Friday, April 17, 2009
News / Clout City Carl Sandburg and the Games
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 04.17.09 at 05:13 PM
Carl Sandburg died in 1967, so it's rather hard to know his take on the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics.
Nonetheless, one of our readers suggests (scroll down to the bottom) that the poet would support Mayor Daley's Olympic efforts, offering up Sandburg's classic "Chicago" as evidence of why we should plow on with plans to spend billions and chew up the parks.
The lines supposedly in favor of the games come near the end of the poem, when Sandburg writes: "I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them: / Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning."
Of course, his darker take on the town comes a few lines earlier, when he talks about "your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys" and "the gunman kill and go free to kill again" and "the marks of wanton hunger" on "the faces of women and children."
At the very least, I think it's unfair to write off Sandburg as some sort of bubble-headed booster, at least in comparison to Nelson Algren. In writing about "Chicago" and "The Windy City," another Sandburg classic, biographer Harry Golden notes: "Both poems make essentially the same point. While the city is a bold enterprise on the part of men, it is also an enterprise which corrupts natural emotions. For some, the corruption is almost total."
Sounds familar, doesn't it?
Comments (10)
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I can see why the Reader is going bankrupt. Is this the culmination of a days work in the office ? Friday at 5:13pm. At least we weren't bored with another TIF story.....
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Sandberg smoked allot of dope and did rooms!Sandberg didn't have parking meters that cost $20.00 for 15 minutes, Parking lotts that cost $35.00 a hour, service fees on everything you eat and drink in Chicago,we had quality jobs and had people that would stand up to selfish leaders. Note to all the $RICH$(Pat Ryan, Rich Daley,Gov. Quinn....): Do you know how out of touch you sound when you talk about $500 million from Chicago taxpayers+ $250 million dollars from the state taxpayers for the Olympics? How you continue with special projects , when people of Chicago and Il are out of JOBS, can't afford Homes, health Ins, and Education !
I can see why the city is going bankrupt. Is this the culmination of a week's work in the offices of city hall? Sunday at 7:13am. At least we weren't bored with another feeble minded complaint about TIF expose's.....
Is this the best the opposition has ? Simply parroting back what someone else posted ? How original. With opposition like this, our great Mayor will have a long tenure.
There's an episode of Twilight Zone that perfectly describes 11th 'man' and 'oreo'. It's about a guy who fancies himself worthy to be the judge of everybody else. He comes up with a brainstorm: at a certain time, on a certain day, he, by the power of his righteous will, will rid the world of all evil people, by wishing them all to shrink down to barely 1 foot tall. This, he figures, will not only make it impossible for these 'evil people' in the world to hide their evil natures, but will also render them impotent at practicing their evil ways. As the clock ticks down to that moment when this guy is sure that all the evil people of the world will certainly shrink to 1 foot tall, he can hardly contain his glee of his anticipation. And, as the hour is struck, that hour when all the evil people in the world will, without a doubt, be reduced in size to 1 foot tall, lo and behold, our self appointed judge of who is evil, is, himself, now only 1 foot tall. There's your break, 11th man. Take heed.
We are not spending enough. The shoulders have gotten narrower since 1967. Who is this asshole copper???
