Opinion

OUR VIEW

Hoskins declares OPINION

It is no surprise that Rory Hoskins is running for re-election as Forest Park’s mayor. And good for him to make this announcement a full 11 months ahead of the April 2023 municipal election.

In his announcement over the weekend, the mayor touts as accomplishments the strength of business along Madison Street, progress on remaking village property at the Altenheim, economic development overall, tighter connections with leaders of neighboring towns and fostering support for local schools.

We’d point out, despite some criticism, that everything Hoskins has accomplished has been done with a thick overlay of COVID-19, making every step more difficult.

Madison Street has been a mixed bag. Yes, it is positive that the street, even through COVID, remains largely filled and fairly vital. Not mentioned, unsurprisingly, are the ongoing issues related to a few bars and the rowdy behavior they engender. Kudos, though, to Hoskins for his determined efforts to squelch a complex problem.

As we’ve noted repeatedly, progress at the Altenheim has been too slow for too long. We’re dubious a newly appointed village commission will move the needle without more transparent leadership from the mayor. We wait.

Hoskins does get credit for working on improved relations with the mayors of neighboring towns, including Maywood, River Forest and Oak Park. We share challenges and opportunities and Hoskins sees that. He has also been good, again not a surprise, in working Democratic allies in Springfield. At a moment when money is finally flowing from state and federal sources, it is a good moment to have a mayor who knows how to work the levers.

We are especially appreciative that Hoskins singles out his support for the District 91 Forest Park elementary schools. These schools are absolutely central to the future of this village. Going back a decade, we’ve listened with horror as elected village officials trash-talked our schools or downplayed their significance. Our schools have virtues and they have a gigantic enrollment/ public confidence challenge. Hoskins showing up for the schools is vital to changing the perception of our public education.

Now we watch with interest to see who else joins this race. There are rumors and social media conversations about potential candidates. Forest Park will benefit from a contested election and we look forward to covering it.

Jean Lotus rocks

There are, to our chagrin, a great many former editors of the Forest Park Review loose in the land. We’ve lost track of a good number of them but a person we happily can’t shake is Jean Lotus, a strong and community-focused editor of the paper back in the previous decade.

She has since relocated to Colorado and actively reports on issues related to the hemp industry. But her picture is in this week’s paper as her 1980s girl punk band — Barbie Army — reunited in Chicago recently. They also played a set in Oak Park last weekend.

She is a woman of many talents and passions.

Learning how to speak ‘country’

‘Communication” was the most important thing our therapists dealt with in marriage counseling, right? That’s if we wanted the relationship to last. If the most important thing was winning, that’s what you focus on in divorce court.

There’s an old saying: when two people get married, the two become one. The question is, which one? Liberals, and I’m one of them, sometimes act like we know all the answers. After all, we’re more educated than rural and small-town folks in red states.

So I decided that one way to learn to communicate with red-state voters and to really hear where they’re coming from — since there aren’t many in this lifestyle enclave and those who exist stay in the closet — is to listen to some country & western songs. Here’s what I heard: The simple life Wendell Berry writes poems and stories about small-town living. He

TOM celebrates simplicity. His characters don’t need the stimulation of Lyric HOLMES Opera, Goodman Theater, watching professional sports live, the excitement of living in the midst of diversity. “I like to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there,” is what red-state folks say about the city. That’s what Forest Parkers also say about small towns. We live in bubbles, don’t we?

Home

I have lived in nine communities for at least a year. In country songs, the place where you’re living now is the place in which you grew up. There are often tradeoffs, of course. You give up opportunity, culture, wealth, education and in return you get lifelong relationships — family and buddies you see every day. You get the experience of community which is more difficult in the big city. Summer in the Country Sippin’ sweet tea, soakin’ up the breeze The birds and bees, and the creaking’ of an old screen door (---screen door) Talkin’ ’bout the good life The bullfrogs singin’, fireflies blinkin’, me and my girl, swingin’ out on the porch Remindin’ each other just what we’re livin’ for Summer in the country

Anti-political correctness

Alabama Sampler I was born country And that’s what I’ll always be Like the rivers and the woodlands Wild and free (running wild and free) I got a hundred years of down home Running through my blood I was born country and this country’s what I love

Fishin’ in the Dark I’m proud of where I came from I was born and raised in the Boondocks ... Five-card poker on a Saturday night Church on Sunday morning I’ll keep my heart and soul in the Boondocks. It’s where I learned about livin’ It’s where I learned about love

It’s where I learned about workin’ hard

And having a little was just enough

It’s where I learned about Jesus

And knowin’ where I stand

You can take it or leave it

This is me, this is who I am

Red-state voters tend to be less educated than folks who voted for Biden and Harris. They want well-educated people to teach their children and to take care of them when they’re sick, but they get mad as hell when pretentious elites from the East and West coast (and near western suburbs of Chicago) tell them how to live.

Friends in Low Places I got friends in low places Where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away And i’ll (sic) be okay I’m not big on social graces Well i guess i was wrong i just don’t belong See TOM HOLMES on page 16

Here’s mud in your eye

This has been a great year for … mud. Record downpours and days of dreary drizzle have kept the soil soggy. I had no idea that mud was a celebrated substance, until I read that International Mud Day will be observed on June 29.

The holiday was started in 2009 for the benefit of children in Nepal and Australia. The former has naturally-occurring mud, while the Aussie children resorted to making mud pies in their plastic pools.

According to the article’s author, Kay Manning, kids trade photos of their mud-smeared faces on the internet. Coordinators of the event believe that playing in mud on the same day helps kids from the two countries connect.

Playing in mud, though, is more than a social activity. Health professionals believe it strengthens a child’s immune system. It reminds me of a pollution case I investigated, involving a gas-manufacturing plant that discharged coal tar. I checked old directories to see who was living near the plant when it was operating. Then I went through the current phone book to see which neighbors were still alive. I ended up interviewing three people in their 90s. They had chewed on coal tar as kids and swum in a river swirling with black stuff. When I told a pediatrician friend of my findings, he said, well of course they’re in their 90s; they grew up eating coal tar. Mud isn’t just a health aid, it’s downright entertaining. I encourage my grandsons to dig holes in their yard in hopes of reaching China. When they get down to a certain depth, I pretend I hear voices but can’t understand what they’re saying, because I don’t speak Chinese. Their parents love these excavations in their lawn.

I once covered a daring mud rescue at The Park. A young boy was playing Frisbee with his sister, when it landed on the pitcher’s mound. The boy tried to retrieve the Frisbee but got completely stuck. It took several Park District workers to yank him out of the mud.

I also remember a mud incident when I was babysitting my 2-year-old grandson. He was at the stage where the world is an amusement park. Squirrels and rabbits are exotic wildlife. Cars are captivating and

every passing plane is worth a look. He found Forest Park especially fascinating. There’s way more action here, than in outer suburbia, where he lives. Trucks and buses rumble by. There are pedestrians to greet and dogs to pet. Best of all, were the “el” trains. He would just finish talking about the last “choo-choo,” when another would lumber past. On previous outings, Troy had been wary of mud. I found this a bit discouraging but JOHN gave it another try. I introduced him to a puddle and he splashed right through it. At his RICE age, any fun activity is worth repeating end lessly. He spent the next half hour running back and forth through the puddle, laughing in delight each time. I noticed his cute outfit was becoming increasingly discolored. I wondered if his mom was a member of M.U.D.D., (Mothers Ugainst Dirty Dungarees). When she came to pick him up, I sheepishly offered to buy him new shorts if she couldn’t get them clean. But why should I apologize? According to the book, Why Dirt is Good, most pediatricians believe “that the healthiest adults are those who spent the most time as kids rolling around in the dirt.” I don’t know if I should give Troy coal tar to chew on, but those folks I interviewed said it made their teeth really w hite.

A L OOK BA CK IN TIME

Aerobics and ale

High school track-and-field coach and PE teacher Gigi Kody was the aerobics instructor teaching classes at a Madison Street bar twice a week in 1987. Side Kicks, at 7801 Madison St., which hosted the class, was said to be less intimidating than health clubs, because “people with a not-so-perfect body can come in old sweats or whatever is comfortable and just have fun.”

The class required a three-month commitment and was “a low-tone aerobics designed to tone the inner thigh, lower thigh and buttocks.” Kody wanted to emphasize the social aspects of aerobics, which paired naturally with the social aspects of a tavern.

Jill Wagner

Tom Johnson From June 3, 1987 Forest Park Review. Photo by Tom Johnson TOM HOLMES

Learning country

from page 15

And show myself to the door. And I didn’t mean to cause a big scene Just give me an hour and then I’ll be as high as that ivory tower That you’re living in.

Castle on the Hill Fifteen years old and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes Running from the law through the backfields and getting drunk with my friends We found weekend jobs, when we got paid We’d buy cheap spirits and drink them straight Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long Oh, how we’ve grown I can’t wait to go home

Resentment

It’s a version of bait-and-switch, I suppose. Red state voters see ads about the good life involving expensive cars, designer sneakers and beautiful bodies; and then they look at their paychecks and realize that they’re at the bottom of the wealth gap. The boss makes seven figures and the worker makes five. It wouldn’t be so bad if the elites would show you some respect, if they would listen to your voice. And so you’re vulnerable to demagogues who shout f*ck the system, drain the swamp. Facts don’t matter or are weaponized when you’re angry.

Nine to Five With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5 Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living Barely getting by, it’s all taking and no giving They just use your mind, and they never give you credit It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it

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