#Ever saw team phoenix’s Atlas design?

[ramencringequeen]

YET ANOTHER UNDERRATED KING😔😔✨

[theunredeemable]

Stealing the Rich

Chapter two: Dark Awakenings! Art work done by the wonderful @spicybon 

Weiss watched the others in the boarding pod carefully. The former crew of The Silent Breeze , those that had accepted the pirates’ offer, were sitting far away from her, nervous about the three pirates that stood near her, trying to avoid catching their eye. No doubt some of there were second-guessing their decision, Weiss thought. Not that she could blame them, feeling nervous herself. Throwing their lot in with pirates, especially those as infamous as the Sun Dragoons, was not a choice they could go back on. She felt her heart sink upon realizing that she wouldn't be welcomed back in her home, and then it sank further realizing that home wouldn't have welcomed her back anyway. A bright flash from the void caught her attention.

Everyone looked out the hatch viewport. The pirates looked on stoically as the other occupants looked in shock as The Silent Breeze was racked with silent explosions.

Yang watched as the trade ship was crippled further by the detonations racing through the interior. She knew that the crew that stayed behind would be safe, gathered into the cargo bay or already shooting off into space in escape pods. Her eyes moved on from the derelict, and onto the other boarding pods, taking count of those that had left, and those that were still extracting themselves. Nodding to herself, she turned away from the view port and pressed her hand to the bio-panel connected to the pilot's door. As it slid open she paused to take a look the shell-shocked woman, frowning.

Looking back to her compatriots, she let out a very quiet series of whistles that only the two Faunus could hear. The Rabbit Faunus looked over to her, then to Weiss, nodding in response. Her orders subtly given and received, Yang entered the pilot's cabin, carefully lowering herself down into the co-pilot's seat. The pilot herself was focused on guiding the pod back home, gently nodding to the music stuck in her head. Remaining silent, she offered Yang a quick smile, then focused back on her task. Chuckling to herself, the blonde reached to the control console, opening up a channel between the two ships. “This is Yang aboard the Steel Parasol, to the New Dawn. Prepare the welcome mat for new family members and warm up those engines. We're heading back to Beacon.”

Static answered her at first while the message was scrambled and sent to her ship. A safety measure designed to ensure that no one they didn't want hearing the message could understand it. A few seconds later the static cleared to allow through a response. “Aye Captain. Was it a good haul this time?” The voice was joyful in its response.

“It was certainly...an interesting one.” Yang looked back to the door for a moment, before opening a holographic data-slate, swiping through the reports inside. “Teams Vixen, Phoenix, and Lupine all report the acquisition of more Lien, as well as a few new volunteers. Coco sent a report saying that she found new experimental Schnee blueprints. Tempest found more parts, Siren more food, and I think I may have stolen a Schnee.”

More temporary static filled the air as the message transmitted. “I'm sorry, the signal must have glitched. Did you say a Schnee?”

“It wasn't a glitch Penny. We found a bona fide Schnee. White hair, blue eyes, everything.”

“I thought we didn't deal with hostages.”

“We don't Penny, and I don't intend on ever starting.” Yang looked back to the door as she spoke, thinking of the poor girl. “She was a hostage I think? Definitely a bad situation though. She asked me to help.”

“Curious.” The voice fell silent as the cabin was filled with static. Yang waited for a response, before the voice cut in again. “I must evaluate this information. I'll open the hanger bay now, and engines will be prepared to jump within twenty minutes.”

“Thank you Penny. See you soon.” Clicking off the communicator, Yang leant back into the chair with a sigh, hand unconsciously rubbing her right elbow. She looked down at the injured appendage with a frown, before sighing. The pilot watched her out of the corner of her eye, tilting her head in a questioning manner. Yang smiled softly and shrugged. “I'm fine Neo, still not used to it I guess.” Neo nodded, frowning, but focused on piloting her vessel home.

Back in the main cabin, Weiss was slowly withdrawing further into herself, holding herself as she tried to ignore the crushing uncertainty of her future, as well as the former crew of The Silent Breeze . She barely even noticed the figure sitting down next to her, only noticing when they placed their coat over her shoulders. The scent of cinnamon hit her nose, and the warmth of the coat helped combat the cold she felt inside. Looking up to find the one responsible, she found herself staring into warm hazel eyes and a soft, kind smile. “T-thank you, Miss...?”

“Velvet. Just Velvet, no miss. And don't worry. You're safe now. We'll make sure to look after you and protect you.”

Weiss stared deeply into those kind eyes, seeking any sign of deception on the Faunus's part. “Is that a promise you can keep?” She found herself becoming dangerously lost in those eyes, for instead of deception she saw a deep-seated warmth and intelligence. She felt her heart flutter and frowned at the notion.

“Of course, I promise you that I won't let anything bad happen to you?”

Weiss felt herself relax at the promise, and quietly repeated. “Anything?” Velvet nodded her affirmation, and Weiss let out a sigh of relief. In that moment she felt all the stress and weariness of the past three weeks catch up to her at once. With a yawn her eyes slowly fell shut, even as she was speaking. “g-good. I'll....I'll hold you to that.” her unconscious form slid sideways and into Velvet's arms as the Faunus made sure to catch her. After making sure the the Schnee wasn't in danger, and simply asleep, Velvet looked up at her partner with an amused smile.

“Isn't she adorable, Blake?”

“Hmm. I won't deny that she is, but we have to be careful, Cinnamon. She is a Schnee after all.”

Velvet pouted and looked down at the sleeping woman in her arms, careful to not wake her up or drop her. “But Midnight....I don't think she's like the others. There's a kindness to her. She asked me to protect her.” Blake couldn't help but frown at that, thinking over the possible meanings to such a request, while Velvet continued to look at Weiss, before looking back up to her partner. “Can we keep her?”

“She's not a pet, Velvs.”

“You know that's not what I meant.” Velvet said in a sing-song voice.

Blake sighed with a fond smile and shook her head. “I know, but I'm not sure if so soon after being abducted-”

“Saved!”

“...Ok, saved, by pirates is such a good idea to invite someone in.” Both fell silent as the door slid open again, Yang standing in the frame. “News, Captain?”

“Neo's pulling us in. How's our guest?” She looked over to Velvet and Weiss, quirking an eyebrow. “Asleep I see...and in the arms of Velvet. Is so soon appropriate, when you just met?”

Velvet stuck her tongue out at the two of them. “She just passed out, looks like everything caught up with her.” Velvet looked down at her again with a soft frown. “I wonder why she was on that ship. It didn't seem willing.”

Yang stood in silence, before sighing and running her hand through her hair. “When we touch down take her someplace safe that she can sleep. I've got to see to the welcoming committee.” Velvet and Blake nodded, with both of them looking at each other in silent communication. Before long Blake let out a quiet, fond sigh.

“Fine. We'll keep her in our quarters for the time being. Just until we find her her own.”

Static filled the compartment, before being replaced by the voice of Penny. “All boarding pods please proceed to your usual docking stations, and welcome home.” The occupants looked out the viewport and saw The Silent Breeze disappear behind large metal doors. A few seconds later and the vessel jostled lightly as it touched down on the landing deck. With a hiss of steam, the hatch slowly opened, and the occupants slowly and tentatively exited. A few of them gasped in wonder at the size of the hangar, having never set foot aboard a battle cruiser before. Others gasped upon seeing how many crewmen were stationed in this single part of the ship, as well as the rusty metal girders that made up the floor. The voice chimed throughout the hanger bay again. “Hello, and salutations new family members! I know many of you will be confused, but do not fear. Please exit the boarding pods, and our captain will soon address you all!”

“Well that's my cue. Look after her you too.” Blake and Velvet nodded, the cat Faunus carefully picking up the unconscious woman and cradling her in her arms. Yang watched the two make their way through the controlled mayhem of her crew working, admiring the way they moved like water over pebbles. Smiling, she made her own way through the crowd of former trade ship crew, and up onto a platform prepared for such occasions. Looking out over them she did a quick head count, making it to be that twenty men and women had accepted the offer to join them. Clearing her throat to get all their attention, she threw her arms open wide in welcome. “Welcome to the New Dawn ! I hope that in time that some of you will come to think of it as home, and I hope that you do think of it now as a new chance at life.

“I know you'll have heard the tales and seen the holo-vids about us, about the Vale expanse. That we're pirates. That we're filthy, backwards, and cruel. That the Atlas government took one look at us and called us a waste of resources. But I'm here to tell you that was a lie. In truth, they ran away. They ran, because we would not bow to them. They ran, because we fought tooth and nail for every world. Are we pirates? Yes! I won't lie to you. But we don't steal from just anyone. We steal from the oppressors. From the SDC, from the Atlesian Military, from the Mistrali Regime.

“There are many factions of us, but we, the Sun Dragoons, belong to Beacon, and we have a strict code of rules that we expect you to follow. We are not cruel. We steal, but we do not kill unless necessary or to prevent further cruelty. We steal from the rich, not the poor. Not for profit, but to provide to those who cannot provide to themselves.” She paused for a moment and shrugged slightly with a laugh. “And a little bit a profit. We all need to make Lien right?

“But above all, We are free. We are responsible for our own mistakes, and we are family.” She stopped to look out amongst the crowd, still smiling. She took note of the faces. Some seemed already swayed by her words, soft smiles and looks of relief. Others were on the verge of being convinced, but were still suspicious. “But don't just take my word for it. You'll see when we arrive at Beacon. For now though, rest, eat. We'll assign all of you temporary quarters so you can get some sleep.” Jumping down from the platform, she made her way back through the crowd. They parted before her in an effort not to hinder her progress as she made her way to the elevator at the far end of the hanger.

                                      -------------------------------------------

Weiss slowly woke up, stretching her limbs and yawning. Sitting up in the bed she looked around the unfamiliar room with a frown. It didn't look anything like her room on The Silent Breeze . For one it was far more lived-in. Two bookshelves occupied the far wall of the quarters, lined with various novels and histories from what she could see from the bed. Slowly standing up she felt the cold metal of the floor on her feet. Looking for her shoes, she found them carefully placed next to the bed. Slipping them back on she began to properly explore the room she found herself in.

She couldn't but help but notice the lingering scent of cinnamon in the air, mingling with the sticks of incense someone had left burning. Continuing to walk around she found where it had been left, an ornate holder sitting on a small counter connected to a small built in kitchen. The kitchen itself was simple and stocked with long-lasting preserved foods, intended to keep the occupants of the quarters fed for long journeys. Moving away from the kitchen area Weiss inspected the books on the shelves, and couldn't help but smile at the disparity between the two. One was full of older books, high fantasy and fairy tales from across the galaxy, as well as a full shelf dedicated to romance novels. The other held cook books, travel guides and photo albums, and a small shelf dedicated to fiction.

Turning away she cast a glance over the room again to take in the rest of the surroundings. A mocha-coloured love chair occupied part of the room, facing a large screen that had been set into the wall. Humming to herself Weiss dragged her hand across the back of the chair, feeling the fabric beneath her fingers and looked around the room one final time, noting the two doorways, one near the bed she had just vacated, the other opposite the kitchen. “Whose room am I in?” Pondering aloud, she sat down at the edge of the seat, waiting for an answer to make itself apparent.

She didn't have long to wait as one of the doors slid open with a beep, giving Weiss a quick glimpse of the corridor outside before the view was blocked by Velvet entering. “Oh, you're awake! How do you feel?” Velvet rushed inside and sat next to Weiss, taking her hands into her own. Blake followed shortly into the room, but instead made her way over to the kitchen.

“Um, I'm feeling fine. How did I get in here? Last I remember...”

“You passed out after we talked in the boarding pod. You must have been exhausted.”

Weiss frowned and looked at the hands holding hers, trying to remember through the fog of sleep. “I was. I...Father.” Her frown deepened as she almost scowled as the word left her tongue. “He was punishing me.”

“Punishing you for what?” Blake asked, looking over to the two women on the chair from the kitchen, still suspicious of the Schnee scion.

“I had begun to question his methods... about how he was treating Faunus and his shady business deals. Next thing I knew I was being sent far away...to Argus Augmentics.”

“Why there?”

Weiss's shoulders dropped as she remembered the taunts of Gole and Mercury. “He was selling me.” She missed the looks of surprise on the two Faunus' faces, and the expressions of horror they gave each other as she continued speaking. “He made me think I was going there to broker a deal. But, I was the deal. Test out new cybernetics on me, I think take away my free will or brainwash me. I don't know. But... I can't ever go home.” Tears welled up in her eyes as reality hit home, and fell silent as she was once again taken into Velvet's arms, and clung on tight as the woman tried to soothe her.

“I promised you that I'd protect you. That isn't home anymore. This is, if you want it to be.” Velvet looked up to Blake with a sad look in her eyes, ears twitching in silent communication. Blake nodded, and started to rummage around in one of the lower cabinets, pulling out a tea set. As she prepared to make some tea for the three of them, Velvet gently rubbed Weiss's back soothingly as the young woman silently cried.

A few minutes later, Weiss pulled away from the hug, sniffling and rubbing her eyes. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't cry, not for him.”

Velvet shook her head in disagreement. “No, you're right to cry. Though he's a monster, he is...was, your father. And he betrayed you.”

Weiss looked down at her hands again, clenching them into fists as her sorrow turned into a defiance. “Where am I anyway?”

“In our quarters aboard the New Dawn .” Blake gently placed a cup of tea into Weiss's hands as she answered, passing another one to Velvet as she opened up a hidden compartment. Pulling out a fold-out chair, she sat down with the other two after getting her own tea. “Being the left and right hands of the captain comes with certain perks.”

“Such as the second largest quarters in the ship.” Velvet chimed in with a beaming smile. Weiss couldn't help but smile softly in return, optimism radiating off the Faunus. “We should probably introduce ourselves properly. I'm Velvet Scarlatina, Second Officer of the Sun Dragoons. My partner here is Blake Belladonna, the First Officer.”

Weiss gently sipped her tea before responding. “I'm Weiss. I guess, just Weiss now.”

“Well, just Weiss. You can stay with us.” Velvet smiled kindly, warmth radiating from her. Blake looked at her partner lovingly, nodding in agreement.

A new voice chimed in, from over hidden speakers. “We are now exiting the jump. Would Blake and Velvet please report to the bridge before the next jump.”

Blake sighed and took out a small communicator from her pocket. “Yes Penny, we'll be right there.” Clicking it off and placing it back into her pocket, she stood up and placed her mostly full cup of tea down onto a side table. “Please make yourself at home. The shower's through the other door if you need it.”

“Thank you. I think I might use it, but I don't have any clothes.”

“Borrow some of mine. We should get going Velvs.” Blake smiled kindly at Weiss, gesturing for Velvet to follow as she made her way out of the room. Velvet quickly stood up to join her, waving goodbye to Weiss as she went.

As the door slid shut, Weiss looked around the room one final time, before finishing off her tea and going into the bathroom. Inside was a large room with eggshell blue tiling. Smiling at the surprisingly innocent colour choice for pirates, Weiss fully entered the room, undressing as she went. Turning on the water, she waited until it was hot until fully stepping into the shower. Turning her face up into the stream and closing her eyes, she let it cascade over her and wash away her worries. For the first time in perhaps her entire life, she felt safe.

The water soothed her bruised body and hurting soul. As she relaxed, she never even felt the intricate swirls that covered her back begin to thrum with energy, casting a soft blue glow.

                                     -------------------------------------------

Deep in the bowels of the New Dawn , something began to stir. Long had it slept in the metal behemoth, hibernating as it waited for its choice meal to make itself known. It knew not the passage of time, for it was far too old and far too alien to consider such concepts. It sniffed the stale air that surrounded it, and growled lowly.

Dark red eyes opened up in the darkness, glowing with malice. Food had finally arrived.

[theliterateape]

Why The MCU Is a Crowning Achievement (and Why Endgame is So Cool)

By Don Hall

I remember learning to read from Marvel comic books.

The Fantastic Four. Spider-Man. The X-Men. The Avengers.

I learned my words from them. I started with the pictures and would ask my mom what the words meant and she’d patiently walk me through enough of them that my interpretive skills honed in on the stories of ordinary people gifted and cursed with enormous abilities doing their best to navigate their relationships while alternately saving the world over and over became the mantra of my upbringing.

First and foremost, my literary education from Marvel comics spawned a love for science fiction in general. I read Asimov’s Foundation trilogy in fifth grade. I didn’t understand whole sections of them but I read them nonetheless. By the time I was in sixth grade, Huxley’s Brave New World, Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan, and Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? sat on a shelf next to The Amazing Spider-Man #206 (Peter Parker Goes WILD!), The Avengers #181 (Still Only 35¢!!), and the King Size Special Fantastic Four (Twice as Many Pages! Twice as Many Thrills!).

When I was eight years old in 1974, my first black girlfriend and I bonded over our mutual love of Luke Cage. When I was nine, Mike Eddie (who was two years older and a bit of a juvenile delinquent) and I would go out to an abandoned housing project and kick in the drywall in reenact Wolverine vs. Hulk fights. He was a foot taller than I but I was always the Hulk.

The 1981 release of Fantastic Four #232 (“Back to Basics”) introduced John Byrne to the storyline and I lived through the trauma of Reed Richards and Susan Storm having a miscarriage, the Thing quitting the team and She-Hulk becoming his replacement. The formation of the West Coast Avengers. Vision marrying the Scarlet Witch. Jean Grey becoming the Dark Phoenix. The Giant-Sized crossover team ups with splash pages that were huge, epic and often included almost everyone battling things out on the same canvas.

Sometime around my sophomore year in high school, my boxes and boxes of comics (none in any kind of sale-able shape because I’d read each one so many times they all looked like they’d been, well, read a hundred times by a grubby, dirty kid) went into the basement. I was in high school and the social weight was just too important.

“Just because you have superpowers, that doesn’t mean your love life would be perfect. I don’t think superpowers automatically means there won’t be any personality problems, family problems, or even money problems. I just tried to write characters who are human beings who also have superpowers.” — Stan Lee

Sure, I read DC comics as well but they seemed sillier to me. Batman was cool but he was super rich and I had little in common with Bruce Wayne. Not like I did with Peter Parker. I enjoyed Superman but the existence of Krypto and Mister Mxyzptlk felt more comic and less book. That said, in 1978, when Christopher Reeve flew and saved the world by spinning time backward, I felt like the movie was made just for me. So much so that in 2006 when I saw the homage to Reeve and 1978 in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, I bawled like a baby as the credits and music started the film. Unlike almost everyone else on the planet, I loved and love Superman Returns.

More than Star Trek, more than Star Wars, it has been the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been the filmic journey I’ve been waiting for since I started to use language. The many attempts at the Fantastic Four onscreen have been pretty much crap yet I still kind of loved them anyway. The first time I saw Hugh Jackman bar fighting as Logan in Singer’s X-Men movie, an electricity went up my spine and the hair on my neck stood up because here, finally, was a real life version of the character I had followed for decades.

For a moment, let’s look at the ridiculous improbability of Marvel’s achievement.

What became known as the Marvel Era (when the comics company went from being known as Atlas Comics to Marvel) began in 1961 with the launch of The Fantastic Four. A lot can be said (and has been) about Stan Lee but with his incredible sense of timing, he introduced superheroes designed for an adult audience rather than the silliness of earlier comics creations. His heroes were not gods or from outer space (at least not at first) — they were humans gifted with extraordinary powers who still squabbled, dealt with betrayal, the consequences of fame, paying bills, self-doubt, depression, alienation on societal levels. His heroes grappled with the assassination of Kennedy, with the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Marvel invented the ComiCon in 1975. They created their own Code when the Comics Code started restricting storylines about drug abuse and civil rights. The multiverse of crossovers was intense but by the middle of the 1990s, Marvel filed for bankruptcy. The industry was glutted and the Marvel Universe was too unwieldy. In 1998, with new money, the Marvel Entertainment Group was formed, pulled the company out of red ink, and cooperated with outside movie studios to create the Blade Trilogy, X-Men, and Raimi’s Spider-Man triptych. The first Marvel film was in 1944 with a fifteen-chapter serial featuring Captain America, and the company didn’t revisit the movies until 1986 with Howard the Duck. In 1989 and 1990 they gave us The Punisher and another shot at Captain America, both turds.

The cinematic attempts were spotty and infrequent and were, with a few exceptions, unremarkable.

Then came Iron Man. Kevin Feige saw the film and decided on the post-credits sequence introducing Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury and the most improbably huge series of cinematic dominos came into play.

“The Avengers films, ideally, in the grand plan are always big, giant linchpins. It’s like as it was in publishing, when each of the characters would go on their own adventures and then occasionally team up for a big, 12-issue mega-event. Then they would go back into their own comics, and be changed from whatever that event was. I envision the same thing occurring after this movie, because the Avengers roster is altered by the finale of this film.” — Kevin Feige

When 2012’s The Avengers finally arrived, it was as if I had been waiting my entire life for it.

Twenty-one movies. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk. Ant Man, Black Widow, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye. The Falcon, War Machine, Captain Marvel. The Black Panther, The Winter Soldier, Loki, The Guardians of the Galaxy. Spider-Man. A collective $18.6 billion in ticket sales. All one giant continuous storyline. All leading up to a singular massive crossover film.

There are some duds in the mix. The first two Thor films were lackluster but the decision to keep him in the MCU lead to Thor: Ragnarok, which is one of the best films in the twenty-one complete with a reference to the Planet Hulk storyline and suddenly making one of the least cool Marvel characters ever cool. Iron Man 2 is rough and Avengers: Age of Ultron is like watching the whole series struggle with how to set the stage for Endgame.

Sony finally allowed Marvel to include Spider-Man and Michael Keaton’s Vulture is amazing. Black Panther was not only a great movie but a jewel in a cultural shift in Hollywood. They had to go to Netflix to get Daredevil, Luke Cage, and The Punisher right but those shows are good. 

When I was a kid, I loved The Planet of the Apes series but the only way to watch Chuck Heston find himself on future Earth where apes could talk was on network TV with the infrequent marathons. My mom would set up a card table covered with a sheet in front of the 20-inch screen. I’d get a pillow, soda, and a bowl of candy and watch all night long.

With Marvel, I don’t need the card table or candy but I still feel like a wide-eyed kid when I boot up any part of the MCU.

I can’t wait for the final chapter.

[cityutopiadystopia]

History of Parks in Chicago (Abbie)

In 1837, Chicago was officially incorporated as a city and chose the motto “urbs in hort”, meaning “city in a garden”. Despite this apparent commitment to nature, public parks in Chicago started out as just a few sections of lakefront land and some squares of undeveloped land meant to increase property value in neighborhoods. The speculator John S. Wright envisioned a Chicago surrounded by a ribbon of parkland and pleasure drives, and the city took its first steps toward this fantasy in 1869 when it established the Lincoln, South, and West Park Commissions. As the years went on, Chicago founded more park commissions as it annexed more territory. During this time, the creation of parks was deeply linked to greater social issues - for example, Dr. John H. Raunch helped eliminate a public health hazard when he converted cemetery land into what is now Lincoln Park, claiming that parks were “the lungs of the city”. Around 1900, Daniel Burnham was contracted by the South Park Commission to construct parks in overcrowded tenement areas. He saw parks as spaces that could provide access to important social services as well as recreation. Frederick Law Olmsted, the nation’s most famous landscape architect and Burnham’s colleague in planning the World’s Columbian Exposition, saw parks as democratic sites. Burnham agreed: following the model of the settlement houses that were popping up around Chicago at this time, he designed parks to include large “field houses” to house social programs as well as facilities like libraries and public showers that could be utilized by anyone from the surrounding community. Burnham’s conception spread across the city and the country, and became the model for public parks. However, not all of Burnham’s dreams for Chicago parks were realized: he planned to make the Chicago lake shore into a chain of lagoons and canals to rival “the Thames, the Seine, and the canals of Venice”, but this never happened.

During the Depression Era, many of the park commissions in Chicago went bankrupt. To save them, the Park Consolidation Act of 1934 combined the various commissions into the Chicago Park District, which received funding from the Works Progress Administration during the following decades. Chicago added many new parks in the 1940s and 1950s. Today, the Chicago Park District is the largest in the U.S. and governs more than 580 parks.

Parks of Chicago (Luke)

Humboldt Park

Named after Alexander von Humboldt, a German scientist and naturalist who spend much of his career exploring the landscapes of the Central and South America, Humboldt Park remains very much tied to its surrounding migrant population. Opened in 1869, Humboldt Park and its unique ‘prairie style’ spans 219 acres and features three historical landmarks: the field house, the boathouse, and the historic stables.

Jens Jensen, superintendent and chief landscape architect of the park during the early 1900’s, wanted to create a park that reflected the Illinois’ Midwestern nature- which has been increasingly covered over with an ever-growing urban landscape. Saying that, “If the city cannot come to the country, then the country must come to the city”, Jensen designed Humboldt Park with a prairie river, two rocky brooks, and a natural flower garden- reflecting the nature he experienced on his trips to the countryside. The prairie style Jensen implemented gained popularity in the early 20th century, an organic style documented to be a reaction against both the inherently European Greek and Roman architecture found at the Columbian Exposition, and the rising industrialization in the Midwest.

Humboldt Park remains heavily tied to its large, but decreasing, Puerto Rican population. The park is host to the Latin Jazz Festival and Puerto Rican Festival, and its historic stables are currently home to the only National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. In 2012-2014, Humboldt Park hosted the punk-rock Riot Festival, which gained as many as 160,000 attendees before concerns of community-wide gentrification cause Riot Festival to be relocated to Douglas Park.

Lincoln Park Conservatory

Designed by Joseph Silsbee, the Lincoln Park Conservatory, or the ‘paradise under glass’, consists of four Victorian glass display houses which display exotic, tropical plants year-round. Built in 1895, Silsbee’s concentration on plant life was a result of the growing concerns of industrialization and mass production, which were beginning to take over cities in the American Midwest like Chicago. This cultural hesitance over industrialization sparked the creation of many plant conservatories across the America, with the Lincoln Park Conservatory being no exception.

Maggie Daley Park

A 20-acre subsection of Grant Park, Maggie Daley park was founded on December 13th, 2014. Unlike other parks mentioned in our atlas, the design and features of the Maggie Daley Park were heavily influenced by the residents of Chicago: numerous public meetings, discussions, and focus groups with stakeholders gave the public a chance to shape the park they would interact with.

The park was designed with two ‘axes’: the park axis and the play axis. The park axis’s emphasis was on highlighting Chicago’s natural topography and plant life, the surrounding city, and Lake Michigan. The ‘play axis’ hosts many activities and features which both residents and tourists of Chicago, and specifically children, can enjoy: an ice rink, mini gold course, and many buildings and structures designed, according to the Maggie Daley website, to booster children’s exploration, learning, and fun.

Grant Park

Established by the residents of Chicago in 1844, Grant park has witnessed most of downtown Chicago’s upbringing, whose existence as an open park was defended and ultimately preserved by Chicago entrepreneur Montgomery Ward. Although Michigan Avenue landowners at the time were promised in the 1836 legislation mentioned above to remain “forever open, clear and free”, this promise was broken during the early 1900’s, as a post office, exposition center, armory, and other civic buildings were built by the city in Grant Park’s grounds- elements of Burnham’s vision of Grant Park in Plan of Chicago. Montgomery Ward, fighting for the open public access of Chicago’s lakefront, fought and won four supreme court battles in order wipe Grant park free of any buildings- with the exception of the Art Institute.

The other notable features in Grant park include Crown Fountain and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion- which both avoided deconstruction by being classified as works of art- Maggie Daley Park, Millennium Park, and Buckingham Fountain.

In addition to its tumultuous history, Grant Park has been the host of prominent cultural, political, and sports-related events. The Taste of Chicago, Grant Park Music Festival, and Lollapalooza highlight chicago’s food and music culture, while 10,000 protesters gathered in and occupied Grant park during the 1968 Chicago DNC protests. Grant park also hosts many of the victory celebrations of Chicago’s sports teams.

Parks of Chicago (McKenzie)

Jackson Park/Midway Plaisance

Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance were opened in 1869 and 1871 respectively. The Midway Plaisance connects Washington and Jackson parks, and I’ve included it with Jackson Park because of the role these both played in the 1893 expo. These three parks were together conceived initially as “South Park” by Paul Cornell, a real estate magnate who founded Hyde park, as part of his plans for the Hyde Park/Kenwood/Woodlawn area as a “resort community”.   The parks were designed by Olmsted & Vaux. The proximity to the lake played a large role in Olmsted & Vaux’s design, and they wanted to incorporate “water elements” including a long canal thru the midway. After the Columbian Expo, Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot transformed the area back to parkland. In the 1930s May McAdams, a landscape architect, designed a perennial garden at the East end of Midway. This inspired the 2005 Allison Davis Garden by Peter Schaudt on West end of midway (Allison Davis was the first tenured African American Professor at UChicago). Few elements of the Columbian Expo remain. The MSI, formerly the Fine Arts Palace during the Expo, did not burn down. The “Golden Lady” sculpture is a smaller version of Daniel Chester French’s Statue of the Republic. The Norway Pavilion survived the fire but is now in a museum in Wisconsin. The Osaka Garden (now Garden of the Phoenix) was reconstructed as it appeared originally.  

Jackson Park was the site of the Columbian Expo, and Olmsted and Burnham worked together to develop the area for the event. The Midway had mainly restaurants, “foreign villages”, and ethnological exhibits, and made a substantial portion of the profits from the Expo. It also had the world’s first ferris wheel which was extremely popular. The Midway portion of the Expo was run by Sol Bloom, a theatrical entrepreneur. Attractions on the Midway were a mix of educational and fake. There was a clear agenda to promote American and White superiority in the attractions: for instance, Africans in ethnological exhibits were depicted as cannibals.                                  Part of Jackson Park contained a Surface-to-Air Missile site during Cold War. In the 1950s, plans to lease part of Jackson Park to the army were prevented due to protests. In 1965, plans to shrink Jackson Park in order to widen lake shore drive were again impeded by protests. Construction was halted halfway through. Jackson Park is the site of future Barack Obama Presidential Centre.

Washington Park

Opened in 1870 in conjunction with Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance, Washington Park was also designed by  Olmsted & Vaux. Washington park’s stables and roundhouse, and later the Conservatory and Sunken Garden, were designed by Daniel Burnham. The DuSable Museum of African American History was also designed by Burnham and Root, though not originally as a museum. Washington Park was designed to be part of Chicago boulevard system: it intersects garfield, midway, and drexel boulevards). The Fountain of Time, depicting a cloaked “father of time” staring at people across the water  (inspired by Henry Dobson’s poem Paradox of Time) was designed by Lorado Taft. The park was expanded in the 1930s due to a lack of community recreational facilities.

The Washington Park community has been historically African American since WWI. The transition from a mostly-white “resort community” resulted in some tensions during this transition. Also originally it had sheep and cows to keep the grass trim, which was disallowed in 1920. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, “Many blacks who tried to use the park reported threats and intimidation, primarily from white gangs. Still, black semiprofessional baseball teams played each other on the baseball fields at Washington Park through the 1920s.”

Calumet Park

Calumet Park in the Eastside neighbourhood was designed by the Olmsted Brothers in the early 1900s, but was not completed until the 1930s. The area around Calumet Park grew rapidly around time when the park was being built, mainly due to european and mexican immigrants who came to work at steel mills and rail yards. This lead to the park commission to decide to increase the size of the yet-incomplete park.  The etymology of the word Calumet is unclear, but is likely linked to a French interpretation of a Native American word/object. The UChicago Calumet Quarter for environmental studies/science majors explores the history and ecology of calumet area, and involves weekly field trips to areas in Calumet, including the park.

Douglas Park

Located in North Lawndale/Pilsen, Douglas park was designed by William Le Baron Jenney, as part of plan for a West park and boulevard system which included Humboldt and Garfield parks in 1869. By 1905, the park had become run down due to corruption, and was revived by Jens Jensen, a Dean of the Prairie style landscape architect. His improvements included a garden shelter called Flower Hall, which was constructed near a busy intersection as a barrier between the intersection and the park’s interior. In 1928, a fieldhouse was built by Michaelsen and Rognstad.

Ogden Park

Opened in 1905 in Englewood, Ogden Park was designed by the Olmsted brothers along with ten other parks in an effort to “provide relief to Chicago’s overcrowded tenement districts” (chicagoparkdistrict.com) by providing social, recreational, and educational services to inhabitants of the communities.

Marquette Park

The development of Marquette park in the Chicago Lawn neighbourhood  was supervised by J Frank Foster. The park was built by Olmsted Brothers in 1905 as part of the same plan as Ogden park, which was expanded to a total of 14 parks. The park contains Ashburn Prairie, a volunteer-run remnant prairie containing hundreds of native plant species that was transported to Marquette Park for preservation, and whose native species inform conservation efforts in the Midwest. The park also contains monument to lithuanian-american pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas, early transatlantic aviators who died in a crash.

Marquette Park was the site of protests in 1966 led by MLK and the Chicago Freedom Movement, whose aim was for open housing in the surrounding all-white neighbourhoods. The peaceful protest eventually devolved into riots as a result of Southerners who were trying to disrupt the marches and who threw rocks and other objects at the protesters. Marquette Park was also site of neo-nazi anti-black protests in 1970s .The leading demonstrator was Frank Collin, coordinator with the National Socialist White People’s Party and founder National Socialist Party of America/American Nazi Party. He demonstrated in Marquette park but was later prevented from doing so by the Chicago Park District, who demanded that he pay a large insurance bond due to concerns about violence and damage to the park. Collin then  planned to march in Skokie (a predominantly jewish area) in uniforms with swastikas but was met with same ordinance. These rules were overturned by supreme court after Collin went to ACLU, based on first amendment rights. A compromise by ACLU meant that Collin would continued to demonstrate in Marquette Park, but not in Skokie.

McKinley Park

McKinley Park preceded creation of South Park Commission parks, opening in 1902 near the Chicago Union Stockyards. It was a test case - at the time, that area of the city was dense and dirty, there were very few parks or green spaces in the area. McKinley Park was near the industrial, steelwork, manufacturing, and meatpacking districts, which as we know were very dirty, marshy, and foul-smelling. J Frank Foster, the leader/inciter of the South Park Commision, wanted to build parks with a social as well as aesthetic function. The massive popularity of McKinley Park encouraged the creation of many more parks. The park was so popular that it was expanded in 1906.

Ping Tom Memorial Park

Ping Tom Memorial Park, opened in Chinatown in 1999, contains many Chinese design elements. The park was named in honour of Ping Tom, a civic leader of the Chicago Chinese community who expanded Chicago’s Chinatown by buying and developing 32 acres, and who was a founder of Asian American Coalition of Chicago. The park was built in response to strong community pressure for recreational facilities and open space, which to that point were almost entirely lacking in Chinatown: many former parks in the area had been demolished to make way for the Dan Ryan.

Burnham Park

Burnham Park, along Chicago’s lakefront, was designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1920 to link Jackson Park with the downtown area. Montgomery Ward, a Chicago-based entrepreneur in mail-order retail, was instrumental in fighting to protect Chicago’s lakefront so that it would be free and accessible to the poor. He sued the city several times for not keeping the park  "forever open, clear and free" (as mandated by an 1836 legislation). Museum Campus (including the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and Shedd Aquarium), Soldier Field (designed by Holabird and Roche and opened 1926, named for WWI veterans), and Northerly Island are all more recent additions.

Burnham Park was the site of the second World Fair in 1933, though only the Northern half of the park was open at that time. The 1933 Century of Progress World fair featured the landing of Italian pilot and Fascist, Italo Balbo, marking the completion of his transatlantic flight from Rome. As a result of this event, Mussolini sent Chicago a 2nd Century Roman Column as a gift, which still stands as a monument in the park. In the 1950s, Burnham park was the host of the Project Nike Air Defense System missile site, which was dismantled at the end of the cold war. The park was the landing site for Marine One when President Obama visited his home in Kenwood.

link to bigger version of map: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Bc5U4uwL1LSGJ3Qm9meC1WWm8/view?usp=sharing