Shunning? I Ain't Got the Time.

  Shun - Middle English shonen, shunnen, from Old English scunian

Shunning -  Targets of shunning can include persons who have been labeled as apostates, whistleblowers, dissidents, strikebreakers, or anyone the group perceives as a threat or source of conflict. Social rejection has been established to cause psychological damage and has been categorized as torture or punishment. Mental rejection is a more individual action, where a person subconsciously or willfully ignores an idea, or a set of information related to a particular viewpoint. Some groups are made up of people who shun the same ideas

Ever hear this?

Gee, I'm open-minded, but I don't want to hear anything you have to say on the matter.  Are you nuts?  How can you believe that in 2018?

Are you shunned?

Have you shunned anyone?

The late, great John McPolin shunned me from McNally's Saloon, not because I was a Cub fan ( I am not), but because he did not want my Dad, his mortal-friend and arch-beer buddy, to start showing up at McNally's instead of his headquarters at TR's.  " Pat, do me a favor and stay on the other side of 111th for beers, this is the only sanctuary I have away from that miserable old SOB. "

I abided.  That was not real shunning.  Every race , gender and sexual preference shuns.  You think the Amish shun?  The Yoders and Millers got nothing on the Murphys.

It seems that everyone is shunning someone else.   I live in a lovely neighborhood, full of loving people, but even here in this urban Arcadia of Morgan Park some people will no longer speak to you if you did not vote for Trump, or you refuse to put a COEXIST bumper sticker* on your SUV.

Who is welcome in your house?

Who is banished?

Do you fly the flag?

Why don't you fly the flag?

Don't want to - the wind blew off the last six and part of my garage.

I am seeing fewer and fewer political yard signs and bumper stickers, even though the Illinois primary election is only thirteen days from today.

I have a Jeanne Ives sign in my yard, where I have placed Democratic Party signage for more than twenty years.  No big deal.  No one is outraged.   I voted for Jeanne Ives; so what?

I have Jeanne Ives bumper sticker; no has keyed my car.

What I do not understand is all of the verbal and physical shunning going on.

Are you shunned for hoisting the W flag?

Are you a Sox Fan and feel left out of things?

The Hawks suck too.

We are neighbors.  I will cut your grass when you are too sick to do so.  I will snow-blow your walks and drive-way.  I will always wave to you and give you the big howdy.

Do I need to wear pink ribbons, or have blue and black bunting on my trees to know what I am all about?  Hell, no.

I go to Mass.  I go to work.  I speak my mind.  I have a very good time, every waking moment.

I don't have time for shunning.

Oh,  I'll block your ass on Facebook if you act like a jerk, but I'll give you a warm and genuine greeting up at the gas station.

I do not have time to shun anyone.



* Unitarians did not invent this logo - "Piotr Mlodozeniec, a Polish graphic designer, came up with the image in 2001, for a traveling exhibit run by the Museum on the Seam. The museum is a private institution in Jerusalem that describes itself as a “socio-political contemporary art museum.” In its original form, the design only incorporated three symbols—a Muslim crescent for the “C”, a Jewish Star of David for the “X”, and the Christian cross for the “T”.

Gee, why did he leave out cannibals and headhunters?

Trapped by Happiness? Have a Cold One in a Very Cold Place

The Coldest Beer in Chicago - tap your own. 

Mellow out. Enjoy the benefits of Christianity without the pain, as Mustapha Mond encouraged the mellow folks of Huxley's Brave New World. 

Have a cold one.

I like beer as much as the next twenty or thirty guys, but where I like it best is in a chilled glass and a warm place.

Long a draft beer man, I have quaffed, sipped, guzzled and turk'd pilsners, lagers, ales and stouts from every vessel but a beautiful woman's boot.  She wouldn't come across with the footwear, for some reason.



Beer from Boots, Dunkels, Dimpled Pints, Solo Cups, kegs,  bottles or cans is wonderful.  Unless it is a really bad beer. These would gag a maggot, but I was more than happy to pound them down once they were chilled to a frosty 42 degree,  Then, and only then, were they potable.

The after effects were crapulous - From the Late Latin word crāpulōsus, dating back to 1530-40. See crapulent, -ous: 1530s, "sick from too much drinking," from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale "hangover, drunken headache, nausea from debauching." The Romans used it for drunkenness itself. English has used it in both senses. Related: Crapulously ; crapulousness.

That was unwise.  Where such drinks were consumed was determined as much by the initial selection of drink - , broke, underage and furtive.   The fewer nickels in the palm determined the caliber of the content consumed.  The younger the dumber and always sneaky.  We drank under the stars in alleys, burned out grocery stores on Ashland Avenue, in Dan Ryan Woods, at Rum Valley on 79th at the viaduct on 2200 West.

With legality, the settings improved and could chart our rise from impecunity to working class and eventually burgher middle class.  We drank where we were moist comfortable, biker bars, dives, slop-shutes, holes in the wall, lounges, discos, pubs, clubs and scenes. " A tavern chair is the throne of felicity," growled Dr.Samuel Johnson. Felicity and courtesy reign together,

To me a great place to have a beer, or any beverage, is in a friendly, unpretentious inviting, warm and welcoming licensed premise that attracts people from all walks of life.  Keegans Pub ( now Barney Callaghans) at 10618 S. Western hosted such a clientele.  I  noted in December, 2008:

The Great Mount Greenwood Southwest Observer a wonderful neighborhood website offers a recent poll of Local Pubs and Watering Holes.
County Armagh's and Now Chicago's Own Bernard Callahan's Keegan's Pub is ranked at the top of some very fine Saloons here in the 19th Ward.
Keegan's Pub
10618 S Western
Chicago
773-233-6829
Keegan's Pub is headquarters to a group of wits, workers and wunderkinds that could body slam any Mensa Chapter west of Alexandria, Egypt in its best day and serves the most laboriously crafted 'pint of plain' - Guinness this side of foamy brine.
Get thee to Keegan's soak up some laughs, nuanced analysis of the day's events and the creamy goodness of that Old Black Magic brewed at St. James's Gate Dublin.

There was a jukebox available for customers, but commanded for level and intensity by the bar staff and  if Black Dog appeared to induced the same psychological effect upon an intoxicated patron teh volume was adjusted accordingly.  Dark wood and black leather furnishings added to the Irish Pub look and feel, as well as walls decorated with Padrig Pearse's Poblacht na héireann proclamation, photos of writers, rebels and neighborhood reprobates.  Conversation was key.

Most great watering holes, saloons, taverns, Cervecarias and Piwiarnias are poor man's clubs. Richard M.  Daley killed off most of Chicago's great clubs of this kind in favor of hipster haunts and scenes with music at Wagnerian levels of discomfort and banning chat entirely. You can't talk you drink more. More Revenue.  Move-on!

Today in DNAinfo Chicago I read about the coldest place to quaff a beer.

LOGAN SQUARE — The latest bar to join the neighborhood has serious do-it-yourself vibes.
Logan Square's first "pour your own beer" taproom, on the ground floor of the "L" luxury apartment building at 2211 N. Milwaukee Ave., debuts to the public Saturday. . . .The way it works is customers will be given a card when they walk in, which they will enter into a slot above their chosen beer or wine tap. The bar is offering a rotating selection of roughly 40 beers and 10 wines on tap along the back wall, decorated with city grid maps. 

Using Pour My Beer technology, iPads will measure the ounces and tabulate the cost of each beer, eliminating the need for traditional bartenders or servers. Staffers will be stationed near the wall to assist and give suggestions.

For folks who don't want to go the do-it-yourself route, the taproom also a small traditional bar tucked in the corner, where customers can order beer and cocktails made with locally-made spirits from bartenders.

The beer selection will rotate as the seasons change. Right now, summery beers like Empirical Brewery's Up Cork Passion Fruit Pale Ale and 21st Amendment's Hell or High Water Watermelon Wheat Beer are the focus.

"Our goal is to put as many different beer brands through these taps as possible," said Enarson, who added that lineups will be posted on the taproom's Facebook and Twitter pages in advance.

This will be a hit.  Beer that tastes like grapefruit, apples, watermelon and passion fruit has its fans, "I’m getting huge onion and garlic nectar, coffee ground  for sure, sage, and a trace-hint of  fecal too. Also exotic hops."

I was getting, " This is a nice beer."

 The IPA drinkers who scorn un-hoppiness and embrace global happiness will market-drive this venture.

Maps of City Grids bespeak the death of neighborhood and soul-less spirituality that is the culture in the driver's seat.  Rahms city grid for garbage collection was nail in Ward autonomy's coffin.

Here soma-like IPA's with alcohol contents exceeding  ABV 8% tapped from cold-steel panels will be self-yanked, avoiding a chat with the barkeep.

This will be a hit with our gotta have it now demographs and avoid the frustrations of having to wait one's turn, until Master Tap-tun arrives to serve the center of the universe.

As I said, this Logan Square venture will be a sure fire hit.  That is sad to me. Cold beer in a warm place seems preferable.

When yanking your own beer pull, you will not need to leave your comfort zone,  "I get overripe Velvetta, cheesiness, Parm, and tangy on the palate. It’s a little bit of Slim Jim."

Snow, Man, and'The Snow Man' Makes it Better! Behold Nothing That is Not There!

Well, so far I have had to use the trusty old MTD ( recently serviced by the estimable Mike Green) this winter.

We have been promised Snowmageddon again.  The Farmer's Almanac predicted a real bone snapper.

Thus far, but a dusting this A.M. - can't worry about accumulation. All a body can rightly do is praise the Lord and plow.

It's winter neighbors.  We get snow.

Here is a brilliant way to get over ourselves and revel in God's winter weather work - The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens.

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;  

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter  

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,  

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place  

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Like a snow man, Stevens built upon three - five triplet stanzas.  Each 'snowman' relies upon 'perspective.'  We each and everyone of us look at the cold hard facts out there and each of us comes away with a different perspective.  The facts are supposed to dominate us, like a Tom Skilling warning of 'temperatures at Zero and wind chills down to negative fifteen.'  Tell that to a troop of eight St. Cajetan fifth grade boys on a snow day and the chance to sled down Beacon Hill at 107th & Longwood Drive.  Tell that to their teachers who have a day off! McNally's, Ladies!

Science, hard facts and snow mean something.  Never the same thing.

Peace You Will Find in Riverside

So, I had planned to watch the Cubs Celebrations at McNally's Saloon on Western Ave., notorious these days as a last bastion of White Sox partisanship.  I am a Sox fan, but I don't get my shorts in a knot, if the Cubs succeed - neither does anyone at McNally's - truth be told.

 McNally's stays single-minded about whom backs and  did not change the sign when TYPO went up.

McNally's is a great place to kill and afternoon.

Dim bulbs get outraged, offended and mount social media campaigns in  response to people who just do not shive a git about leaping onto bandwagons, wearing buttons, sports wear, or 'showing solidarity.'

On Tuesday, one of the most obnoxious and embarrassing displays of American stupidity will come to something like an end.  Enough said, about that.

Instead of covering a bar stool and soaking in the authentic atmosphere at McNally's yesterday. I did my baby a solid.  I drove to and walked around Riverside, a suburb of Berwyn, up around 31st & Harlem and hung up flyers for her up-coming Jazz Concert at Sts. Peter & Paul Lutheran Church on Sunday November 20th, featuring the exquisite Miss Terry Sullivan (vocals), Bobby Schiff (piano), Stewart Miller (Bass) and special guest - the great  Art Davis (trumpet and horns). More details on this opportunity to soak real jazz in the coming days.

Yep, I hung paper all over the great village of Riverside.





Riverside is what an ideal town looks like.

The men who planned Riverside were Calvert Vaux and Fredrick Law Olmstead. The streets of Riverside wind and caress the banks of the Desplaines River.

 The homes are beautiful and shout out affluent.  I live west of tony Beverly with homes on the majestic Longwood Drive rivaling Tara from  Gone with Wind and next to Riverside looks like 'Hootin' Holler.'

The town center has a an old world look to it with an almost uniform architecture reflective of some Sigmund Romberg operetta.

Even the Metra Station is something else

Walking the town, especially on river is a treat and I chatted up a couple of guys who were fishing with waders and having no luck, due to the speed of the current.  I pointed to a seven inch Buck Kife laying a few feet from me in about a two feet of water and thge guys named Mike went home with an expensive bit of piscatory cutlery.


Cubs fans were returning from the big day downtown and the universal word about their adventures was "Epic."

I decided to search out and Epic eatery.

Found it less than three hundred yards from the Metra.

Little Bohemian Restaurant sits on a side street near the Chew-Chew tavern and a great little empanadas shop , where I bought Miss Sullivan four of the best (2 beef, 2 spinach) for her evening meal.

Little Bohemian is a place that needs to hugged repeatedly like a sweet, plump Slovak aunt who makes everything from scratch and with love.

One of my psychological triggers is the trend of American sheep to flock to cookie cutter eateries from Coopers Hawk, to Olive Garden, to PJ McSwill's, to the nadir of gormandizing McDonald's and pass up great family owned restaurants like the Golden Steer in Forest Park, Klas in Cicero, Kens in Beverly, Schallers in Bridgport and Club 81 in Hegewisch.  Nothing makes me more postal than this trend - that and our two choices for President.

Little Bohemia serves up great simple family fare - stuffed cabbage, pot roast, meat loaf, duck, chicken and fish with a Bohemian grace and boats of the proper gravy. . .and home made kolaches!



We walked off the lunch again taking the river walks and soaked in sunshine, autumnal colors and very nice people.

Get over to Riverside and chill.