Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody preserves it. Last month the Art Institute hosted an event at which two cabinets were displayed, one containing “the exact atmospheric conditions of New York City” at 12:51 PM on April 12, 1997 (“46 degrees and rainy with 6 mph winds”), and the other of Los Angeles at the same time (“cool, dry and still”). “By maintaining these conditions,” proclaims a recent press release, “the moment is perpetually sustained in the present.” We can only hope that the correct array of air pollutants is also being maintained.
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“Like young jazz fans or rock and rhythm and blues fans of generations past, hip-hop music fans are refugees who have to search to find their music often on the dangerous margins of our society,” laments Hank DeZutter in “Neighborhoods” (Fall). “It is just another sign of the distance between official, adult-oriented Chicago and the youth it either neglects or disrespects.”
They don’t put lead in gasoline anymore, but city kids still aren’t safe from it. “Paint is neither the most abundant nor the most accessible source of lead,” writes Howard Mielke in American Scientist (January-February). “The common problem is lead dust….In predictable locations of many cities, the soil is a giant reservoir of tiny particles of lead. This means that many children face their greatest risk for exposure in the yards around their houses and, to a lesser extent, in the open spaces such as public playgrounds in which they play….Proximity to a high-traffic route is a better predictor of soil-lead concentrations than is the age of the buildings in the area or the amount of lead-based paint in the buildings.” Mielke found that covering play areas with rubber matting greatly reduced kids’ exposure.
