SEMI-PUBLIC ART

My high school in the Chi, Lane Technical High School, aka School of Champions, has a fantastic collection of WPA-era art distributed throughout the first floor. The Sun-Times ran a story today about a rediscovered mural from the pre-WPA era that the school thought had been lost.

The coolest thing about this art is that when you go to Lane is slowly seeps into your brain. They did not ever teach us about the art, but over the four years I was at Lane, I learned about history, politics, and culture from the paintings. They were like a background to all sorts of things I was learning. Nobody would ever pay to have this sort of educational background noise now, and we are worse off for it.

By the way, Lane's page says that

Lane holds deeply to traditions established 90 years ago. Maintaining its high goals and ideals, Lane retains the majority of all athletic championships, many Illinois High School Association titles, and has a college attendance rate of 85%. Its music program has provided the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with many players. More Ph.D's have graduated from Lane than any other high school in the nation.

I don't know if that is true, but we kick ass anyway.