By Zak Seed

I can’t say I was ready to leave the spectacular city of San Francisco with the hilly streets, great weather, lots of public transportation (which did get us around the city very well) and funky people. However, the Windy City of Chicago presented a whole new excitement and new agenda of things to do. Our group will truly miss the eleven friends that departed for their homes yesterday. It is amazing to think how much we bonded and how close we got to know each other in just three weeks, coming from all over the States and diverse backgrounds; the good memories we share will never fade. After all, this is just the beginning.

Looking around the city of Chicago, one could sense a vibe of the bustling city life with all the skyscrapers and unique infrastructure. Touring the Sears Tower and learning how it was built was quite the experience. The view from the top gave us an idea of what Chicago is all about. An interesting feature of the city is the Chicago River which runs through the heart of it all.

Following our Sears Tower tour, we got to experience the tastes of Chicago with some zesty delicious deep dish pizza at Ginos East. The wide variety of toppings, sea of sauce and deep crust made it an unforgettable experience.

We then went to Evanston and to Northwestern University where we met with the Dean of the prestigious Medill School of Journalism, John Lavine.

We discussed the First Amendment, Freedom of the Press, how to be consumers of media and the future of media. It was a shock coming to the realization that news corporations are not always delivering the whole story, or both sides of a story, to its viewers. As a result, bias becomes a big factor in all forms of news communications. This raises an important question: What are Americans supposed to believe? The simple answer is that Americans can believe whatever they want, accept some things, deny others, and are forced to find out the entire truth for themselves. That is what people power is all about.

We then had time to explore downtown Evanston on our own. After shopping we did what Chicagoans do in the summer, we hung out at the lake. Some of us chose to play football to get some of our energy out while others played guitar and listened to music, while others just enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and looking at the skyline of Chicago across the lake.

To top off our first day in Chicago, we went for another Chicago tradition, Improv Comedy. We went to Improv Olympics where many comedians got their beginning and we had a great night as a group and got a good laugh.

“Please give me 30 more minutes to sleep” is the first thought that came to my mind when Ezra knocked on our door to wake us up. The breakfast at this hotel has been one of the best so far so it was a good start to the day.

First on our agenda was a meeting with the Sierra Club to speak about global warming.

We discovered that the effects of our pollution and carbon dioxide emissions from our cars are truly hurting the earth. Our speaker informed us that there is so much we can do to prevent the worst case scenarios from happening. For example, we can buy special energy efficient light bulbs that use only ¼ the amount of energy of regular bulbs, carpooling, using public transportation, unplugging items that are not in use because when plugged in they are still pulling electricity even when they are off. If we do not act on this issue now, it will be our children and grandchildren that pay the ultimate price.

After our meeting we went to downtown Chicago and had some free time on the part of Michigan Ave known as the Magnificent Mile. We were able to eat and shop. This area of town was very crowded with lots of traffic and active city life. After our downtown stroll we went to Grant Park. Here Billy spoke to us about 1968 and the anger and confusion America was feeling after the assassinations of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy, the changing mood on the Vietnam War, and how it all came to a head at the Democratic Convention that was being hosted by Chicago. Many young people came to Grant Park to protest against the war and the fact that the Democratic Party decided not to push for peace. The mayor of Chicago was not going to allow these protestors to make Chicago look bad so he called in the police and National Guard to control the riots. Many of the young people were beaten by the police and it was shown on television. This outraged some of America as they could not believe our elected officials would turn against its own people.

After our discussion and listening to Bob Dylan sing “The Times They Are A-Changin”, we went to the Chicago Art Museum, which had paintings from such famous artists as Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh and Dali. I personally enjoyed the miniature works as well as the architecture exhibits. The huge museum had something everyone could enjoy. Our Chicago experience is something I will never forget with the wide variety of amazing things we did.