The reliefs at Von Steuben Math and Science Academy

The WPA-era murals featured at Lane Tech and other Chicago Public Schools through The Chicago Mural Preservation Project are widely known. While these works of art vividly depict scenes from American and world history, the artwork at Von Steuben Math and Science Academy seems to be aimed at one particular group—teenaged boys. Nestled along the North Branch of the Chicago River and surrounded by a walkway filled with wildflowers and willow trees, the artwork is a series of reliefs running underneath the cornice of the school building. The first one depicts a football player in an old Knute Rockne-era helmet. The second, a petite young woman covering her breasts with her forearms. The third shows the woman with her forearms opened, exposing her breasts for all to see. Football? Breasts? Is there anything else that a 15-year-old boy could possibly be thinking about?

5039 North Kimball

Best of Chicago 2009

Chicago crosswalk scofflaw program

In early June, a most amazing news report caught our attention: In Albany Park, police officers posing as pedestrians had written more than a hundred warning citations to motorists who violated safe crossing laws. Eureka! You mean Chicago is going to become a civil place for pedestrians? Could this be the solution to the city’s budget problem as the city decides to ticket the thousands of drivers who treat crosswalks as a one-sided game of chicken? Alas, so far we’ve not heard more of it.

Best of Chicago 2008