in the windy city

Here I am, in the windy city.

[inthewindycity]

Fog over Millenium Park at the Glen Hansard concert, June 10, 2013

[inthewindycity]

The Damen bus

Oh, the Damen bus... so conveniently-routed, but so infrequent that I've come to think of it as a secretive, elusive species of, say, migratory bird. Or maybe a large, shy grassland creature. Sightings are to be prized. Here are a few of my favorite encounters: 

Safety in numbers: 

Running away!!: 

Hiding behind a tree:

Beating a hasty northbound retreat: 

[inthewindycity]

John Hancock Building, May 27

[inthewindycity]

A Sticky Situation

A strange development has occurred in Streeterville. 

All the floral arrangements have sticks in them. You know, like tree things. 

Apparently, having flowers with sticks in them is a high-rise apartment building's ticket to fitting in with all the other bland, depressing high-rise apartment buildings down there. You want to have an air of luxury? Flowers with sticks. Jacked up rent? Flowers with sticks. Fake sense of community? Flowers with sticks. 

Whose idea was this? Who decided to go along with this? Do other cities do this, or just Chicago? Is this actually fashionable? Should I be putting sticks in all of my flowers? 

(This one is mostly pardonable, because these sticks are pussy willows.)

But these are just sticks: 

[inthewindycity]

CITY LIVING WITH RAHM EMANUEL

Did you know that Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, lives in Ravenswood?

Or, at least, owns a house here, though the precise location of where he gets his forty winks is disputed. 

(Exciting news: Blago also lives here! I am thrilled by the thought of possibly running into him and his hair. Inshallah, there will be a Blago sighting sometime in the future.) 

Anyway, if the MAYOR of the city lives in Ravenswood, that automatically makes this THE BEST neighborhood, right? Yes. 

I certainly think so. Thus, this is the first in a series of posts entitled CITY LIVING WITH RAHM EMANUEL. In this series I will try to convey all the reasons that Rahm (and I) choose to call Ravenswood home. 

Reason number 1: Winnemac Park

Just lovely, don't you think? 

[inthewindycity]

Today was Chicago's first hot day. The heat here is hazy and relentless; it rolls in from the farmlands to the west, beats down from the whole sky and rises from the pavement. The weather here, both in winter and summer, has a large, inevitable feeling. 

[inthewindycity]

Winnemac Park is one of my favorite places in Chicago, ESPECIALLY now that it's beautiful outside. I love the dogs, the kids, the bicycling popsicle sellers, the little league games.