My Design and Site Proposal for the Obama Library in Chicago

Tribune reporters

9:59 p.m. CST, March 6, 2014

The University of Chicago has been working behind the scenes to get competing factions to collaborate on a unified bid to build the Obama presidential library in Chicago, but U. of C. officials said Thursday that they won't select a neighborhood for the library — the president and first lady will.

"The Obamas know Chicago like the back of their hands, and for us to say we want it in one spot does not make sense if they want it someplace else," said Susan Sher, a senior adviser to the university's president and coordinator of its library effort. "At the University of Chicago, our approach is to build it on the mid-South Side of Chicago within a few miles of the university. But we have no specific site." Chicago Tribune

Me and the guys do!!!!

Since the announcement calling for proposals for the design and site of a future of Presidential Library named for Good Old Number 44- Barack H. Obama, I have been feverishly reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, watching Old Maverick re-runs that I taped from Encore's the Western Channel, planning dinner menus to suit the gustatory discernment's of my son, meeting the standard obligations of good citizenship in the light and heavy snow removal incumbent upon us all with advent of Global Warming, dating a gorgeous woman, attending Leo High School basketball games in its run to capture the IHSA basketball title and generally doping off.

In the last thirty minutes, or so, I put together a nondiverse team of gender specific 19th Ward Democrats and retired city workers to meet the challenges posed by Marty Nesbitt's team of Library sycophants and Obama bundlers.

Hickey's Big O Library Design & Site team - L-R- Aloysius T. Byrd, Mike "Slim" Cullen, Terry "Four-Eyes" White, Pabst " Blue" Ribbon, and Neary Lee Dunne enjoy a breakfast turkey and brainstorm.

We met in my kitchen, when Brewbaker's closed this morning.  The ideas were wholesome and praiseworthy.  As Obama is the most transformational, unprecedented, omniscient and fluid of men, we hit on a design that just might - meet the mark.  Between the turkey and the spuds it was determined that our design should tell the story of the man himself.

The Square peg in the round hole.  It was determined that such an All-Seeing-"I" of A Man deserves a placement worthy of his waters - The 68th Street Water Crib out on Lake Michigan. Imagine the morning halo, like all those pictures of the BIG O taken by the hand-picked White House Boy photoger!

The site should fit the Presidential self-styled south sider and Sox Fan - he can see Adam " Big Donkey" Dunn from the library were it to sit out on the Lake. 

There should be enough shelf space for both of President Obama's books and all of the swag he's collected.

 The Big O out on the Lake! Sun Rise; Sun Set!

This work was not done over night - took only a couple of minutes, like filling potholes and increasing property taxes.

Leo HS Morning 2/11/2014 -I Ride With Pride and Clyde By My Side!

 I am blessed with a great life and the opportunity to work for Leo High School.  I get to Leo at about 4:45 most days and start the boilers, do some paper work and get one of the vans ready to pick up between seven and nine guys participating in early morning activities. My crew is usually Cyde, Chris, TJ, Mick, Joe, Latrell, Caleb, Gaylon, and Sydney.  I begin in Englewood at 74th & Normal, go to Grand Crossing at 66th & King Drive, take that beautiful, historic and inspiring Boulevard north to 35th and Dunkin Donuts!

At 5:45 AM I defrost and chip ice from Old # 7 and get the heat up -somewhat and at 6:10 head to pick up my co-pilot and fifteen year old mentor Clyde at 74th & Normal 

 The man emerges and runs to the van.  Hoists himself and a twenty pound book bag in to the van and greets me with a genuine "Good morning Mr. Hickey! My Mom says hi!  Let's Roll!"Route #66   Nelson Riddle   Nelson Riddle Collection

Download Route #66   Nelson Riddle   Nelson Riddle Collection MP3 for free on Dilandau

 Roll we do north toward Hamilton Park . . .

and then east to Wentworth, north again to 67th and then east to grab Chris - on the way Chris's Mom calls to say that he has the flu. Like Clyde, Chris never misses a day and commands a 3.8 GPA.

We pass Chris's home in the Park Homes and head north

 Under the 63rd Street L Platform

 and past Wahsington Park at 59th Street.  Past the 55th Street Garfield Boulevard the real charms of Chicago Architecture from the days of Burnham become evident.

 East and west we see scores of the very best examples of Chicago Architecture.

 We come to heart of Bronveville the birthplace of Chicago Blues and Jazz and the Harold Washington Library on the east side King Drive.

 At 45th we pass a beautiful old building boarded up and aching for a rehab.

 The Sax Man agrees!

 On the east side of 43rd and MLK drive stands my very favorite Chicago building.

 Just before 35th Street we come to the wonderful WWI Memorial to the Men of Bronze - the all African American Illinois Guard Regiment from Chicago that twisted the Kaiser's mustache until he gave up.   We make a right at 35th Street and a left at the strip mall that is home to our Dunkin Donuts

I explain that we are 'showing the flag,' like a 1920's Yankee gun-boat on the Yangtzee River - representing Leo High School in words and deeds and the lads have stepped up magnificently. For two years now, we are warmly greeted by the Dunkin Donuts regulars, headed by the Mall Manager Roy and the working the men who begin their day here.

Not a day goes by without a full report from Clyde

and fleshed out by Joe, Mick, Caleb, TJ, Latrell & etc.

The Dunkin Donuts He-Bull . . .

and the Dream Team serve us with coffee, OJ and a box of Munchkins ( chocolate glazed only).

These are my pals!  Missing is eighty year old Miss Marie and the famous BB Ref.

Back to the van and west on 35th Street, we pass Catholic League rival D.

 and approach the Dan Ryan.

 We pass Sox Park and merge with a near miss which upsets sissy-britches Mick

 Now, I pay great attention to rush hour south!

 We exit at 79th Street head west and arrive at Leo High School at 7:15 AM.

The guys polish off the Munchkins and get a hot breakfast at Leo.  The guys head to their activities, or tutoring sessions.  They put in a very long day of academics and sports and most do not get home until well after 7PM.

I am a very blessed man - Facta Non Verba.

Beanie Babies, Leo High School and Main Street Entrepreneurship

"It is clear that the quantity of product or of merchandise offered for sale, in proportion to the demand or number of Buyers, is the basis on which is fixed or always supposed to be fixed the actual market prices.. . .  It often happens that many things which actually have this intrinsic value are not sold in the market at that value: That will depend on the humors and fancies of men and on their consumption." Richard Cantillon (168?- 1734)  Irish Father of Modern Economic Theory

Notes from Chiberia - The Big Chill 2014.  I read about Ty Warner's legal problems and thought about the hundreds of dollars spent by the Family Hickey on Beanie Babies and my happy life.

In the mid to late1990's, I lived in Griffith, Indiana. My wife and I were blessed with three children, two girls and a boy and had a very modest bungalow one alley away from main street and three blocks from our parish of St. Mary's church and grammar school.   Mary worked as an art teacher in Hammond and I commuted to Leo High School in Chicago. Every morning we awakened to the great smells of Patty Cake Bakery and Dave & Lee's diner.  I made the trip through the alley to the back door of Patty Cake a couple of days a week and to Dave & Lee's with the Mary and the kids on the weekends.  I love main streets.

The main street of Griffith had an Italian Imports store, a drug store, music store, two insurance agencies,a sporting good store and a barber shop, as well as the municipal center with police and fire.  In nearly every business there began to appear displays of hand sized plush toy animals crafted from bean bag sacks.  Each had a name like Zippy the Zebra, or Bob the Baboon.  They were modestly priced and sold out quicker than an NSA tech aide with a GED.

Word of mouth and niche marketing made this juvenile necessity the commodity of the next ten years.  By the time, we moved to Chicago in 1999 I had baskets of Beanie Babies.  A remember going to a florist on Ridge Road in Highland, Indiana to order flowers for a wake and going with carefully written note to purchase three distinct bean bag toys.  I followed hand written notes and grocery lists from my wife to the letter,   "Don't ask why a purchase is necessary, just get it." Not only were kids buying Beanie Babies, but also adults.  Ladies and some guys collected the plush toys in the same manner as my Irish aunts did Waterford Crystal and Belleek china.

Later, Beanie Babies were modified and stuffed into Happy Meals at McDonald's.  As the kids grew up the Beanie Babies were given away to neighborhood youngsters here in Chicago, donated to St. Vincent De Paul Society, or Vietnam Veterans Charities.  I still shop main street which is Western Avenue between 111th & 99th Streets.  I don't see too many Beanie Babies these days. I learned that the guy who marketed these toys made billions.

He made billions of dollars because he was an entrepreneur - Ty Warner understood the difference between wealth and money.  Wealth is a condition of being; money is a medium of exchange. In the 17th Century an Irish ex patriot by the name of Richard Cantillon crafted the model of entrepreneurship. " Cantillon held that market prices are not immediately decided by intrinsic value, but are derived from supply and demand . . ."

- 
What would you pay for a bean bag shaped like a jackass?   What the market ( happy household full enchanted kids) will bare.  Each Beanie Baby was marketed by a time table and number of the individual species.  They would be available only after an announced date and only in a limited number. You snooze; you lose.

We teach opportunity at Leo High School in Chicago.  We teach the guys who attend Leo that many, many people are backing their play so long as they meet our expectations as students and most of all as men.  College is promoted, but so are the skilled trades and public service and safety vocations. I take some of our more . . .obstreperous young gents for a visit to the boiler room and show them a rudimentary course in heat conduction and tell them what a steam fitter, pipe fitter or stationary engineer can make in a year.   All they need to do is develop a work ethic and learn some math and graduate with level of skill and commitment to be accepted as an apprenticeship.  They are always impressed.  Each day is a Beany Baby.  Leo has been a school of opportunity from the day it opened its doors in 1926.  Leo was a main street school located on 79th Street where every need "from obstetrician to undertaker" was filled according to the orders of its denizens.

Leo High School was considered a business entity as well as a school for young men. Though most of the neighbors living along the main street of 79th street were Roman Catholic, many of businesses were operated by Jewish entrepreneurs - Siegel's pharmacy, Blackman's Jewelry, Morris B. Sachs' Clothing for Men.  These entrepreneurs put skin in the game and were as much a part of the life of the Catholic high school for boys as they were in the community at large. They invested time, treasure and talent in the operation of Leo High School and were rewarded with the patronage of a vast Catholic army of consumers.

Maurice Blackman not only provided rings for Championship Leo football and basketball teams, but hired Hylands, McKeevers, O'Briens and Gerritys to work in his store for tuition and pocket money. The late Jim McKeever ( Leo '54) said the Blackman's were like family to him and taught him as much business and ethical lessons as the Irish Christian Brothers.  The entrepreneur sees wealth, while a hustler sees money.  Wealth is found in values and values create wealth.  Leo students were active in Catholic Action, a social justice club that helped the infirm, the indigent and the incarcerated.  Also, Leo students built aircraft identification models for the War Department through WWII.  Students and main street worked together.

As main street died, so too the wealth of wisdom and community.  CVS, Walgreens and banks with ever changing titles seem to dominate main street.  Corporations sole without a soul.  Schooling has become as blandly faceless as business - Algebra, Geometry, History, Physics, English, Spanish.  Teaching to the tests and aggregate scores now pass for 'education.'

I'd like to see our guys have an opportunity to experience the joy of a sale.  Imagine a 17 year old kid making a close, even if it were a Beanie Baby crafted to look like the Leo Lion at $ 5.75.  The founder of Beanie Babies used shoe leather to place his products in stores and businesses in Griffith Indiana in the early 1990's. 

Sharing Rides With Clyde , Leo High School Freshman

Clyde and the X Country Team - The Man is Dead Center Front Row Tossing the Leo Lion "L"

I pick up ten guys every morning along a route that comprises Englewood, Grand Crossing and Bronzevill neighborhoods. My first passenger is a freshman named Clyde B@@#$^% who lives in the concrete pocket that intersects the Metra line, the Skyway and Vincennes/Wentworth along the Dan Ryan.

Leo freshman Clyde is a perfect gentleman, mature beyond his years, thoughtful, tough and suffers from no self-esteem issues, whatsoever. Clyde is unarguably the shortest man at Leo High School, but stands much taller than some of classmates.  He ran cross-country and is a member of the freshman basketball team now playing .500 ball with a victory over Calumet (Perspectives) and a tough loss to the Fighting Irish of Bishop McNamara on Friday.  Clyde can steal and handle the ball, but can not shoot to save his life and neither can his team mates. They'll get there.

I take the grey van from the lot on Sangamom each morning and drive north on Halsted to 74th Street, make a right to south bound Stewart, a left on 75th Street and quick left at Normal.  I am at Clyde's in less than six minutes.  His Mom is a nurse raising two boys in Englewood and paying Catholic school tuition.  She is a valiant young woman.  Clyde's brother attends a Chicago public grade school.  He too will attend Leo High School.

Clyde emerges from the warmth of this home promptly at 6:30AM, climbs in to the passenger seat next to me with genuine,   " Good Morning, Mr. Hickey!"  Morning Clyde! We begin the morning dialog.

We then talk all manner of things from stray dogs in the neighborhood, to Josh  McCown's rightful place as Bears QB, to basketball practice, to the glorious Chicago architecture between 63rd and 35th Street along Dr. King Drive. We pick up Chris A##$%^^ in the project homes still called South Park at 66th.  Chris is a classmate of Clyde's and a profoundly serious guy who keeps his own counsel.  For the last couple of weeks, construction projects on King Drive required us to detour through Washington Park to 55th Street.  This was grist for the Columbian Exposition narratives mill and Burnham's far-sighted development of the south side from the Lake west to State Street.

As I mentioned, we take in the beautiful homes and apartment buildings on Dr. King Drive.  My favorite is on the north east corner of  43rd Street. 

Clyde prefers the Chicken and Waffle House at 39th & King Drive for more than just the aesthetic but culinary graces bestowed beyond its portals.

We pass the Victory Monument of the Fighting 8th Illinois Regiment and arrive at 35th & and Dr. King Drive, take a right and quick left into the strip mall for the Dunkin Donuts Munchkins that will tide over the seven to eight gents who will join my two passengers for the journey to another day in Catholic education. Clyde's appearance in the door is cause for excitement among the early morning Coffee Anne  crowd,  Roy the mall maintenance manager and Miss Marie get greeted by the young man and then query Clyde's doings as he places the order for his fellow travellers. This fourteen year old gentleman is one of the best examples of what Leo High School is all about.

I look forward to my drives with Clyde.

Atlantic Magazine Interview Bashing NYC Public Schools Uses Picture of Leo Catholic HS's Immaculate Halls at 7AM

Jim Young/Reuters Photo from 2012

Knowing my interest in inner city schools, a buddy of mine forwarded an interview appearing in the recent issue of The Atlantic.  The feature is an interview with a disgruntled NYC public school teacher entitled " It Feels Like Educational Malpractice." The interview is nice, but not exactly ground-breaking for anyone who has taught in a big city school.

It was a very poor neighborhood with a lot of English-language learners who knew little or no English. With poverty comes this condition called Toxic Stress. It explains why the children were so difficult to handle, needy, and so behind in learning. When your dad is in prison or your mom is on drugs, or your mom drank alcohol when you were a fetus, if you didn’t sleep the night before because you were allowed to play video games all night, or maybe there was a shooting, your cognitive ability is harmed. It rewires their brain so they’re unable to employ working memory, which is what you use when you’re learning. We’re charged with being the parents of these kids, being the friends, the mentors. Teachers are given all these social responsibility towards children that aren’t ours. It’s a failure of the system to address the poverty that creates the achievement gap.

Tell me about it.  Public schools can not do much about it. Catholic schools can and do.  I work at Leo High School in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago.  Not NYC. What is interesting and kept my eyes darting up the page from the prose to the photo was . . .Jesus! That ain't a big Apple Public School!  That's Leo High School . . .right here on the south side!

About a year ago Reuters ( link up and enjoy the photos # 6 is the one The Atlantic features) did a very nice story written by Chicago veteran news person Mary Wizniewki. She was accompanied by a photographer and arrived at dawn of the Leo day for several days and soaked up how Catholic schools do what public schools can not and may not do.  We have a crucifix in every room of the schools, stained glass windows in the cafeteria offering a litany to Our Lady, and Catholic value based instruction.  Most students are not Roman Catholic.  All have been accepted at solid colleges and universities.

The thing that struck me most was the photo (above and linked) - that is Leo HS at about 7AM.  I am here between 4:30 and 5:00 AM daily.  Some guys arrive before I go out at 6:20 AM to pick up students in Bronzeville and Canaryville.  I open the doors, because Leo offers the most positive and safe hours of the day for our guys.

It is interesting that The Atlantic chose a photo of an inner city classroom and hall of a school built by Chicago Catholic parishioners in 1921 and opened in 1926 and still operating to help young men succeed on faith based path.

Funny no NYC public schools were featured.

The photographer must be the gent identified in The Atlantic piece. 

Leo Veterans Observance - Facta Non Verba: Honor in Deeds Not Just Words

The Marines of Chicago's Own - 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines carried 1903 Springfield rifles in tribute to the late James Durkin, USMCR Leo Class of 1930 veteran of Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands 1942, as it was the weapon Mr. Durkin carried in that campaign.


The Durkin Family with Leo President Dan McGrath and Principal Phil Mesina


Liam Durkin and his sister Lilly helped their Mom lay a wreath at the Memorial in Leo's courtyard that was placed in 1965 through the efforts of James Durkin, Leo '30.



Three heroes of the Vietnam War - Leo Men and veterans of the 25th Infantry Division




The Honor is a small part of our obligation


Korean War vet and CFD hero Jim Corbett gives Leo Math teacher Ms. Hickey sound advice concerning the like-surnamed troll to Chief Corbett's right.



Mr. Holden and Mr. Richards of Bugles Across America did a Taps Duet.


Campus Minister Pete Doyle leads all in the Catholic Prayer-  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

More great Photos by Phil Mesina, Leo Principal