Lifetecture

I’m still on Beach Mode, and desperate to hold on to the lovely feeling of freedom I got from swimming in the Chesapeake Bay. Today was a stormy day, so the next best thing was the Chicago Park District. The nearest pool to my apartment is Fosco Park built about two or three years ago and free. I’ve never gone there before because I’ve always been afraid and I’m not sure why. The primary users are the inhabitants of the last of the ABLA projects and because the original Fosco Park was part of ABLA it seems like it’s their territory. People talk about diversity in Chicago, but often I am shocked by how separate the various peoples really are. During the sixties, the former Mayor Richard J. Daley encouraged this definition, laying in infrastructure to further demarcate territorial boundaries. There was a reason why he referred to the city as a quilt…it worked okay as long as people kept together and never mingled with others who were from somewhere else. Now we live in the aftermath of that definition, although the edges of the quilt are beginning to fray and it’s about time to find a new metaphor.

The invisible line between Pilsen and the projects is on my block but today I decided to dive in, literally. I was the only white skinned person in the pool. Everyone else was black or brown and it was glaringly apparent that now I was the minority.

The lifeguard made a lane for me, cause it was family hour and I wanted to swim laps. I couldn’t help feeling like he wanted to keep me separate! I swam up and down and really, it felt great to swim. Leaving Virginia Beach was hard. My hosts felt like family and my brother was there too. Now here I was alone during family time at the pool, isolated and different. Maybe it was my imagination, but was the Mexican woman who took her kids to the other side of the changing rooms avoiding me? Her two girls were rambunctious and the littlest, about four, said: “I’m getting a new tan, but I want a white tan.” My scabby Irish skin, with lovely new mosquito-bites from the garden in the South has never felt so alien.

The Park District workers were really nice to me; Chanel, the assistant to the director gave me the grand tour and orientation, so I’ll definitely go back; but this will take getting used to. Why do I feel like I’m blazing a trail? Is it ok for me to use this space? I’m going to try going again on Saturday, maybe it’ll be different.

Other link: General Park District site