Homeless Photographers

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 31, 2011 | No Comments »

The story: The City of Chicago as seen through the lenses of homeless photographers. I met them through a Catholic Charities program called “Visions of my Life.”

Behind the story: Every Tuesday, Catholic Charities hosts a supper for 130 hungry and homeless men and women. Since about 2002, many of them have been offered disposable cameras and the chance to capture their views of life in Chicago. I spoke with several, including Joseph Trimarco, a 57 year old man who graduated from Oak Park River Forest High School, has a degree from Roosevelt University and, these days, lives by his wits on the streets of Chicago and Minneapolis.

Photo by Joseph Trimarco

Update: There is now a website for the program, where you can view and purchase many photos.

Recently, I asked someone from “Visions of My Life” for any news about the program or the people I interviewed. Here’s what he sent me:

“Three of the four photographers you featured in the June 2009 piece remain active in Catholic Charities’ “Visions of My Life” program. Joseph Trimarco and Ray Bauzys are regular guests at the Tuesday Night suppers. They remain after the dinner to discuss photography, critique others’ work and share their own images.

Photography remains a big part of their lives as they continue to shoot in and around Chicago. Both have purchased digital cameras from the proceeds they earned in last year’s show. In addition, Ray purchased a computer on which he has downloaded all of his images.

Ray taught one of the introduction to photography classes this Fall, a requirement for Tuesday Night supper guests who wish to participate in the “Visions” program.

According to Jody O’Connor, volunteer program coordinator, Ray used his computer to show images and explain exactly how he made each shot. The dinner guests were very focused on him and asked many questions.

Amie Davis remains committed to the program, has her own camera and computer, and as a legally blind person continues to find that photography is a big part of her life.”

For the first time in the 11-year history of the program, an off-site show of the art was in June 2011 at  Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outside Art, 756 North Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, Il.

For more information:
After Supper: Visions of My Life
Intuit:The Center for Intuitive and Outside Art

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Vivian Maier

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 31, 2011 | 6 Comments »

The story: Vivian Maier was a Chicago nanny whose masterful street photography appeared only after her death.  Some 100,000 negatives were purchased by Chicago realtor John Maloof.

Behind the story: When this first aired on Chicago Tonight back in December, someone posted it on YouTube to show a friend.  Within days, it had gone viral.  As of this writing, just two months later, it has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube and another 185,000 times on the Chicago Tonight page!  And, for awhile, you could search for Vivian Maier on Twitter and see new tweets every few minutes.  (just checked:  three tweets in the last hour).  I was getting emails from old friends I hadn’t seen in years who had been sent the link.

The other thing that has happened is that John Maloof has started to hear from a few people who knew her, including an Evanston woman I had just profiled weeks earlier on Chicago Tonight!

The best way to find out more about Vivian Maier is to visit John Maloof’s Vivian Maier blog, which includes new photos all the time.  Another collector, Jeff Goldstein, owns (only!) 10,000 of her negatives.  His website his here.  And, if you are in Chicago, be sure to get to the Chicago Cultural for a Vivian Maier exhibit, thru April 3rd.

And now I hear there will be an exhibit at the Russell Bowman Art Advisory opening April 15.  This will be drawn from Jeff Goldstein’s collection.

For more information:
Chicago Cultural Center Exhibit
John Maloof, Vivian Maier Blog

Jeff Goldstein’s Vivian Maier website

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King of No-Handed Cyclists

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 21, 2011 | No Comments »

John Kohan near Belmont Harbor

The story:  John Kohan rides his bike no-handed for the entire length of the northside lakefront bike path.  And back.  Once or twice a week. 

Behind the story:  Whenever we’ve run this piece about John Kohan riding his bike no-handed along the lakefront, we’ve gotten angry emails from people who think we are just promoting his reckless behavior. What do you think?

If you think he is endangering people, you’ll be happy to know that John has moved to San Francisco, where he still rides no-handed. But he says he has never found a bike path he likes as much as the one on Chicago’s lakefront.

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Killerspin (Ping Pong)

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 21, 2011 | No Comments »
 

Killerspin player Biba Golic


The Story: A Chicago man is determined to get ping pong out of our basements and onto ESPN.

Update: The other day I was picking up Chinese food and a man behind me said, “so what sport are your parents going to take up next?”  If you’ve already watched this Killerspin story you know that it begins and ends in my parents basement, where they play ping pong every evening.  My mom is 78 and my dad is 90!  And a few years ago, I did a story about my mom’s bowling league.  Many of the women had been playing together since the 1950′s.

So what’s next for my folks?   They play duplicate bridge every Monday… with a group that includes a 97 year old woman who knew Leopold and Loeb.  Maybe…

More Info: Killerspin website

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My Mom’s Bowling League

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 21, 2011 | No Comments »

The story: My mom only bowled with these women for a few years.  But many of them had been bowling together since the 1950′s, when they were the Rogers School PTA Bowling League in West Rogers Park.

Behind the Story: I have to say, I still laugh every time I watch this.  What a great group of feisty, funny women!

My mom was after me for a long time to do this story. “Some of these ladies have been bowling together for 50 years! How can you go wrong?” I finally agreed, but when cameraman Tom Siegel and I arrived at Sy’s Lanes in Lincolnwood, I thought, “am I out of my mind!?” It’s my mom, my aunt and their friends — if this piece is bad, I’m in serious trouble.

Tom is always great at loosening up a situation, but with a group of older Jewish women, Tom’s inner borscht belt headliner took over.  The mood eased up quickly, thanks to Tom, but the best line of the night came from bowler Lois Goldfein. She was talking about how, years ago, they were getting pushed out of the PTA bowling league by younger women. “They were having babies,” she said, “and we were having hysterectomies.”

My visit with the bowling league was back in 2006. Now, most of the women are in their 80′s and no one is bowling anymore. But they had a reunion lunch not long ago, and my mom got a few updates.

Four of the ladies walk regularly at Lincolnwood Town Center mall. Florence still makes beautiful, unusual baskets. Eva’s daughter Debra Silverstein is running against Bernie Stone for alderman of the 50th Ward. My Aunt Sylvia has 19 grandchildren if my math is correct. Lois Goldfein rarely misses a Bulls game. And Sy’s Lanes is closed.

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Softball in Washington Park

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Leonard "Sarge" McKinnon

The Story: The 16″ softball league in Washington Park is, as far as we know, the busiest 16″ league in the world.

Behind the Story: I can see now that one of the great things about creating “Jay’s Chicago” from my library of “Chicago Tonight” stories is going to be getting back in touch with the people I profiled over the last few years.  I called Sarge McKinnon back on October 8 to find out how he and the league were doing.  When I did this in 2006, Sarge was the league commissioner and senior umpire. Now, at 77, he’s still the senior umpire.

The Sunday before I spoke with him was the final tournament at Washington Park – 34 teams competed on thirteen diamonds. In the end, “Solution” came out on top, beating 2009 champs “Dog Pound.”

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Alright, so I’m not much of a blogger.

By Jay Shefsky | Published January 14, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I thought that having my own show and website might turn me into one, but after those first few entries I ran out of steam.  Most of what people seem to be interested in anyway is the “where are they now?” type questions.  “How do I get in touch with that guy who builds ships in bottles?”   

So that’s what we’re pulling together now – an update and contact information for each story in the series.  I’ll let you know when that goes up.

Posted in Latest Blog Posts | 2 Comments