that were most responsible for the attempted elimination of Chief Illiniwek. It gives me no joy that these individuals seem to be reaping what they have sown, not only with the Chief but with other unethical actions.
“I do believe the greatness of our traditions as a wonderful university committed to excellence will prevail.”
Many hope that those traditions might again one day include Chief Illiniwek, as the symbol remains as revered as ever.
“You won’t believe how many people ask about the Chief dancing at their weddings,” said Raquel, who explained that all such requests are politely declined, including that of former Illini quarterback Kurt Kittner who earlier this summer married ex-Illinois tennis player Leila Cehajic.
A week ago, in an editorial for the Champaign News-Gazette, Urbana native and U of I alum Roger Ebert called Chief Illiniwek “the “world’s greatest sports symbol.” And last fall, thousands packed Assembly Hall to watch the Chief perform at an event staged by the Students for Chief Illiniwek organization.
On Oct. 10, thousands likely will again when current Chief Logan Ponce reprises the role at the Hall following Illinois’ homecoming football game.
The Chief Illiniwek situation features multiple complications, including the NCAA’s current ban of Native American imagery and the lack of a true remaining Illini tribe for the university to approach for support, as Florida State University did with the Seminoles.
The recent events at U of I, however, have given hope that a potential regime change in Champaign could return Illiniwek from the underground.
“We are keeping the tradition alive,” Raquel said. “And hoping the Chief might still return.”
Fighting Chicago’s ‘Traffick’ problem
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.
I aspire to …
… 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.)
Batman ‘Round The Clock
Maybe it’s just me, but being Batman appears to be a lot more fun in the Philippines than it does in Gotham City.
The day I became a Cardinals fan
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.
Hanging with the Hutterites
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.
Livin’ on The Ledge
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.
