Fighting crime one class at a time…

October 7, 2011, by GL

Crimes against humanity is a valuable class to be taking. Having the ability to learn about this you get the chance to understand the history and culture of the world as well get to see what mankind did to tear great culture and spirit down. I am able to get the chance to learn things about Chicago’s history, the world and even things about me for example the way I learn. The class got the chance to take a quiz and see what kind of learning style you had, I believe the advice given to you was very helpful and now I am able to use new techniques to help me succeeds in challenges that are thrown at me. It also teaches you about culture and how to be your own person which I Believe everyone deserves to learn, especially to be able to better yourself and to as well help make mankind better. In class we looked at the famous Picasso bulls and realized they resembled all the kids in our class, they were all unique and different and showed that they each had their own story. Which sounds a lot like my classmates. We are all different in our own ways as well as share our culture differences with the world. People pass up many opportunities for learning. We all over look the crimes and destruction can really help us learn valuable lessons from the past that we cant learn in a book as well help us all share our different cultures and our ideas. For example Maxwell Street definitely helped me better understand what crimes against humanity really is. By cutting down Maxwell street and building new fancy places for the college students to go to down by UIC, it destroyed a famous culture that will be pretty much impossible to get back. Yet i can guarantee you while these students sip on their Jamba-Juice and go into the new restaurants they don’t know what really happened on the ground they were standing on.Before all the world turned into a money eating world Maxwell street stood long and proud. The people of Maxwell street changed music history forever. The magic that was happening on this street i think is more way more valuable then any of the money producing places that are up now. We torn down a generation of music culture and many overpass how valuable and important Maxwell street was to people as well as the musicians who originally started on the this captivation street. We forget all about what culture is, now only to focus on the love for money, which I believe is a huge crime against humanity. We should be Restoring these unique places instead of tearing them down and letting them be forgotten. so hopefully by the end of this class I will be able to really appreciate my culture. I as well can enjoy the historical important places, objects and ideas that have come before me and turn them into my own ideas and dreams and share my unique thoughts with the people around me.

Is Judging a Crime Against Humanity?

September 30, 2011, by DC



Sometimes, if you hear things and you’re pushed you become what people see you as; negative thoughts become a negative reality.

Appearances are everything–particularly when it comes to enjoying a life without struggle. It has been my experience that people judge others mostly on their financial and social status. If they don’t know a person they determine this by race, dress, talk, and behavior. For example, if an African-American man walked into a very expensive clothing store while wearing baggy clothes and speaking street slang, some might be suspicious of his reason for being there. He may be labeled as a criminal even if he didn’t commit a crime. When African-Americans go to interviews, when we invest, when we do business and shop–our judgment of people and their social standing is a big part of our decision making and attitudes towards things. So, is this judging the crime against humanity? Or is it how we judge that’s the real crime? Or is it all about the action?

When watching Electrified I saw people on Maxwell Street turn a bad neighborhood into a community. There were a lot of different races and people from different backgrounds that came together to benefit and help each other. Then their culture and history was  torn down and built into a tourist attraction. They changed an entire neighborhood to accommodate a different community–instead of bettering it for the community that was already there. Some people saw this as a great thing and others saw it as a crime against humanity.

I believe Maxwell Street was a crime against humanity because the people on Maxwell Street were seen as the bad people messing up or ruining the area because they weren’t rich. On the other hand, the people from UIC were seen as bettering the community because they had more money and were of a higher class.  When deciding what to do with Maxwell Street, I think the art and culture was not taken in consideration, only the negative things. When expanding UIC, I think the only criteria was reaching people with more money and young adults that love to spend money.

“Publicity Stunts,” story five of Chicago Blues also has this theme of judging people. In this story, detective V.I. Warshawski is accused of murdering Lisa Macauley. Detective Warshawski was not a celebrity like the author Ms. Macauley and the famous talk show host Claud Barnett, who gossipped about detective Warshawski. Meanwhile, the people believed them because of the arguments and the slander Lisa had spread about V.I. In the end, the gossip about Warshawski became reality when she was tried for murder. Unlike Maxwell Street, however, justice was served in Chicago Blues–the streets were safer.

Understanding What We See, by LT

September 30, 2011, by admin

Crimes Against Humanity is a course that not only goes into the historical aspect of culture, but it also sheds light on what can be done for future societies. It is as if we are looking at problems to figure out the solutions for ourselves and what we can produce theoretically with our abilities to influence the better nature of education. Learning to become more involved with our community and testing how far we can go with our knowledge gives worth to our education and lifestyles.

What we value is at the heart of crimes against humanity. Maxwell Street provided an example of how the University of Illinois-Chicago and the city of Chicago attempted to stimulate the growth of an area, but instead drove out the valuable culture that supported it. I can remember examining Maxwell Street and observing it from a tourist’s perspective rather than genuinely experiencing what made that diverse area exceptional–a place where people rose from the gutter and made historical accomplishments. We could see it as a way to enhance the culture and make a learning experience if we wanted to improve the state of the area. During this exhibition, I was given the opportunity to brainstorm how to make effective changes in an area of diversity. This made me believe that Maxwell Street was a microcosm scenario for how many countries handle situations, and how some judgments can be deemed as a crime against humanity.

Further crimes are evident in our course text, Chicago Blues. My personal favorite crime fiction story was “O Death Where is Thy Sting?” not only because I enjoyed researching it as a part of my curriculum but because from all of them I made many personal connections. We see that in this story that there are morals such as determining the differences between true innocence and what determines guilt. During the climax of the story, a young boy undergoes obstacles that ultimately play a key role in underlining the irony of his own demise. Ultimately, societies bear the burden of having to balance out what makes their people innocent or guilty.

A Place We Call Home…

September 23, 2011, by GL

The Purpose of this piece was being able to show how the city of Chicago is extremely diverse, and every neighborhood has their own stories. I’m proud of this piece because unlike most of the pieces we saw, this one was very abstract and different. You had the chance to interoperate our own views behind the picture.I, as well learned that there is beautiful art around the city that I never noticed. By going on this trip I definitely realized to look at these beautiful unique unnoticed pieces all around the city.

A Place We Call Home…. on PhotoPeach