Mondays with Mike: I had lobster ravioli

Hello everybody. Hope you are well.

Last Wednesday was our first date night in a loooonnnng time.

Let’s get the citizen business out of the way first.

Here’s a reading assignment.

It includes practical steps toward making things better.

My finding this article was sparked by a conversation I had last night with two friends. Both are highly accomplished professionals working for publicly traded corporations. Both are Black. One is a woman, with whom I had a long discussion long ago about the talk she had to have with her son as he came of age. About how to act and not to act, in great specificity, in any encounter with law enforcement. I don’t remember having such a talk with my parents.

She and I and mutual friends have had difficult discussions about our different experiences more than once in the past. We’ve touched nerves. And wondered whether we’d crossed lines. But as she pointed out, we somehow always worked through them. I’ve learned a lot. I cherish our friendship.

That’s Kasey’s tavern across the street. It’s boarded up windows were transformed into the City of Chicago flag by muralists.

She said that a lot of white colleagues at work have reached out to her since this all started. In her view, some have really wanted to learn something, but others just want to tell her they feel guilty and be done with it. She and I have a lot in common, including the concern that once the protests ebb, nothing will change. We’ve both seen this before. Her number one recommendation about action to take? Vote. Get skin—black or white or brown—in the game. And keep voting. And act locally. Go to dreary public meetings. Pressure your city council, state representatives, and mayors. It’s a slog. But as she put it, “We have to do this from the ground up.”

The other friend leans libertarian. He’s a bigshot corporate lawyer. He wouldn’t like me saying that, but I’m not lying. He’s suspicious of government. He’s nothing if not practical. And his recommendation: Get rid of qualified immunity for police. Of course, it takes a lawyer to make a recommendation like that. He patiently explained the term. Wanna know what qualified immunity is? Do the reading assignment above. (Shorthand: It’s a bad thing, and it dates back to really ugly stuff). I’ve learned a lot from my lawyer friend. I cherish our friendship.

Thanks to neighborhood activists, what was once a parking lot, which was going to be a high rise, is now our little park.

We had this discussion last night. In the park next to our building. Socially distanced. With libations. It was great.

Lots of businesses, and our condo building, are still boarded up. But the boards look better. Muralists have seen to that. Two of our favorite businesses, Sandmeyer’s Bookstore and The Grail Café, were somehow, miraculously, untouched by looters. (BTW, looters and protesters here in Chicago, by what I have been able to judge, are mutually exclusive groups.)

Last week Beth and I had dinner at Sofi, an exquisite Italian restaurant in the first floor of our building. I put on my fancy sport jacket. Beth put on her elegant red dress. Friends saw us and said, “Schnazzy!”

It was the first day of Chicago’s phase III of opening. Sofi started serving at their sidewalk patio by reservation. There are specified seating times. Between them staff wipes down everything.

The waiters were masked, and place settings included packets of hand sanitizer.

It was kind of weird.

It was the best dinner out I’ve ever had.