Rich Conversations: 002. Karlita Williams
Show notes from episode 002 of Rich Conversations with Karlita Williams. Answers are cut down to fit into writing format.
How long have you lived in Chicago?
I’ve lived in Chicago for the first twenty-two years of my life, and I have not lived in Chicago for one year.
What’s your neighborhood like?
My family’s from Chatham, which is south side. Chance the Rapper is probably the person people know most from there. I lived there till I was probably eight. Then we moved up north in Uptown. And now my mom lives in Ravenswood.
Chatham I don’t really know. I know what it looks like on TV. I was there as a kid. I know we’d have to drive to a nice park – where there weren’t any needles.
Uptown was cool. I liked Uptown a lot. It was one of the few brown neighborhoods up north. It’s really diverse in like the groups of brown folks. I met a lot of people that were from Nigeria or from Ghana. A lot of Ethiopian. And American black folks. I always had a nice place to get my hair cut.
Ravenswood’s cool. Ravenswood is so close but so different. There were no brown folks there. Much more of strollers and yoga kind of neighborhood. The Metra station goes the length of that neighborhood. You could go to a lot of places from there. It’s also weird to say, but it was kind of a food desert. Now they have Mariano’s.
If you have an open Saturday, how would you choose to spend it?
Um. There are so many fun things I’d love to do. Especially in the summer. Obviously Chicago summers are the best. You gotta hit up the street festivals on every street. That’s where I buy all my wooden earrings. Nice Saturday morning, I’ll hang out with my mom. Bam. Then, meet up with some friends. I’ll bring one friend then run into eighteen I haven’t seen since high school. Either I’m feeling like a good East Room party night or something nice and casual. Like a little cocktail bar, like Violet Hour. Or I’ll go to my favorite bar, Lincoln Station.
When you think of Chicago, what colors do you imagine first?
Okay, so I’m picturing a real nice bright green. I feel like the Chicago that I’m seeing is the Chicago I’m seeing from downtown from one of the tall buildings, like the Fine Arts Building. I’m picturing the blue water and all the trees.
What’s your proudest moment as a Chicagoan?
I played a show with a band called Whitney in Millennium Park. There were between ten and fourteen thousand people. The funny thing is – playing concerts for 40 people would make me nervous, but playing in front of thousands of people was less stressful. Everyone could hear me play. I’m going to be doing it again this weekend at Pitchfork with the same band.
What’s your hidden gem in the city?
The Fine Arts Building. Also, the Harold Washington Library – the atrium and YouMedia, the teen center.
What sound do you most affiliate with Chicago? What music influenced you the most during your time in the city?
The little di-di-di-di on the L. It’d really annoy me when the trains don’t have the same pitch. It’s creepy.
Most of my friends are artists. I often find myself doing slam poetry or hip-hop. People in brown communities representing things I care about. It’s a group that I can closely identify with.
What’s a common scene you see in your daily interaction with the city?
A thing that I love to see is like old folks, who’ve lived in the neighborhood forever, see each other and get excited. They hand shake or hug. I want to be that person who’s been on this block for 50 years.
If you were given secret information that Chicago were to be destroyed in one week, what’s one quality you would keep to rebuild the city?
The grid system. That’s all I care about. It’s the best thing ever. I’m so good at directions. You can know where everything is. That’s what everyone else is lacking.
What one thing would you do to improve your neighborhood? And the city as a whole?
It would probably be Chatham. It would be the inequality of resources in general. Chicago is known for segregation of people, but the segregation of resources is a big thing. Even if you just drive from the south side you’ll notice the streets aren’t being taken care of in the same way. That one year they shut down 55 schools in only brown neighborhoods. There’s a bunch of reasons why these things happen. I want it to be possible for a neighborhood to improve without gentrification as the reason.
Better transportation for all, especially on the south side. It doesn’t go far enough.
When people learn you’re from Chicago, how do they respond and what’s your reaction?
Anywhere you go outside of Chicago or the Midwest, people talk about how cold it is. Is this what everyone thinks? I thought it’d be like the same in New York, but when my mom sent me pictures of the weather in Chicago, I realized it’s not.
When you feel overwhelmed or need a mental escape but can’t leave the city, where do you go to clear your mind?
Winnemac Park. It’s beautiful. They have this nice little trail and weeping willow trees. Or Welles Park. I don’t describe myself as an outdoor nature person, but I do love outside in the city.
Within the past five years of living here, what personal realization has improved your outlook on life the most?
When I moved to New York, I realized there are different kinds of people. I met accountants. I had been so comfortable in my Chicago bubble that I didn’t realize there’s another kind of diversity. I didn’t learn that until I left Chicago, but now I’ll be more aware when I come back.
What’s something you dream of accomplishing within the next five years?
I’ll be back for sure. I’ll know what I want to do. My ideas are changing. Hopefully I’ll be doing grad school by then. I would like to do something education or communication related. Gettin’ ready to do this career thing. Maybe I’ll have a cute boyfriend.