The R.V.

I just heard that a new, possibly French-inspired shoe store is set to open up in the old Curves space on Roscoe, just west of Seeley Avenue in the next few weeks.

The store’s proprietor, Trudi Robinson, already owns another hot Roscoe Village shopping destination - Kickin‘, an active boutique for moms and moms to be.  One can only hope that her good eye for current maternity trends spills over into women’s shoes.

Message from Audobon principal John Price as received from an RVN email:

Dear Audubon Parents and Friends:  
Police have confirmed that they have arrested a possible suspect in the case involving the threatening letters that have been sent to Audubon.  Because the investigation is on-going, very few details are available at this point.  The person is being held on an unrelated charge.  In the meantime, the 19^th District police have handed the person’s computer over to FBI investigators.    While this news is not definitive, it is encouraging and hopeful.  This news means that the police are taking aggressive steps to follow leads and investigate this case.     As more news becomes available, I will pass it along to all of you.  

Sincerely,  
John P. Price
Principal, Audubon School
A Commitment to Learning

We’ve all heard this week about the letter someone sent to the principal of Audobon school threatening the children in the neighborhood and making offensive and scary remarks.

Today, officials met with parents of children who attend Audobon to discuss safety precautions and actions being taken to ensure the safety of the neighborhood.

Read the full report of the meeting on the Chicago Tribune website.

I can’t take it anymore.   There’s a store  I drive by almost every day that urges mothers breastfeed, and I think their window displays take this encouragement a little too far.

An example of one of their latest displays:

To me, the nursing mannequin and her obviously toddler-age mannequin baby make it clear: if you want to shop here, you’d better breastfeed.  This photo doesn’t even show the half of it. I remember one long stretch where their windows were covered with posters like this propoganda-ish one from the 1930s.

It’s one thing to encourage breastfeeding, but it’s quite another to put it on display at a retail store.  And the displays live up to the promise. I actually have a friend (like myself, didn’t breastfeed) who walked into the store, whipped out a bottle and got dirty looks from the staff. I was quite excited about the store when it opened two years ago, but after seeing how one-sided their conversation has been about feeding your baby over the last two years I’ve made a conscious decision not to patronize it. 

I know we all have the right to shop where we want to, eat where we want to, say what we want to, whatever.  But what about giving advice where we want to? Is it acceptable for a retail outlet to doll out its opinions alongside a $200 toddler lounge chair?   

The decision of whether or not to breastfeed is an important, tough, and ultimately, personal decision for a mother. And I can’t think of a bigger turn off to a mother, especially a new one, who’s feeling scared and vulnerable about her decision to bottle-feed, than to walk by a display that makes a statement like “breast is best” without providing alternatives alongside it. I’m sure the owners of the store have good intentions to sell quality organic baby products alongside giving advice on how to give your baby “the most natural” nutrient of all, but you couldn’t tell from walking by the storefront.  All I could see on a sunny day is a toddler standing up latched onto a plastic boob.

A window display like this crosses some kind of neighborhood-friendly-mom-advice line.  What bottle feeding mom out there wouldn’t be afraid to walk in this store’s shiny glass doors? Moms, especially moms who own a store that caters to new moms should probably think twice before they claim to be “The All-You-Need-for-a-Happy-Healthy-Pregnancy-Birth-Baby-&-Toddler Place.” I didn’t see bottles listed on the products list on their website and I don’t plan on walking in the store to find out.

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Cross-posted to Chicago Moms Blog

Now that the inital shock of the cougar incident has died down, the conversation is turning to this:

Should the cougar have been shot?

Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg questions the police’s “wall of blue code silence” with regards to the incident. He makes a good point:

… the police were there and we weren’t.

We all heard about it (as the conversation at Starbucks this morning can attest), some of us saw the animal, but I haven’t heard many eyewitnesses other than the police who saw the animal go down.  We have to take the policeman’s word for it - the cat needed to be shot.

Shari of Two Times the Fun offers those who think the cougar should have been tranquilized this option:

Next time there is a cougar on the prowl, you can put your family at risk. You can stand with the police and explain why you don’t think it’s a threat to anyone. Me, I’m asking the police to take it out every time. Keeping our children safe is always more important than a cougar.

Interestingly, 61 percent of respondents to a WBBM survey said that the cougar shouldn’t have been shot.  All I know is that I’m with you, Shari. If I saw the cougar clawing his way over my fence and into my yard I would have taken it down faster than you can say big cat.

It was odd that helicopters were swirling over my home last night around 6 p.m.,  but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the news this morning - that a 150 lb. cougar was shot dead in Roscoe Village yesterday.

According to the Sun Times,

“I was home and sitting in my front room and I heard what I thought were firecrackers,” said James Reynolds, 45, who lives in 3400 block of North Hamilton and saw much of it unfold.

He went to his rear deck and saw — there in his alley — the animal and was shocked.

“I thought, ‘Is that a lion?’ ”

The animal made a feeble attempt to climb the fence to his backyard as well as the fence to his neighbor’s yard.

Authorities are uncertain where the animal came from or who its owner is.

I’m just glad I got in the house and locked the doors in time. I guess we live closer to the zoo than I thought.

For more photos of the event and a quick recap head to NBC5.com.

Who knew? Beat Kitchen bar and restaurant offers concerts for kids most Sundays in April and one in May. Upcoming dates and performances include:

• Sun 4/13 - Karen Banks-Lubicz (Wiggleworms instructor)
• Sun 4/20 - Little Miss Ann (Wiggleworms instructor)
• Sun 4/27 - Sandy Lucas (Wiggleworms instructor)
• Sun 5/04 - Shana Harvey (Wiggleworms instructor) - A Cinco de Mayo celebration!

All shows are at noon and are $5.00 per person which also includes a juice box for kids.

1. Everyone thinks there’s one there so they usually slow down stop anyway.
2. Those who don’t slow down stop are usually going too fast to realize there’s a pedestrian crossing there meaning they should slow down stop at all times.
3. I’ve dropped one too many Starbucks cups trying to dodge the cars that aren’t slowing down OR stopping.
4. Strollers are not easy to maneuver out of the way of fast moving cars especially with such Starbucks cup in hand.
5. All the other major intersections seem to have them. (Except for at Hoyne and Belmont - what’s up with that?)
6. We all will get a better look into Kaze’s delightful interior and scrumptuous looking sushi.
7. Maybe it will give city planners impetus to finally fix the one sidewalk corner on the southwest corner they failed to repair in the great sidewalk dig of 2007.

For those who’ve been wondering what new restaurant is opening in the La Mora space on the corner of Hamilton and Roscoe, my sources tell me that the Lincoln Park hot spot John’s Place will open up this spring. 

Owner John Manilow, who happens to live in Roscoe Village, dishes up basic American fare at his restaurant. Let’s just hope the wait for his famous challah french toast on Sunday isn’t as bad as it’s Lincoln Park outpost.

Tasty Turquoise Restaurant has been written up in the April 2008 issue of Chicago Magazine.  The article states,

This cozy minimalist space, with the granite-topped bar and hanging pendant lamps, is rocking. It’s fun and so lively, that you don’t mind the din, particularly when you dig into a welcoming basket of warm round loaves of housemade Turkish bread and a cabbage-yogurt spread. 

Personally, I’m partial to the carrot-garlic spread, but it doesn’t really matter what the spread of the day is - the bread is so good I could easily eat 5 loaves plain. But, the other food at Turquoise is so good I always want to leave room for more than just the carbs.  The feta salad makes for a light lunch, and according to my father-in-law, the hamburgers are out of this world.

If you’ve never been; it’s worth the try.  Just don’t fill up on the bread.

Turquoise is located at 2147 W. Roscoe. 773-549-3523. Reservations are accepted.