By Zack Cohen

I woke up in the morning and had my usual breakfast. We were all told to come into a meeting room, where we spoke about the prison system in America and the various ideas of prison reform. Some people thought we should change prisoners to better society, while others thought prisoners don’t deserve the use of our tax dollars. This prepared us for our first meeting of the day. We drove down to the Northwestern University Law School to speak with Bob Manor, who is a prison and jail monitor and advocate for reform. He felt that prisoners should be educated while in jail. Mr. Manor thought this would lower our high incarceration rate. For the most part, our group supported prison reform.

After this meeting, we walked to Michigan Avenue and had free time to eat and shop on the Magnificent Mile. My group first went to Walgreens to buy some items and then to Water Tower Place for lunch. They have a food court with many different styles of food. I got a salad while others got Chinese and burgers. After eating, some of us tried shots of wheat grass.

After free time we went as a group to the Chicago Historical Museum. They had an exhibit on protesting for rights that fit right into what we have been learning on this trip. We also had time to walk around the other exhibits. Some were more interesting than others. My favorite section was about bootleggers and gangsters.

After the museum, we did what many Chicagoans do during the summer, we headed to Lake Michigan. We played Frisbee, football, and card games. Towards the end, Sam Prieto’s uncle and aunt came with cupcakes and we celebrated his birthday.

		celebrating Sam's birthday

We then walked to dinner where we had a choice of Thai, Burritos, or Panera Bread. After dinner we walked to Wrigley Field and saw where the Cubs played and next door was an Improv Theater where we saw their show. Everyone loved the show as the skits were very funny.