Captive Audience

The 2011 Chicago Auto Show just ended this weekend and I’m a little sorry to say I never went to check it out.  I used to look forward to it yearly but now I’m more inclined to roll my eyes at the thought of ogling a giant showroom full of drool-worthy concept cars I can’t afford, even if they were actually available to the general public.  In fact, the only reason I even remembered the show was in town was because Dodge coughed up some pretty copper pennies to advertise on the Red Line.  Two train cars were wrapped in Dodge 2011 campaign branding: “We are Dodge and we are NEVER NEUTRAL.”  My first thought was, does that mean none of their cars have a ‘neutral’ gear? Well, that could be a problem…  My second thought was, hmmm, that’s interesting, Dodge is advertising on public transit. Just a smidge ironic…  I don’t know about all the other riders on the Red Line but I ride the train because buying a car is currently on my “to-don’t” list (Man, gas is $3.50/gallon!!!).  Or, just maybe, Dodge realized the Red Line runs parallel to the expressway where thousands of drivers commute to and from work every day…?

Anyway, seeing the wrap around ad just got me thinking about all types of advertising you see on trains and busses these days.  Some are your everyday run-of-the-mill ads like McDonald’s and Potbelly, just positioned in unique places, like the ceiling. Others get a little more creative, like a wrist watch advert on a bus hand strap, and a Real Southwest ad incorporating a QR (“Quick Response”) code that can be scanned by a smart phone after downloading the ScanLife App.  Clearly I would not be winning any trips to Tuscon, AZ from that!

One of my recent favorites is Absolut vodka – they completely transformed several bus stop shelters in Chicago to promote their new flavors: Twist, Bloody, and Lemon Drop. Double kudos on those wicked Victoria-esque chairs.  Wish they’d try that on the train too.  Come to think of it, I wish companies would integrate science and engineering into their creative advertising campaigns.  For example, PETA could promote education also if, as part of their “Go Naked” slogan, they sponsored a see-through “naked” rail car.  It could resemble those clear phones that were all the rage in the 90’s.  I’m sure there’s some kind of Plexiglass out there that would hold up and also allow riders to see the mechanical innards of the train, perhaps sparking public interest in learning more about mechanical engineering – kids would love it, no doubt.  Someone’s already made a race car prototype!

And if we’re talking about major brands jumping on the public transit market, why doesn’t Pepsi install vending machines on train cars.  Or better yet, how about Brawndo. After all, it is the thirst mutilator!   But, these are just my own semi-random reflections on the topic – what do you think? Got any favorite ads or creative concepts of your own?  Do tell!

No Pants, No Problem...err, sort of

What manhole did I fall into that I totally missed the memo on this one?  For that matter, where were all of YOU when this took place?  What a sight it would have been to behold first hand.  For those of you, like me, who were in the dark about this, let me clue you in.  A New York-based group named Improv Everywhere came into being in August 2001 with the sole purpose of creating and causing “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.”  These flash mobs and pseudo-flash mobs range in theme, from a hand bell choir spontaneously assisting a Salvation Army volunteer to a human mirror created on a subway train using pairs of identical twins dressed alike and sitting across from each other in the same car.  But what you may remember them most for is their Frozen Grand Central extravaganza (one I’ve enjoyed watching several times on YouTube).

Despite my marginal awareness of the group, what I completely missed the memo on was their now ten years and running No Pants Subway Ride experiment.  The movement has gone global yet I’ve been totally unawares until today and quite bummed (pun intended) that I missed the spectacle that took place in Chicago and some 50 other cities on January 9, 2011.



What makes the display all the more fascinating is that it takes place in the dead of winter!  A Chicagoan of some 12 odd years, I’m still not accustomed to winter weather.  In fact, I’m often rather cranky when the temps get below 60, let alone when they drop below 30.  So, for me, this whole concept of stripping down to ones skivvies in the middle of January inspires mad amounts of respect for those brave souls who took part, especially considering they’re doing it on public transit where you can never be certain what was just in the seat you’re now sitting in.  I’m definitely staying informed for next year’s event – though I probably won’t be participating (unless I come across some mighty warm, topnotch, alpaca wool, thigh-high leg warmers...)

What about you - Did you witness or participate in this year’s No Pants Subway Ride?  Would you consider it next year? What do you think of the whole idea?

Meet George Jetson!

Well, ok, it’s not exactly the future like in the Jetsons but that’s the first thing that popped into my head (including theme song and futuristic sound effects) when I read an article on msnbc.com about the Chicago Transit Authority rolling out some new test cars on the Red Line.  Supposedly the new rail cars boast a “smoother” ride (whatever that means) by way of an under car support system…I can’t erase the uproariously amusing image of monster truck shock absorbers underneath my seat or the thought of some Jetsons-like hovercraft engines suspending passengers midair while the train rattles down the tracks at 50mph from station to station.  Of all the trains I’ve ridden, the Red Line definitely takes the cake when it comes to a brutally bumpy ride – it’s not far from being at Six Flags on the Iron Wolf.  But I guess I have to just take their word for it until I experience the ride for myself.

Apparently some passengers who rode the new cars felt they were smaller and had less seating available than the current un-pimped-out cars.  To compensate though, upgrades like more poles and new handstraps for upright riders were worked into the new design.  I have to say though, that given the way I’ve seen people use handstraps on busses, I doubt they’d be very helpful on the train. They may end up even being dangerous.  I still have to giggle at people who don’t anchor themselves while gripping handstraps and then end up dangling from them, holding on for dear life, and to whatever dignity they had left…LOL…

But back to the point, other spiffy features include networked security cameras (about time!) and nifty door sensors to detect obstructions (curious to see if this will come in handy when crazy people hold the doors open for a friend who’s running behind them to catch the train, even though they heard the ding-dong indicating doors were closing and the conductor announced the train’s about to pull away).

I visited every car on my train today and didn’t observe any of the newbies, but I'll certainly be paying more attention to see if CTA can match the 'Smooth Operator' quality of the D.C. metrorail - now you could rock a baby to sleep on those trains.

Interesting side note: these new cars were first tested on the Yellow and Purple lines, both of which are patronized by more white passengers than Black or Latino ones.  Not sure what the logic is there but I’m in the mood to give CTA the benefit of the doubt that they chose those lines first because the overall ridership is a lot lower than most of the other lines, and therefore not as much of an inconvenience if it turned out to be bad design…..

Broadcasting Live from the Red Line!

I often feel left behind in this era of technology.  Hoards of fellow train riders carrying on like peacocks, displaying their colorful and nifty gizmos and gadgets; at times it can feel quite lonely to have nothing but a cell phone.  It made me wonder a bit, about how social interactions would change say, if more media outlets were embedded into the actual train.  Phone and internet service providers have already breached the subterranean barrier, enabling consumers to use their phones and laptops in the subway without interruption of service. And advertisers are ever clever in finding ways to follow you underground and all around on trains and busses.  But what about other media outlets?  A lot of times, I turn my television on to watch the morning news and get caught up in the latest breaking story just as I’m heading out the door to catch my train.  I admit I get a little vexed having to turn it off mid-story lest I risk missing my ride. So, what if we could pick up our news story on the train?  What about installing news feed tickers to keep us abreast of all things Chicago!

                          

Or, it’d be pretty spectacular to have a 40 inch HD flat screen embedded [to prevent vandalism] into the wall of a train car, streaming live local news, weather and sports broadcasts.  At first I thought it might be fun to have conductors themselves double as newscasters but, given the horrid quality of the trains PA system, that would likely drive folks to madness trying to decipher everything. But even something akin to the Channel One broadcasts shown in high school homerooms around the country could be fairly interesting.

Another idea could be to turn the head car into a soundproof broadcasting studio and have live radio hosts or news anchors do their morning rush hour routines from there while at night, after rush hour, local DJs could inhabit the booth and pump the latest jams into each car, taking requests from passengers via a special Twitter App for Chicago L train riders...I guess though that’s the whole reason peeps have smartphones, laptops, & iPods, so they can have access to more than just local news, and can be their own DJs.  But something about incorporating mass media into the mass transit experience still seems novel – especially to tech-tarded old fogies like me.

Though, if they’ve got TVs on trains in parts of Asia and in NYC, I guess I’ll be writing a letter to Da Next Mayor. Who wants to sign my petition!

Movin on up!

“No nation can enslave a race of people for hundreds of years, set them free bedraggled and penniless, pit them, without assistance in a hostile environment, against privileged victimizers, and then reasonably expect the gap between the heirs of two groups to narrow.  Lines, begun parallel and left alone, can never touch.”
-- Randall Robinson



Chicago's racial-ethnic composition (as of 2010)



 In a recent discussion with fellow students, a classmate of mine speculated on the fact that, for being a large and very ethnically diverse city, Chicago is still highly segregated along racial lines.  Sadly, this reality has long marred Chicago’s history and in many ways has crippled its progress into the future by holding certain groups hostage, socially and economically.  It shocks many to learn that a substantial portion of Chicago’s residents have lived their entire lives without ever having been downtown.

               

In a city of roughly 3 million, one third, or 1 million, residents are Black and yet in all its history, Chicago only boasts 4 Black-owned banks, and even fewer Black-owned businesses generating revenues of $1M or more.  There are too many contributing factors to discuss in one simple blog post, from Chicago’s history of practicing redlining and restrictive covenants, to its political turmoil plagued by ongoing racism and corruption.  As this Midwestern metropolis embarks on the rocky road towards electing a new mayor, reflections on Chicago’s racial and ethnic divides continue to cross my mind, most especially when I find myself on public transit.

It’s been a lifetime (24 years) since Chicago’s only elected African American mayor, the Honorable Harold L. Washington, successfully bridged social, economic and racial divides to bring Chicagoans together for the collective good.  Yet much remains to be seen from the pool of current candidates, who can bring about a sense of unity that is needed to overcome the deep wounds of a segregated and disjointed community.

Gentrification plays a title role in this quagmire as well, and nowhere is that more evident than on the L train.  I remember living on the NW side a decade ago and having to ride the Blue line from Logan Square to downtown.  Back then the platform was full of mainly brown faces mixed in with a handful of ethnic eastern European folks.  I’d sometimes get little old ladies, presumably feeling nervous in a sea of Latino bodies, coming up to me and asking me something in Polish, mistakenly thinking me a kinswoman. Over the years, I watched the make up of that platform change precipitously from a smattering of Artsy peoples – you know, the kind of 20-something Caucasian who wears earlobe spacers, majors in Fiber & Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute while moonlighting as a bicycle courier, and shares a 4^th floor vintage walk up with a Rastafarian and a Buddhist monk – to a surplus of Yuppie-9 to 5-investment banking types.

Not a decade’s passed since my own “back in the day” (let alone my parents’) when the only pale face the Logan Square Blue Line saw was mine.  Gentrification can take place anywhere, and at alarming rates.  It’s mesmerizing to see places like historic Cabrini Green virtually transform before your eyes from notoriously dangerous housing projects to condos and townhouses valued at half a million dollars.  Yet as places like Logan Square and Humboldt Park, once predominantly Latino, become increasingly gentrified, the far West and South sides of the city that are predominantly Black remain largely untouched and therefore extremely segregated.  One ride on my lovely Red Line and you’ll marvel at the stark contrasts seen from the train window.  As you travel further south of Downtown, the number of white faces drops to almost zero after Sox-35th, home of US Cellular Field (aka the Chicago White Sox’s Comiskey Park).

But what does this all translate to us on a literal level.  As Randall Robinson tells us in the quote at the beginning of this blog, simply put, we can’t expect a change to come without an outright action and effort on our part.  It took America hundreds of years to abolish slavery, at least from a legal standpoint, but the underlying racism and classism still thrive like parasites in every corner of our great nation, greatly impacting how we socialize on a day to day basis.  Given the centuries it took to create this disparity, who knows how long it will take to reverse and recuperate.  One thing’s for sure, whoever Chicago’s next mayor is will have to wrestle with this city’s elephant in the room and would do wise to take a few pages from Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker’s philosophy on responsibility and change through personal action and involvement.  Maybe then will Chicago see a few new train lines going through the vastly underserved West and Far South sides.