Christopher Schroeder

Author: Christopher Schroeder

  • An Unfortunate Event

    I revisited the 3rd St. Market Hall last week while in Milwaukee for a baseball game after such a good experience in the spring.

    At that time, I eventually chose barbecue chicken mac-and-cheese for lunch, which I leisurely enjoyed before going to the art museum. I stopped again later for some coffee before my return train to, and something sweet for my wife in, Chicago.

    This time, I found a quiet table — the space around 10am was nearly empty — where I could decide whether to eat before or after the baseball game. In the meantime, I was planning my route to and from the stadium and finishing some fruit and vegetables I had brought on the train.

    I was soon approached by someone who had been in a group gathered around computers at a long table. He informed me without any introduction that purchases paid for the table and chair I was using and that signs at the nearby entrance prohibited outside food.

    This person should have known from the technofeudalism and capitalism book on the table between us that I needn’t an economics explanation. He also would have know had he asked any questions that I was planning to purchase lunch either before or after the game, and that I hadn’t used the entrance to which he gestured.

    I assured him that I would put the produce back in my back, and then left after resolving to skip lunch altogether. I did relent after the game, and stopped on my way to the train station again for something sweet for my spouse without this time using any tables or chairs.

    I’ve never had such an experience at any of Chicago food halls, not even when I’m in one just to work. I also didn’t expect such an experience in a place that invites people into its space, offers them something to drink, and encourages them with games and screens to linger.

    I can imagine the pressures of decimated downtowns as well as the desire for paying patrons. At the same time, I suspect such strategies can only drive potential, and previous, customers from such spaces.

    I intend to return to Milwaukee later this summer but will likely as a result skip this place. I wonder what I’ll say anytime anyone asks about these trips, but do know what I will remember, which I fear won’t be the baseball game, and not just because the Cubs lost.

  • Candidates and Choices

    President Biden visited a nearby hotel for a fundraiser last night. Following him were pro-Palestinian protestors, including one speaker who pledged not to vote in the upcoming election.

    Like her, I am less than thrilled by the current presidential prospects. I wish like many that we had better, or at least other, options.

    Some might suggest that we do — RFK Jr. is one, and Cornel West could be another — and they’re right if a candidate consists of someone who is running. They would be wrong however if the definition of a candidate is someone who can win, or who could actually become president, in which case we must choose between two.

    Our political system once again has generated only two possible people who can realistically become president. That, and the larger two-part system, might be limitations or flaws, but the time to address such issues isn’t an election year.

    This year, the choice is perhaps clearer than usual. Both viable candidates have demonstrated how they would govern, and past performance might not guarantee future performance but can allow for informed predictions.

    Such predictions are even more informed after recent interviews. For example, the Republican candidate who has called for suspending the Constitution joked about being a dictator and suggested a possible rejection of the results.

    The choice this time for these and other reasons, isn’t one about policy differences. Rather, it’s a decision about the existence of this American experiment, which while having failed at times has persistent and evolved.

    The stakes seem even higher after the recent court decisions this week to delay the Georgia and Florida cases, which will likely mean that this election will occur without a clarification of facts or any accountability for actions. As a result, no reasonable person could have any doubt about whether to vote or to vote for a third-party candidate or even which candidate to choose.

  • Managing Madness

    I tell anyone who will listen that my last two New Year’s resolutions have been quitting running.

    I started forty years ago as a new teenager. Since then, I’ve run to manage, process, and think about my experiences as well as the world and myself later as an ungrad, then grad student, newlywed, parent, and now empty-nester confronting retirement choices.

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