Chicago and a huge reason not to live here…

According to the weatherpeople, we have had 2, yes TWO days of full sun, ALL SPRING.  We are mole people.  Blah.

Photo:  Pixabay

Chicago is 185 years old, TODAY.

Image

From the expressway…traffic was…gaper’s block. I love how the buildings/skyscrapers sneak up on one and look like Lego structures, from so far away.

 

Sunrise…neon…words.

life is like
sunrise
in Chicago
you know the sun is there
but you can’t
see
or touch it
the sun
a huge
flaming star
can’t seem to burn it’s way
through the clouds
and if you listen carefully
you can hear the clouds
laughing as they spread
their darkness over the land
and life
by the way
is nothing more than an
IDEA
it’s not something
you can hold in your hand
or point to
life is ethereal
it’s something
we collectively
agree exists
so life is what we call
whatever this is
we’re doing
because humans
hate to admit
they don’t have
a clue
as to what’s
really going on

 

Picture:  Pixabay

CHICAGO…in the summer.

Photo:  Deborah L. Carlson
Unsplash

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