From Our House to Yours, Congressman Emanuel!
Posted by Elizabeth on November 20, 2008
Barrel of Monkeys Monday night show “That’s Weird, Grandma” has been lauded by Time Out Chicago as “The best reason [...] to live in Chicago on a Monday.”
Well, thank you, that’s very kind.
In recent weeks, there have been many reasons why it’s good to live in Chicago. I mean, seeing so many of our fellow Chicagoans in the news, how can you not feel a tremendous sense of pride? Barack Obama. Michelle Obama. Every single person who went to the rally in Grant Park on Election Night. Not to mention our very own Congressman, Rahm Emanuel, the next White House Chief of Staff.
Minus most of the people at the rally, I don’t know any of these people personally; but here they go, off to be even more important than they already were. From now on they will be surrounded by guards and armored vehicles and other protective devices. But for awhile, they were just ours. If you say “I live off the Berwyn red line stop”—they would know what that meant. If you say “I went to Stockton Elementary School,” they would probably know where that was. If you say “I just saw a great show full of stories written by kids and performed by adults in Andersonville,” Rahm Emanuel would know what you were talking about. Because he came to see “That’s Weird, Grandma.” He brought his lovely family, and I even went up to him afterwards and handed him one of our CDs and DVDs and thanked him for coming to the show (because another member of our staff, who shall remain nameless, was too starstruck to do it herself. Ahem.)
I am continually excited to be a part of “That’s Weird, Grandma” because it continues the lives of our students’ stories, and shares them with people who live all over Chicago. I like that on one cold night in December, one of the people who came to hear these stories will now go (back) to the White House.
So while Rahm Emanuel helps to make history in the halls of that house, I know in the back of my mind that he will remember the story of another house. A house built for 100 elves, 1 bathroom, and a whole mess of trouble.