Last month, The Art Institute of Chicago…

“fired” all of it’s volunteers.  Mostly “well-to-do older white women,” to be exact.  They felt there were just “too many white women.”  Well trained, experienced, knowledgeable, greeters, tour guides, etc.  Now the jobs will go to other groups who will be paid to do the same thing the volunteers did.

I wonder how many white men are on the board, and if we can fire them?  We need diversity in every area, and I think we should start at the top.  It only makes sense.  But I suppose it’s easier to get rid of women, since no matter their color, or background, women are always treated as if they are disposable.

I hope they don’t fire the lions.

Photo: Dylan La Pierre
Unsplash

Chicago at night…a poem

Chicago
is a part of me
as I am part of Her
She’s majestic
beautiful
and strong
She never sleeps
and if you know how to
listen
you can hear the beating of
Her heart

 

Photo:  Benjamn Suter
Unsplash

Blah…this is from Google. We are mole people. Even our sunny days are 30% cloudy. There are no stats on cloudless sunny days because WE DON’T HAVE ANY.

How many cloudy days does Chicago have?

This includes the days when cloud covers up to 30% of the sky during daylight hours. Partly Sunny Days have cloud covering from 40% to 70% of the sky during the daytime.
…
Number of Sunny Days.

City	Chicago
Sunny Days	84
Partly Sunny Days	105
Total Days With Sun	189

Okay, so…

Every time I wonder why I’ve never lived anywhere but CHICAGO, I mean even the dinosaurs were confused, asking what the blond thing walking around was doing there– surviving the winters, and DARKNESS– I think…somewhere the sun is actually shining and it’s WARM.

So, today I was happy about the sun being out, and celebrating the hot 35 degree day, but I was also thinking about Holly telling me about the flowers BLOOMING where she lives.  I looked outside at the dirty snow and mud.  Hmmm…

Anyway, I was moving the dust around, pretending to clean (it’s hard to clean when one is always looking through books), and I picked up my favorite book on CHICAGO (see below).

I opened the book and immediately fell madly in love, just like I always do whenI see pictures of the city.  Not only that, the quotes all stuck in my throat, one on top of another, because they were perfect and they were the reasons I was here and they were…me.

It is possible to become the place you live.  When that happens, there is no difference between yourself and the city, or place.  Maybe most of us do that.  I think it’s true for those who love where they are.

Obama said, “Let me tell you something.  I’m from Chicago.  I don’t break.”

I read that and my heart fluttered, recognizing the truth of it.

Studs (Terkel) said, “Chicago is America’s dream, writ large and flamboyantly.  It has-as they used to whisper of the town’s fast women-a reputation. ”

Mike Royko said, “One of the hallmarks of Chicago is that we do so many things in an original manner.  What other city has made a river flow backwards?  What other city makes traffic flow backwards?”

Nelson Algren (he loved the city), said, “Chicago is an October sort of city, even in spring.”

Seriously, who could ever argue with THAT?”

Frank Lloyd Wright said, “Eventually, I think that Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the modern world.”

Those are just a couple of quotes that made me see the mud in a new way.  LOLOL  Okay, I would live in Paris for awhile, that’s true.  At least I think I would.  Maybe I wouldn’t like it there, if I had all the time in the world, instead of two weeks at a time, but I really can’t imagine that.

Anyway, this, book is beautiful and for those of you who want to see what Chicago looks like, from different angles, in all weather, from different photographers…you really need to see this.

Okay, so…

I just looked at Bored Panda and there was a thing on there about the Midwest.  I thought Chicago was in the midwest, but now I don’t think it is.  All the things they said about midwesterners were things I NEVER said, or ever heard.

I admit that we do think 47 degrees is practically summer and I also admit that we sometimes get excited when we see a cow.  Having said that, the cows we see are PAINTED and standing on MICHIGAN AVENUE getting their picture taken with tourists.  But I have seen a real cow in the “country,” on the way to somewhere else…like Wisconsin, or Geneva.   We do talk about the wind making everything colder, because IT DOES.  Pot holes are a given.

I don’t know what ope means.  No idea at all.  I don’t even know what 90% of the things on that site mean.  NO ONE EVER SAID, “Y’ALL. ” I’ve only heard it once, from someone who wasn’t from here.

I don’t know what it’s like downstate, or anywhere else, but after reading the post, I’m positive that Chicago, and her suburbs, are no longer part of the “Midwest.”  Seriously, different world completely.   COMPLETELY.  When we say our neighbor we DO MEAN THE PERSON A COUPLE OF FEET AWAY from our house/apartment, not two miles away.

And when they described the Midwestern states with one word…they left Illinois BLANK.  Hahahahaha  I’m not sure why.  Maybe they didn’t want to put down corrupt, or violent, or beautiful, or skyscrapers, or FABULOUS.  Whatever the reason…we got nothin’.  🙂

The one thing we do sometimes say is, “You guys.”  But they didn’t mention that.  I think that’s just a Chicago thing, or it was, when I was growing up.

Picture of Chicago from:  Pixabay

Third largest snowfall in Chicago history…the last picture is Emily’s house. It’s going to keep snowing until 11 p.m.

Snow…

We, in the Chicago area, are supposed to get 11, yes, ELEVEN more inches of snow, starting this afternoon around four.  That’s on top of the snow already on the ground.  And more is coming.

What fun.  Not!

A friend of mine called and said they are warning people that if they go out tonight to be sure and have food, water, blankets and a flashlight in their car.  It’s never a good thing to hear that.

Apparently Mother Nature has been playing with us, leading us to believe that this was going to be one of the best winters ever.  She started out with a fall ice storm and then calmed down and things have been blissful.  Now, however, she’s decided that she’s been nice long enough, and all bets are off.  Sigh.

It seems ridiculous that we can’t steer the planet. I mean then we could just turn it toward the SUN, once in awhile.  It only seems fair.  But no. The planet pretty much does whatever it feels like doing, and we’re just along for the ride.  I mean it’s not as if we can go anywhere else, right?  I still can’t believe we all live on a rock flying through space and all we do is kill everything.  How crazy are we?  Never mind, it was a rhetorical question.

Is it spring yet?

Photo:  Aditya Vyas
Unsplash

Sheep in the yard…

sheep in the yard

hard for a city kid
to imagine

there were no
wooly
ewes
or
lambs
grazing
when I looked
out of my window

not in
Chicago

no fuzzy friends
baaaaaaing
behind the
apartment buildings
or bungalows
not a single sheep
in any of the
alleys
or
standing on the
street

just squirrels
sitting on our laps
begging for
whatever we had
to eat

so squirrels
are the
ones
we loved

we would have loved
sheep too
if we had
had any

but all we ever had
were

squirrels

A few of Chicago’s giants…I LOVE them so much. (reblog from a couple of summers ago)

Image

Chicago…

All Chicago Public Schools will be virtual, at least in the beginning, and maybe for the entire year, depending on how they feel the safety situation is.  Kids are testing positive, so are teachers.  Apparently teachers were talking about striking (again), because they don’t feel it’s safe to bring kids into class rooms.

Catholic schools will be open.  Kind of like the people who won’t wear a mask.  They showed a classroom with tables pushed together and chairs all around it.  Right next to each other.  Not a good plan, at least not right now.

Many of the suburbs have closed grade and Jr high schools for the entire year.

The problems are enormous, to put it mildly.  I feel bad for everyone involved.  They have to get computers and internet service to low income kids and the logistics are, well, difficult at best.