In These Times online editor, Micah Uetricht.
This morning The New York Times is reporting on the victory at the polls in Ireland of marriage equality.
It is the first country in the world to enact same-sex marriage by popular vote.
“Some conceded that much of the celebrating had come the night before,” noted the Times.
I bet it did.
Election victory parties are great.
I would assume that the ones in Ireland are pretty damn good.
None better than the one Anne and I went to last night in Chicago’s Tenth Ward.
Tenth Ward Alderman Susan Sadlowski Garza hosted the celebration at the Jovial Club which is at 96th and Commercial Avenue.
Right across the street from Ed Vrdolyak’s law offices.
Sue and her husband Raul are friends of ours. Her victory over Rahm water-carrier, John Pope, was hard-fought and even went into overtime.
Which makes her victory that much sweeter.
She is the real deal.
The joint was packed: Karen Lewis and her husband John Lewis. A bunch of Sue’s friends and colleagues from the CTU. Retired steelworkers. Her primary opponents. Leftists, socialists and progressives of all stripes. And neighbors who have known the Sadlowski and Garza families for generations.
Ex-alderman John Pope apparently hasn’t gotten the news that he lost.
He is still sending out Tweets claiming he is the alderman.
10th Ward City Sticker Sales!!! Wednesday June 3rd, 9am-2pm Monday July 6th, 9am-2pm Royal Savings Bank 9226… http://t.co/5Bx9FTYNlN
— John A. Pope (@AldermanPope) May 21, 2015
Sad, really.
As I sipped from a plastic cup of ice and Dewer’s, friends of Sue’s traded war stories and jokes.
It is May and nearing the end of the school year. It is a crazy time for teachers and teacher union folks.
Administrators make decisions in May and that always is cause for concern.
And grievances.
In May teachers get notice that their jobs are gone.
One of the teacher friends told us her story. She discovered that she was fired in an email from Human Resources. The email said it was confirming the conversation she had with her principal.
A conversation she never had.
The email was the first time she heard that she was released.
Nice.
I remember hearing once that a CPS teacher heard he was released by way of a voice mail left on his mother’s phone.
At the party, In These Times online editor Micah Uetricht complained that I had never done a drawing of him.
Now I have.
Fred Klonsky 