William Thompson Scholarship Award

On May 12, 2006 I was awarded the Prairie State College Photo Society's William Thompson Scholarship Award of Photographer of the Year for this project. I will receive a $1,500 scholarship and will be featured at the Christopher Art Gallery Student Art Show on the College’s main campus, 202 S. Halsted St., in Chicago Heights. The opening reception will be on August 31, 2006 from 4:30 to 7:30pm. Please see sidebar for information on the Christopher Art Gallery and directions to Prairie State College.

904 E. CLINTON ST.

904 E. Clinton St. is my personal photographic investigation of my Uncle Paul’s house. Uncle Paul (Calcanas ) was my Mother’s oldest brother. I had lunch with Uncle Paul on his 89th and last birthday, November 1, 2004. As usual, I had my camera with me. Uncle Paul made it clear to me that he did not want any kind of pictorial remembrance of himself at his funeral. He must have known his time was near. He passed away on November 30, 2004. Upon speaking with my cousin Bobby, after the services, I felt a need to preserve a piece of my Mom’s family history through photographs. My inspiration came from a story Bobby told my about Uncle Paul having told him that he had had a party two nights before he passed. Remnants of the party were 3 cups of hot chocolate on the kitchen table. Uncle Paul said that he had made it for his guests and was quite frustrated that they did not drink it. Some of the guests he named had already passed before him. I was moved by the idea that Uncle Paul might have had some form of contact with them as he prepared to join them. The thought of this made me want to preserve the table and the house, as they were. I knew that eventually the house would be sold and I would no longer be able to visit that part of my past; what I remember first to be Gramma and Grampa’s. It was not until I was well into my twenties that I learned that Uncle Paul actually owned the house. So, in the spring of 2005 I began my quest.

Uncle Paul returned home to Joliet, IL after WWII where he was stationed in New Mexico then France. He worked on the railroad during his tour in the army. He and his brother Poncho (Frank) bought a house. They moved their family (my grandmother, grandfather, my mother and my Aunt Connie) into the home with them. My grandparents moved here to the US from Mexico as, legal imigrants, in 1920 . They were a close family (they had seven children) and took care of each other. My grandfather was legally blind and could no longer work. I remember his glasses were so thick, his eyes looked as big as the lenses. My Uncle Paul and Uncle Poncho helped support the family.

My Mother married my Father in 1954, and they moved to their own home. My Uncle Poncho married and moved to California in 1958. Uncle Paul never married. Instead he stayed at home and took care of my grandparents and my Aunt Connie (who had also never married). She had twins, Christina and Robert (“Tina and Bobby twice” we called them when we were little). My Aunt Connie was my Mother’s best friend. And Tina and Bobby were the same age as my brother Phil and I. Consequently we spent a lot of time at the house with them. Grampa passed in 1975 and Gramma in 1984. Uncle Paul continued to look after Aunt Connie, Tina and Bobby. When Aunt Connie passed in 1998 Uncle Paul remained a father figure to her children. He was a quiet man with a good sense of humor (“Right on” he would say to me). He could sit in the middle of the living room in his easy chair on Christmas Eve with a house full of people, kids bouncing off the walls and blocking the TV; and never lost his cool. He was everybody’s Uncle Paul, even those to whom he had no relation.

This exploration of 904 E. Clinton St. is a look back at what I remember about it and the people in it. It is meant to remind me of my family, where I come from and who I am. I have memories about everything that is pictured, and some things that are not there where they once were. There are images of some places, that as a child, I rarely or never saw. There are images of things I haven’t seen since I was a child. There are images of things that belonged to those who lived in the house. There are images of things I saw every time I went to the house, things that I never thought twice about; till I am faced with the fact that I will never see them again. The house is now sold. And a new family will begin to create their own memories at 904 E. Clinton St.

Please join me as I take one last look at what once was, and always will be, a part of me.

Uncle Paul's House

I can still see my Gramma sitting on the front porch in her rocking chair. The house use to be pink. That was Gramma’s choice. It wasn’t till Gramma was gone that Uncle Paul (we called him UP) painted the house blue.

904

The front porch always looked so big when we were little. We played on the porch a lot and sometimes sat with Gramma and watched the neighborhood. If we were lucky we got to see the mailman.

Front Door Windows

Why do senior citizens always cover their windows on the front door? And why did UP choose paper with angels on it?

UP's Chair

A man and his chair. What more can I say? Within a few weeks before his passing UP said to my cousin Bobby “I can’t get any sleep around here. Every time I fall asleep in the chair your Mother keeps tapping me on the shoulder and telling me “Come on, let’s get going.” Was she there to see him to the other side?

Stovetop

Gramma and Aunt Connie were the cooks in the family. There was always something good cooking. When I was in high school I used to work at the grocery store at the end of the block. Aunt Connie used to stop in to shop and would always ask what time was my break so she could have hot food waiting for me. I can still smell the tacos as I entered through the back door to the kitchen.

Hot Chocolate

The image that began my quest and ended my physical connection to this part of my past. Now all I have are my memories and a treasure of images to bring me back to them. I wonder if UP knew he would very soon be joining his guests in the afterlife? Did he know what it really meant when Aunt Connie was tapping him on the shoulder and telling him “Let’s get going”?

Grampa's Chair

When we would go over to he house we usually found Grampa sitting in his chair in the kitchen. Kissing him hello and goodbye always involved a good whisker rub. After Grampa passed Gramma put a plant in his place at the kitchen table because she didn’t want anyone to sit on Grampa.

Hats and Coats

UP always wore baseball hats. He had a lot of hats. I always got a kick out of them.

Cookie Jar

The cookie jar was Gramma’s but it was Aunt Connie who saw that it stayed filled with delicious cookies. Homemade! Not those lousy store bought things they call cookies. Aunt Connie was a fabulous baker. She used to make poticia every Christmas and Easter and sell it at the grocery store where I worked in highschool. And every Easter she put together, for every family, a tray wrapped with cellophane. Inside were either a bunny or lamb cake, and lots of candy and homemade cookies. I really miss that.

Bathroom Cabinet

It looks so barren and lonely now. When I was a kid it was always piled with stuff (Kleenex, hair brushes, combs, mirrors, tweezers, toothpaste & brushes, etc…) You couldn't even see the windowsill. Six people shared this small 5x7 bathroom with only a tub, and no shower.

Doorknob

This was the doorknob to the basement door. I always thought it was pretty ornate for a basement door. I remember going to the basement to get toys. It was an old wet musty basement, and scary as a kid. I can still see the clothes washer in the middle of the floor at the bottom of the stairs. We thought it was cool to put the clothes through the hand ringer. My Mom tells stories of how Grampa used to make his own beer in the basement. Funny how a bottle or two blew their caps and Grampa had to drink it so it wouldn’t go bad. I wonder if Gramma knew he loosened the caps?

Tina's Bike

I remember we all had cool bikes when we were kids; complete with banana seats, sissy bars and chopper style handle bars with tassels, and baseball cards clipped to the bike to make it sound loud. We never left their neighborhood, but we sure looked good. I can’t believe it’s still there in the basement after 30 years.

Birdhouses

Sometime after UP retired from his second job driving cars for a dealership, he use to putts in his wood working shop in the basement. He really got into making birdhouses and giving them away. I have one in my backyard. He never finished these two. I found them in his workshop right where he left them.

UP's Workshop

When I was a kid, we weren’t allowed in UP’s workshop. I work about five minutes from UP’s house now. Sometimes I would stop by for a visit and find UP in the basement working on his wood projects or organizing his workspace.

7UP Door Handle

UP bartended for many years; besides his job with the Rock Island Railroad. He might have gotten this from Uncle Marco’s tavern where he worked. It was there on the back door for as long as I can remember. I remember the night my parents had gotten a call in the middle of the night. Someone had attempted to rob the tavern and shot UP’s index finger off during the robbery. UP also lost a baby finger on his other hand in a work accident. He used to pretend to put it up his nose and wiggle it to make us kids laugh. It always worked. What can I say; we were so easy.

Brick Sidewalk

The terra cotta brick sidewalk runs across the front of the house; and also went from the back of the house all the way out to the garages. It always looked so nice and groomed. I remember I would always look down at it as I walked. I liked the pattern the rectangles and circles created. It is now buried under earth and weeds showing it’s age and mine.

Gramma's Peonies

Gramma always had beautiful gardens. Next to the house stood her statue of the Virgin Mary. Gramma wasn’t much for organized religion. She believed He lived in your heart. She always had a rosary handy. She must have gotten that from her days growing up in the convent.

Swing Set

We had a lot of fun on that thing as kids. Where it sits now used to be our baseball field. The hedge behind it marked a HOMER! It was only about 30 feet from home plate, and we still had a hard time reaching it. I can still hear us yelling
“I T ” S A H O M E R U N!”

Grampa's Sharpening Wheel

We used to take turns riding Grampa’s sharpening wheel like a horse. We must have been practicing for when my Dad took us horseback riding. Or maybe we wanted to be cowboys.

The Outhouse

This was Grampa’s outhouse by his workshop in the garage. We used to think it was cool to use it even though we were not supposed to. I guess we thought we were pretending to live in the old days before UP put a bathroom in the house.