A Zoom Discussion with Carlo Rotella on October 3rd

Carlo Rotella will be joining the Cliff Dwellers book club for a Zoom discussion of his book The World is Always Coming to an End on Saturday, October 3, at 11:00 A.M. The discussion is open to all, and if you would like to participate Email me at richardreeder34@gmail.com and I will send you the access information. The book is part memoir, part urban sociology. It relates Rotella’s story of growing up in two homes located in Chicago’s racially changing South Shore community, which was 90% White in 1960, and by 1980 changed to 95% Black.
The book analyzes why integration failed in South Shore, despite the committed efforts of many, both Black and White people, to make it work. Today the community remains a dichotomy, being above average in Chicago for both PHDs and high school dropouts. There are many lessons to learn from this book. Essential lessons for the hope of Chicago’s distressed communities not only to survive today, but to gather strength to prosper in the future.

2020 Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

The 2020 Booker Prize shortlist is young, diverse, and, for the most part, relatively unknown in the literary world. The shortlist includes four debut novels. Here is the shortlist:
Diane Cook (USA)- Wilderness
Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)- This Mournable Body
Avni Doshi (USA)- Burnt Sugar
Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia/USA)- The Shadow King
Douglas Stuart (Scotland/USA)- Shuggie Bain
Brandon Taylor (USA)- Real Life

Archaic Words and Phrases From the Jazz Age

Recently I have been reading vignettes from Ben Hecht’s “1001 Afternoons in Chicago,” a compilation of some of Hecht’s daily newspaper columns written in 1921 and 1922 for the Chicago Daily News. I keep on finding words and phrases from these near century old columns that have pretty much passed out of usage today in both conversation and writing. I would like to share ten of these and their meanings with you. How many of these are you familiar with?

ballyhoo- a noisy attention-getting demonstration or talk.
bounder- a man of objectionable social behavior.
bunk- insincere or foolish talk; nonsense.
four-flush- to make a false claim.
frowzy- having a slovenly appearance.
galumphing- moving with a clumsy heavy tread.
gewgaw- a showy trifle; trinket
his nobs- a man of importance, used in a derisively mocking way.
juniper juice- gin (the liquor).
wigwag- to make a signal (as by waving a hand or arm).

Ronny’s: The Sad End of the Democratization of Steak in Chicago

I just learned today that Ronny’s Steak House just closed its one and only downtown location in the State of Illinois building. At one time, Ronny’s had six locations in Chicago, scattered strategically downtown. Ronny’s was what one might call a steakateria, a place that you took a tray and silverware and grabbed a place in line to place your order, while food was being dished out to you from staff behind the counter.
Ronny’s opened in 1963, the year that I began my studies at Roosevelt University. I ate there a lot then, and for many years afterwards, as I studied and worked downtown. Ronny’s was a cheap place to eat. In 1963, you could get a steak, baked potato, and a piece of garlic bread for a buck and quarter. In truth, it wasn’t much of a steak. It was thin, overcooked, and fatty, but still it was steak.
Ronny’s fulfilled one aspect of the American Dream, where steak would be affordable for all the people. Office workers, students, tourists, and even panhandlers on a good day would mingle in line, striking up conversations while waiting for our steaks. Ronny’s represented the democratization of the steak for Americans regardless of income, national origin, or color of skin.
Now, during the pandemic, the office workers, students, and tourists are absent from downtown. There are still plenty of panhandlers, but times are so bad for them that they can’t even beg enough to afford a meal at a cheap a steak house. Ronny’s knew that the time had arrived to close its doors for good.