As submitted to English 2268 at The Ohio State University on September 25, 2015:
Once a paranoid schizophrenic farmer, named Ray Kinsella, wandered around his cornfield hearing auditory hallucinations, “If you build it, he will come.” Of course, this crazy bastard ended up chopping down acres of his cornfield, putting his mortgage in jeopardy, driving across country in search of Terence Mann, a 60’s writer, in an attempt to spread light on the meaning of his delusions. The two of them scouted America for the deceased Archie "Moonlight" Graham, whom they found in the most supernatural of manners. Constantly, the psychotic farmer put his family, friends, and livelihood on the line. Eventually, the auditory hallucinations, “if you build it, he will come” coerced his family into sharing his full-fledged auditory and visual hallucinations of dead ball players actually playing baseball. Somehow these crazy Iowa rednecks assumed people would line up and pay to spectate deceased ball players, as in ghosts, play America’s pastime. All the while, Ray’s sole desire was to play catch with his dead father, a relationship he regretfully neglected while alive. Coincidentally, the cinematic masterpiece Field of Dreams depicted a fictionalized account of the 1919 Chicago White Sox World Series gambling debacle and many of its players whom if were not banned from the game of baseball would be Hall of Famers.
Being from the southern suburbs of Chicago, the White Sox have and always will be my favorite baseball team. Not surprisingly, with Shoeless Joe Jackson and crew as major characters, Field of Dreams is one my favorite movies of all time. Yet to me, this cinematic masterpiece is about more than just baseball and a father-son relationship. The Field of Dreams represented more than the American dream, after all baseball always was America’s Pastime. The film depicted the industrialization of America and the cultural, social, political, and economic clash between the transitions from agriculture to industry. The film depicted the generational adaptations between families required in order to endure such rapid change, all the while, further ignited by two major European and two major Asian wars. From 1910-1985, one American generation watched America grow into the World’s sole superpower, witnessing: WWI, woman’s suffrage, the roaring twenties, prohibition, the Great Depression, WWII, Korea, the formation of the American dream, telephones, televisions, microwaves, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and another major recession. Even though many American cities supervised America’s industrialization, none was more influential than Chicago.
Chicago is America’s agricultural hub, receiving crops and livestock from the entire Midwest and redistributing it through the Great Lakes, Mississippi River (via canals and smaller rivers), extensive network of railways, and highways. Meanwhile, Chicago’s industry guided itself into the 20th century. Of course, the city boomed economically and busted, blowing with the wind of the nation’s economy, heavily hit during the Great Depression and recession of the late 70’s and 80’s. The economic issues fed the organized crime during the Great Depression and gang warfare of the 80’s. Meanwhile, the crime fed political issues such as: war involvement, prohibition, food sanitation, civil rights, gun control, and welfare. Undoubtedly, Chicago is one of America’s most influential cities and arguable the most influential city during America’s industrialization. However, Chicago wasn’t always a powerful and influent city like New York or Philadelphia.
The great fire of 1871 devastated the hub of Midwestern agriculture, Chicago. Nearly the entire city burned to the ground. As a result, the city required reconstruction from scratch. Unlike the cities of Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, etc., Chicago was essentially built entirely during the skyscraper age. Uniquely providing an opportunity for the most revered and prestigious architects, civil engineers, and urban developers from 1900-1970s to showcase their talents to build and coerce others to come. Literally, Chicago was built to attract and redistribute agriculture, commerce, and products, if you build it, “they” will come.
Transporting the theme, both literally and figuratively, a commuter train rail station was quickly built downtown in 1881. In 1925, Union Station replaced this original station. Spreading to the outlying farmland and now suburbia, the commuter rail system main transit lines were reduced to the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974 and Metra in 1984, now operating 241 stations on 11 lines, it provided 83.4 million passenger rides in 2014. Meanwhile, servicing the city, the elevated passenger rail, the “L” was first constructed in the 1890’s and converted to the Chicago Transit Authority in the 1940’s. Currently, the L serves over 726,459 customers per weekday and nearly a million customers during the weekend. The commuter train rail system within Chicago was paramount in attracting corporations, employers, and employees, as America and the city transitioned from agriculture based to industry to service based economies. Transportation is the veins and arteries of the city, built to make others come.
July 3rd Late 2000’s
Before leaving their houses this morning…Chicagoans adorned themselves in red, white, and blue, slipping on Cubs and 80’s vintage White Sox jerseys (normally black and white, now matching the colors of the holiday). Some ignorant of their flag-disgracing actions, dressed themselves in Old Glory as bandanas, bikinis, shirts, or shorts. Meanwhile, Korean and Vietnam War vets placing their hats on with pride, don’t give enough damn to correct the flag-disgracers. Men in their twenties, thirties, and forties, missing arms, legs, and scarred don’t yet wear hats to commemorate their wars.
Yet, they all…all the Americans grabbed their hand sized American flags.
They crammed their coolers full of Pepsi cola and Old Style beer. They filled water bottles with vodka, rum, or concoctions of god-knows-what. They packed their backpacks full of sparklers, snaps, and snakes. Like the bootleggers of the 20’s, the bold visited Indiana weeks prior and smuggled bottle rockets, roman candles, and M-80s; packing them into backpacks…they all got on the trains, built to make them come.
On the Metra’s BNSF Railway, they come from Wayne’s World’s Aurora and the picturesque Naperville. On the Southwest Service, they odyssey from stops in Orland Park, Palos Park, and Oak Lawn all terminating at Union Station. On the Union Pacific North, they trek from as far north as Kenosha Wisconsin, past the Great Lakes Naval Base where “boot” sailors outfit themselves in Dress Whites, Highland Park, Evanston Stops, and terminate at Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Within the city, on the CTA’s Red Line they ride from Loyola, Bryn Mawr, Wilson, Shiridan, Belmont, Clark and Division. From various lines they come from Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Oak Park, Cicero, Pulaski, and Kedzie. They fly in from O’Hare and Midway. Some of them have spent America’s pastime at Addison and Clarke, the stadium, which rises out of nowhere. Some of them have spent America’s pastime at 35th and I-90, the field of dreams seen for miles and miles. From whichever field, Wrigley or U.S. Cellular, they all take the Red Line to the Loop.
For a city once burnt to the ground, they surely came.
For a city blown by the win, they surely come.
The block squared off by Van Burren, Lake, Wells, and Wabash is where the rainbow lines of the CTA “L” greet and meet, the Metra’s Union station and Ogilvie Transportation Center. The city lines greet the suburbs. The metropolitan meets the city. From the once farmland, this block was once where agriculture came for redistribution. From the once farmland now suburbs, this block was once where factory workers congregated from the suburbs prior to dispersing to their factories. From the suburbs, this block is now where businessmen and women converge prior to dispersing to their workplace. Today this is where Americans rendezvous to celebration our Nation’s birth.
A block to the east resides Michigan Avenue, followed by Columbus Drive another block, and Grant Park and Married With Children’s Buckingham Fountain. Within the field of view dwells Millennium Park, flaunting the infamous “Bean”. Meanwhile, the distant Museum Campus presents Ferris Bueller’s Art Institute of Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium, Adler’s Planetarium, the Field Museum, and the Bear’s home, Soldier’s Field. Navy pier and its massive Ferris wheel magnify the waterfront horizon. Of course, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of visitors packed Grant Park for the Taste of Chicago.
The Taste of Chicago serves up local eats from all over the Windy City. Whether your taste buds salivate something Italian on a bun like Italian sausage or beef, or something pie-shaped like Lou Malnati’s or Giordano’s famous deep-dish pizzas. The European influenced sausages continue with Polish sausages, Chicago style Vienna beef hot dogs, and bratwurst. Undoubtedly, the Taste boasts traditional barbeque favorites such as ribs, chicken, watermelon, and corn on the cob. With sixty something restaurants represented, some present creative absurd creations like lobster corndogs. The city’s famous food is a direct derivative of the conglomerate of Wisconsin cheese and beef, Iowa pork, Michigan tomatoes, Illinois corn, and Kansas wheat. The breadbasket of America makes her cooking at home in Chicago and there is no better advertisement of Chicago’s best than the Taste. The Taste of Chicago is made to make Chicagoans come together, America come together, if you build it, “they” will come.
As early evening sets, anxious children play with sparklers, snaps, and snakes. Young adults spark their herbal remedies to fight their anxiety. While the seasoned adults drink to inebriation. Yet everyone is happy. They sing. They dance. They smile. They laugh. Couples hold hands. Couples kiss. Couples run off and fornicate in the strangest of locations, like port-a-shitters. Though the fireworks are about to begin, for them, they have already begun.
Dusk
As the sun sets, distant M-80s and bottle rockets mark the millions anticipation for the evening’s spectacle of copper, aluminum, titanium, calcium, and barium, mixed in with some of strontium and lithium salts, propelled and combusted by sulfur and potassium nitrate.
The crowds are loud, boisterous, and joyous, in other words, drunk.
Out of the first tube, THUNK!
Followed by, HISS! A yellow tracer follows across the Chicago night sky. The fireworks show begun. It was made to make them all come, if you build it, “they” will come.
Many of the veterans returning home for their first 4th of July had no idea when or where it would happen. Confused, at first they try to smile. They try to mimic their fellow Americans and enjoy celebrating our independence. But as the mortars continue and the rocket-propelled grenades continue to fly though the air…as the explosions become EXPLOSIONS!
What is meant to be a celebration about our independence becomes a celebration of their subservience to mental anguish.
All night people had been thanking them for their service.
Thanking them for taking another person’s soul-
Thanking them for losing their own soul-
When you are at home, this is how we’re going to say thanks, by giving you front row seats to war! This is how we thank you for your service.
The saddest, most ironic, most horrible, unpatriotic, unrighteous thing on this planet is we build these unbelievable firework shows to celebrate our nation’s independence and for the one’s who defended it and saw the most horrific shit, the nightmares come back over and over and over again. The ghosts of those lost return, but they aren’t playing catch with a ball and mitt. They’re catching bullets. They’re catching limbs. They’re catching blood and guts. They’re not catching dreams in a field. They’re catching nightmares once a reality we put them through. This is the American Dream. This is America’s Pastime, from generation to generation. WAR!
If you build it, they will come
Wow. You led me through a vivid corn maze of expectation ...that is GOOD writing . You had my heart all along the way then BAM 💥
Ouch . Real Reality .