It’s been busy here, which is why I haven’t had a chance for coffee the last few weeks. My biggest news is that I’m now the Chicago Protestant Examiner for Examiner.com. So I’m getting the hang of reporting and actually covering things that are happening now and talking to living people instead of researching things that happened over 2,000 years ago and interviewing people in my head. It’s a change.

I am feeling really good. Joining the gym has really helped. Swimming and practicing yoga just sets me right. I love how both are a melding of meditation and movement. My time with my personal trainer is good as well, but I don’t get the spiritual practice on the machines the way I do in the water and yoga poses.

My biggest thing right now is time management: figuring out when and how long to work on various writing projects: The Book, Examiner, other freelance work, and being an editor on The Christian Godde Project (really need to get back to translating Luke), not to mention all the research that goes with each. Plus all the daily life stuff: running errands, cleaning, laundry, showering, eating, sleeping, etc. etc. Not to mention The Hubby appreciates it when I talk to him on occasion.

My in-laws and a nephew are coming to see us in June, so that means we have a lot of cleaning out, organizing and cleaning up to do in the next few weeks. They’ll be here during the Printer’s Row Book Fair (every bookaholic’s best dream and worst nightmare), and I will be preaching at church that Sunday. My father-in-law wants to hear me preach. I’m a little psyched about it, but I’m sure it will all be fine. The Old Testament passage for that Sunday is Jezebel. And I love Jezebel. Wondering how much fun I can have with her even in a liberal Episcopal Church. We’ll see.

This weekend is pretty quiet. Tomorrow is cleaning and writing. I also need to make a trip to the grocery store for odds and ends. Then Sunday is Pentecost. I’m looking forward to that. Ooh, that reminds me: I need to start reading Acts 2:1-21 in the Greek, since I will be doing that Sunday morning. We will have the Acts passage read in several different languages in the service: English, Spanish, German, French, and Greek, and who knows what else. Last year each person started reading a few verses full voice, then read quietly while they walked through the sanctuary, then the next person picked up and read then walked. By the end of the reading, they were people reading the passage in different languages all over the congregation. It was so powerful. I’m not sure that’s they way we’ll do it this year, but I’m sure it will still be powerful.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and a blessed Pentecost!

Company Girl Coffee: it’s busy but in a good way edition is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

It is a gorgeous day in Chicago, and this is the view out of my window. Lake Michigan is this incredible aqua blue today that doesn’t quite come through in the picture.

I’m on my way out to Columbia College’s Story Week Festival of Writers to hear David Morrell speak about “The Successful Novelist, Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing.” I really do have a good life.

The View From My Window is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

Chicago Grace Episcopal Church will be having two Ash Wednesday services including imposition of ashes on Wednesday, February 17. The first service is at 12:15–1:15 p.m. The second service is 6:00–7:00 p.m. with a soup and bread supper following the liturgy. All are welcome to come. I will be attending the service in the evening. Our church is on Printer’s Row, 637 S. Dearborn, right next door to Kasey’s Tavern, and our sanctuary is on the second floor.

Tonight we say good-bye to the alleluias. This hymn from The Saint Helena Breviary helps us to tuck them away until Easter.

Alleluia, song of gladness,

hymn of endless joy and praise.

Alleluia is the worship

that celestial voices raise

and, delighting in God’s glory,

sing in heaven’s courts always.

Alleluia, blessed Salem,

home of all our hopes on high.

Alleluia, sing the angels;

Alleluia, saints reply;

but we, for a time on this earth,

chant a simpler melody.

Alleluias we now forfeit

in this holy time of Lent.

Alleluias we relinquish

as we for our sins repent,

trusting always in God’s mercy

and in Love omnipotent.

Blessed Trinity of Glory,

hear your people as we pray.

Grant that we may know the Easter

of the Truth, the Life, the Way,

chanting endless alleluias

in the realms of endless day. Amen.

A huge thank you to Bosco at Liturgy for having it all typed out, so I wouldn’t have to do it. Bosco also posted a Shrove Tuesday mediation.

Ash Wednesday Liturgies at Chicago Grace Episcopal Church is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

November is National Novel Writers Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It’s to get you to stop thinking about writing and write. I took part in 2005. I am taking part this year. The building I live in, Burnham Park Plaza, used to the main YMCA Hotel in Chicago and the second largest hotel in Chicago. It was built in 1915, opened in 1916 and closed in 1979. I am having a ball researching this. The original building was 19 stories with 1850 rooms. By 1926 they were turning people away, so they enlarged the building and added another story, increasing to 2600 rooms. I live in addition they added to the front of the building at that time. My kitchen wall is beautiful exposed brick that was the original outer wall. Originally the hotel was for men only. Dearborn, a couple of blocks away, was one the major railroad stations in Chicago and a massive amount of people poured into the South Loop from there, many of them looking to make their way in the world in Chicago. The Y was built at 826 S. Wabash Ave. to be a safe and moral place for young men to stay among the flophouses, brothels, and bars in the South Loop. In 1933 the YWCA at 830 S. Michigan Ave. closed its doors, and the top four floors were open for women to stay. These were normally single woman who were working in Chicago.

In January I found out a lady I go to church with, Jean, stayed here when it was the Y. She moved to Chicago in 1945 with a friend from college and they roomed together in a corner room that had three windows, bunk beds, a dresser, and a closet. When her friend married, she moved to a single room that was 6′x8′. Jean remembers standing in the middle of the room and spreading out her arms she could almost touch both walls. There was one window, a twin bed, a metal dresser, and a metal closet. She paid $30 a month for the room. The 20th floor was the lounge for the women. There was a piano, and Jean would play it. There was also the roof garden with a wonderful view of the city. Most of the men who stayed at the hotel at this time were soldiers going to or coming from the fronts in WW2.

There wasn’t a whole lot in this area. South of 9th St. were warehouses. Jean never went south of 8th St because further south were the bordellos and slums. Though some of that was still in the area. She remembers there being several bottle stores (liquor stores) in the area and flophouses. She also remembers walking past drunks and the homeless living on the street when she went to work. The retail section didn’t start until Jackson or Adams in the Loop, although there was a fresh vegetable market at Congress and Dearborn. There were a lot candy stores like Fannie Farmer and Emmetts. When the hoisery stores got in a shipment, women lined up for blocks around the stores to try to snag nylons. The first restaurant you came to was Berghoff’s at Adams. Most people went to the restaurants in hotels to eat: The Drake, The Blackstone, The Palmer House, Ambassador East and West, and The Stephens Hotel. For six months Jean worked at The Stephens Hotel (now The Hilton Towers) as a reservation girl in The Boulevard Club. It was one of the swankiest clubs in town, women came in their furs, and the top bands, singers, and comedians performed there. That was also back in the days when the Italian and Sicilian mobs controlled the restaurants. She saw the Mafia come in and out, and thought the maitre’d was probably part of the mob. She laughed as she recounted that the mob guys would dote on her; years later she realized it was probably because she was such a “greenhorn.”

During the 40s the South Loop was the shady transition area between the proper people and the red light district further south (though earlier in the century it had been the nototorious red light Levee district). It was still a shady place but the YMCA Hotel was the one reputable place in the area, and you could stay there without worrying. Jean said she felt safe there because it was the Y.

I’m going to break away from the setting now to describe my main character. She popped into my head not long after I decided I was going to set the novel in this building during its days as the Y. Miss Madie is a widowed Irish Catholic who moved to the Y after her husband died. My first and most consistient image of Miss Madie is sitting and praying the rosary. After she prays, her rosary beads are placed under her pillow. At that time there was a Catholic church right across the street at 901 S. Wabash, St. Mary’s Catholic Church (now a parking lot). It was a smaller church for the working class. Miss Madie loves just walking across the street to go to Mass. Miss Madie sees images out of the corner of her eyes and senses other presences. She thinks they are the saints, and she can feel them because she is close to death. But what Miss Madie doesn’t know is that there are more residents at the hotel than the mortal eye can see. The tentative title is Miss Madie’s Lost Lost Saints.

I am just loving learning about the South Loop and my building, and I can’t wait to find out more about Miss Madie. She’s being a little tight lipped with her past right now, but she’ll tell it. And I’ll be there when she does.

I have 1,712 words. Yes, I know I have some catching up to do. Here’s to writing 48,000 more words in the next 25 days!

I am ShawnaAtteberry at the NaNo site if you want buddy up.

Added on Friday: Company Girl Coffee

Go visit the other Company Girls of Home Sanctuary!

Let the NaNoWriMo Craziness Begin is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

I wanted to let you know about a couple of Halloween magic shows that are happening this week by two very good friends of ours.

Photo from Magic Chicago

First up Eugene Burger making an appearance at Magic Chicago on October 30 and 31 in Fear and Fate: A Special Halloween Celebration with Eugene Burger. Eugene promises it will be scary, and I said that’s fine as long as people don’t jump out and yell at me. He promised me there would be no yelling. (Haunted Houses take note: people jumping out at you and yelling isn’t scary; it’s just annoying, especially after 30 minutes of it.) Tickets are $25.

Photo from DavidParr.com

Next up is David Parr. David will be at The Dawes House in Evanston Thursday, Friday, and Saturday doing three shows a night in Haunting History. The magic takes place throughout the house with vignettes being performed in each room. Again should be scary with nothing jumping out and yelling at you. Tickets are $20.

Tracy and I will be at Eugene’s performance on Friday night and at David’s on Saturday. Come join us for some magical, scary Halloween fun.

Halloween Magical Happenings Around Chicago is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

Sally writes: It is the first of May, or as I have been concentrating on dialogue with folk interested in the new spirituality movement this last week, it is Beltane, a time to celebrate the beginning of summer. The BBC web-site tells us that:

Beltane is a Celtic word which means ‘fires of Bel’ (Bel was a Celtic deity). It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year.
Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields.
Beltane rituals would often include courting: for example, young men and women collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the evening. These rituals would often lead to matches and marriages, either immediately in the coming summer or autumn.

Another advert for a TV programme that has caught my eye on the UK’s Channel 4 this weekend is called Love, Life and leaving; and is a look at the importance of celebrating the seasons of life through ritual and in the public eye, hence marriages, baptisms and funerals.

I believe that we live in a ritually impoverished culture, where we have few reasons for real celebration, and marking the passages of life;

So

1. Are ritual markings of birth, marriage, and death important to you?

Yes, they are.

2. Share a favourite liturgy/ practice.

The Renewal of the Baptismal Covenant.

3. If you could invent (or have invented) a ritual what is it for?

I have invented rituals. I have my own Samhain/All Saints ritual, and a couple of years ago I created a ritual for casting out fear.

4. What do you think of making connections with neo-pagan / ancient festivals? Have you done this and how?

I like making those connections, especially with the ancient feasts. I love the Celtic calendar and like how they cycle through the year.

5. Celebrating is important, what and where would your ideal celebration be?

I love all the outdoor music Chicago has in the summer. There are free concerts and free dancing at Millennium Park. I love listening to music and dancing in the park as the sun goes down and the lake is right there.

RevGals Friday Five: Celebrating the Seasons of Life is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

If you’re in the South Loop area and need a place to celebrate the events of Holy Week, consider yourself invited to Grace Episcopal Church at 637 S. Dearborn St (Bus lines 22 and 62 Polk/Dearborn, Red Line Harrison/Polk exit, LaSalle Blue Line, LaSalle Metra Station).

Wednesday, April 8

Sandwich, Scriptures, and Sacrament, 12:15 p.m. Every week we bring a lunch and discuss a Scripture passage from the liturgy on Sunday. We will be discussing one of the Easter passages this week.

Our church helps out The Night Ministry. The Night Ministry ministers to the homeless at Humboldt Park through medical care, food and other necessities. At 5:00 p.m. will be making sandwiches and bag lunches for Thursday night. At 6:00 p.m. there is a centering prayer practice.

Thursday, April 9

Our Maundy Thursday service will be held at Humboldt Park (California and Division). If you would like to help hand out the lunches, we will be meeting at the church at 5:45 p.m. We will load up the van then head out. After we feed everyone, we will begin the liturgy for Maundy Thursday with whomever would like to join us. The liturgy will begin at 7:30 p.m. Our minister of music, Wayne Maas, will be leading the service. After we return to the church, we will strip the sanctuary for the observance of Good Friday.

Friday, April 10

There will be two liturgies on Good Friday: 12:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Our seminary intern, Elizabeth Molitors, will be preaching at both services and leading us through a modern version of the Stations of the Cross. A special offering will be taken up for The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Saturday, April 11

We will be going to St. James Cathedral (Red Line Grand exit) at Wabash and Huron to observe the Great Vigil, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 12

There will be two Feasts of the Resurrection, 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Our parish priest, Rev. Ted Curtis will be presiding.  After the 10:00 a.m. service, we will be enjoying an Eastern luncheon. There will be a special offering taken up for the Night Ministry on Easter and the following Sunday.

Holy Week Happenings at Chicago Grace Episcopal Church is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

My husband is an amateur magician, and therefore, we have magician friends. In fact, we have magician friends doing shows and having movies made about them. Here are some of the magical happenings happening around town this fall.

First up, is The Magic Cabaret, the macabre and wonderfully sinister brainchild of David Parr and P. T. Murphy. Although many people don’t know it, Chicago has a rich history of magicians, and was the premiere city for magic in the late 19th to early 20th century. Last year, Patrick (P. T.) gave a wonderful history of magic in Chicago along with a few of the tricks that Chicago magicians invented and made popular, and I’m hoping that gets worked in again. There will be a lot of storytelling and up close and personal magic in the show. Tracy and I are meeting up with Lainie and going tonight. The show runs through October 18 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. at the Greenhouse Theater Center at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. The tickets are $25.

Next up is Magic Chicago. Magicians Benjamin Barnes and Robert Charles host and perform in this monthly magic show on the first Wednesdays of the month. They also invite other magicians to perform. On October 1 psychic entertainer, Russ Johnson will be joining them. Also appearing is the first female magician from South America to appear at the Magic Castle, Alba (she rocks!). Magic Chicago performs at City Lit Theater at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church. Tickets are $20.

Magic Chicago will also be having a special second gathering this month. Michael Caplon of Montrose Pictures (he also teaches at Columbia College in the Film and Video Department) has made a documentary about Eugene Burger who is considered to be one of the best teachers of the magical arts. A Magical Vision not only covers Eugene’s career as a magician and teacher, but explores both the the history of magic in general and in Chicago. Eugene will perform after the movie. The Hubby and I will be going to this as well. Tickets to the movie and show are $25.

Magical Happenings in Chicago is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

In an op-ed in last week’s New York Times, Paul Krugman describes the “Me Caveman, you be scared” tactics of the Republican party, and how the GOP wants to make anyone who doesn’t agree with them look weak and not able to lead the country. He quoted Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann saying that Democrats

want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, take light rail to their government jobs.

Dear Rep. Bachmann,

First I’m an Independent and not a Democrat. Second I’m a middle class white woman who lives in the urban core of Chicago. I do not live in a tenement, but in a condo with a great lake view. I do not have a government job. I am self-employed, and I take Chicago’s L and busses all over the city to research and work. I don’t have a car. I don’t need a car. And I don’t want a car.

I think you need to get out of your cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood (and off Capitol Hill) and take a look at what urban cores actually look like.

Sincerely,
Shawna R. B. Atteberry

P. S. Since you haven’t seem to notice: D. C.’s public transit rocks. I loved taking it when I visited earlier this year.

Hattip to Rachel Frey.

Does she ever get out of the burbs? is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

One of the wonderful things about living in Chicago is all the cool, free activities there are in the summer. One of these is Chicago Summer Dance three blocks from where I live. I have lived here for over two years, and last night was the first time I actually went. I was walking back from yoga and saw the crowd at the Spirit of Music Park in Grant Park, and I decided to cross the street and take part. It was incredible.

The band was Fandanguero, and they play San Jaroco music which orginated from Mexico and is a fusion of Samba, Cuban Son, Afro-Peruvian, and Flamenco. They were great. If you have a chance to go see them go. The music was great, and great music normally leads to lots of dancing.

The dance for the night was Zapateado, and it was a Latin dance you didn’t need to have a partner for (my hubby was in a condo board meeting, poor man). Once the dancing got going there were people like me on their own, couples, and groups of five or six or more dancing. I almost didn’t do it. I love to dance, but I haven’t really danced that much in the last few years. And the Zapateado was a new dance for me, although a very easy one to learn. I almost–almost–let me fear kick in and rob me of one of my favorite things to do since I was kid. But I finally told myself to suck it up. Who was going to notice one person on the dance floor? No one was going to tell me I was doing it wrong (as one other lady told me later on the floor). I was a little stiff the first dance, but into the second dance, I was shaking it. Okay I was doing more stamping than shaking. The dance is basically stamp, stamp, stamp, kick and repeat. My hips loosened up and my arms, my whole body started dancing as I payed less attention to my feet.

More and more people were coming and dancing, and I decided I needed to get pictures. So then the dance went stamp, stamp, stamp, kick, click. And it didn’t really matter if you weren’t partners. We looked at each other and smiled and laughed and even chatted here and there. I felt so free, and oh my how I love to dance and feel the music. It’s been over a year since I last did that. I wasn’t the only having a lot of fun and unwinding after a long day. Here are some of the pictures I took:

This is the dance teacher, Anabel Tapia.

Fandanguero

Don’t let the clothes fool you: this guy could dance!

If you’re in downtown Chicago on Thursday, Friday, Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, go dance. It’s good for the soul. And free. Click here for the schedule (PDF format).

Dancing in the Park is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry