The Gangs and Community of Chicago

When outright chaos exists, it's easy to forget that there is still a community of people who are connected by thousands of individual strands of commerce, dependency and power.

Nowhere is this illustrated better than in the Robert Taylor Projects of the late 1980s - the height of the crack epidemic. During that time, gangs ruled the people's world and the chaos of crack addition, homelessness, endemic poverty, and frequent violence turned the place into an inferno that defies the imagination of many middle-classers like yours truly.

It's a world where over 50% of people admitted to frequent or occasional crack use. Where young gangsters participated in voter registration drives financed by crack money. Where drive-bys during the community BBQ were a not-all-together infrequent experience. Where the local cops signed up at the precinct to participate in "raids" on gangster parties where they literally rob the thugs blind.

Where just about everyone was on some form of social assistance, the average take home yearly salary is $10,000 and it's not seen as uncommon for women to use sex as a way of keeping the heat on during the winter.

It's also a place where crack addicts, prostitutes, teenage gangsters tatted out and perpetually high and drunk intermingle with grandmas who cook collard greens and mac'n cheese next door to tenant hustlers constantly out to make a buck.

In his fascinating sociological study Gang Leader for a Day Sudhir Venkatesh explores this world and evocatively illustrates the depths of a vibrant and self-sustaining communal system which offers many of the same services we take for granted everyday.

One of the most interesting aspects of Venkatesh's story connects to the interdependence of community leaders, gangsters and residents. Due to the corruption of the Chicago Housing Authority and the general disinterest of many Chicago police in entering the area, many residents were reliant on the gang organization and local powerbrokers (like tenant housing presidents) for their well being.

Door falls off its hinges during a subzero Chicago winter? Better have a good relationship with Ms. Bailey (the well connected favor broker and building president) - otherwise you'll be freezing till the cows come home before the CHA processes your request.

Beat up your girlfriend cause your high on crack and think she's cheating on you? You don't need to worry about the cops if you live in Robert Taylor, but you sure as hell need to worry about the local gang members who's business, along with selling crack, monitoring (and taxing) the area's prostitutes, and all sorts of other illegal activity, is to also to keep law and order. Why? Because a safe environment is just good for business.

One of the most fascinating things about all this is the way that community forges itself out of anarchy to deal with people's most basic (and sometimes more complex) needs. The veritable and diverse black market and underground economy featuring the sale of everything from children's candy to car repair, from babysitting to crack processing facilities (read - your kitchen stove) shows just how people adapt to their environment's economic demand.

Most interesting of all is Venkatesh's examination of pooling of resources among young un-wed mothers who's partners were either involved in the local Black Kings gang and not around or had been involved in the Black Kings until a rival gang member had gunned them down.

None of the women had enough money to maintain all the necessities of running water, electricity, childcare, and (unsurprisingly in North America I guess) television. To solve the problem, they formed a collective - eat your heart out Lenin - whereby each paid for one thing and then pooled the resources with the others.

The result? You woke up in your apartment, sauntered over to Shironda's place to get your food from the refrigerator and eat breakfast, then skipped down to Lisa's apartment several doors down to have a shower. Finally you ended up at Clarisse's apartment where you plunked yourself in front of a TV. Indeed these communities were so vibrant and tightly knit that according to Venkatesh, when the buildings were all slated to be torn down by the Clinton Administration, many families' main priority was to find a new home close by their neighbors to allow the effective continued pooling of resources.

Ultimately, the Robert Taylor projects were torn down and replaced by middle class condos. Their population dispersed to other poor and working class-black neighbourhoods in and around Chicago. However, their example of how community can survive in even the most hellish areas should give us a little hope - particularly when we're staring at the our own Robert Taylor in the streets and buildings surrounding Main and Hastings.

The Swinger's Community

Here at the Gumboot we're all about discovering and learning about different types of community.

A little while ago I was hanging out at a cocktail party in sunny Tsawwassen. In case you're unfamiliar, the suburb community of Tsawwassen is sleepy and as suburban and white as you get. Hundreds of people have fled the big city, crossed the beautiful South Delta green-belt and made their homes among the bungalows, beach houses and palm trees that make the town stand out in the Lower Mainland.

Anyway, back to my cocktail party. So there I stood, half way through my third rum and coke when a friendly Tsawwassenite sauntered up next to me and started to talk my ear off. One thing led to another and pretty soon he was telling me all about a thriving swingers community he'd just discovered in the suburb.

"Couldn't believe it," he said. "I thought that sort of thing was in the big city, but the fact that people are doing that sort of thing when they have families and kids is something else."

According to my new friend the swingers community was pretty underground - French resistance style. You only found out about it if you were approached by someone who judged you as GGG (good, game n'giving). Apparently it was a pretty thriving club that had frequent get-togethers and encompassed more than just a few couples. Intriguing, I thought. Time to do some investigative gumboot journalism.

Turns out Tsawwassen isn't the only suburb community with a swingers community.

According to a recent National Post article, a swingers community in Alberta is under attack by the conservative family values types. A recent attempt to open the 4play club - a "dance and social club for sexually open-minded couples and single women" got an unfriendly welcome when the local villagers lit torches and raised their pitchforks up high as they marched righteously to City Hall to file a appeal against the new club's development permit.

The Canora Community League said the club proposal was wrong for a district trying to appeal to families.

"It boggles my mind. I can't even understand the concept of why they would want to put something in our community like that," said Eleanor Burke, a member of the league. "Do it downtown or somewhere, but not in a community where there are kids. I don't think it's morally right for the kids to see this."

Now obviously someone (presumably the owners and investors behind the club) have done some research and are convinced that there are enough horny and sexually playful couples in the suburb to make it worthwhile to put the shovel in the dirt.

Of course that's not satiating Eleanor or others who see "swinging" as detrimental to children.

Interesting thinking no doubt about it. But while many of us liberal westerners might chalkthis up to a heady mix of smallville syndrome and Albertan christian conservatism to create a classic cocktail of ignorance, it makes you wonder what would the reaction be if the little swingers community in Tsawwassen came out of its closet and decided to open a full blown club on 56th St. the main drag.

Even my friend at the cocktail party, a fairly liberal thinking fellow, seemed to think an environment where wife-swapping and swinging was going on wasn't the type of model family situation. It's no doubt tough enough when you walk in on your parents for the first time - imagine walking in on Mom in the throws of passion with your friendly neighbor Barry who lives just two houses down the street.

"Dad, Dad, Moms cheating on you", the child might cry.

"No, No. Barry, Mom, and I are all part of a special club," Dad would say after a recovering from a good ol' belly laugh.

Is this a totally ridiculous scenario. What does the Gumboot community think about swinging with kids? Swinging in general? How about about playground swings? I put it out to you...

From the Kenyan Bureau - "The Seven Day Sex Boycott"

It is my pleasure to introduce Martin Muli, The Weekly Gumboot's Kenyan Correspondent. That's right, folks. The Weekly Gumboot has a correspondent. From Kenya. "Our man in Nairobi," as we call him. Because, dear readers, this community-based twitblog of ours embraces ideas from everywhere. Even Kenya. Nay. Especially Kenya. I first met Mr. Muli in the halls of Simon Fraser University and, through a series of adventures that have taken us from the raging rivers of Merville, BC to the "night clubs" of Victoria, we've become dear friends. This modest publication is lucky to have him. What comes below is his story. Well, one of them. As with anyone who supports gumboot clad pirate communities in nature, he's got a few...

- JCH

Kenyan men were trouble and starved for seven good days. Some called it “The great sex fast” while others believed it was deprivation of conjugal rights. Others branded it “the bedroom coup”.

A group of not so popular Kenyan women calling themselves the G10 urged all Kenyan women to join in a sex boycott to force Kenyan political leaders to agree to better ways of running the coalition government. This desperate yet courageous political tool was unleashed after the two squabbling sides of the Kenyan coalition government degenerated and threatened to collapse the coalition.

What started as a big joke soon evolved into an interesting debate with some supporting the ‘sex fast’ while others threatening to curse the G10. One renowned Kenyan political commentator, Mutahi Nguyi, believes that national ‘sex activities’ went up during the boycott. He concluded that the G10 coalition of women used reverse psychology on Kenyans. This is, according to Nguyi, because studies show that men think about sex 12 times per hour and that sexual preoccupation wanes if he is idle, but it explodes if he is challenged sexually. (Editor's note: fantastic use of "findings," Martin, but we need to roll out some North American data; you see, men here think about sex nearly 4,899,566 times per minute...but a lot of that has to do with Janet Jackson and the Superbowl...it's a long story). Capitalizing on this male weakness, the G10 women simply outwitted everyone.

However, many Kenyans were against the move G10 terming them “bedroom intruders’. Lengthy discussions were overhead on almost all radio stations with people voicing their reaction to the perceived anti-men movement. Men movements (Maendeleo ya wanaume) was completely against the G10, accusing women of using their feminine strength to abuse men’s rights. However, it was booming business for harlots along the famous Koinange street since they served as refuge for the starving men.

I was privileged to meet Tabitha Njoroge, one of the G10 member. The focused, single young lady is the executive Director of WILDAF Kenya ( Women in Law development in Africa). She was fresh from a progress evaluation meeting and she frankly revealed that the G10 mission was achieved! The focus was not to starve men as many thought. The G10 had found a great tool to make everyone talk about thorny issues threatening to tear the country apart. Young and old, women and men, men of collar, radio stations, newspapers and social networking tools were all engaged in the debate. That forced the two principals leading both sides of the coalition government to a meeting that has cooled down the political temperatures in Kenya.

The organizers of the sex boycott have announced a 90-day follow up campaign to monitor the progress of Kenya's leaders in implementing reforms, including a revision of the constitution and improvements to the judicial system.

‘Stupid’ and ‘crazy’ ideas are great tools necessary for change.

- Martin Muli

Progressive Liberal Community Spurs Decade of Infighting

This weekend the Liberal Party of Canada held it's bi-annual convention in Vancouver. The main draw of the meeting was the anointment and confirmation of Michael Ignatieff as the new Liberal leader. The whole thing was prefaced by two days of partying in so-called "hospitality suites", constitutional blibidy blab, policy workshops, election preparedness workshops, and a host of other meetings for MPs, executive members, supporters, journalists, and other observers.

One of the most heartening things about the whole saga (aside from Jean Chretien's hilarious speech using Stephen Harper's absence from a G-20 photo-op because he was taking a leak as a general metaphor for Canada under his leadership "not being there" when it counts) was the general sense of unity among federal liberals.

It's something that's new for the federal liberal party, and something that seems to be increasingly missing in the other two major federal parties. For the conservatives, the heavy hand of the PMO is becoming increasingly devisive and oppressive, prompting many grumblings among the rank and file. For the NDP, King Layton, Canada's greatest wannabe Prime Minister, is inciting similar frustrations among the party's grassroot supporters who are increasingly pulling for super star candidates like Thomas Mulcair to wrestle the party reigns from the iron clutch of the mustached geographer and his old school labour pals.

For the liberals the feeling of renewal was palpible. Equally exciting for many was the feeling that the old days of Chretien vs. Martin, Ignatieff vs. Rae, Dion vs. Everyone seem to be, at least till the next election, ensconed by what the Beach Boys coined, "good, good vibrations."

When the time came to mount the stage and give his speech after a roaring endorsment by former roomate and challenger Bob Rae, Ignatieff set the room ablaze in a heady roar of red and white thundersticks.

And while the other parties are increasingly moving to stakeout the gains they've made during the dark days of the Dion-era, increasingly Liberals move forward with the confidence of Top Gun's Maverick. Bring on the "Danger Zone" they say. Meanwhile polls these days are putting the Grits ahead of the Tories nationally. Momentum on the ground seems to be moving in a similar direction and in politics, you can't underestimate the importance of momentum.

These days blood's in the air. Tory blood. Watch out Mr. Harper.

Community Movie Making

I love the idea that just about anyone can pick up a camera and make a movie. It doesn't even have to be an expensive video camera - you can take a bunch of pictures and indulge in a little stop-motion. This was the idea behind a party I threw for my friends. We invited them over, fed them, divided them into four teams and then sent them out onto Commercial Drive where they each had about 40 minutes to produce a short video. There were no rules other than you had to try and keep to a minute and you had to follow the theme "The Rites of Spring." Below is the finished product; what four groups of friends brought back on a sunny Saturday afternoon using only a digital camera.

Welcome to the Community Film Project - brought to you by Gumboot Studios.

Farmer's Markets Coming to Your Community Soon

That's right. Pretty soon Farmer's Markets across the lower mainland will be pitching their tents around the city and offering up local fare for fabulous (usually...) prices.

I love Farmer's Markets and am incredibly excited about the season that's set to start soon. In the past I've had some great experiences picking up fresh and tasty vegetables (thank you Courtenay Farmer's Market) and sightseeing in the open air of the market (Ladner and Kits Farmer's Markets).

Perhaps the keenest part about the whole experience is that it gives us urban dwellers a chance to taste (eat your heart out Costco sampling booths) and purchase produce, meat, fish, and honey (honey seems to be the main staple of almost all the markets I've been to). In fact part of the beauty of the whole experience is that everything is seasonal and you'll never know quite what sort of food will pop up that weekend.

The experience certainly beats the Safeway shopping sojourn and even (gasp!) the East End Food Co-op grocery run.

Nothing is more fun than trying a small piece of smoked salmon in the open air of Steveston as gulls crow about in the distance and the fisherman who caught the fish stands proudly near by.

So, without further adieu, here's a little list of some of the market's springing up this summer:

Trout Lake Farmers Market Saturdays, May - October
9am - 2pm each week
May 16 - October 10
15th Avenue & Victoria Drive in the Parking Lot of Trout Lake Community Centre
Map of Market Location

West End Farmers Market Saturdays, June - October
June 6 - October 24
9am - 2pm each week
1100 Block of Comox Street across from Nelson Park at Mole Hill
Map of Market Location

Main Street Station at Thornton Park Wednesdays, June - October
June 10 - October 21
3pm - 7pm
Thornton Park across from the VIA Rail Station and near the Main St Skytrain Station
Map of Market Location

Kitsilano Farmers Market Sundays, June - October
June 7 - October 25
10am - 2pm each week
10th Avenue and Larch Street, Parking Lot of Kitsilano Community Centre
Map of Market Location

Winter Farmers Market Alternate Saturdays, starting November 8, 2008 - April 25, 2009
November 8, 22 December 6, 20
January 3(cancelled), 17, 31 February 14, 28
March 14, 28 April 11, 25
10am - 2pm
WISE Hall, 1882 Adanac Street at Victoria Drive
Map of Market Location

Holiday Market Saturday only Annually in December
Saturday, December 12, 2009
11am - 6pm
Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive *new location*

To get more info - check out Vancouver farmer's market site...

"The Usual"

"The Usual." A true parlance of community. If you can walk into a place - any place - and order "the usual," well, my friends, in the world of patronage, you've arrived. Historical findings suggest that being offered "the usual" by places of food-oriented business is a sign of nobility and status in one's community. Or I just made that up because I'm trying to justify seeing something cool on TV or in a book that, long ago, set in motion a goal-setting brainstorm that is, I'm happy to say, nearing completion.

Now. It's been a personal goal of mine for years to have a place where I would be on a first-name basis with the owner of a bar, restaurant or coffee shop and that, upon my entry into such an establishment, the owner would say, "Hey, John. The usual?" Amazing. So, I've got a few goals on my life-list (start a noble pirate company, learn to use power tools, pull off a moustache, write a book, teach my child a jump-shot, perform stand-up at an open-mic-night, have Blue Rodeo play at my wedding, extinguish the Sun...you know, minor, achievable goals), and, I'm happy to say, this week I got to cross one off.

My friend and owner of Pane Vero Cafe and Bakery, Claudio, made my heart smile by asking the above question earlier this week. Now, since moving to The Drive a year ago, I've hit up Pane Vero for their delicious and, incidentally, addictive croissants (ham and cheese or spinach and feta, you can't go wrong). Claudio has also been a spectacular host of a couple of Climate Cafes, inviting members of Vancouver's environmentally friendly community to sit down, sip coffee, eat delicious food and talk about everything from green careers to green sex ("green jobs" fell somewhere in the middle...). Not only is the guy a class-act in terms of building-bridges/relationships, but now I can get "the usual." And it's a beautiful thing!

Are you looking to get "the usual" at a coffee shop, restaurant or "guy who sells various meats in cones" at the Commercial/Broadway Skytrain station? I won't say it's easy, because building and sustaining a meaningful relationship should take hard work. And you also have to establish a purchasing pattern, hence the usual way of doing things. Adding value for the person who gets your patronage is great too, so try and arrange cool events that will bring new business and people into their place of operations.

Most importantly. Create a buzz about the business. Maybe write a blog post. They'll love it.

Keep it real, Claudio. I'll be in early next week. As per the usual.

- JCH

PS - oh, and The Sun, after I teach my kid to dunk, you're getting extinguished...keep an eye open, pal.