Today's Chicago Tip

11.20.2009


Eyebrow: 
High Five: Madiem Kawa

Leader of the Park

The Bite:
If you see Madiem Kawa with a gang of kiddos around Washington Park, give her a high five. This volunteer steward devotes up to 30 hours a week to Chicago's oldest park, whether it's leading cleanups or bird ID walks; coordinating an outdoor education camp with her nonprof, the Washington Park Conservancy; or planting and tending trees as a trained TreeKeeper. Earlier this year, Madiem quit her 20-year IT gig to manage the MSI's Smart Home garden. We cruised by for a chat.
What can Washington Park offer visitors in late fall?
Madiem: Our red oaks, sugar maples, and Catalpas are really colorful in fall. The American linden is gold right now, and pretty still in winter, when you can really see the reddish hue of its branches. We've also got painted turtles and winter birds like cardinals - and I recently saw a red-tailed hawk.

Have you found anything interesting in your park cleanups?
Madiem: Oh my gosh, if you go through my Facebook account, you'll see that last March was especially bad. I took a photo of the trash because there was so much, including a machete. Plus, the usual chairs, tables, clothes, and bottles. We find everything but the kitchen sink in there, especially after the snow melts.

If you were a superhero, who would you be?
Madiem: I guess Nature Woman, or just someone with an eco-friendly cape. [Laughs.] I'd like to teach people how to get back to nature. When I take kids on a nature walk, they just love it. I think it's an instinct for everyone.
Wanna Try: 
When she's not at the park (learn more about volunteering here), you can find Madiem baking bread in a communal wood-burning oven at Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave.

Washington Park - Map It
Experimental Station - Map It

Small Changes Add Up

If 10,000 Chicago Biters pick up five pieces of trash from a park, we'll keep the weight of 67 motorcycle riders in trash from blowing into rivers.
 

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