Americans, how well do you know your global neighbors?

Americans ladies

having lunch with legendary journalist

Suzy Hansen (second from right),

after her reading at PAWI,

the Professional American Women of Istanbul

This month I had the joy of interviewing legendary American journalist Suzy Hansen and reviewing her first book for Lale Magazine, the bimonthly-publication of the International Women of Istanbul. Suzy Hansen's book is called, 'Notes on a Foreign Country : An American Abroad in a Post-American World.'

American author James Baldwin asked, 'has American prosperity come at the expense of the American Negro?' Suzy Hansen, whose admiration and interest in James Baldwin inspired her to move to Turkey, extends the question. She asks, 'does American prosperity and identity come at the expense of the world?'

You can read my review here on pages 32-34 of the January/February issue. 'Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World' was chosen by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2017. Excerpts appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian.

Thank you to editor Monisha Kar for the opportunity. Thanks also to Monica Fritz, of Monica Fritz Photography, for the photos used in the story.

Washington Post: As Boomers Shed Stuff, Their Offspring, Millenials, Reject it

 

This article about Boomers downsizing and their children not wanting their stuff made me smile, as I have had this experience when I downsized, and I now actually live in a city with my memories on a blog, just like a Millenial! There's a big box of hard copy photos waiting for me to organize into scrapbooks when I get back home to America though. I guess this article is telling me: don't bother.

Maybe the reason Millenials aren't defining themselves by possessions is they all saw this movie short "The Story of Stuff" growing up: 

Thanks to my friend Hope Gross Mandel for the article. 

Watching Tom Shadyac's movie "I Am"

Official HD Trailer

for Tom Shadyac's documentary

"I Am"

Years ago, Oprah recommended a movie called "I am" by director Tom Shadyac. If Oprah tells me to watch something, I'm going to do so - after all these years, I love her more than ever. I miss her weekday show. It's as if a friend moved away.

 I finally got around to watching the documentary "I am." It was, just as she described, wonderfully uplifting. I recommend it too! The central questions of the film are "What's wrong with the world? What can we do about it?"

Watching it from Turkey, I can't help but see how American the inquiry of ideas is in the film. An American viewpoint celebrates individual achievement above all else. In pursuit of capitalism, world and human resources are to be used in pursuit of the profit of whomever is building a company requiring them. The long-term consequences to the Earth or others isn't ranked as high as the need to continue wealth creation. So this is where Tom Shadyac started out and he shared his travels to a different point-of-view.

The central premise of his new viewpoint (gathered from interviewing some of the most interesting thinkers on the planet) is that we, as humans and species, are all interconnected. In a capitalist society, it's very easy to discount the weak, the elderly, the disabled as non-contributors and to assign them less value. But if they aren't there, what happens to the entire society? Does it continue to exist? 

I reflected afterwards that this idea of non-contributers is so central to American life it even has a number assigned to it: the 47%. It's not a very empathetic point-of-view. People usually spend some time in their life in the 47%, for example, when they are children or an elderly person.

In contrast, I would describe Turkish culture as a hive culture where people assume cooperation with each other in most settings. The capitalist system is an adjustment in the last generation from an older culture of togetherness among people of the same ethnicity. The spirit of competition and zero sum game is a new practice here.

A simple example of how it is expressed is that Western students would hide a bad test score from their peers, but Turkish students share this information openly. Their attitude is geared more toward helping each other rather than competing with each other.

 Another idea from the film is that our emotions have the power to influence events and other living creatures. We under estimate the power of each of our individual acts and how they influence others.

People also live their emotions much more openly here in Turkey and this energy contributes to creating an exciting hum in Istanbul.

I think a Turkish friend watching this movie would say, "Duh. Everyone knows these concepts that we are all interconnected and that our energy and emotions influence the energy of others." Yet, I don't think all Americans do know that, which is why Tom Shadyac's film resonates so much. 

If you judge the systems based on wealth created, the American system is better. Is that the only way to measure individual success? Humanity's success? In the movie, Tom Shadyac gives up this measure for measuring the success of his own life. And he has never felt happier. He adopts more of an indingenous cultures' viewpoint that pursuit of gain beyond one's own immediate needs is considered mental illness.

Watch "I Am" for yourself and ask yourself what your cultural lens taught you growing up. Has it changed as you've aged? If so, why? Do you think that your cultural lens will help or hurt the long-term survival of the species - not only the human species but all other species as well?

Don't miss a single post of 'Empty Nest Expat.' Sign up to have it sent directly to your inbox on the right side bar. 

The Rape and Murder of Turkish University Student Ozgecan Aslan

Ozgecan Aslan

Last week, a bright, beautiful 20-year-old Turkish university student named Ozgecan Aslan was the last person on her shared taxi known as a dolmuş. It's a common form of transportation in Turkey. A dolmuş, much like an airport shuttle van, carries up to 10 people at a time. Everyone in Turkey uses them. It would never have occurred to me to think of one as unsafe. Last week riding in a dolmuş cost Ozgecan Aslan her life. She was raped, stabbed, dismembered, and burned by a dolmuş driver, his friend, and the dolmuş driver's own father.

Turkish Women refused

to let men near her casket

At the funeral, the imam signalled for men to pick up the casket and Turkish women were having none of it. They refused to step away and carried her casket out themselves, a shockingly unusual act in patriarchal Turkish culture. It was an incredibly healthy response of contempt that signalled to the entire nation, this problem of violence against women MUST be addressed. Ozgecan Aslan, and her fate, was on the lips of every Turkish woman with fury and sorrow all week long. 

Turkey, a country famous for its denial of so many of its historic problems, is not in denial on this one. Turkey knows it has a problem with domestic violence and violence against women. The President himself called it "Turkey's bleeding wound." Last year, 281 women were killed in Turkey (that are known of - with honor killings and such you can't be sure of accurate reporting).

A Turkish actress started a hashtag called #Sendeanlat (tell your story), asking women to take to Twitter to tell their stories of how they had been harassed in daily life. Last I looked it had close to 1,000,000 tweets in two or three days. Even though the men of Turkey, know there is a problem,  I'm not sure they care enough to fix it. 

Murder of females is political

Graffiti about Ozgecan Aslan's murder filled the streets. It wouldn't have occurred to me to think of Ozgecan Aslan's murder as political until I saw the graffiti above that declared it so. Then I couldn't get it out of my mind once seeing it. There were so many ways it could be. Like the victims of so much state violence this year, Ozgecan was both Kurdish (an ethnic minority) and Alevi (a religious minority). Was her death going to be used by authorities to further restrict the freedom of women in the country, the way terrorism is used to justify the end of civil liberties for citizens in the West? Immediately, there were calls for women to be segregated into 'pink buses.' Others pointed to the misogynist statements by politicians that devalued women. The pattern of peeling women away from public life is underway in Turkey.

Our rebellion is for murdered women!

What fascinates me is the similarity of toxic cultures for women -- no matter where they are located. For example, I have always thought of the American state South Carolina as a state badly in need of the fresh breezes of change -- a state still nursing grievances from the Civil War. 

Just the other day, one of South Carolina's lawmakers referred to women as a "lesser cut of meat." It's easy to condemn the lawmaker, but it must be assumed that this attitude represents the population and it sells. These kind of statements diminishing women are common in both Turkey and South Carolina. Diminishing statements about women sell to the masses in Turkey too.

Recently, the Post and Courier newspaper in South Carolina examined how the good 'ole boy culture of patriarchal policy makers contribute to South Carolina leading the nation in dead women murdered by men. Despite another woman dying every 12 days at double the national rate, (and at three times the rate of South Carolina men who served in Iraq and Afghanistan combined), policy makers actively ignored a dozen initiatives to do something about the problem.

Who matters more?

The woman or the dog?

You'd be surprised --

or maybe not.

According to the Post and Courier, the only policy initiative related to domestic violence that got acted on in South Carolina was a proposal to make sure pets were taken care of when domestic violence happens. Indeed, South Carolina must value animals higher than women as 46 shelters for animals exist (one in every county) in the state, while only 18 shelters exist for women state-wide. According to the reporters who wrote the award-winning Post and Courier series "Til Death Do Us Part," a man in South Carolina can get five years for abusing his dog, but will only have to serve 30 days in jail for the first time he abuses his wife or girlfriend. 

One of the sad aspects to the Ozgecan Aslan murder in Turkey, is that the mother/wife (same woman) of the alleged murders said she had been a battered woman for years. If she had received help, and this battery had been taken seriously in Turkey, would 20-year-old Ozgecan Aslan be alive today? According to the investigative journalism of the four reporters in South Carolina, incarceration saves lives as men are separated from women. That may be, but in South Carolina and in Turkey, there appears to be no interest in helping women in that situation as men choose to view them with morality judgements as "those women."

According to experts quoted in the "Till Death do us Part" series on domestic violence, South Carolina has the most traditionalist culture in the entire nation of the United States, preserving a status quo that benefits the needs and values of the elite. Wow, does that sound like Turkey. And here's what sounds EXACTLY like Turkey, "honor culture:"

"Surprisingly little research has examined the role South Carolina’s culture plays in domestic abuse and homicides, considering the state’s rate of men killing women is more than twice the national average.One often-cited study about violent tendencies in Southern men came from Richard E. Nisbett, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.
His research revealed a Southern “culture of honor,” one in which for generations a man’s reputation has been central to his economic survival — and in which insults to that justify a violent response.
“We have very good evidence that southerners and northerners react differently to insults,”Nisbett says. “In the South, if someone insults you, you should respond. If the grievance is enough, you react with violence or the threat of violence.”
In a clinical study, Nisbett subjected northern and southern men to a test. Someone bumped into them and called them a profane term. The reaction: stress hormones and testosterone levels elevated far more in southern men.
“He gets ready to fight,” says Nisbett, coauthor of “Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in The South.”
How does it apply to domestic violence? Men who perceive their women have insulted them — by not keeping up the house, by talking back or flirting with someone else — launch into attack mode to preserve their power."       

 ~South Carolina Post and Courier, 2014 

Here are examples of that same hypersensitivity to insult in Turkey here, and here, and here.

The response of disgust that Turkish women felt and voiced about the murder of Ozgecan Aslan was the healthiest human response to this whole sad story. The challenge for Turkish women and those who love them, will be to turn their social media energy and disgust into real lasting change. Sociologist Zeynep Tufekci describes this inability to make lasting change from social media power in her TED Talk here.

Turkish women took to the streets

throughout Turkey to protest

Turkey's pattern of

violence against women

If the first step, is to drag the whole country out of denial that there is a problem, the women of Turkey, have passed that test with flying colors and not let their nation descend any further (hello, Egypt). Respect, Turkish ladies! You have my total respect!   

May the women of South Carolina find the same strength. According to the journalists in South Carolina who wrote the award-winning series, "Till Death Do Us Part," 30 women's lives and families will depend upon it in the coming year.

What I would want the women of Turkey and South Carolina to know is, you are not in this alone. One billion women across the planet are rising up each year to ask the world to change this paradigm where violence against women is acceptable. Eve Ensler began this movement three years ago and each year it gets bigger and bigger. Luckily, the President of Turkey criticized women for participating so now everyone in Turkey has probably learned what the "One Billion Rising" is all about.  Next year, may the criticisms of women dancing for change sing out across the land! Strike! Rise! Dance! One billion rising! Break the chain!

You may be interested in these other posts about domestic violence and violence against women in Turkey:

#1billionrising in Istanbul

I rise to break the chain as a part of Eve Ensler's #1billionrising

#1billionrising in Turkey

Breaking the Silence on Street Harassment in Istanbul

VDay2013: 1 billion women rising globally and dancing

My First Turkish Movie -‘Kurtuluş Son Durak’

You can follow 'Empty Nest Expat' on Facebook, or just sign up for RSS Feed at the right. Care about domestic violence and violence against women? Why not share this blog post to broaden the conversation.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to Strike! Rise! Dance!

Heaps and heaps of gratitude to the amazing journalists in South Carolina whose journalism will save lives, move their state forward, and result in a more equitable environment for the citizens of South Carolina. 

My Mom & Sister: Two 'Sisters on the Fly'

My little sister Karla

Morning Breakfast with my Mom

I'm not the only one in my family with a yen to travel. My mom and sister have become "Sisters on the Fly," members of America's largest outdoor women's group. 

All decked out for a weekend

of "Sisters on the Fly."

"Sisters on the Fly" offers empowerment and sisterhood through exceptional outdoor adventures. The Sisters like to say that "as a group of women, we challenge ourselves in all that we set our mind to. There is no age, color, religion or political group. All women who want to share in the adventures of "sisterhood" are welcome."

My Mom and sister's

"Rick Rack Shack"

 In a rick-rack

holiday mood!

 Camper transportation:

the prettiest little bicycle

 Holiday spirit!

 This is the first time

I've seen a pink chandelier

for an outdoor camper,

I'll admit

 These photos are from

 a recent holiday open house,

not an actual "Sisters on the Fly" event

 Interiors

Setting a beautiful table

for an outdoor adventure

is a tradition in our family.

My mom once came back

to her campsite in Aspen

and the neighboring campers

left her a note

to say how fascinated they were

to watch her set

a beautiful table

just for herself

on the picnic table.

 They loved her example.

Sisters meeting in 'Sisters on the Fly' get together, often via camper caravans, find a great outdoor spot to meet, and enjoy a weekend of laughter and good times. The campers that women have purchased to do this are often adorable vintage trailers that the ladies have customized and made uniquely their own.

Here are some of their adventures: fly-fishing camp, horseback riding, and sightseeing and exploring beautiful natural parks.  

 SOTF says, "We encourage you to join us on one of our adventures and let yourself be spoiled rotten, learn to fish, to be a real Western Cowgirl, run rivers, and enjoy pure highway traveling fun. The best part is meeting all those new sisters you didn't even know you had.

 just "Remember the rules:

No men, no pets, no kids 

...and be nice."

In 2015, Sisters on the Fly is going to caravan the entire Route 66! Won't that be a sight with all those vintage trailers rolling down America's vintage highway?

Men are banned from events, although my Mom says many women often have their husbands help them get their camper set up for the weekend and then bid hubby adieu.

All kinds of women participate from hard-charging career women to single moms just eeking by. It's a range of ladies who kick back to appreciate the great outdoors and enjoy fun fellowship.

"We were going to

change the world today

but then something sparkly

caught our eye."

Would you like to learn more about Sisters on the Fly?
Check out their website here.

You might enjoy
some other fun posts
from Colorado
in the American West:

Elk Bugling Season

A Spectacular Hike to Gem Lake

There are no atheists in a Rocky Mountain Hot Tub

Trick or Treat!

Why not follow my blog via Facebook?
 See my sidebar to 'like my page.

My Jubilant American Summer, Part Three

Greeting her family with

"Cheer Kits,"

my youngest daughter

prepared her family

for her Ironman Race

with bananas, water,

race programs,

race ETAs and suggested sites

to best see her compete.

"Mom, I don't care if you skip my MBA graduation, but I want you to be home for my IRONMAN race." So said, my youngest daughter, an avid marathoner.

I appreciated my child stating it so bluntly. There was nowhere else I could be, but right by her side when she asked like that. The highlight of my jubilant American summer was when our family gathered to cheer my youngest on in her Ironman Wisconsin race.

Ironman Wisconsin

was on September 7th, 2014

in Madison, Wisconsin.

Participants were to swim

2.4 miles (3.86 km),

bike 112 miles (180.25 km),

and finish with a 26.2 mile

(42.22 km) marathon

and finish within 17 hours.

My family gathered

on the roof of the

Monona Terrace

Convention Center,

designed by Frank Lloyd Wright,

to watch the race begin.

Sunrise on Lake Monona

Volunteers wait in the water

for the race to begin.

Green swim caps for men,

pink swim caps for women.

Here's what the start of the swim

looked like from the parking lot helix

that the runners would later run up

(five or six floors)

to get their bikes.

Video courtesy of crushingiron.com

It was awe-inspiring to me -

2,500 swimmers

all taking off at once.

It was glorious to watch.

I was really grateful

for all those years of 

middle and high school

swim practices,

knowing my child

would be swimming

for an hour-and-a-half.

Fired up and ready to go!

After the swim,

Kelly ran up the helix

knowing her

most challenging part

of the race

was next.

Kelly's older sister

and brother-in-law

were also ready

to cheer her on

in our

cheer crew tshirts.

That's Kelly in the red,

getting her bike.

The biking portion

was the one where she had the

least experience.

She was bringing

some bicycling experience,

the rest was hope.

"Watermelon Fury,"

was to be her companion

for the next eight hours.

I worried Kelly

was expending

her energy on

cheering everyone on.

Every time I saw her

she was cheering!

No worries, on her part.

"Bring it on!"

she seemed to shout.

Eight hours on the bike

is a long time.

We, as cheer crew,

did move from site to site

to cheer her on,

but we also had time

to go see

where my

oldest daughter worked

in downtown Madison.

That was fun.

Here's some video

of the bike course.

The sounds of the Ironman

are fantastic.

I love those ringing cowbells!

I knew if Kelly could make it

through the bike portion

it was all downhill

from there.

She was an experienced

marathoner and had run

at least one 50-mile race.

Making ourselves

easy to find:

Above is my sister,

my oldest daughter

and my Mom.

During the race,

there was lots of time

to interact with

other folks who

had come to cheer on

their competitor.

I loved watching this family.

What's not to love

about a teenage boy

cheering on his Mother?

This family's cheer shirts read

"I trained six months

to wear this T-shirt."

Kelly says: "Ironman Wisconsin was one of the most fun days of my life! Starting with the swim - bobbing up and down in Lake Monona while watching the thousands of spectators in the sunrise on the terrace. The bike was my hardest leg of the race, but that's because I biked 42 miles further than I ever have in my life! My bike broke at mile 70 and I managed to fix it all on my own, which kept me positive enough to make it to mile 112! The run was just a total blast - seeing everyone around Madison! Thanks so much if you came out!"

By nightfall,
I would have been exhausted.

I was amazed to watch

my daughter stop her race

at mile 19

and do push-ups

with another runner.

High fiving

and leading cheers!

No stopping her now.

Goal met!

Another sound

from the Ironman

that will stay with me

is the voice of

Ironman Wisconsin

announcer,

Mike Reilly.

He's there all day long

from sunrise to midnight.

When he pronounces a runner

an Ironman

as they cross the finish line,

the way he says it

brings a lump to the throat.

He communicates all of the

hopes, dreams, goal-setting,

training, endurance, stamina,

and results:

"Kelly,

You are an Ironman!"

What a wonderful family memory.

A couple months after the race, my daughter received this email from a fellow participant:

"I wanted to tell you (and my husband encouraged me to be brave and do this) how GREAT it was to cross paths with you on the last half of the marathon at Ironman Wisconsin. Your energy propelled me along. At about the EXACT time I was thinking, 'You know, I could just walk this out...," you came up and were like, "JENNY! I'm going to run with you a while!!" And then I thought, "Well, crap. I can't walk now!!" Everything about you had this great exclamation point after it. I was in awe of your spirit and energy....I hope you had a fantastic race and that life is treating you well. Thanks again for all the positive energy you brought to the race. I think people sometimes wonder if something like that matters because it doesn't seem to make obvious differences or whatever, but I think it makes worlds of difference. I saw tons of people perk up all around you even if they didn't verbalize it. Who knows who was able to finish simply because of your energetic encouragement?? So! You take care of yourself. And stay positive.

Here's a review of the Wisconsin Ironman course, with great views of the helix where swimmers transition from swimming to biking. The Wisconsin Ironman gets more spectators than any other Ironman, even the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. An estimated 75,000 people turn out.

Here are a few other posts on Madison and Wisconsin:

The book that made me crazy with homesickness for America

Enjoying Neil DeGrasse Tyson at the UW Senior Sendoff on the Union Terrace

The Marvelousness of Madison

Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook - why not follow me there?
Missed my earlier posts? They're below:

My Jubilant American Summer, Part One

My Jubilant American Summer, Part Two

My Jubilant American Summer, Part Two

Prairie and Pattern

in the middle of Chicago

I have always been crazy for world-class architecture. For years, I have daydreamed about taking my children on the super-popular CAF (Chicago Architecture Foundation) river cruise celebrating Chicago’s architecture.  I have always daydreamed about taking them to see all of the Frank Lloyd Wright sites in Oak Park,Illinois. I have also never been to see the Bahai Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, for example. I would love for my children to see the Bahai Temple there to celebrate, not only the architecture, but the diversity of America’s religious expression. I didn’t get that ‘Chicago architecture daydream’ done in their formative years. This was my chance!

Approaching the

James R.Thompson Center,

formerly known as

the State of Illinois Building,

designed by Murphy/Helmut Jahn.

Notice the Jean Dubuffet sculpture

in front of the building.

Light abounds at this intersection

since the building leans back

from the intersection.

Inside, the open, awe-inspiring

atrium is designed to communicate

"an open government in action."

A 'dome,' a fixture of so many

sacred and governmental buildings,

was instead, modeled

into the floor

in tile.

The sculpture

"Monument with Standing Beast"

by French sculptor Jean Dubuffet

invites a feeling of play

from all passing pedestrians

regardless of age.

The State of Illinois

set aside 0.05% of building cost

for public art.

I love public art programs

and was a inaugural board member

of my city's public art board

in my hometown.

Living in Chicago for the summer gave me an opportunity to plan an architecture outing. It allowed me the chance to join the Chicago Architecture Foundation and to experience the amazing community of architecture enthusiasts that has developed in the city.

 The untitled Picasso sculpture

was the first significant public art

in downtown Chicago.

Kids love to run up and down it.

The story goes that it was inspired

by a woman with a great pony-tail that

Picasso was dating

at the time.

When I first walked into the Chicago Architecture Foundation retail store and meeting point, I started crying. I am sure they thought I was nuts. I was just so moved! This is how life is meant to be!

Imagine, there are thousands of people all over the world who join the Chicago Architecture Foundation to celebrate, enjoy, mull over,discuss, and preserve Chicago’s architectural heritage. Chicago is the home of the world’s first skyscraper, has a spectacular master plan designed by Daniel Burnham due to the Chicago Fire in 1878 that leveled much of the city, and 18 miles of gorgeous beachfront that is open to the public thanks to great urban planning and Montgomery Ward's leadership in the 1920s.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation’s mission is “to inspire people to discover why design matters.”  In 1966, preservation enthusiasts got together to save a private Chicago residence, the Glessner House, from destruction. Their success led people from across disciplines to form an organization devoted to sharing this enthusiasm for great design. Since then, it has grown into a group with a $17 million budget and 9,700 members. 450 volunteer tour leaders led 6,395 tour departures last year celebrating architecture with 319,661 people.  A whopping 1,367 volunteers put on their annual October Open House showcasing architectural treasures across the city over the course of one weekend.

It’s such a great value too, to become a CAF member. Members can go on 62 different walking tours for free. Yes, I said, 62 FREE walking tours! Members are able to buy tickets to the architectural river cruise at 2 for 1, or 4 for 2 pricing, plus members get discounts in the retail shop, on boat, bicycle, bus, and Segway tours, free attendance at lunch and evening programs, and free passes to all exhibitions. Plus, if one were living in the city long-term, what a joy it would be to develop community with like-minded, design-enthused people. Priceless!

The organization is so successful, it has started a sister organization just to help people who ask, “how could I get one of these architectural foundations started in my city?” I thought many times during the summer, how useful an Istanbul Architectural Foundation would be, now, at a time when the whole city seems up for grabs for construction with nary a thought to the archaeological value of some sites.

Having an organized, committed, educated Istanbul architectural foundation with a budget , a network of communication, and institutional heft could make a difference. Far easier for design enthusiasts to work through institutional power, rather than through the street protests that have resulted in tear gas, arrests, and deaths for individuals who care about the future of their city.

The world's tallest skyscraper

designed by a woman,

the 82-story mixed use

Aqua Tower

designed by Chicago's

Jeanne Gang

of Studio Gang Architects

Notice the amenities for residents

built into the base of the building:

a jogging track, swimming pool,

parks and underground parking.

 A park and school

 are part of the complex.

Since Millennium Park was built,

one block away,

the residential units

available in this area

have exponentially increased.

I'm encouraged that

the world's tallest skyscraper

has been built by a woman

from Midwestern America,

 in Midwestern America.

I also especially appreciated the CAF’s focus on women architects. The Foundation works to publicize the gap between the number of women who graduate with an architectural degree and the number who are actually working as architects. There’s a 32% gap. There were exhibitions about women architects, and bus tours around the city showcasing female-designed buildings (always sold out).  The CAF, and a sister organization, the Chicago Women in Architecture (CAW) serve as cheerleaders for female design accomplishment.

One local woman from Northern Illinois was the lead architect on the world’s tallest female-designed skyscraper to date: Jeanne Gang. Another Chicago institution, the MacArthur Foundation, has also nurtured her talent with one of their famous “Genius Grants.” The grant is a one-time gift of $625,000 with no strings attached to use how the recipient wants. Gosh, I loved learning about her and seeing her building. Is it any wonder Chicago is the place where female-led design has pushed the boundaries?

Enjoying the

Chicago Architecture Foundation

River Cruise

with my family

I had one very special day with my children celebrating magnificent design. Daughter #1 and her husband drove down from Wisconsin for the day. The two of them, my youngest daughter and I took an CAF architectural river cruise and saw the city from the point-of-view of the river.

Kayakers check out

the Chicago River's

future riverwalk

We were awed by the design challenges of particular buildings, the story about how the flow of the Chicago River was reversed, and the industrial histories of Sears and Montgomery Wards and their impact on the city.

 The engineering challenges met

on the construction

of the Boeing Building were

particularly impressive

Chicago leads the world in most number of moveable river bridges. So far, the river's infrastructure benefits boats and cars. It’s exciting to see that Chicago’s next big civic design push is inspired by San Antonio, creating a future pedestrian river walk for citizens to enjoy.

Bertrand Goldberg's "River City,"

affectionately known

as the "eyebrow" building

for the fun shape of the windows.

Notice the boat parking underneath.

Our tour guide noted with a bemused laugh that the Chicago River has been upgraded from ‘toxic’ to merely ‘polluted.’ She told stories about how Chicagoans of old used to dispose of their dead horses by dumping them into the river. I can’t wait to see the day when the river becomes romantic rather than wretching (well, at least that story was, the river itself looks fine). Go, Chicago, go!

What a view!

The view from the 16th floor terrace

of Trump International Tower

After our architectural river cruise, my family took me out for a seafood lunch to celebrate my birthday, and then we went to the newly designed Trump International Tower for a drink. I’m no fan of Trump’s politics, but I was completely impressed with what he had built in Chicago, beginning with securing the lot upon which his skyscraper was built. The lot alone speaks to his power. How did he secure this exquisite piece of land? It has a dead-ahead view of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan and a view of the Wrigley Building to the left.

The Trump International Tower

from the Chicago River

On 9/11/2001, Donald Trump was in a meeting with his architect Adrian Smith, who was with the globally-famous architectural design firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, at the time of the design. Trump and Smith were planning to build a skyscraper that would be Chicago’s tallest building. For obvious reasons, Trump decided against this.  If the building Trump built is any less magnificent than what he had planned, I could not see how. It is sleek, sexy, and timeless, particularly before Donald Trump decided to unnecessarily add his name to the building. We all knew it was yours, Donald.  It was unnecessary to 'trump'-it this. 

 Selfies with my youngest

What a special moment

it was to enjoy this view

with my family

 What an uplifting view! All around us were wedding parties, gussied up and looking pretty, celebrating their special day.  As one of my friends said about the pricy drinks, “you just have to drink your drink very slowly.” Yes, the drinks were expensive, but no more than Istanbul, with its sky-high alcohol taxes.

Art Deco

Elevator Doors
at the

Chicago Board of Trade

I tried to do at least three of the free CAF walking tours each week while I was in Chicago. Because, these tours were so incredible, I didn’t have time to see many of the amazing ‘secondary’ attractions that Chicago boasts of that I would also like to see: Jane Addams’ Hull House museum, the Oriental Art Institute (which I would really now appreciate having lived in Turkey), the Glessner House, whose imminent destruction in the 1960s lead to the creation of the CAF, the Pritzker Military Library (another architectural gem), and on and on the list goes. Chicago in INCREDIBLE.

My favorite building discovery
of the summer

was the Marquette Building,

built in 1895,

and designed by

Holabird and Roche.

It has steel-frame architecture
and is considered

one of the best examples of

the "Chicago School of Architecture."

The building celebrates the voyage of Frenchman

and priest Jacques Marquette,

the first European settler in Chicago.

 He explored the Chicago River in 1674.

Notice the bas-relief sculpture

over the entrance that celebrates

Marquette's exploration of the Great Lakes,

including, in the far right panel, his burial.

The Marquette Building is currently home

to the John D. and Catherine

MacArthur Foundation,

the people who make the

Genius Grants every year.

That foundation did an extensive renovation

of this imaginative, wonderfully-American gem.

Marquette's expedition

is recreated in

Tiffany glass murals

surrounding the atrium.

I found this absolutely thrilling!

Yes, people, that is a tomahawk

on a brass door.

Elsewhere there were peace pipes

in the brass panel fittings.

You aren't going to see a building like this

anywhere in Europe.

Expedition members were highlighted

on all sides of the atrium.

How cool is that? 

It made me wonder why more history

isn't highlighted more in architectural buildings.

It helped me recognize

architecture's ability to teach,

awakening interest in history,

not just design.

A teacher could have a field day

with the institutionalized racism

captured in this description of Marquette, 

as the "discoverer" of a river

Native Americans

were using on a daily basis.

It's so fantastic this

dated thinking is preserved.
We see not only the good,
but the limits of generations
who proceeded us.

I also did not get every site seen on my family field-trip daydream. Next time, I’ll have to take my girls to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and Ernest Hemingway’s home in Oak Park. We'll drive out to Wilmette to see the Bahai House. I’ve added tons more sites I would love to see, especially houses of worship. There were so many gospel services, jazz services, and classical music worship services in incredible looking buildings. I wanted to get to them all!

When I consider the impact of the Foundation, it really didn’t take that many people to change the world. So often, global challenges seem so overwhelming.  It seems they require such large sums of money and large groups of people. A person could be forgiven for thinking they seem impossible. Yet, the CAF started with one project, and then undertook another, and it started growing. In forty years, using the good will and hard work of around 10,000 souls a year, they are producing world-class results. That seems so achievable. What exciting project could your good will and hard work enable?

Thank you, Chicago Architectural Foundation, for an inspiring summer of celebrating |"why design matters."
You gave me my very favorite experiences of "My Jubilant American Summer" in 2014!

Readers, I just realized I've written 63 other posts about architecture. You might enjoy them. Here are a few of my favorites:

In Illinois:

"Make No Little Plans..."

"America's Favorite Architecture"

|"America's Finest Example of Prairie-School Architecture"

"A Living Tribute to Abraham Lincoln"

"Why the Obama Presidential Library Should be Built in Springfield, Illinois"

In Prague:

"Was Living in Soviet Housing on my Bucket List?"

"Art Deco Elegance in Old Town Prague"

"I Needed Some Cash In My New Neighborhood"

Pavel's Prague, Part Two, The Grand Orient Cafe

In Istanbul:

An Afternoon of Art and Beauty at the Borusan Contemporary, Part One

Topkapi Palace, Part One

For My Jubilant American Summer, Part One, click here

Why not have my latest post sent directly to your inbox?
Sign up to follow Empty Nest Expat. See my sidebar to the right.