From Moises Cohen:

“Open your eyes to the world; then decide how to live your life”. This is one of the significant ideas that Bill Ayers conveyed to us in our meeting with him. However, before I talk about that, let me tell you a little on what we did in Chicago before we met with him. Chicago, known as the “Second City” due to its being sandwiched between New York and Los Angeles, has created a stylish and unique city and culture that Etgar 36 has been exploring.

The first stop in our stay in Chicago was the 103 storied Sears Tower. This is where we started to understand the nature of the big industrialized buildings. We all enjoyed the impressive view of the vast “Windy City”. After making our way back to the ground, we headed to Gino’s East for some authentic deep dish pizza. At first we thought we were headed to a normal pizza place. However, we were in for a surprise not only because the cheese was under the sauce, but it was also so thick and delicious.

When we got back on the bus we viewed the opening 20 minutes of a film called “The Weather Underground”. It was an introduction to our meeting with a member of the Weathermen, Bill Ayers. The Weathermen were a radical group who were against the Vietnam War and did not believe that the non-violent demonstrations were working to end the war so they decided to make a statement and blow up government buildings. From the movie, we formed an opinion on the actions of Bill Ayers and his actions. We were ready to confront him on the methods he and his group chose and as we waited for him to show, our tension mounted. As soon as Bill Ayers walked into the room, he put us at ease with a big smile and his ability to get to know each of us as he went around and got our names, our home towns and what questions we had for him. We realized we were not dealing with a monster but a really nice, talkative, and friendly guy. He proceeded to tell us about his upbringing in a small high school and his time at the University of Michigan where his political conscious was raised. His participation in anti-war protests led to his arrests and becoming an officer in the SDS (Student Democratic Society). He explained how excited and hopeful the students were when President Johnson decided not to run for President again in 1968 and how their hopes for peace were smashed by President Nixon. This outrage led to the decisions the Weathermen made. They felt of betrayed by their country and they didn’t think of their actions as violent, rather, as resisting violence. Bill did tell us that he does look back at his actions and feels that they were not correct to go to such extremes.

I came to the meeting very angry and upset with the actions of the Weathermen but left admiring the passion and commitment of Bill Ayers and think he is one of the most inspiring characters I know. He taught us to open our eyes to our own society and live a life that follows our values. He kept telling us that the future of our society is in our hands and we have to look around and, sometimes, go against the norm in order to repair the world and create Tikkun Olam.

After spending two and a half hours with Mr. Ayers, Billy decided to change our plans for the day. It was also 102 degrees outside and many of us were feeling the effects of the heat. So, we went back to the hotel for a two hour nap! Afterwards, we went to Panera Bread for dinner and then to see some Chicago Improv Comedy at the Improv Olympix. Afterwards, some if us walked around Wrigley Field to see the famous ball park.

The next day was a continuation of our study of the Vietnam era. We went to Grant Park where many young people came in 1968 to protest the Democratic Convention. The Mayor of Chicago sent the police to break up the protests and riots began. This made us think and discuss two ways to protest. One is to work from within the system to create change and the other is to protest from the outside. We concluded that both are very different but necessary. Billy then played us Bob Dylan’s classic, “The Times They Are A-Changin”. This was a very appropriate cone for this location and we truly understood the lyrics and message that Bob Dylan is teaching.

After Grant Park we went to the Chicago Art Institute. This was an awesome experience because of all the famous painters and paintings housed in the Musuem. We saw Renior, Cezzane, Monet, Van Gogh, and Magritte just to name a few. We also saw Seurat’s “Sunday in Grande Jatte”, Hopper’s “Nighthawks”, and Wood’s “American Gothic”. Afterwards we had some time to shop on Michigan Avenue and eat lunch in the Magnificent Mile.

We had a great time and all realized that Chicago is our kind of town!