Letters
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WPA projects remembered
The influence of the Works Progress Administration Writers Project in Illinois will be remembered in a 50th annniversary celebration in Chicago on September 23 at the Newberry Library. Writers granted employment by the New Deal project will get together with leading scholars of that era to discuss the literary and political significance of the project and its legacy.
The WPA Writers' Project produced hundreds of works, including the WPA Guide to Illinois, a comprehensive account of small towns and big cities. Some of those who developed their talents because of the project will attend — Hard Times author Studs Terkel, poet Margaret Walker and screenwriter Sam Ross. Also attending will be Jerre Mangione, who wrote a history of the project, The Dream and the Deal. Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks will open the daylong program with her reflections on such WPA writers as Saul Bellow, Richard Wright and Nelson Algren.
Admission is free. The Newberry is at 60 West Walton.
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Tate and Lyle bought Staley's
Readers: We goofed. In Dan Guillory's July article, "The Japanese connection: Diamond-Star on the prairie," we inadvertently dropped a line of type in the next to last paragraph. The unit was that we attributed the sale of Staley's of Decatur to Bridgestone Tire of Japan. This is incorrect, as the author and several of you readers quickly pointed out. The sentence should have read:
"While I was working on this article, two Japanese students without a word of English between them were admitted to the parochial school my daughter attends in Decatur (their father having recently been assigned to Diesel-Kiki, the company that bought out the old Borg-Warner plant in Decatur only shortly before Bridgestone Tire of Japan bought out the Firestone plant and Tate and Lyle, a British operation, bought Staley's, once the flagship industry of Decatur)." Editor
Michael Reese Hospital not-for-profit
Editor: I was appalled by the article by Nina Burleigh in the April 1989 issue — "Cook County Hospital plan: One step toward better health care?" — in which Michael Reese Hospital is described as a " for-profit hospital." That is an egregious error. Last year it probably lost over $9 million rendering care to the poor. I believe a correction of that should be run.
I am a former president of Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center, an eight-year trustee of the Chicago Hospital Council, member of the Transition Committee on Health Care and otherwise heavily involved in the affairs of the city.
Howard N. Gilbert
Holleb & Coff Attorneys at Law
Chicago
Response: Michael Reese Hospital, like other hospitals, is officially organized as a not-for-profit institution. However, Reese is one of the better-endowed hospitals in the city. The hospital said publicly last spring that it had an operating surplus in eight of the last 10 years. Its cash position in the spring was $28 million, with an endowment of $65 million. Nina N. Burleigh
What about Prairiescapes?
Editor: I enjoyed Larry Shiner's article, "Illinois Photographic Artists," in your July issue. Unfortunately, he left out my favorite new book of Illinois photography, Prairiescapes, by Larry Kanfer (University of Illinois Press, 1987).
Although there are no people in these central Illinois landscapes, Kanfer's pictures are alive with a quiet, human presence. His images juxtapose storm and shelter, natural and cultivated growth, loneliness and hospitality. If Bial's work feels like small conversations with strangers in out-of-the-way places, Kanfer's is like a walk through the fields with distant relatives who have claimed you.
Sally Hundley
Chicago
Response: Larry Shiner did not include Prairiescapes in his review because the magazine last summer carried a review of the book. In fact, one of Kanfer's photographs, "Dog Day Afternoon," made a fine magazine cover that month (July 1988). Editor
Mental health is a corporate asset
The Mental Health Association of Greater Chicago will hold a conference, "Contents Under Pressure," on September 20 at Chicago's Peat Marwick Executive Education Center, 205 N. Michigan Ave. Sponsored by the Sears-Roebuck Foundation and co-sponsored by Johnson Products Company Inc., the day-long meeting is targeted to corporate executives concerned about the mental health of their employees.
Panel discussions will consider needs assessment, coverage options, financing and monitoring issues, and successful programs of managed mental health care. Featured speakers include Robert Rosen of the Washington Business Group on Health and Thomas Plant, acting deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
Registration fee includes luncheon, conference materials and refreshments. The cost is $200. Interested persons should send their advance registration to the Mental Health Association of Greater Chicago, 104 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60603; or call (312) 781-7780. |
New WIU center to assist land planning efforts
Starting in September, land use planners in western Illinois will have a new resource to tap before deciding where to put that new subdivision. Western Illinois University's newly established Center for Geographic Information and Analysis will provide information to regional planning agencies, university researchers, municipalities, counties and private corporations who are exploring various use options for an area.
Through the center's Geographic Information System (GIS) planners will be able to integrate "layers" of geographic information on water quality, vegetation, soil credibility and terrain, according to Dan Wise, chairman of WIU's geography department. The information can then be stored and made into maps that overlay and present the various aspects of an area.
The GIS utilizes information from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Geological Survey, Soil Conservation Service and the National Cartographic Information Center. "The GIS can also store and manipulate a variety of information regarding the social, economic or demographic variables of a region,'' said Wise. "This information can then be mapped to give a holistic perspective of all aspects of a region."
The center is a joint effort of WIU's geography department, its Cartography Laboratory, and the Institute for Regional and Community Studies. |
August & September 1989 | Illinois Issues | 15
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