[Chicago Slices raw: Joe Cummings Hanging Out In Skokie]

Interviews with Skokie residents/immigrants from different countries who explain what they love about Skokie and why they chose Skokie over the rest of the world. Most give their full names, addresses, and phone numbers.

00:00Copy video clip URL Tape begins mid-sentence with a 16-year-old Russian girl in front of an apartment building. Her name is Inna Gorelik, she is a student at Niles West High School. Cummings asks her if she likes America: “I like it very much here but for the time being, we’ve got a lot of problems.” She cites how her father, once a celebrated concert pianist, now has to work in a factory. She thinks Skokie is a very nice suburb, “better than Chicago” mainly because of the school system. She plans to become a doctor.

03:31Copy video clip URL Cummings interviews Faye Mann, who is pushing a grocery cart down the street (seems to be Knox St). Cummings tells her he’s looking for immigrants to interview and she gives him a rundown on the various ethnicities in the area. “If you stand near Happy Foods, you’ll find them. That’s where they go shopping.” She talks to Cummings about the ethnic changes in Skokie: “I think it’s good, as long as they don’t kill anybody.”

05:33Copy video clip URL Cummings interviews 14-year-old Carl Lyles, new to Skokie: “It’s pretty. I like it here because it has everything here, like water parks.” Cummings then talks to his friend, Mark Drew, who likes that Skokie isn’t very violent.

09:02Copy video clip URL Cummings and cameraman Doug Sawyer walk down the street. Cummings talks about the people he’s interviewed, not knowing he’s being filmed.

09:34Copy video clip URL Cummings hails a Russian man, Vadim, on the street. He likes living in Skokie, but has trouble comparing Russia to the USA. He is from Minsk. As Cummings gets Vadim’s information, Sawyer interacts with passerbys.

14:00Copy video clip URL Cummings interviewes a woman (Sandi Reese) with two children (Chris and Katelyn), originally from Skokie. She is moving back: ” My family’s here.”

16:32Copy video clip URL Next up is two Korean girls. One says that Korea has “everything more compact, smush everything together, it’s more open here.” There are also more opportunities for kids besides homework. Her favorite food is Thai, while the other girl likes Mexican. They are both freshmen at Niles West High School.

19:35Copy video clip URL Cummings interviews an Iraqi Assyrian man, David Rasho, who thinks Skokie is “beautiful. About eight years I been here. I like it.” He dislikes the current situation in Iraq.

24:08Copy video clip URL Cummings interviews an Indian man from Bombay, Mahsood who runs the Skokie Washerette. He’s lives in Skokie for about six years and likes it much better than India “weather-wise, opportunity-wise.” He speaks of the population differences between Bombay and Skokie and the difficulties that come with it, as well as the cultural changes in Skokie. He’s noticed Russians, Jewish, and many more cultures in the area.

28:35Copy video clip URL Cummings and Sawyer go to the Happy Foods supermarket on Oakton. In the parking lot, Cummings interviews an Iraqi woman, Helen Benjamin, who has lived in Skokie for eight years. She likes living in Skokie but also has a tough time comparing Iraq to it/the USA.

31:33Copy video clip URL Cummings and Sawyer go to Baskin-Robbins. He interviews one of the employees, Tshoma (sp), who is from Cambodia. She says it’s easier in the USA than in Cambodia and she feels safe here.

35:03Copy video clip URL Cummings and Sawyer are now in a video store, where Cummings is interviewing the owner, a Korean woman from Pusan. She’s lived in Skokie for three years. She’s not very forthcoming, but she brightens up a little when Cummings sings to her in Korean.

40:58Copy video clip URL Cummings and Sawyer try to get into a hair salon, but they don’t have ID. So they leave and talk about it. A cop approaches while they sit in a bus shelter and then they have a discussion about the real motives of Cummings and Sawyer, which ends happily.

48:04Copy video clip URL Cummings interviews a woman from El Salvador. Skokie by contrast is “pretty peaceful.” She is a babysitter who doesn’t want her interview to be aired. Cummings and Sawyer talk to her charges, six-year-old and two-year-old boys.

56:46Copy video clip URL End of tape.

 

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