Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

Homeless in Chicago

Last night, when my neighbor and I were returning from a Christmas show in the Auditorium Theater, we passed a long row of cardboard boxes that homeless people used to protect themselves from brutal overnight temperature. Nobody was panhandling. They were just trying to survive till morning.

When we got on the L-train, the first thing I saw in the new was this WBEZ article. Full text below.

As cold weather hits Chicago, Trump’s new policies on homelessness criticized

Feds said they plan to shift $3.9 billion from long-term housing to housing that requires work and addiction treatment. More than 7,500 Illinoisans could lose their permanent housing.

By  Michael PuenteDec 3, 2025, 8:48am CST

For people experiencing homelessness like Ivan Patterson, Monday night’s snow was another reminder to get out of the cold and into a shelter.

“It beats staying under a bridge. It’s too cold to do that,” 52-year-old Patterson said outside the Shelter Placement and Resource Center at 2241 S. Halsted in Pilsen.

The Memphis native said he’s been staying at the shelter for a week even though he holds a job at a nearby Jewel-Osco supermarket.

“I’m trying to get my apartment again, but it’s been tough. It’s too expensive,” Patterson said.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to shift $3.9 billion in long-term housing funding to transitional housing requiring work and addiction treatment.

Just as temperatures drop and the city digs out from under record snowfall, housing advocates say that the new policies could put people at risk of losing long-term shelter.

“We believe that over 7,500 people in Illinois are at risk of losing their permanent housing,” Christine Haley, chief homeless officer for the Illinois Department of Human Services, said Tuesday.

“The Trump administration is moving away from housing first. We’ve seen that this was on the horizon … in a few different ways,” she said. “Through the president’s executive order to fight crime, it talked about moving away from housing first. It talked about utilizing grants as a way to implement this new piece of really criminalizing homelessness.”

On any given day in Chicago, more than 1,300 people are unsheltered, according to a snapshot taken earlier this year by the city.

In a statement, HUD said its new policies restore “accountability to homelessness programs and promote self-sufficiency among vulnerable Americans.”

But Haley said the lack of affordable housing is what is driving homelessness.

“That is the true cause of homelessness, our lack of affordable housing, lack of income to be able to afford market-rate rent,” she said.

Mark Ishaug, head of Chicago-based Thresholds, said the change in federal housing policies could force many to the streets, even during cold weather. He said that includes people of color, older adults and people with disabilities, including those with mental illness and substance abuse issues.

“We are already in a housing and homeless crisis in Chicago. If this policy were to go into effect, it would take us from crisis to catastrophe,” Ishaug said. “There are thousands of people living on the streets today. … So if we have a problem now, which we do, and a crisis now, we are moving to catastrophe.”

La Casa Norte clients, who stay in La Casa Norte shelters and requested that their name be kept private, interact at La Casa Norte’s North Avenue drop-in center in Humboldt Park, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
La Casa Norte clients go over paperwork at the agency’s North Avenue drop-in center in Humboldt Park.

Jonah Storr, associate director of programs for La Casa Norte in Humboldt Park, said it’s been an especially difficult time finding shelter for young people who are homeless.

“We see teenagers or young people who have been kicked out of their homes, or maybe have gone through the foster system and have aged out at 18. People end up here through all sorts of reasons, including young people who are trying to make it on their own,” said Storr, whose agency assists people ages 16 to 24.

Julian Martinez was standing outside the shelter placement center Tuesday afternoon smoking a cigarette. He’s been homeless for three years.

“It’s definitely hard if you ain’t got nobody out here and helping with your family,” Martinez, 23, said.

The father of a 4-year-old daughter, Martinez said he holds down a job as a landscaper, but the $200 a week he makes isn’t enough to pay rent. He’d been staying at the center for nine days.

“I usually sleep outside,” he said.

Kenyatta Mays, 56, who uses a wheelchair, said many people think he’s panhandling when he’s sitting outside the shelter on a smoking break.

Kenyatta Mays, 56, smokes a cigarette outside the Shelter Placement and Resource Center in Pilsen.
Kenyatta Mays, 56, smokes a cigarette outside the Shelter Placement and Resource Center in Pilsen.

“I’m just here to get off the street. It’s too cold,” Mays said.

Black Comedy

I went to this show at Above the Law theater last Sunday (November 23), and forgot to post about it. They are still running this show until December 21, so if anybody interested, you still have a chance to see it.

Whenever I attend Above the Law shows, I try to take mom with me, because it’s very close to home, and the theater is tinym so she can always see well (especially because she is always the first to be seated by the staff).

They rarely publish their show synopsis, but this time, there was an email with the following description:

Struggling sculptor Brindsley Miller and his fiance, Carol, are having a party with the aim of impressing Carol’s bombastic father, Colonel Melkett, and millionaire Georg Bamberger. They hope the two men might purchase some of Brindsley’s sculptures. Without permission, they have borrowed the furniture of their fussy neighbor, Harold, to make their own flat more presentable. Just before the guests arrive, the main fuse blows, plunging the flat into darkness. What follows is a frantic romp with unexpected visitors, mistaken identities, and surprises lurking in every dark corner. Only we, the audience, can see the action that ensues in the dark. As you might expect, the results are chaotic, disastrous and downright hysterical.

If I won’t read this description it would be impossible to understand what’s happening on the stage, but to be honest, even with this description, it was confusing in the beginning.

The idea is that 90% of the show time things happen in a complete darkness, because the fuse is blown. Nobody would enjoy the show in a complete darkness, so the way the set it up was that at the time the lights were suppose to be on, they went off, and vise versa. So most time, there was light, but the actors acted as if they are in complete darkness. And at the time, somebody was turning on a flashlight, the lights were dimmed.

It was funny. Probably a little bit too grotesque:). Brilliant acting, as always.

A Snow Day In Chicago

Wednesday was windy like never; Thursday and Friday was super-cold, and on Saturday, it was snowing, setting the record of the most snowiest day in Chicago in November!

Boris and I ventured to the Loop, because I wanted to go to the Art Institute, and do some holiday shopping. It was still cold, it was still very windy, plus, it was snowing!

I found this sweater in one of the boxes when we were installing new shelves in our storage unit. It was hand knitted for me by my grandaunt when I was eighteen, and I decided to try it on. Since it looked not bad at all, I decided to take it out :). I have received complements about it everywhere on that day!
That was by our house at 3:30 PM, and it was not it!

Boris and I took turns cleaning our stairs because it was completely unsafe to use them:

By 6 AM, the snow was mostly over, and the cleaning crew came and cleaned it from everywhere, and then the snow started melting. However, it looks like it’s not it, and there will be more cold and more snow during the upcoming week.

Amadeus At Steppenwolf

There were no interesting concerts this weekend, so I suggested to Boris to go see Amadeus at the Steppenwolf Theater. Boris was skeptical, because he does not like the idea of the original play, because it’s based on unjust accusations, but he said he will go. As for me, I haven’t been to the Steppenwolf for a while, and wanted to go.

The Ensemble Theater before the show

During the first act, ot felt like a mock version of the movie, and during the intermission I asked Boris whether he wanter to go home. He said: no, the acting is great! Actually, I believe it was a new experience for him: I got the first row tickets, and because of how the Ensemble Theater is build, the acting was happening right in from of our eyes, so he could see most of it, was watching all the time with his eyes open 🙂

Then, during the second act, they started getting off the films score, and build something else, and that was much more interesting, so in the end, we both enjoyed it 🙂

Shelves

One of many things when you think: why I didn’t do it earlier!

The storage shelves came from our old Palatine home, and we didn’t bother to replace them “just because we can still use them,” until they started to annoy me :).

Then, I tasked Boris with finding a replacement, and then the shelves arrived, and we assembled them (and then Boris was disassembling the old ones for two more hours:))

I still need to bring back the empty boxes after we finish decorating the house for Christmas!

Communal Fridge

We have a communal fridge near Rogers Park Metra station. Actually, it’s a little pantry with two blocks of shelves and a fridge in the middle (I believe, I posted the pictures earlier). Local stores sometimes drop off some produce there, but mostly it’s people who have some extras, or leftovers, or just want to share. Anyone can drop stuff on the shelves or in the fridge (labeling containers, if they are not industrially packaged). And anyone who passes by, can take anything out.

Yesterday, although I didn’t need to take a train, I walked there to drop off several unused cans of vegetables, a bag of green beans which we decided not to cook after all, and plastic box with roasted vegetables (we had a lot left, and I forgot to give a box to Anna & Family when they were leaving).

There were several people around when I approached to drop these items off, and the pantry was far from being empty, but the way they reacted at my offering made me regret I didn’t bring all of our leftovers there: oh, they are already cooked? Just warm them up? God bless you!

I recently read about one behavioral experiment: theology students where asked to deliver a talk on Good Samaritan, and half of them were notified right before they were ready to leave, that the talk time was changed and they were late. Then, in the way to their talk all of them were presented with a situation when a stranger was in a distress and needed help. While a substantial part of not-in-a-rush students stopped and tried to help, none of the those who thought they were late, stopped.

Unfortunately, being in a hurry is a major reason for not helping those in need. So many times I would plant to bring my leftovers to the communal fridge, but was in a hurry to catch a train, and knew that I would walk a bit slower with the leftovers, and all these minutes would accumulate, and I can always freeze what I didn’t eat, and in any case, what difference a pint of soup can make? I am nit saying “never more,” but ai will try very hard. I won’t forget the faces of those with whom I talked yesterday by the communal fridge, with their gray wrinkled skin and missing teeth.

We all are Rogers Park. Please forgive me. I will try to be better.

Thanksgiving

There were things to be thankful for: Anna and John finally sold their “old” house, and Anna got a new job which she starts on Monday. Other family members had probably less impressive news, but still. At least, Boris didn’t have any travel obstacles, and was here (he said there was absolutely no line on the border control; apparently, nobody wants to come visit us anymore!)

The day before Thanksgiving we had a wind out of the ordinary, with gusts over 50 MpH. When I was in a workout session with my trainer, I looked out of the window, and saw something surreal: there was something flying in the sky! My first thought was: what are these birds? But them I realized that these were not birds, but the dry leaves! The wind blew them up from the ground to at least the seventh floor! i tried to take pictures after my training session ended, but the leaves were flying too fast, and I didn’t get any good pictures.

Later, when I went to pick up my pies from Vanille across the street, the wind was almost picking me up! I had to turn by back toward the wind to walk, and as it turned out, I couldn’t save all the pies – the cranberry merengue was partially ruined, because the wind was knocking the boxes, no matter how hard I tried to keep them from bouncing. I asked Boris to meet me at the train station to help me to carry the pies home, and if I won’t ask, I am afraid the consequences would be worse!

We unfolded the tables on Wednesday evening, and in the morning, I started making the salads and preparing everything for the turkey. Anna-and-family-and-friends arrived by 10 AM, and started the turkey, and we finished the rest of the food prep.

Nadia and Kira stayed in the sunroom for most of the time, and we didn’t hear any screams or arguments, so I asked Anna whether this feels suspicious for her. Then, the girls came to distribute the tickets for the puppet show, and in another hour, we all were called to watch it. I was very impressed with what they’ve done! They made the puppets for the shadow theater out of black paper and secured them on black pencils with tape. They put up a screen, and a floor lamp so that they could project, and came up with a Christmas – theme skit. They also made tickets, and numbered the seats.

After they were done, we were allowed to have a backstage tour, and they showed as the puppets, and then, without any prompt from me, Nadia said that they were going to disassemble them, and make pencils to be pencils again 🙂

Monadnock Bistro

I have a list of Chicago’s new restaurants which I want to check out, but I am increasingly rarely have opportunities to do so. One of these places was Bistro Monadnock. I love the building and it’s story, so I was excited to see this new restaurant. Their web side says:

This project is a homecoming for the bistro’s owners – John, Karl & Graeme Fehr. The three brothers previously operated a boutique law firm in the Monadnock Building from 2011 – 2017. Ditching the courtroom for the dining room, this is their third hospitality concept in 6 years. They considered no other building for this restaurant.

Since Boris is in town (he arrived on Sunday), but I still needed to work from the office (not like I absolutely needed to, but it was easier to organize everything that way, and I had other things to do in the Loop. One of these to-do things was near DePaul campus, so I suggested we go there for dinner.

The menu is all in French, and I knew only a couple of dishes. so I had to Google them to get an idea. After googling, the pictures on the website started to make sense :).

That was Jacques Rose, very nice fruitie and tart cocktail
Frisée aux Lardons salad: “potatoes” in this salad are these very thin laced chips:). I was trying to imagine, how warm bacon could pair with greens, but it was really great.
Bouillabaisse was one of the few dishes I didn’t need to google:)
Beef Bourguignon – I didn’t know that the meet was boneless ribs (it was Boris’ choice after we got instructions from the waiter)
They ran out of a dessert I wanted, so we both got profiteroles with pistachio gelato

The Lifestyle Creep

This is a part of a newsletter from my wealth management company. I was hesitant about sharing this article because the way it is written implies it concerns only very well off people, so I felt like it will be perceived as “rich people problem.” Still, I believe that the issue is rather universal, and that any time someone experience a substantial increase in income, there is a possibility of the “lifestyle creep.” I think, that stories about people who won a lottery and soon found themselves broke, can be attributed to the same effect.

Here is how this article starts:

Lifestyle creep happens when your expenses increase alongside your income. As you earn more, it’s easy to spend more freely, perhaps without much thought. As income increases, it’s only natural to want to improve your lifestyle, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, either, up to a point. Without keeping tabs on the cumulative effect of daily financial decisions like business class upgrades or pricey dinners, it’s easy to lose track of how much you’re saving versus spending. After all, as the name suggests, lifestyle creep happens slowly.

For high earners, there’s enough cash coming in that makes it easy to cover just about any upgrade, so the cost can seem small when considering the big picture. But unless you’re tracking your saving and spending, you risk getting used to a lifestyle that you can’t support once you stop working. So the key to enjoying your success now — and maintaining that standard later — is ensuring your savings rate increases at least as much as your additional spending.

I do not want to cite practical calculation examples from this article, because most people do not have that kind of money, but the general idea is that when a person ‘s income increases substantially, they should use not more than half of this increase for “quality of life improvement” (actually, they recommend 30-40%), and the rest should go to increasing the retirement savings. Again, the principle behind it is that people expect to maintain the same lifestyle after retirement as they had before, so they should budget for that.

The final paragraph of the article reads:

You can only spend a dollar once. But there’s also no prize for being the richest person in the graveyard. Being intentional about how you spend and save your money can help you maximize both. So before upgrading to business class, run the numbers to see how all your incremental lifestyle improvements add up relative to your savings.

I think that balancing between these two (“enjoy the day” and “richest person in the graveyard”) is indeed difficult, and I do not think I always make right decisions. But I know since the time I was very poor (and it happened to me more than once during my lifetime) that budgeting is critical, and good budgeting can improve one’s life more than moderate pay increase. Of course, I am not talking about people leaving below the poverty level, and of course, I am not implying that everyone should be happy with what they have. It’s the season of giving, after all.

Well, I really hope I didn’t offend anybody, and I hope that I was able to express my thoughts.

More Photos From The Sunday Rally

(from my favorite photographer)