Podcasts about halsted street

BRINGING ORDER OUT OF CHAOSIt might be said that the function of the discriminating mind (S. citta), in the most general sense, is to render what is perceived as chaos into what may be perceived as order. Of course, this is not an original idea, and has an associated idea that chaos, as we perceive it, may be thought of as a higher level of order, one that is not accessible to our perception. This idea resonates in both the world of Zen and that of art and design thinking. One would have to speak of a relative degree of order versus a notion of absolute order. However chaotic reality may appear, it is following physical laws that suggest an underlying order that is simply not a respecter of persons, or of the sensibilities of humans. We must come into compliance with reality, rather than expect reality to conform to our expectations or preferences. This, I think, is the fundamental basis of the concept of the “Way” in Taoism, and an underpinning of Zen as it developed in China. However, the Way in Buddhism, as I understand it, is not a hypothesis or theory of objectified reality outside the observer, but exists only in complementary balance with the person. Our observation of perceived order also exhibits relative degrees, or a spectrum from one extreme to another. For example, our house may be a mess inside, but look orderly on the outside, unless we get evicted and our possessions are dumped on the street. If you peer into parked cars on any city street, they will tell you a story about the person who drives them, or lives in them. Some definitely have that lived-in look, while others are pristine, even sterile-seeming, as are some homes. If you have ever seen the French movie, “Mon Oncle,” or “my uncle.” you may remember its satirical take on the super-white, stainless steel interior, and the housewife's gloved approach to maintaining its spotless state. My best friend in high school lived in a home where the floors of the living rooms were covered with shag carpet, which was newly popular in the 1950s, but theirs was brilliant white. We had to remove our shoes to enter the house, which was peculiar to me at the time, but later became second nature after being exposed to the Japanese culture, beginning with the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago, in the 1960s. Sensei had us stand at the door with a basket of clean socks to hand to the barefoot hippies coming in off of Halsted Street. In his eyes, they must have appeared as complete barbarians. If you are in someone's home as a guest, you might take a peek in the medicine cabinet. There you will see an indication of the sense of order of your host's mind. (I have never done this, of course; it is very rude.) What is on the shelves, and where, and whether the medicines are outdated, may paint a portrait of how obsessive-compulsive — or happy-go-lucky — your friends may be. Bear in mind that for a couple living together, these issues become instantly, and infinitely, more complicated. Who does what and when, and who is responsible for the resulting mess, becomes entangled in the relationship. Master Dogen, who transplanted what is now called Soto Zen to 13th century Japan from his sojourn in China, used the word katto to identify entanglements, using the analogy of twining vines, like wisteria. This applies not just to the tyranny of possessions and environments, but to the subtle entanglements of relationships themselves. Other examples of refined order, from the human perspective, include such storage-and-retrieval systems as fishing tackle totes and sewing boxes, where the necessity for “a place for everything and everything in its place” determines the efficiency and effectiveness of the endeavor of actually fishing or sewing. I inherited an antique sewing box, with its many spools of colored threads and implements of sewing wonderfully arranged in stunning order, formerly in the control of a friend's grandmother. Somehow my son and daughter, under 5 years old at the time, got into it and turned order into chaos, probably in about 5 minutes, when the array of organization had likely developed over five years or more of grandma's life. There was no way I could put it back in order. Workshops are another example, where attention to the organization and design of the environment can begin to overwhelm the prospect of actually getting anything done. The project of organizing the process can distract our attention from doing the project itself. In the course of organizing my various studio and shop environments over time, I have developed what I call the “Island of Sanity” approach. It took me 50 years or so to learn that table tops are not for storage. I strive to keep the tables clear of any clutter, including tools, even during the process of working. “Clear the decks” is the trope. The “work,” the piece under construction, or a painting, is the only item that is allowed to occupy the table top. I have found that laying tools on the table means that when I need to move the work, the tools often get in the way. So I keep a side table as home for the tools. On the tool table, I keep the various tools in play in a neat array, rather than mindlessly piling them on top of each other. In the hurly-burly of executing a project, the tool table often becomes disorderly. I occasionally reorganize it quickly, so that the tools are side-by-side in a scannable row, not overlapping. This way I can quickly recognize and seize the particular tool I need when I need it. Others have refined these approaches. Allowing a relative degree of perceived chaos in the work environment seems to be a necessary evil. Otherwise, we may be driven to distraction by trying to improve the process, and never finishing the project. What is sometimes called “completion anxiety” may set in. As long as we are working on a project, but have not brought it to conclusion, it can remain forever perfect in our mind's eye. When it is finished, it is just what it is, warts and all: imperfect. Everything is somewhat imperfect; or at best, relatively perfect. In my case, maintaining islands of sanity creates the proper balance for getting things done, with minimal stress on the mind and body. What the particular balance amounts to, and what works best for the individual, seems to be a personal trait. Some people can work efficiently in a virtual pile of clutter; others are highly dependent on a visually uncluttered workspace. Einstein's office — which is preserved intact even today, as a memorial, just as he left it — is said to be an exceptional example of “meaningful clutter.” Whether yours is meaningful, or not, is up to you to determine. Clutter control is a recognized discipline, a known issue in interior design of environments, whether working or living spaces, public or private. The “rising tide of clutter” can overwhelm any space. Just tune into one of the current spate of television shows on hoarding, to see some of the worst-case scenarios. Contrast becomes important in being able to see the shape of a tool, to state another obvious point. Vertical walls for storing tools often consist of white pegboard for this reason. I have learned that I lose my eyeglasses less often if I remember not to place them on a dark surface, into which the dark frames blend and disappear. The inverse is true when retrieving a light-colored object. Dark backgrounds are called for. Along with many of my contemporaries, In the 1960s I experimented with so-called psychedelic or psychotropic drugs. One memorable experience found me sitting in my basement shop, trying in vain to sort various items of hardware into appropriate category designations for storage and retrieval. All items share many characteristics in common with others, and it actually was not clear which were the priorities. For example, many fasteners (of which there are many kinds) may be made of metal, and so “go together,” but are designed to fasten many different materials, such as wood, as opposed to metal. In the case of fasteners, we end up with so many leftover screws, nuts and bolts, et cetera, from our projects, that it becomes a more-and-more time-consuming process just to keep what you may never use in some kind of order. I have seen everything from homemade systems utilizing salvaged glass jars, lids attached to the underside of shelves, allowing the jar to be unscrewed with one hand; to endless aisles suffering from over-choice, and designed systems for storing virtually endless categories, sizes and types of fasteners, in hardware and big-box stores. The world is really too much with us, in these categories. An example from retail, that might not be obvious to the customer, but is well known to the insiders, entails the arrays of shoes at your local shoe store. The stock is usually stored in back, where the various sizes of a given style can be efficiently stacked and retrieved in labeled shoe boxes. The storefront, by contrast, displays all the shoes in their best light, putting our best foot forward, literally. Usually the smaller sizes are displayed, not only because they take less room, but because they are usually more aesthetically pleasing than bigger sizes of the same style and color, vestiges of ancient foot-binding in the East. A little-known fact is that the array has the appearance of more styles and colors than are actually in stock, because the merchandisers display them by style, by color and other attributes: the same shoe will appear in two or more displays throughout the store. As a boy, I used to wonder why my father had so many pairs of shoes in his closet, when I had only one or two. Now I have more shoes than he did, accumulated over time, because the size of my feet stopped changing, and I found different needs, or lack of need, for different types and styles of footwear. Imelda Marcus is the poster girl for this category of disorder, with her 3,000 pairs of shoes. Produce in a grocery store is another example. People generally like to pick over produce, selecting the best ones, leaving the fruits or vegetables that are less appealing in looks, apparent freshness, et cetera. For this reason, pre-packaged produce is a harder sell. This is why we see monstrous stacks of open produce in brightly-lighted bins, in most modern food supermarkets. Which, by the way, are destabilized when 10% are removed. To see, a bit more clearly, how fundamental the process of sorting is to the basic function of perceived order — including storing and retrieving things — try to imagine a contrarian approach, such as displaying books by color, say, or clothing grouped by fabric, rather than size or style. I have witnessed the tendency to over-organize — or organize by inappropriate groupings — in my own efforts to achieve order, in striving to make sense of my environment. One example is that I tend to group and store like things together, such as putting any and all writing pens in the same place. Or I may do the same with my collection of eyeglasses, which has accumulated over time through misplacing, replacing, and rediscovering spectacles. Problem is, I need a writing pen at different places at different times, yet I do not want to have endless writing pens scattered all over the place. I know people who collect fine writing pens, and wonder if it amounts to a compulsion, or a stubborn resistance to the decline of handwriting, in favor of the word processor — with which, incidentally, I am writing this essay, from handwritten notes scrabbled on various sheets of notebook paper, noted when I was away from my desktop. We tend to blame linear thinking as the main culprit behind chaos, and all of this need for — and inability to find, or sustain — order. When we begin to consider that everything we regard as belonging to one category actually belongs to many others — perhaps an infinity of categories, if we parse it finely enough — a kind of insanity or cognitive dissonance, a lack of mental order — begins to come into play. This is, in Zen, or Taoism, the point at which we begin to “confront the mystery,” from the Tao te Ching: Caught by desire, we see only the manifestations;Free from desire, we confront the Mystery. “The one and the many” are indeed like the yen and yang of our discriminating mind. That phenomena and noumenon exist in complementary embrace, or the endless dance of becoming, is not immediately evident, when we are just trying to get through the day. This is why, and how, it becomes important to take a break, and to sit on it for a while. Hopefully, when we stop striving, the immanent order of emptiness underlying the alienating appearance of form will become manifest. But as Master Dogen mentions in Genjokoan, don't look for it to appear in your perception: Do not suppose that what you realize becomes your knowledge, or is grasped by your consciousness; although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. The inconceivable may appear as chaos; the underlying order may not be apparent. Chaos may be embraced as a higher form of order, or an elevated degree of complexity, in which any discernible pattern is elusive; while perceived patterns of order may be similarly interpreted as artificially lower levels of chaos, or higher degrees of superficial simplicity. Upon closer examination, perceived simplicity devolves into the complexity of chaos, e.g. on the subatomic or quantum level; whereas chaotic complexity gives way to serene simplicity. “All things are like this,” to borrow another vintage Dogen-ism; the vacillation is built-in, from duality to nonduality and back. Enjoy the ride.* * * Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Shinjin Larry Little

**This week FANTI is passing the mic to We See Each Other: The Podcast while our show is on a short hiatus. But don't worry, we'll be back with all new episodes starting August 31st! This week, we have reached the end of the journey with the final episode of We See Each Other: The Podcast. Hosts Tre'vell Anderson and Shar Jossell welcome Pose and American Horror Story star, Angelica Ross. She speaks on the state of trans media representation, how comedy has been both a gift and curse for the trans community, and what it means to indict one's self. Then, our hosts speak with political journalist and host of The Anti - Trans Hate Machine, Imara Jones. Imara speaks on how trans representation in media has changed over time, going from no representation at all to hypervisibility in just the span of a few years. While media representation is still an obstacle, Imara asserts that erasure is the most violent act on the trans community. But first, some heartfelt final thoughts in Pass The Mic, where we hear from some community members from the Unique Women Coalition, and a WSEO listener.Find us on IG: @SlayzhonWe made it easy to share your thoughts. Go to SpeakPipe.com/WeSeeEachOtherYou can buy We See Each Other: A Black Trans Journey Through TV & Film the book wherever books are soldMentioned in the ShowChicago's Kit Kat LoungeThe Anti-Trans Hate Machine podcastTransLash Podcast with Imara JonesIG:@Rayzhon @sharsaysso @slayzhon (WSEO IG) Twitter@trevellanderson @sharssaysso @slayzhon @vivalapalma (Producer, Palmira Muniz)@swishswish (Senior Producer, Laura Swisher) Music: Neverending Nina (IG @neverendingninanotes)Producer: Palmira MunizSenior Producer: Laura SwisherLaura Swisher is senior producer Music: Never Ending NinaWe See Each Other: The Podcast is produced and distributed by MaximumFun.orgThis podcast is supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in cultural critics of color co founded by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and The Ford Foundation. It's a production of Slayzhon and Maximum Fun! 

We talk to creators Scott Free and Marcus Waller about their new musical HOUSE MUSICAL. The production is playing late April at The Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois.   The agents also share their love for New York City. Candy still doesn't have Netflix or HBO and Eugene is caught up on Succession and has an idea.   Please send us ideas for episodes, or your thoughts on life, the world and the universe to: theagency.podcast@gmail.com

Samu means working,mainly on the practice place —which is everywhere* * *Beyond practicing zazen there are ancillary practices that members are encouraged to join in maintenance and upkeep of the Zen center. This is in keeping with the notion of maintaining the Dharma itself, as pointed to in the Dharma Opening Verse:The unsurpassed profound and wond’rous DharmaIs rarely met with even in a hundred thousand million kalpasNow we can see and hear it, accept and maintain itMay we unfold the meaning of the Tathagata’s truthAt the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago, in the mid-1960s, Matsuoka Roshi decided the old sign needed to be replaced. I somehow volunteered to help, as I know something about graphic design, so I ended up painting the English, while he did the calligraphy. The building was a three-story brownstone walkup on Halsted Street a block or so south of Fullerton on the near north side.We went into the basement, where Sensei had the sign board he wanted to use, which turned out to be the porcelain top of an old-fashioned cook table, nearly identical to one which my mother had at the farm where I had lived as a child. The white plane of the top was bounded by a black edge, with rounded corners. While I was working on the sign, painstakingly masking off the top and bottom edges of the letters, a woman came into the basement, whom I learned later was a tenant of one of the upper-floor apartments. Sensei greeted her, but moved quickly to block what we were doing from her vision. He later explained that the table actually belonged to her. Apparently, he felt she would not miss it and had taken it from her storage area in the basement. I don’t remember how we got it hung on the building, or who helped with that, but I do have a photo of the front of the building after it was installed.We would often spend several hours engaged in such activities, mostly cleaning the interior of the temple, or in Japanese, soji.Some years later, at the Zen Center of San Francisco, in the year 2000, I was in residence for a week or so while attending a conference on Master Dogen in Palo Alto. When it came time for work period, I was assigned the task of sweeping the sidewalk in front of the building at Paige Street, one of the chores typically assigned to a rank newcomer, probably because it is difficult to screw up. When I looked at the sidewalk from the corner where the stairs led to the entrance, it went on forever in both directions. But I began sweeping where I was anyway. What seemed like no time at all later, the attendant clacked the sticks, ending the work period. I had barely gotten started on what looked like a Forrest Gump adventure, endlessly sweeping the endless sidewalk around the block. It was actually a bit frustrating — not that the task was daunting, but that I had to quit so soon. The next day, I was allowed to sweep the inner courtyard instead. A promotion.From this I learned the simple truth that the work is never really done. My grandma on my father’s side once said, “Don’t worry about that work; it will still be there when you come back.” Truer words, et cetera. It is important to learn to be willing to take up whatever task befalls you, but also to give it up when it is time to turn to something else. Wisdom is to know when, and what the next priority really is. We are not so important that we are the only ones who can do a given job, no matter the claims of politicians. We are also not likely to finish anything, in the complete sense of the term, in this lifetime.When I was in college working on my Master’s degree, we lived in a railroad apartment on the north side, much the same layout as the Zen temple on Halsted. The middle room, which usually is the dining room, I used as my painting studio. I imagine this called upon my wife at the time to practice a lot of patience, but we were pretty oblivious to social norms in those days, so I wouldn’t have noticed, in my zeal to realize my art.I had two easels set up with canvasses on each, diligently applying oil paint in an expressionistic, abstract, open-ended meditation on what I was trying to achieve as an image. I had no idea, really. At the end of about a year, I still had the two canvases. When I declared victory and set them aside to dry, there were probably fifty or more paintings on each canvas, but the only one you could see was what was left on top. I may be exaggerating a bit, but you get my point.“Painting,” in this mode, is a process, not an object. But, like slicing a loaf of bread, you have to learn to set aside one canvas and start again on another blank one, if you are to produce a body of work. It is all one painting, in a sense, but it cannot all go on one canvas. The salient question then becomes, How do you know when this particular slice is finished? I have heard of at least one artist who took his kit into the museum where his long-ago finished and sold painting was hanging, and did some further touchup on it, right then and there on the wall.Something similar happened in the history of Zen painting. A story I came across related that a Zen master was viewing an ancient painting hanging in the monastery, one that included comments in calligraphy from past masters. One day he pulled out his brushes and added his two cents worth to what must have been a priceless masterpiece. This is a startling example of the kind of confidence that is developed in Zen — confidence in what you have to say, as well as your ability to do so — on an antique work of art — without ruining the original, or destroying its value.This also brings up a well-worn debate in art circles: what exactly is the value of a work of art? The conventional view that art is valuable as an object is challenged by modern conceptual artists, in which the work is not really an object as such, but may be a room-sized installation, a dissected shark, or an event of temporary duration such as a piece that destroys itself. The boundary between art and not-art begins to fray.The practice place of Zen likewise has a similar lack of definition. At first, it is confined by one’s imagination to the sitting cushion, or the physical plant of the Zen center — from the smallest gathering in the basement of a home or church, to the largest monastic campus. But over time the place of our practice expands to include our home and work environments, and eventually all other such surrounds in space, including those neglected sites that are not specifically designed for and dedicated to the pursuit of Zen.In Japan, the monasteries and Zen centers include considerable grounds, including parts of forests in some cases, which are often immaculately groomed and composed, most famously the fabulously simple stone gardens. This dedication to “taking good care of the practice place” finds no natural barrier or boundary, much like my perception of the endless sidewalk in San Francisco.Just as the image of the community in Zen, the Sangha, expands to include all sentient beings in its embrace, likewise the place of practice does so also. Master Dogen reminds us of this in his long poem, Genjokoan, “Actualizing the Fundamental Point”:If you find your place where you are, practice occursActualizing the fundamental pointIf you find your way at this moment, practice occursActualizing the fundamental pointFor the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others’The place, the way, has not carried over from the pastAnd is not merely arising now…Here is the place, here the way unfolds.Much as the past, future and present merge into one eternal moment, all of space centers around this present place, and your place in it. Please take good care of it, and please take good care of yourself. Like donning the oxygen mask on an airplane in an emergency, before turning to help others, we cannot take care of anyone, if we do not take care of ourselves first. Same for zazen. Zazen is samu, the basic work of Zen.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

This morning, as I drive by the sleek glass windows of international schools, boutique clothing stores, upscale movie theaters, bike lanes, and restaurants I can't help but flashback to a time when these blocks were anything but sunny, open, brightly-colored, and inviting.I thought about the people and families who lived near this stretch of Halsted Street just one generation ago. I wondered if they could have ever known now valuable their neighborhood would become...once they left.I cross North Avenue into the theater district, passed the Royal George and Steppenwolf. My destination - a large city high school - sit quietly, with a handful of cars parked in its parking lot.Four stone Greek columns frame the facade of the building's front entrance. Colorful banners touting the school's academic programs hand on the outside of the two-story brick structure.Inside, I pass by a dormant metal detector and I am greeted by a friendly lady who directs me down the hallway towards the auditorium. Tall gray lockers are offset by flags of countries around the world that are hanging close to the ceiling.There were only a few people in this section of the auditorium at this point, a few sound and video guys were working on the projection screen. A young man greets me, and introduces himself. I wound up having extended conversations with multiple people during my visit.The journey continues in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the north side, at the corner of Armitage Avenue and Orchard.Intro Theme Music: Victory Lap by QSTN ft. Mecca:83Background Music: www.bensound.com/Register to receive an advance copy of the companion book at https://godinchicago.com/Join the conversation! Follow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Y94abI and on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2z6q5W4

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. At the turn of the last century, Edith Abbott and the Great Ladies of Halsted Street conducted research on job conditions in the major industrial sectors of the time. Their careful empirical analysis of the employment circumstances of low-wage workers many of whom were low-income mothers provided a foundation for employer reforms and legislation governing child labor, work hours, and wages. Today's economic climate attests to the need for social work scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to continue to work at the intersection of employment, public policy, and social work, with the same goal of improving employment conditions and adopting effective legislation to protect vulnerable workers.This symposium brings together many of the nation's top social work and social policy scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the changing labor market on low-income working families. Beginning with an historical introduction to social work's role in the employment field, this symposium will highlight the richness of its enduring contributions to knowledge about macroeconomic labor market trends, employer strategies and practices, and job conditions at the front-lines of today's firms. The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies intended to support vulnerable workers and their families.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. At the turn of the last century, Edith Abbott and the Great Ladies of Halsted Street conducted research on job conditions in the major industrial sectors of the time. Their careful empirical analysis of the employment circumstances of low-wage workers many of whom were low-income mothers provided a foundation for employer reforms and legislation governing child labor, work hours, and wages. Today's economic climate attests to the need for social work scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to continue to work at the intersection of employment, public policy, and social work, with the same goal of improving employment conditions and adopting effective legislation to protect vulnerable workers.This symposium brings together many of the nation's top social work and social policy scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the changing labor market on low-income working families. Beginning with an historical introduction to social work's role in the employment field, this symposium will highlight the richness of its enduring contributions to knowledge about macroeconomic labor market trends, employer strategies and practices, and job conditions at the front-lines of today's firms. The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies intended to support vulnerable workers and their families.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. At the turn of the last century, Edith Abbott and the Great Ladies of Halsted Street conducted research on job conditions in the major industrial sectors of the time. Their careful empirical analysis of the employment circumstances of low-wage workers many of whom were low-income mothers provided a foundation for employer reforms and legislation governing child labor, work hours, and wages. Today's economic climate attests to the need for social work scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to continue to work at the intersection of employment, public policy, and social work, with the same goal of improving employment conditions and adopting effective legislation to protect vulnerable workers.This symposium brings together many of the nation's top social work and social policy scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the changing labor market on low-income working families. Beginning with an historical introduction to social work's role in the employment field, this symposium will highlight the richness of its enduring contributions to knowledge about macroeconomic labor market trends, employer strategies and practices, and job conditions at the front-lines of today's firms. The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies intended to support vulnerable workers and their families.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. At the turn of the last century, Edith Abbott and the Great Ladies of Halsted Street conducted research on job conditions in the major industrial sectors of the time. Their careful empirical analysis of the employment circumstances of low-wage workers many of whom were low-income mothers provided a foundation for employer reforms and legislation governing child labor, work hours, and wages. Today's economic climate attests to the need for social work scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to continue to work at the intersection of employment, public policy, and social work, with the same goal of improving employment conditions and adopting effective legislation to protect vulnerable workers.This symposium brings together many of the nation's top social work and social policy scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the changing labor market on low-income working families. Beginning with an historical introduction to social work's role in the employment field, this symposium will highlight the richness of its enduring contributions to knowledge about macroeconomic labor market trends, employer strategies and practices, and job conditions at the front-lines of today's firms. The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies intended to support vulnerable workers and their families.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. At the turn of the last century, Edith Abbott and the Great Ladies of Halsted Street conducted research on job conditions in the major industrial sectors of the time. Their careful empirical analysis of the employment circumstances of low-wage workers many of whom were low-income mothers provided a foundation for employer reforms and legislation governing child labor, work hours, and wages. Today's economic climate attests to the need for social work scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to continue to work at the intersection of employment, public policy, and social work, with the same goal of improving employment conditions and adopting effective legislation to protect vulnerable workers.This symposium brings together many of the nation's top social work and social policy scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the changing labor market on low-income working families. Beginning with an historical introduction to social work's role in the employment field, this symposium will highlight the richness of its enduring contributions to knowledge about macroeconomic labor market trends, employer strategies and practices, and job conditions at the front-lines of today's firms. The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies intended to support vulnerable workers and their families.

HMDWL a bonus episode from a mystery location? Sara checks in to tell you about a listener event in Chicago on October 6, from 7-10pm – we’re hosting an eco-crafting party with Danny Seo, at 2034 N. Halsted Street. Space is very limited, so if you would like to attend please send an email to […]