via [ Slate ] Dairy of a 100-Year-Old Man by Leon Despres

A Haiku for My Doctors, Sept. 11, 2008

I have made my visit to my heart doctor. Last time he told me to come back in two months. Today, he says cheerfully: “You’re doing well. Come back in six months.”

Six months! That’s like getting a gold bond on my life. Not payable for six months, or later. I am exhilarated. I must rely on a whole set of physicians. Today’s lively medical send-off stimulates me to write a haiku with a modest pattern at the end:

I owe them all so very much,
My life and fun and sense of ease
And welcome freedom from disease
My…

Cardiologist
Dermatologist
Ophthalmologist

And my … me-di-cin-nal generalist.

Challenging the Daley Machine: A Chicago Alderman’s Memoir by Leon Despres
Book Review: Political war stories from a thorn in the side of Chicago’s famous Boss

In 1955, south-sider Leon Despres was elected to the Chicago City Council-the same year that Paddy Bauler famously uttered that “Chicago ain’t ready for reform.” Ready or not, Chicago got twenty years of reform efforts from Despres, one of the few independents in the council and the most liberal alderman in the city. His demand to cut out the corrupt sale of city driveway permits made him enemies from the very beginning. Over the years his crusades to ban discrimination, preserve Chicago landmark buildings, and gain equality for African-Americans-when Daley-beholden African-American council members refused to help-threw wrench after wrench into the Machine. And, not incidentally, changed the city. But Challenging the Daley Machine is more than a memoir. It’s a historical portrait of the way things were done under the Boss, when changing times and a changing city forced the Machine to confront the problems Despres championed. His battles against the seemingly monolithic Machine are also an inspiration to anyone who is facing long odds, but is convinced he/she is on the side of right.

[ Chicago Tribune ]

Over his 101 years, Leon Despres took artist Frida Kahlo to the movies, drove the first Mayor Daley to distraction, and fought a long and often lonely crusade for civil rights and political reform that saw African-Americans gain entry to the mayor’s office and the White House.

Despres, a former Chicago alderman, died of heart failure Wednesday in his Hyde Park apartment, said Kenan Heise, who collaborated with Despres on his 2005 memoir….

During his 20 years on the City Council, he lost many more battles than he won against Richard J. Daley and the Democratic machine. When the mayor lost patience with the 5th Ward alderman, he simply turned off Despres’ microphone, said William Singer, a North Side independent alderman in the 1970s.

Yet the city has moved closer to much of what Despres fought for — fair elections and an end to patronage and segregation. Singer said younger Chicagoans may not realize how much the best of the city today reflects Despres’ legacy.

“For those of us who followed him to the City Council, he taught us that it was important for us to raise the issues even if we were sure to lose,” said Singer, who also ran for mayor against Richard J. Daley

Read more: Leon Despres, 1908-2009: Chicago alderman challenged elder Mayor Daley — chicagotribune.com.

Thomas Regional