Heidi Kriz comment-17908 2009-11-17T23:13:09Z 2009-11-17T23:13:09Z Nice job, William Burg, et al! William, I could tell you were a stand-up guy, and then some. Cheers, Heidi Heidi Kriz 2009-11-17T23:13:09Z Heidi Kriz comment-17714 2009-11-13T13:20:09Z 2009-11-13T13:20:09Z I'll keep your intelligent criticisms in mind in the future. And bravo for having the guts to identify yourself by name and face. Heidi Kriz 2009-11-13T13:20:09Z Heidi Kriz comment-17498 2009-11-08T09:35:45Z 2009-11-08T09:35:45Z Points well taken. I have learned my lessons.Thank you, William Burg. Cheers, Kriz Heidi Kriz 2009-11-08T09:35:45Z Heidi Kriz comment-17387 2009-11-06T16:20:23Z 2009-11-06T16:20:23Z Hi readers, First please all forgive me each and every one of you, if I sounded snarky in any of my responses to your postings, adn thank you all, whether you liked the peice or not , for reading it. It's actually my first time, in 24 years of being a journalist, on and offline, that I have been the subject of so much varied and substantial, public critiques on ANYTHING I have ever written, which was a little surprising to me, since, in my opinion, I have written and published far more flawed and controversial pieces, without drawing this level of criticism. So I am new at this posting "discourse," and may come off a little rough at it. However, I found that the complimentary postings kind and even over-flattering, and the critical ones; often useful; it's true, I should have written more about Oak Park and less about Africa. But as I said, then I sat down to write the piece, the associations between my experiences in the two places, and my so-called awakenings, to these two locales and their residents were very similar; so Africa snuck in more than was perhaps appropriate as a related subject. Nevertheless, I was never bragging about my world travels. In fact, I ended up in South Africa as a freelancer, because, after i graduated from journalism school, I had no interesting, job offers made to me at a liveable wage. So on the casual suggestion of a South African classmate of mine, I headed to SA, without contacts of job assurances of any kind. it was by sheer luck and the largesse of strangers that I survived there at all. Also, I made many many mistakes, especially in the beginning. Luckily, people forgave me as a novice who had no real credentials and i was able to eventually earn most people's respect. Again, being depressed, and unproductive, for years on end, after coming home from Africa prematurely as a result of my own, reckless behavior, is nothing to brag about. I am ashamed as to how long it took me to shake off those bad times and ill health. Now, I am simply grateful to be relatively healthy again, and productive adn useful to my friends and family and hopefully, my community. And with that, I think this will be my last posting regarding this story. Thank you all, critics adn fans alike, for bothering to read it. I wish you luck in your own endeavors. Heidi Kriz 2009-11-06T16:20:23Z Heidi Kriz comment-17366 2009-11-06T05:36:04Z 2009-11-06T05:36:04Z I have a suggestion, sir. Since I am obviously not familiar with all the "awful" things you are about Oak Park, why don't YOU write about them? Heidi Kriz 2009-11-06T05:36:04Z Heidi Kriz comment-17365 2009-11-06T05:34:32Z 2009-11-06T05:34:32Z Thanks for your kind words. The "Africa" part may still become a book, God or Allah or whomever, willing. And I agree with you about the "urban myth" of Oak Park; it is probably one of the safest neighborhoods I've ever lived in. Thanks again! Heidi Kriz 2009-11-06T05:34:32Z Heidi Kriz comment-17339 2009-11-05T23:15:59Z 2009-11-05T23:15:59Z Umm, Doggytrio (what?), I agree with you that there could have been more on Oak Park and less on Africa. (Though as I tried to explain in previous postings, my associations with Oak Park are very reminiscent of my associations with Africa. But no matter.) But I fervently disgree with the assertion that any of my reporting is inaccurate; you can contact any of my named sources and ask them yourself. In fact, I encourage you to. Also, are you yourself a resident of Oak Park? Perhaps you are, and that explains your vigorous concern about its representation. I hope you are, maybe I'll get to meet you someday, even randomly, the way I have so many new friends here. I don't now how I'd recognize you though, because you have no photo ID. Perhaps you'd be the girl walking three dogs? And what would i call you? DoggyTrio? Please, keep those comments coming... Heidi Kriz 2009-11-05T23:15:59Z Heidi Kriz comment-17338 2009-11-05T23:08:41Z 2009-11-05T23:08:41Z Okay geebomb, I apologize profusely about getting the name of the new coffee shop wrong; at least I managed to remember the "soul," part which seem to be the point to this and all conversations. As for Starbuck's pulling out of Oak Park, I don't think I ever suggested otherwise, and I don't know or care about the politics. All I know is that the neighborhood folks i have talked to about it all LOVE the idea of having an "Old Soul," around the corber from them. And for those diehard Starbucks types, there is still after all another Starbucks right down the way, on Stockton, I believe, for those who really need their fix. Are you someone who falls into that category? Or are you an employee of Starbucks? Either way, your adamancy over such a small point in my story confounds me. But please, fell free to find more to complain about....hint: I welcome the useful, interesting, relevant form of criticism, geebomb... --Kriz Heidi Kriz 2009-11-05T23:08:41Z Heidi Kriz comment-17336 2009-11-05T22:52:34Z 2009-11-05T22:52:34Z Great story. Good on ya. So, what is your name and what do you look like? --Kriz Heidi Kriz 2009-11-05T22:52:34Z Heidi Kriz comment-17306 2009-11-05T06:22:52Z 2009-11-05T06:22:52Z Sorry, Waldorfandstatler (and I may i politely and respectfully suggest that if you have the balls to comment on public on someone's very personal, very trying tale, that you use our own name and photo to do so.) I personally stand by everything I have ever published; even when I know I have fallen short, in spite of my best abilities, time constraints and intentions. I always strive for (though don't always achieve) balance, fairness and relevance. If you do not find any of these things in my writing than may I suggest what most people would do - stop reading it; and even better, contribute something of your own, besides an anonymous blog critique. Good luck with expressing your opinions anywhere and everywhere you choose; though I guarantee you, people will take them a lot more seriously if you unmask yourself. Heidi Kriz 2009-11-05T06:22:52Z Heidi Kriz comment-17245 2009-11-04T22:04:26Z 2009-11-04T22:04:26Z Thanks for your insighful observation, Casey. I guarantee you ALL, I had NO intention of "preening," or "bragging" about my "world travels" (in fact, I only mentioned southern Africa; I could have added a lot more to the list, but it wasn't relevant to the correlation. What I WAS trying to do was to make a comparison between the kind of of awakening to the world around me, whether it is here in Oak Park, or someplace like South Africa, after having been quite cut-off. (In fact, before I went to South Africa I was very sick for two years with an undiagnosed auto-immune disorder. The only reason i didn't mention that relative similarity in comparisons is that I was concerned that there were a lot of people out there who weren't interested in hearing about "me." Apparently, i was right. So be it. I don't really care. I still stand by the belief that through my "sufffering," my depression, insularity and physical ailments, was I able to finally come out of that coma-like existance and respond to a unique place like Oak Park, and South Africa, very different, but very similar locales in a lot of important ways. For those of you who think I was "bragging," all you have to do is ask anyone around me for the last five or so years how I felt about my "fall from grace," and you might call it something else. Like gratitude. Which is what I call it. Heidi Kriz 2009-11-04T22:04:26Z Heidi Kriz comment-17206 2009-11-04T06:34:57Z 2009-11-04T06:34:57Z Thanks. All your comments are welcome and embarassingly over-flattering. But I'll take them, nonetheless... Heidi Kriz 2009-11-04T06:34:57Z Heidi Kriz comment-17205 2009-11-04T06:32:37Z 2009-11-04T06:32:37Z Sorry you feel that way. The point I was trying to make was that the long overdue awakening I had to the potential of the current Oak Park was very, very much like that I had to the "new "South Africa. Having lived for a while in NYC, I DID think I was worldly-wise when I first went to SA, then I found out I was wrong, that the place and the people, though in a state of flux, and chaos, had a lot to teach me. i could not have recognized one experience without the other. Besides, technically, iI don't think "preening" describes getting depressed, physically maimed and becoming embarassingly unproductive, which is what I was for a very long time. And finally, I am emerging from it from those conditions, in thanks much to the joys of discovering the unique, diverting qualitites of Oak Park. I think if you travelled the world some more (you don't seem to have yet) you might feel the same way about your current hometown versus an exotic, unknown, locale. Heidi Kriz 2009-11-04T06:32:37Z Heidi Kriz comment-17186 2009-11-03T22:18:22Z 2009-11-03T22:18:22Z Read the second part of this story here: http://sacramentopress.com/headline/17145/Whither_Oak_Park_Part_2 Heidi Kriz 2009-11-03T22:18:22Z