An Aviation Revolution

     United Airlines has just fired the first shot in the new airline wars. Don't believe me? Look at what they did last week. On October 27, O'Hare International Airport saw the inaugural flight of the CRJ-550, a reimagined regional jet. The plane is identical to a CRJ-700 on the outside, but on the inside, United took the 70-seat aircraft and turned it into a 50-seater. You read that correctly. In this modern age of seemingly fewer and fewer passenger amenities in the air, a legacy carrier ripped out 20 seats to make a more comfortable plane. But it's not just the extra legroom that is revolutionary. An often-maligned feature of regional jets is the paltry storage space, necessitating some poor sap gate-checking their bag. Not on the CRJ-550. Some of those 20 seats were replaced by a series of storage lockers in the cabin, supplementing the overhead bins(which have themselves been expanded). Long story short, gate-checking carry-ons just became a thing of the past. What makes this truly revolutionary is the potential it represents. If the CRJ-550 catches on with passengers and starts making money, I can see other airlines taking notice. And maybe not just in the regional market either. How long before some executive gets the bright idea to try this on a 737? Or even a 777? The CRJ-550 could very well be the definition of a game-changer.

The Dance Hall Diaries

     Back in the Roaring Twenties, cities all across the country were crawling with young people living a life that up until then was just the stuff of fantasy. Up until then, most young people went straight from their education to working on the family farm until they shook off this mortal coil. But things were changing. America's population was moving from the farms to the cities. No more did a young woman have to settle for a dreary existence as the wife of a farmer. Instead, she could move to the big city, take a job as a secretary or a telephone operator, and live her life the way she wanted to.

     One of those ways was ballroom dancing. This was the new hip thing to do, the way to let young people feel free and loose, much the same way rock and roll would do so 40 years later. One associated phenomenon was the dance marathon. This is where couples would go to a ballroom, and start dancing. The last couple dancing would win. These proved wildly popular to the young folks, but just like rock and roll, it was frowned upon by the powers that be. A Chicago judge at the time said that dance marathons capitalized on "the morbid curiosity of the same class of observers who avidly view a bull fight or a cock fight". Nevertheless, dancers were able to stay one step ahead of the law. One such contest that was held in New York City was interrupted by the local police, forcing the competitors to dance over to a waiting vehicle which spirited them away to New Jersey. After another interruption, they were shuttled back to Harlem, and then finally all the way to Connecticut, where the contest was stopped and the winning couple established the record of 69 continuous hours of dancing.

     However, that record was not destined to last long. On August 30, 1930, 126 couples stepped on to the dance floor at the Merry Garden Ballroom in Chicago. More than 7 months later, 1 couple was left standing. Mike Ritof and Edith Boudreaux had smashed the record for longest Dance Marathon at 5,148 hours(and 28 minutes). To this day, the record still stands.

Lost and Found

     What happens when something is lost to the sands of time? What happens when that very same thing is dusted off after 80 years? We'll examine both cases today. Eustasio Rosales was a Colombian composer born in 1875 who was one of 27 Million people to visit the 1893 World's Fair. The fair inspired millions of people the world over, and Rosales was one of them. He was so moved that he decided to come to Chicago in 1900. From there he started to make his way as a music man in the city of big shoulders. He played piano for silent movies. He conducted nightclub bands. But all the while, he was working towards his big goal: an opera. He wrote all of the music. He designed the backdrop. He was even corresponding with his brother back in Colombia who was writing the lyrics. He had a name for it: Andina. In the early 30s, he even conducted a group at Orchestra Hall. All was going according to plan. Christmas Eve, 1934: Rosales and his family are all ready to celebrate another Christmas. Suddenly, his wife gathers the family around Eustasio in the living room. He has had a heart attack. The family begins praying, and in the middle of it Eustasio Rosales dies. The family is devastated. His widow is wracked with grief. Andina and all of its corresponding materials go into a bankers box and get stashed in a closet. Over the next 80 years, various members of the family try to have the opera performed, but to no success.
    
     Finally, in the fall of 2013, Arlen Parsa is going through old family papers when he sees the opera. Arlen Parsa is the great-grandson of Eustasio Rosales. After hearing the story of its journey, he decides to do something about it. The thing is, Parsa isn't very well-versed in the field of music. Not one to be deterred, he researches how to put on an opera, and begins assembling a team. First he finds someone who can transfer the 80 year old hand-written score into notation software so that it is nice and readable. Then he needs to find a conductor to lead the orchestra. Having accomplished that, he recruits the Chicago Composers Orchestra to actually play the music. After getting together the instrumental and vocal talent, Parsa still needs a place to actually perform the opera. After searching around, he found a willing host in the Athenaeum Theatre in Lakeview. After finding people to take care of the technical production and the publicity, the curtain is ready to go up on the show. On September 18, 2015, the world premiere of Andina finally takes place, 80 years after it was meant to. It is well-received, and this work from Eustasio Rosales has finally seen the light.

Note: The inspiration for this post, as well as the information contiained within come from a documentary about this journey titled The Way to Andina, which is extremely informative and goes much further into detail than I do here.

It's a Good Time to be a Rambler

     Going to the Final Four has some prestige to it. Going to the Final Four as an 11 seed has a LOT of prestige to it. Like if Elvis walked in levels of prestige. And Loyola University has been reaping those benefits. Let's start with the obvious: memorabilia sales. The campus gift store has been bursting at the seams with Rambler fans wanting to get their hands on all the hottest Final Four apparel. So much so that the company running the store has had to call in reinforcements from other locations to handle the crowds. And even beyond that, there have been numerous satellite locations popping up around the city where fans can get their hands on Loyola gear. Beyond that, Las Vegas is the latest town to fall in love with the Ramblers. Loyola is by far the hottest team on the gambling books, attracting far more tickets than Michigan, Villanova, or Kansas. And they're loving Loyola on the internet too. Visits to the school's website have increased by 400% over last year. That bump in visibility is also leading to a bump in applications, which is a similar experience to what other 11-seeds have experienced after making it this far. It doesn't hurt that they have Sister Jean too.

Sir Charles and Sister Jean

     One of the other big names in this year's NCAA Tournament is Charles Barkley. He's doing analysis, he's doing commercials, he's pretty much everywhere. And that may include hanging out with Sister Jean. Last weekend, the Round Mound of Rebound expressed his desire to hang out with the 98 year-old nun if Loyola made it to the Final Four. Well, lo and behold they did. And not just that, but Sister Jean heard about Chuck's invitation. She actually agrees, but she has a limitation: "I like him when he talks as a sports announcer very much, but I don't want to see him play on the basketball court." As long as this doesn't end with Sister Jean getting left in front of a craps table in San Antonio, I think we'll all be okay.

Miracle In the Net

     Not to be outdone by a college team, the Blackhawks have somehow managed to make a dent in the news cycle while playing out the string on a shockingly moribund season. And all they had to do was put an accountant in goal. Let me back up for a moment: the '17-'18 Blackhawks are one of the biggest conflagrations in Chicago history not triggered by Mrs. O'Leary. One big reason for this is a spate of injuries that have hit the team early and often. On this particular occasion, one of their goalies went down. They called a guy up from Rockford, but it turns out this wasn't enough, as this guy started not feeling well later on in the game. Luckily, the Hawks have a team of skilled amateur players who are at the United Center for each game who can act as emergency fill-ins for either team. The back-up goalie went down, the Hawks turned to their bullpen, and fortunately, someone answered. That someone was 36 year-old accountant Scott Foster, he was called out onto the ice, warmed up, and proceeded to stop all 7 of the shots he faced to close out the game. The game ends, Hawks win, Foster is mobbed by his new teammates, and he went back to work as an accountant today. Just a day in the life of a backup backup goalie.

Chicago's Newest Celebrity

     The Ramblers of Loyola have made a splash in the NCAA Tournament in the past month, and the fame has gone everywhere. But without a doubt, the most talked-about person in this tournament has to be Sister Jean. Jean Dolores-Schmidt started out as a Sister of charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1937. By 1961, she had moved to Chicago to join the staff of Mundelein College. Over the next 30 years, she plied her craft on the North Side. In 1991, Mundelein College was absorbed by Loyola University, and she was kept on at the institution. 1994 saw her become chaplain to the men's basketball team, and ever since then her fame has grown. In 2011 she was honored with her own bobblehead. 5 years after that, she was granted an honorary doctorate from the school.

     But all of that was just a warm-up for the past 3 weeks. Loyola entered the tournament as an 11-seed. But then they started winning. And they haven't stopped winning. Buzzer-beaters, blowouts, Sister Jean has been there for all of them. And that's not even counting the media coverage. The assistant Athletic Director has been deputized as Sister Jean's rep so as to sort through the mountain of requests for her time. On one day, her appearances were as varied as Good Morning America, WGN News, and ESPN. Add on the inevitable social media response, and Sister Jean is the newest celebrity of 2018. Who would've thought it would happen to a 98 year-old nun? I suppose the Lord DOES work in mysterious ways.