CHICAGO=BUMMERTOWN!

The other day I was riding my bike through Wicker Park in Chicago and I was heading north on Milwaukee Ave. when I bumped with:

My old friend "the bum" as we'll have to call him. Unfortunately, I don't know his real name, but he sure seems to be resting very well for his next day right underneath the CTA bus stop. It made me reflect and I was asking to myself? Why aren't the Coalitions or Organizations that can help people like this get out of their miserable and vulnerable situation helping all these people?. There's several Catholic charities, the CCH (Chicago Coalition for the Homeless) and a few other entities that give some sort of aid but the problem isn't resolved completely as you can see.
There's the alternative of "squatting" abandoned buildings, but that doesn't seem to be approachable in the state of Illinois. Amidst the large amount of abandoned buildings in the city, is really hard to find one that's well- hidden but easy for people to get to. And also the fact that certain adverse possession laws don't exist like in cities such as New York where "squatting" seems to happen in a more natural way.
Trying to be part of a Hardcore/Punk community, it seems to me that this type of topics are usually avoided. The theory behind the activism is undeveloped and not exposed to us when we have certain commodities that we never value until we lose them. It is important to know the theory underneath our beliefs if we are going to stand for something. I also think it is important to help people that need it. What if someday for an unexpected reason we have to confront our lives under this circumstances? We never know what might happen tomorrow...

Meet my new friend: THE BIKE.

About a year ago I decided to buy a car because it would help me get to work faster, go grocery shopping or leave on a trip out of town. It did help me with all that but i was estimating napkin numbers , as they call it in Mexico, and the cost of owning a car in one year was about 18.6% of my annual income. Personally I think that is a high percentage considering that at least 80% of the annual income goes down to pay rent, bills , etc, etc, etc.
Recently my car started having transmission problems and the situation worsened when it was obvious that i needed a new transmission, which i couldn't really afford to pay so i decided to get rid of my car and forget about it. I took out my old huffy bike from the basement and went down to "Easy Ride" Bike Shop @ 4119 N. Lincoln Ave. (chi-town baby!) and see if i could make some sort of trade and pay the difference for a bike that could be in a better condition than mine. Lucky enough they had a nice Japanese Miyata road bike. They gave me a great deal for it so i couldn't miss the opportunity of getting a nice bike. I've been riding it for a while now and it seems like i can go to many places because Chicago is a bicycle friendly city. It is a whole new world for me, and within this short time that I've been riding I've learned so many new things and even better opportunities to make new friendships.
Bicycles seem to be a world with the D.I.Y. ethic to the maximum. I am interested in volunteering for bike collectives because it seems that the aid they provide is great locally and internationally. So yeah, I dedicated this space to my new friend the bike, thanks for opening myself to this.