Meet Hilda of Hilda's Place

By Katy Pendleton

Hilda Carper
Photo Courtesy of Connections for the Homeless

Hilda Carper is the Hilda in the name of the transitional shelter run by Connections for the Homeless, located in the basement of Lake Street Church. She is a gray-haired, pixie-like lady with glasses and a twinkle in her eye. As director of the shelter from 1985 to 1992, Hilda was dedicated to providing a homelike atmosphere where individuals were challenged to make positive changes in their lives.

The story begins in the early 1980s when one of Hilda's housemates welcomed anyone who needed something to eat. As a result, there were unfamiliar, homeless people in the kitchen of the house she shared with other members of Reba Place Fellowship in South Evanston. Hilda believed there should be a more effective way of helping these people. In the fall of 1984, Hilda saw an article in the local paper about all-night prayer vigils being held for the homeless in the basement of First Baptist (now Lake Street) Church. She called Bob Lynn, who became one of the founders of Connections for the Homeless, and asked what she could do. "Come prepare breakfast for the residents of the shelter," was the immediate response. That is how Hilda Carper became involved with the homeless.

Bob Lynn, a middle-aged student at Seabury Western Seminary, and Rev. Bob Thompson of Lake Street Church, started the prayer vigils but had other commitments, making it difficult for them to run the shelter.

After about six months, Ms. Carper was hired to do the job, which she did until the end of April, 1992. Rev. Thompson says, "Hilda has an amazing gift. She was able to extend genuine empathy while clearly setting limits. Her boundless compassion is grounded in everyday practicality. She offered herself as a doorway and not a doormat."

Over time, the program became more structured with a staff that included a social worker, night supervisors, case managers and an executive director.

Some of the staff were recruited from a corps of dedicated volunteers. Residents began to say they lived at Hilda's Place, and when Ms. Carper retired, the name was made official.

Ms. Carper discovered that homeless people have one thing in common: They are homeless. Their stories feature different mixes of mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment, health problems and lack of affordable housing. They all thrive in a culture of respect.

Ms. Carper says anyone can become involved with homeless people. Landlords and employers can take the time to personally help the homeless understand the realities of working and renting. Members of faith communities can welcome those who need a spiritual home as well as a physical address. All citizens can support efforts to provide more heath care, mental-health services, substance-abuse treatment programs and affordable supportive housing.

Working together, Ms. Carper believes, the Evanston community can move toward eradicating homelessness.
For more information about Connections for the Homeless, call 847- 475-7070 ext. 106, or visit www.cfthinc.org.

Residential Solar Panels

By Nathan Kipnis, AIA, LEED AP

With the heightened awareness of all things environmental, you might be noticing more homes installing solar panels. What are the benefits of putting these on homes? Solar panels can help reduce a home's carbon footprint, lower utility costs and depending on the system, even help get one though a power outage. But how well can solar panels work in the Chicago climate? When sized properly, they will work as advertised.

There are two main types of solar panels. Photovoltaic (PV) panels convert sunlight into electricity while solar thermal panels produce heat.

Photovoltaic panels
PV panels are currently expensive relative to electricity produced from fossil fuel or nuclear power, but they have several interesting benefits. PV panels produce clean, i.e. non-polluting, electricity with almost no maintenance. They operate silently and have very long life spans.

There are several types of PV panels. Crystalline panels are made of silicon crystals that are fabricated into solar cells and then interconnected into solar arrays. Typically they are in square and triangular boxed shapes. These are the most efficient PVs, but are expensive. Their major draw- back is that they must have unimpeded sunlight, which is not easy in a heavily wooded area like Evanston. Any shadows on the panels essentially prevent the panels from producing any power. To maximize efficiency, they need to be free of shadows from 10 a.m to 3 p.m.

Amorphous or thin film cells are made by depositing silicon onto glass or stainless steel. This technique is less expensive but also less efficient than crystalline cells. Thin film PVs will degrade in efficiency approximately 1 percent per year. However, their major benefit is that they are tolerant of shadows. And unlike crystalline PV cells, they can be fabricated into shingles to blend into the roof-shingle system.

PVs can make a lot of sense for remote applications, such as vacation cabins and roadside signs. In more urban situations, the most common use is what is referred to as "grid-tied," meaning that the generated power is fed back into the power grid, either reducing the rate of power use or actually "spinning" the meter backwards. ComEd will then pay for the power produced.

It still makes the most sense to review how best to reduce electric demand through cost-effective conservation techniques, such as installing fluorescent light bulbs orusing timers for outdoor lights before deciding to install PV panels to generate power.

Solar thermal panels
Solar thermal panels are used to heat a fluid whose heat is then transferred to heat the domestic hot water system or is used to supplement the space-heating system. Space heating can be assisted in forced-air systems or in radiant-heat systems.

The most common form of solar thermal panel is a roof-mounted modular rectangular enclosure covered with tempered glass. The black interior absorbs heat and transfers it to a fluid that is used to heat the water. A much less common system is a solar thermal system which uses air as the heat-transfer medium. Liquid is a much more efficient storage-and-transfer-medium compared to air.

Site placement
Placement is critical as it can have a huge effect on the system's efficiency. It can also impact the aesthetics of the design. There are some zoning restrictions that need to be addressed in Evanston that can affect the placement of the panels, especially for anyone in a historic district or with a listed historic home.

As a first step, the site must be evaluated to see what the solar potential is on an hourly and monthly basis. The general rule of thumb is that PV panels should be mounted at latitude plus 5 degrees, and solar thermal panels at latitude plus 15 egrees. This translates into 47 degrees and 57 degrees, respectively.

A single 4-foot by 8-foot collector can generate more than 10,000 gallons of hot water a year. A typical family of four requires two panels to supply 70 percent of its annual hot water needs. To supplement space heating, additional panels would be needed.

PV panels must be installed by an electrician. Solar thermal panels should be installed by an experienced professional.

Costs and tax credits
Currently the payback period for PV systems is measured in decades. While there are some state rebates available, there generally needs to be another motivating factor to use them. Solar thermal panels have a relatively short payback period, about six to ten years. There is a comprehensive list of state and federal incentives for renewable energy and efficiency at http://www.dsireusa.org and www.illinoissolar.org.

Dewey School's Reading Day

By Chris Cascarano

Kevin Kelly, division chief for Evanston Fire Department, reads to Gail Young's first grade class for Dewey School's Reading Day.

Dewey School celebrated their second annual Reading Day on April 24 by welcoming local celebrities and community members to read books of their choice to students.

"We're always looking for unique ways to encourage the kids to read," said Cheryl Fallon, a Dewey School reading specialist who organized the event. "I think it really stays with the kids for a long time."

Speakers of all ethnicities and from all areas of the community participated. Among them were Bill Campbell, host of ABC 7's "Chicagoing"; Phil Ponce, host of Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight"; and Kevin Kelly, division chief of the Evanston Fire Department.

Other guests were Evanston police officers, athletes for Northwestern University, and District 65 administrators and librarians. Each reader donated a book and received a plaque to be hung in the Dewey School library.

"You never know what will spark a kid's interest to read," said Mr. Ponce, who remembered a teacher who inspired him to read by giving him books. "It made me feel like someone believed in me." One of nine children, Mr. Ponce found reading a way to escape his small crowded apartment as a youth, he told students.

Bill Campbell of ABC Channel 7 tells Dewey School children the importance of reading.
Photos by Chris Cascarano

Also telling a story from his upbringing, Mr. Campbell recounted a "very special place" near the South Side home where he grew up, the public library.

The Dewey School Reading Day is a "way for students to see adults as positive influences and readers, too," said Dewey School principal Andrew Krugly.

'Bliss'

A Book Review By Sue Brooke

"Bliss," by O. Z. Livaneli, is a riveting novel recently translated from Turkish. Protagonist Meryem is from Turkey's eastern provinces, where Muslim traditions are strictly enforced. Fifteen years old, she is raped by her uncle, the respected leader of a local religious sect. When she is found after the assault it is apparent that something has happened to her, but Meryem will tell no one the name of her attacker. The village now considers her defiled, a disgrace to her family and in need of punishment. She is locked in a dark barn for several days while the family decides her fate.

Meryem's mother died in childbirth some time earlier; Meryem's father remarried and he pays little attention to her. He is quiet and withdrawn and dominated by his brother - the brother who is both Meryem's rapist and her jailer, having ordered her imprisoned in the barn. The men of this religious sect consider women primarily as sources of temptation to evil. When Meryem asks her father's youngest wife what will become of her, she is told she will be "sent to Istanbul." Meryem does not know this means that she will be taken outside the village and killed.

The uncle's son, Cemal, is a 25-year-old soldier off fighting the Kurds. Military life is brutal, but Cemal takes pride in what he does. Growing up, he and his best friend used to play with Meryem, but he does not think of her now as he and his one-time friend fight one another. When Cemal's service is over, he comes home to his village, a hero with nothing to do, to find his cousin in trouble.

The novel takes us to the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, where women are hardly ever seen wearing the veil and often frequent the many posh restaurants and clubs. Irfan, in his 40s, is a professor here. He is married to a wealthy woman and lives a rich life. He is readily recognized in public because he is often on TV analyzing current events. He feels, however, that his life is a sham; his observations are never original. He thinks to himself that he is an Easterner when around Westerners and a Westerner when around Easterners. One day, he decides to take off and learn about himself. He rents a yacht and sets sail on the Aegean all alone.

Eventually, all three main characters come together in a gripping climax.

Turkey is a county with many different cultures coexisting peacefully, but always there is an undercurrent of unrest. This is a fascinating and insightful glimpse inside this beautiful country.

Eye on Evanston

Why Tall?

By John Macsai

For a long time I have repeated that if developers hire good architects, good architecture will result. Jim Klutznick is the developer of the - at best architecturally mediocre - Sherman Plaza development and also of the proposed very handsome residential tower on the property bordered by Sherman Avenue, Church Street and Orrington Avenue. Why is one so much better than the other? The architect makes the difference. Of course the developer and financial constraints can present difficulties for the architect. But when a good designer such as Larry Booth is hired for the job, one can trust almost unseen that the result will be the very best possible under the circumstances.

The proposed high-rise retains the beautiful old three-story Hahn Building in its entirety and incorporates the Hahn into a restaurant building of equal height to the south of it and replaces the existing four-story pseudo-art deco structure. South of this restaurant building open space is provided for an enlarged, important Fountain Square.

North of the Hahn Building is the residential tower. The top of the tower's five- or six-story base, with its commercial lower floors and parking above, would end the stepping-up progression of the buildings.

Sitting on this base the tower is an elegant vertical volume that solves a difficult urban design problem: how to relate to two parallel streets that are not really parallel, Sherman and Orrington avenues. Larry Booth shows us how; by respecting both streets and being parallel to both, the tower is actually wedge-shaped.

The balconies, indented instead of cantilevered, feel not only more secure but help make the building look very slender; in fact, they appear to soar.

With all of the objecting I can already hear happening I cannot think of a better, more appropriate site for a very tall structure. This is truly the center of the City of Evanston and a soaring tower will not alter or adversely affect our lacy, low-rise residential neighborhoods.

Putting the design of Fountain Square itself into the hands of a brilliant young landscape architect, Peter Schaudt, was a great idea. To conclude, there is nothing to fear from the tower. It will not destroy the rest of our low-rise Evanston. The center of the City can take the added density, we all can use the added tax dollars, our commercial life can welcome the added shoppers.

Height is not the enemy. Remember that the Optima Horizons building (Emerson and Benson avenues) was first proposed as a 35-floor high rise and was rejected. It forced the developer to create what appears to be a low but heavy wall instead. Have we not learned from our mistake?

'Next'

A Film Review By Joe Linstroth

Based loosely on a Philip K. Dick story, "Next" stars Nicolas Cage as Chris Johnson, a man who can see his own future, usually no more than two minutes ahead, but sometimes longer and sometimes not at all, depending on the needs of the script.

Chris views his special power as more of a curse than a blessing. He stays under the radar by using his clairvoyance to win a few chips at the blackjack table and to entertain a few foreigners with a sad-sack magic show in Las Vegas.

His gift would be great for crime-fighting, and especially great if it was possible to dismantle an atomic bomb in two minutes, because for some unknown reason a bunch of cranky Europeans want to detonate a nuclear device in Southern California (the movie deserves a little credit for not casting the motive-less terrorists as Arabs).

Enter Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), a one-dimensional FBI agent who believes Chris Johnson's powers are the only way to stop the carnage. She finally catches up to him because he lets her, and for some other unknown reason, Chris does not want to help save the world. Instead, he would prefer to sip a martini every day at the same time at the same diner and wait for a woman who keeps appearing in his premonitions to jingle the door chimes.

This woman, Liz (Jessica Biel), is special. Basted in golden hues by director Lee Tamahori ("xXx: State of the Union"), Liz allows Chris to see much further into the future than a measly two minutes, and with the world about to be blown up and people shooting at him, the future is an ugly mess indeed.

Alternately infuriating and laughable, "Next" changes the rules of its clairvoyant game more times than a group of kids playing four-square. In one scene, Chris knows the feds are coming for him and he escapes just in time, and in another, he has no idea that his orange juice is spiked with a sedative. Not to mention that every time the film shows the future it has to double back to the present and we are forced to watch things happen twice - a gimmick which, after five or six times, starts to feel like swift punches to the gut.

Julianne Moore is terrible, barking orders and delivering clumsy back story stuffed into dialogue. With performances like this, in movies like this, she threatens to ruin her good name.

There's not much left to ruin for Nicolas Cage, though. He is his usual self, looking like he just took a bong hit and saw a UFO.

Adding to its "Acme" credentials, the payoff has the characters descend into a large room filled with steaming pipes, clanking chains and perilous catwalks. With such a generic ending tacked on to an illogical script, it is a wonder this film was ever made, as it surely does not require special powers to see that "Next" is a turkey.

Runs 1 hr. 36 min. Rated PG-13 for violence and language.

'Frozen'

A Play Review By Brian Murphy

Joseph Wycoff as Ralph and Laura T. Fisher as Nancy in ‘Frozen' at Next Theatre. Photo courtesy of Next Theatre

"Forgiveness was like setting a prisoner free, and then finding out that prisoner is you." That quote was from Craig Scott, a Columbine high school survivor whose sister, Rachael, was killed in the Columbine massacre. Dateline aired his story recently, in response to the shootings at Virginia Technical Institute. I learned of the incident minutes before attending the premiere of the Next Theatre Company's final production of the season, where art and life uncannily reflected one another.

"Frozen" examines the psyches of three suffering individuals: Ralph, a child molester and serial killer; Agnetha, a renowned psychiatrist analyzing Ralph's pathologies in order to better understand the minds of mass murderers; and Nancy, the mother of one of Ralph's victims.

Are the individuals responsible for these acts of violence merely exhibiting symptoms of a disease, or are they evil incarnate?

Playwright Bryony Lavery ("Wicked") poses this difficult question in her 2004 Tony-nominated play. In the first half of the play, Ms. Lavery strings together a series of monologues, isolating her three characters from the world and each other. With war idioms and profanities, uttered for the most part by child-murderer Ralph, the language of Ms. Lavery's characters is often violent, echoing the subject of the play.

Director Steve Scott (associate producer of the Goodman Theatre) makes excellent use of his space, placing the two grieving women on the fringes of the stage, while their connecting entity, Ralph, stews at center stage. As the play unfolds, the three characters are physically drawn closer together and begin to interact. The invisible, frozen barriers, within and without, begin to thaw as they begin to heal through this interaction, and Mr. Scott's juxtaposition of these thematically overlapping scenes is flawless.

Brilliant psychiatrist Agnetha (Jenny McKnight), while serving as the play's scientific viewpoint of mental illness, is an emotional wreck after the loss of a colleague and lover. Ms. McKnight does a tremendous job metamorphosing from a detached scholar to a visibly shaking torrent of emotion.

Laura T. Fisher's performance as Nancy, a mother whose daughter Rona has disappeared - in a perverse echo of the "Little Red Riding Hood" story - on her way to Grandma's house, rivals her own exceptional performance earlier this season in the Next's production of "Helen."

Nancy's life is a roller coaster, with her daughter's disappearance, her outward strength as an advocate for a missing children's group and the devastation of discovering her daughter's death after the capture of her killer. Years of fruitless hope destroyed, Nancy's façade crumbles, revealing a devastated woman, whom Ms. Fisher expertly portrays.

Ultimately, we are left to examine Ralph (Joseph Wycoff, "The God of Hell"), through his own thoughts and actions, through a medical assessment of his past traumas and physical abnormalities, and through the eyes of Nancy, a forgiving mother who simply wants Ralph to explain himself.

Inevitably, those involved deal with their pain and loss in different ways. Some lash out with rage while some self-medicate, but all are emotionally paralyzed along their roads to healing. Cruelly, there is no formula for healing, no right or wrong answers to comfort us. Ms. Lavery presents us with characters who are changed by their experiences, but still have no answer for their purpose.

"Frozen" is a devastating, powerful play that, sadly, becomes more socially relevant each day.

"Frozen" runs two hours with a fifteen-minute intermission, at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. For tickets, call the Next Theatre Box Office at 847- 475-1875, ext. 2.

Saving the Rainforest: The Work of Marcos Oversluijs-Vásquez

By Blake Morgan

Blake Morgan is a 12-year-old home schooler who lives in Evanston. Last summer he and his family traveled to Peru where he studied the rainforest and, among other activities, participated in a service project organized by Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez.

"We all need to behave as if we were one people, one forest, one world." These are the words of Marcos Oversluijs-Vásquez, a native Amazonian biologist and conservationist who visited Evanston last month on a mission of friendship and education.

Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez is from Iquitos, Peru, a part of the world that plays a small but important role in the ongoing struggle to preserve the "lungs of the world" — the Amazon rainforest. He works with the ribereños (the river people) who live along the banks of the Amazon and Napo Rivers, helping them learn how to survive in the jungle without destroying it. He also teaches ecotourists how they can help.

As an educator and conservationist, Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez continues the family tradition: His father was a primary school teacher and his Dutch grandfather was a biologist. Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez has always lived in Iquitos, a vibrant city surrounded by the jungle. Located just 3 degrees south of the equator in northeast Peru, it is accessible only by boat or airplane.

Despite being so close to the jungle, Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez never ventured into it until he was 14 years old. He says, "I went off into the jungle on my own early one morning, and by 7 or 8 p.m. I still had not returned. It was dark (the sun sets at about 6 p.m. every day near the equator), and my mother was very worried. When she went to look for me, she found me coming out of the jungle. I was just fine and happy to have discovered this amazing place."

By the time Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez went to the University of Iquitos, he wanted to become a biologist and study the rainforest. He had started to realize how important the rainforest is, not only to his people but also to people everywhere.

Today Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez spends only four days a month in Iquitos. The rest of the time he travels from village to village, educating the ribereños about the long-term importance of the rainforest and what they need to do to preserve it. When he first started out, he thought his task would be easy. He explained the need for sustainable development to the local people, and they said that they understood. So Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez thought, "Great, I can be done with this project in six months." But when he returned to the same villages, he saw that the villagers had cut down more trees, stretched fishing nets across entire rivers, and continued to practice bad agriculture. Yet they still said to him, "We understand that we shouldn't do these things." At that point, Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez realized that his "six-month project" would be a lifelong commitment.

Marcos Oversluijs-Vásquez works for the non-profit organization, CONAPAC (Conservación de la Naturaleza Amazónica del Perú, Association Civil), where he organizes and directs education, service and sustainable development projects. He oversees the Adopt-a-School program that provides school supplies and books for over 4,000 river children each year. He also works with ecotourists from the United States and Europe on service projects where volunteers help local communities build schools, dig latrines, plant trees and construct playground equipment.

Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez's trip to the United States was his first time out of Peru. He came here to "let people know about the efforts being done with foreigners and locals in Amazonia. My main thrust," he said, "is to help everyone understand that we live in one world, that we are all one [people], and that we are all interconnected. What happens on my river affects people here in the United States and everywhere."

After attending conservation meetings in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Sarasota, Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez came to the Chicago area.

Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez met with Dr. Gary Galbreath, an evolutionary biologist at Northwestern University. They have done research work in the same jungles in Peru.

Finally, Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez met with a local Rotary Club, the Lighthouse Chapter, to generate interest in working with him on future projects.

Through his work, Mr. Oversluijs-Vásquez demonstrates how small the world is today. What happens to the environment in a small village in Peru affects people around the globe, and the actions of people in a city like Evanston can have an impact on places as far away as the Amazon rainforest.

Rainforest Facts

Benefits

The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20 percent of the Earth's oxygen.
The Amazon River basin holds one-fifth of the Earth's fresh water.
Tropical rainforests regulate temperatures and weather patterns around the world.
Tropical rainforests cover less than 2 percent of the Earth's total surface area, but are home are home to 50 percent of all known plant and animal species.
Seventy percent of plants identified by the U.S. National Cancer Institute as useful in treating cancer are found only in tropical rainforests.

Risks

Originally 6 million square miles of tropical rainforest existed worldwide; as a result of deforestation only 2.6 million square miles remain today.
Tropical deforestation results in the loss of 100 species per day.
Every second a slice of rainforest the size of a football field is destroyed. That's over 31 million football fields of rainforest each year.
Source: The Nature Conservancy.

RoundTable Artist's Weekend Features Rod Homor

The work of Rod Homor of Evanston will be displayed May 11-13 at Frame Warehouse, 814 Dempster St.

The exhibit brings together a collection of his often humorous and at other times painfully honest looks at himself, his past, and his relationships with family and friends displayed in intimately scaled works on paper.

While Mr. Homor worked in the lost-wax metal-casting discipline, he would often keep very detailed sketch books that utilized collage and various other techniques to quickly capture the essence of his ideas for possible sculptural projects in the future.

After seeing the artistic value in his sketches, he switched to them as the primary vehicle for his artistic and intellectual endeavors.