Beauty in the Yards

(Photo courtesy Beauty in the Yards web site. It's a north-facing view of Ashland Avenue taken from the railroad viaduct at 49th Street. It looks like it doesn't fit well into the Blogger layout, so all the more reason to go see these on the host web site itself.)


As part of their work through the Mikva Challenge Issues to Action program, Big Picture High School students took photos around the neighborhood this spring. Their goal was to offer a different perspective on Back of the Yards from the shootings and other negative images of the area most commonly found in mainstream media. Photos were auctioned as part of the Big Picture scholarship fundraiser held in May.

You can see more digital images at Beauty in the Yards, and I hear the webmaster has more yet to put up, so check back there more than once if you like.

Zulema Ortiz Named Sor Juana Young Visionary

On Thursday night Zulema Ortiz, Big Picture Class of 2008 and dedicated catechist at Holy Cross/Immaculate Heart parish, received the Sor Juana Young Visionary Award at the Chicago Cultural Center. She was one of ten Women of Achievement honored at the event, which is part of the Sor Juana Festival sponsored by the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Zulema is now studying at Morton College and performing with Teatro Americano, a theater group that creates productions about issues affecting Latino immigrants. Zulema also continues to advocate for the DREAM Act and to raise awareness about the struggles undocumented minors face in trying to continue their education. "I wonder if Sor Juana were alive today, what would she say about only allowing some young women to continue their education? Would she say, 'Oh, we should only let the young women who have those nine digits [referring to a Social Security number] continue to learn?'" Zulema asked the crowd as she accepted the award. And no, Zulema didn't think that was what Sor Juana would say if she were here today.

Zulema's own personal story of struggle has recently taken a turn for the better. Her father has been able to establish legal permanent residence in the United States, and now Zulema is able to pursue that process for herself. She has already obtained a work permit and is eagerly looking for a summer job.

Books for Big Picture

I saw Gladys on the street this afternoon as I was coming home from the post office. She must have just been leaving school.

"Hey Maritza!" she yelled from across the street.

"Hey Gladys!" I yelled back. "Hey, I'll be at school this week. I got a donation of books for Big Picture."

She flashed a grin and pumped a fist in the air.

"When we see a star in the sky, we will remember them."

This is the artists' statement that Dawn wrote (with some help from her art teacher) regarding the Big Picture ofrenda now at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen:

This ofrenda is dedicated to the memory of the 32 Chicago Public School students who died during the 2006-2007 school year. We want to honor their presence with us, even as time passes. As students, this crisis of violence against youth makes us upset. It’s terrible having this violence around our community. At Big Picture H.S. in Back of the Yards, most students have experienced a violent death of a brother, sister, father, neighbor, or friend. The deaths of the CPS students affect their family deeply and also other students because violence happens to the people we know. The losses of these students change our school environment because it makes us scared and insecure. There should be no reason to be scared to go to school, to take public transportation, or to be out in our community. It bothers us to have so many young students die. These students, no matter what their situations were, should have been future doctors, lawyers, social justice leaders, and had the chance to change our community for the better. Today we honor and remember the 32 students who passed away during the last school year, and their continued presence in our lives as students. In our offering, we created an empty classroom with a symbolic seat for each of the departed students. This represents the absence other students will feel when they are not with us this year. We included school supplies that are essential for daily learning and other things they enjoyed during their lives. We created papel picado with a gold foil star that has a silhouette of a girl or boy representing each student. When we see a star in the sky, we will remember them. We wanted to capture the feeling of sadness and emptiness that their absence has created, and to remember what their lives meant to us while they were among us. Sharing our sadness is part of the process of healing, and we hope that visitors will be inspired to take action the end the violence against youth that continues in Chicago.