| What | With this Source Card collaborative production, we examine the unique characteristics of our urban neighborhoods, including their unique histories, events and residents. |
|---|---|
| When | We will examine past, present and future states of these neighborhoods in attempt to gain a better understanding of how these neighborhoods originally developed and evolved through the years. |
| Who | As part of this collaborative series, we will also examine the residents of these neighborhoods, including early immigrants to present day inhabitants, and their corresponding influence and impact to our urban communities. |
| Why | In order to more fully understand some of the complexities of our urban centers, we must understand their neighborhoods, including the evolution of those neighborhoods and their residents. And, of course, we plan to incorporate some of these related themes into our ongoing comic series, Back of the Yards, with your collaborations. |
“Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker,
Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders”
Ahh, Chicago. The city from which this modest little collaborative comic project was born. A city of neighborhoods as diverse as the residents that inhabit within.
The very idea of this comic was born on a bus ride home by its project founder one winter’s evening, and from there, would evolve into a fully formed comic by fusing the ideas of participating Chicago urban youth with the ideas and illustration of local Chicago artists.
As with all collaborations, we start by urging you to first get an old-fashioned pen (or pencil) and paper in hand. It is with this type of brainstorming that often you will encounter your creative breakthroughs and even more practically, taking notes will help you to organize and summarize your thoughts.
We have also created a Collaborative Workbook [INSERT PDF LINK] for your convenience if helpful, which you can access here by clicking below.
In many ways, Chicago represents the “Ordinary World” from which this collaborative comic project was born. In fact, this comic series central storyline takes place in a fictional neighborhood called “Back of the Yards” which is loosely based on the real Chicago neighborhood located in the South Side of the city.
More on that later, but first we present you with a quick introduction to what we mean when we refer to the “Ordinary World” by introducing you to a storytelling framework called the Hero’s Journey.
As we will cover much more separately as part of this collabroative project, the Hero’s Journey is a story template where a hero leaves their “ordinary world” for an adventure, faces trials and tribulations in a special world, and then returns transformed with a new wisdom or gift for their community. In in its most common form, the Hero’s Journey can be described in 12 stages (as shown below). Key stages include Departure from the “Ordinary World,” where the hero receives a call to adventure and leaves their known world; Initiation, the core of the journey with trials, allies, and a decisive victory or ordeal; and Return, where the hero comes back to their ordinary world, often with a boon that benefits others.
It is this story template that we will build our own comic collaboratively going forward. In doing so, we will provide you more detail on influential creative pioneers like Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler. For now, we will just focus on that very first stage of the Hero’s Journey story template tool – the Ordinary World.
The Ordinary World is the very beginning of the Hero’s Journey. It is, as its name suggests, the setting from which the Hero is going through his or her daily life before their “Call to Adventure.” For Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, this setting was Luke’s family farm on the planet of Tatooine.
The movie, Black Panther, begins with an introduction to that comic story’s Ordinary World which began thousands of years ago in the nation of Wakanda within the continent of Africa. It was there that five African tribes warred over a meteorite containing the metal vibranium. One warrior ingests a "heart-shaped herb" affected by the metal and gains superhuman abilities, becoming the first "Black Panther" and ultimately setting the stage for the eventual Call to Adventure of the story’s hero – T’Challa.
But that movie’s Hero’s Journey storyline all starts with the introduction to the movie’s Ordinary World, which you can see here by clicking below.
In contrast to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars or T’Challa in the Black Panther, our comic’s first main character Andre is living his “ordinary” life as a young man in a fictional neighborhood called the “Back of the Yards,” which we loosely based on the real-life Back of the Yards neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago.
The real Back of the Yards neighborhood extends from 39th to 55th Streets between Halsted and the railroad tracks along Leavitt Street in Chicago, and was until the 1950’s the largest livestock yards and meatpacking center in the country. Attracting the attention of novelists and activists alike through much of the 20th century.
And in many ways, the real Back of the Yards neighborhood is symbolic of so many of our nation’s urban centers. An influx of European immigrants looking for a better life, back when manufacturing jobs were plentiful. Followed closely by an influx of African-American migrants from the rural South. All creating a vibrant melting pot of cultures unique to our nation’s great urban centers.
Of course, those once plentiful jobs would soon begin to disappear due to economic forces beyond the control of those early residents. Steel would leave Cleveland. The auto industry would soon begin to abandon Detroit. A general exodus of manufacturing from Baltimore. It was just a different version of the same story for many of our nation’s urban centers.
And in the Back of the Yards’ case, it was the stockyards that would leave Chicago, leaving behind economic strain for those who could not also depart to the suburbs or elsewhere.
As part of Issue 1 of our new comic Back of the Yards series, we developed a short comic feature about the Real Back of the Yards, which we hope to replicate over time for different neighborhoods and their respective histories and residents, both within Chicago and beyond.
This short Back of the Yards comic feature, appearing in the supplement of Issue 1, was written by the project’s Creative Director, Len Kody, and illustrated by participating artist Dan Dougherty, and draws inspiration from a book called The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, who spent seven weeks in the Chicago Stockyards (what is now the real Back of the Yards neighborhood) in 1904.
What remains at the Chicago Back of the Yards neighborhood today is a diverse, vibrant working-class neighborhood known for its strong Latinx community and deep roots in the city’s industrial past. While the area still faces challenges like poverty, aging infrastructure, and crime, it’s also seeing grassroots revitalization through community-led efforts and developments like the United Yards project. Local organizations are active in youth programs, housing support, and cultural events, helping preserve neighborhood pride.
And it is that tapestry of people, personalities and life experiences that makes every city and community special. The food they serve and eat. The history that betrays itself through each neighborhood’s architecture, giving clues about its residents and their journeys, both personal and ancestral.
And it’s also that same tapestry that may help us to continue to build upon our own fictional Back of the Yards neighborhood for our comic series. It’s in that context that we wanted to facilitate this Studio Card collaborative series, Neighborhoods & Their Residents working with participating youth, artists and others, to create comic content for our Back of the Yards comic series based on some of the unique characteristics of their neighborhoods.
Within this collaboration series, we will continue to explore different neigborhoods and communities throughout America, both urban and rural, with a look into their residents, their histories and culture. And with that context, our hope is that over time, we will be able to work with youth collaboratively to create future short comic features exploring some of those neighborhoods and their histories.
As we opened this Studio Card page with, Chicago is a city of neighborhoods—each with its own unique character, history, and community. From the vibrant murals of Pilsen to the historic brownstones of Bronzeville, every corner of the city tells a story through its residents. These neighborhoods are more than just places on a city map; they’re home to generations of families, local businesses, cultural traditions, and everyday moments that define life in Chicago. Just as with every city and community. And in this video, we join Peter Santenello as he explores some of these diverse communities and how they shape the heartbeat of the city.
With this collaboration, you will have an opportunity to develop our comic's "Ordinary World" - the fictional Back of Yards comic neighborhood. You can help us to this by submitting to us places and residents from your own neighborhoods.
Especially creative submissions will be chosen for further development with the Made Collaborative team and inclusion in our comic book series, starting with the next Back of the Yards issue.
We'll also invite some collaborators to take part in our livestream sessions over Zoom.
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book. iPad/iPhone users, submit images from FILES (NOT from Photo Library).
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Collaborate with professional artists by contributing some artwork of your own! Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
