{"id":3108,"date":"2023-04-17T19:02:54","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T00:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=3108"},"modified":"2023-04-30T21:11:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T02:11:19","slug":"3108","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=3108","title":{"rendered":"This city, this place, Is burning down from the inside, an eternal flame. In the hallway where I carve my name, Only to watch it burn away to ashes, nothing left to say."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I’m feeling sick of this
I need to get away
I’m making no progress
Can’t find a will to stay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So just forget me
And watch me drift away
Another place another time
I’ll be another faceless name<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I will not stick around
To watch this town burn to the ground
I will rise from the ashes with this new freedom I’ve found
and fly away<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time as our nice, sickly, but nice evening out with friends at Carols to see The Jeff Givens band, hundreds of teens swarmed downtown to exercise what their idea of fun is! The Tweet from Mayor Elect Johnson the day after and hours before a second wave of youth violence would infect downtown Chicago proved what we’ve feared since he was elected. Max and his son and grandson had just missed the Saturday early evening shenanigans. These images and news stories feed my already depressed state of mind.<\/strong> Amy cried the night of the run off election just 2 weeks before all of this violence. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Hundreds of teenagers flooded into Downtown Chicago on Saturday night, smashing car windows, trying to get into Millennium Park, and prompting a major police response. A woman whose car was smashed by people jumping on the windshield said her husband was beaten as he sat in the driver’s seat. Police were escorting tourists and others back to their cars in the Millennium Park garage.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hundreds of teenagers flood into downtown Chicago, smashing car windows, prompting police response<\/strong> <\/em>– FOX 32<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 boys shot, several people arrested as another \u2018large group\u2019 overwhelms Chicago police in the Loop<\/em><\/strong> – CWB Chicago<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Though Brandon Johnson will not officially become mayor until May 15, the mayor-elect is still acting like he\u2019s running for office rather than behaving like a soon-to-be-leader. In a tweet sent out on the morning of April 15, in spite of the previous night\u2019s 31st Street Beach ruckus, Johnson still felt the need to emphasize his brand of hope and change messaging:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By nightfall, Johnson got what he wished. Neighbors of all ages were, indeed, connecting with one another on a glorious Friday evening while hundreds of less-neighborly youths arrived downtown because of invitations circulated on social media encouraging them to gather in Millennium Park.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Millennium Park is supposed to be off limits at night to those under the age of 21 unless accompanied by a parent. Despite a range of desirable amenities Chicago offers \u2014 movie theaters, parks, beaches, the 606 Trail, etc. \u2014 hundreds of teens traveled downtown and, instead, took part in blocking traffic, jumping on cars, assaulting drivers, damaging businesses and private property. Perhaps it is difficult to understand the aims of Gen-Zers, but this behavior is not wholesome fun. It is criminal behavior.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, Chicago Police were on hand, but they were completely overwhelmed. Many found themselves escorting visitors to their cars in the Grant Park parking garage, making sure they were safe. Others were trying to determine the location of random gunfire and searching for victims. Local news reporters hoping to broadcast live were running to safety; other reporters were trapped in their news vehicles by the unruly crowd.<\/em><\/strong> – Chicago Contrarian<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n

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Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s response has grabbed national headlines. Johnson called the activity “unacceptable,” but went on to say, “it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Stealing a car and setting it a blaze is not a silly decision. Pummeling two innocents and a CTA employee is not a silly decision. Jumping on cars, looting, and vandalizing is not a silly decision. It’s all violent, criminal behavior, and it deserves to be demonized, period. – <\/em><\/strong>Chicago Contrarian<\/p>\n\n\n

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The good news is Kim Foxx has decided to not run for another term. The bad news is she will be around for another 20 months including for the upcoming Summer of Joy 2 \u2013 Exploding Car Batteries Because Root Causes<\/em> and Summer of Joy 3 \u2013 Moar Silly Decisions<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Summer is upon us. Yet, I’ll spend the 3rd summer in a row avoiding downtown whenever possible My friend Brian says, “Suns out. Guns out.”, and its sadly true. I really want this to be my last summer as a Chicago resident. My spirit has been broken and my heart breaks every day seeing what has become of this place I fell in love with back in 1995 and moved to 3 years later. I am now the only employee at my firm that lives in Illinois. So I’ve been told I can live wherever I want since we’re remote. Amy and I are taking a day trip out there next Sunday May 7th. But before that I must catch up on last weekend.- AZ<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m feeling sick of thisI need to get awayI’m making no progressCan’t find a will to stay So just forget meAnd watch me drift awayAnother place another timeI’ll be another faceless name But I will not stick aroundTo watch this town burn to the groundI will rise from the ashes with this new freedom I’ve… Read More »This city, this place, Is burning down from the inside, an eternal flame. In the hallway where I carve my name, Only to watch it burn away to ashes, nothing left to say.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diary-of-a-damned-man"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3108"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3244,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions\/3244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}