#90s chicago

[loungin]

[chicagoinapastlife]

Not to embarrass this young couple, who just got married at the Chicago City Hall, and who have long since divorced (my mom and brother’s dad), but to enjoy the pretty fountains and gloomy, yuppie business era 80′s architecture *2020 edit: I now understand this architecture is called “brutalist.” This photo sums up the uncertainty of the 90s, September 1990 to be exact. I am photobombing to the left, 6 years old, appreciating the statues made by Pablo Picasso nearby (his work, along with Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings and Alexander Calder’s mobiles were sprinkled around the city and were a big influence on my desire to create) and also avoiding the temptation to jump into the water.

[chicagoinapastlife]

My brother and I hanging out across from our apartment in Andersonville. The road behind us is Clark Street, but I cannot remember the road to our left. This was probably 1992. When I came back to visit for a concert in 2013, I was walking along this road and went into a bistro. I told the waiter that the layout looked really familiar and that it reminded me of a greasy spoon that used to be there. He told me they recently opened, and it was in fact the same place. I was so excited at the news that after I ate, I walked to the end of the block and looked up at my old apartment. I have a photo of me in front of it somewhere, but it may be lost on a phone that I’ve long discarded.

[chicagoinapastlife]

Performing “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein at Decatur Classical School. I am the girl in a purple shirt, wrapped in burlap, behind the girl narrating the story. I was one of 3 kids who acted out the tree. The boy next to me was my old man character. I helped paint the backdrop. I believe this was 2nd grade which would make me about 7, and the year late 1991 or early 1992. If I recall, Decatur Classical was a school for advanced but underprivileged children from poor communities. I also think it ran from Kindergarten to 6th grade.

[chicagoinapastlife]

My brother being pushed in a swing by our babysitter, Yvonne. The back of the photo is dated April 7, 1993.