Novel Attempt at Urban Communal Living

This "dorms for grownups" project is in my city of Syracuse! I think I'd really enjoy giving this kind of living situation a shot; it appeals to me in the same way that living in a co-op does. I also feel that we need to experiment as a society with approaches to small-space living in urban areas. Unfortunately, at around $700 a month, this would increase my rent by nearly 50%. Otherwise, I'd think very seriously about moving if it opened before my time here is over.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/coliving/414531/

A Walk Through Lincoln Park

I passed this old stone wall as I walked along Green Street toward Lincoln Park this afternoon.





Photos of the park itself and the view from the top of Lincoln Hill behind ( the cut. )

At some point, I'll go over there with my big cameras....

Historical Political Candidates Who Bend Space and Time

The guy I'm currently researching is a Winnetka, Illinois man, Carl Zeiss, who ran for congressman-at-large for Illinois in 1932. Write-ups in the Oak Park Oak Leaves say that:

He spent his years as a boy and young man on an Illinois farm. He spent a year farming in Michigan, too. But he also attended Harvard preparatory schools, attended the University of Chicago, graduated from Princeton at the age of 19, did his law degree at Harvard and Northwestern University, enlisted with the Navy during World War I and served with the Atlantic fleet, became a partner in a law firm (Kelly, Pratt, and Zeiss), lectured at Northwestern on tenant and landlord law, and was on the Winnetka board of governors *and* the Winnetka park board.

I'm skeptical. Could this guy bi-locate? How do you grow up on a farm and spend a year as a farmer out of state while simultaneously attending prep school and graduating from Princeton at 19? The paper was unambiguously endorsing his candidacy. I wonder if they didn't stretch things a little bit. As far as I can tell, his dad was an exporter and businessman in meat packing and/or the grain trade who lived at an exclusive south-side address that no longer exists, but was gorgeous in its time. (You can find a few images by Googling Chicago and Aldine Square.) I wonder if his "time on a farm" was actually spent managing some of his dad's operations.