In a few days, I will be embarking on my trek to a new land, where tobacco grows heartily (which means that sadly, the Triangle area will never go smoke-free) and you get a funny look for requesting unsweetened tea. So, I would like to take a few moments to reflect on what is so great about Chicago, the New York of the Midwest.
1. Among the many things I have done during the summer include: some random side show circus/burlesque show; a student dance show and an open-to-all dance show; Bike the Drive; the L.A.T.E (Long After Twilight Ends, a 25-mile bike ride through the streets of Chicago at 1:30 am); Critical Mass (a worldwide movement to promote the use of bicycles as a viable means of transportation); gone to the regular and doggie beaches, went to various street festivals and concerts, including one great evening at Ravinia; ran in a road race; daytripped to a state park and hiked through some canyons; played in the fountains at Milennium Park; shopped at a few different farmers markets; went for walks and runs and bike rides through hidden parks, the zoo, the lakefront; dined al fresco beneath the el tracks; watched a gay pride parade and rode in a St. Patrick's Day parade...the list goes on. It's hard to believe that all these things happen in just a few short months of nice weather in Chicago. But when you experience them, you forget all about the 20 mph winds that whip through your bones when it's 25 degrees outside.
2. Chicago is a city of communities. At one time, you can live in one neighborhood, work in another, and interact with people in myriad different communities. I lived in Lakeview, Boystown specifically, and worked at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. I was part of: the 20-something community (those of us who graduated from college 1 to 9 years ago and were trying to figure out what to do with our lives), the Jewish community (both in Lakeview and Hyde Park, and they often overlap), the gay community (by proxy), the environmental community, the University of Chicago community, the athletic community, the bicycling community, the music-lovers community (and within that, fans of specific bands--I saw a lot of the same people at various Poi Dog Pondering and Michael McDermott shows), the native South Suburban community (meaning I have run into various people I went to high school with who now live in the area), the Red Line/Brown Line/Purple Line/various bus route communities of people who take the same mode of public transportation every day to and from work. There are probably more too. And although I didn't go to Michigan for college and I didn't grow up in Cleveland, there seem to be communities of those people here in Chicago as well. It's always a little trippy and a lot of fun that the communities overlap, so that you always feel like you'll belong somewhere and you'll always see a friendly face.
3. Speaking of friendly, most people in Chicago have that kind Midwestern disposition, so they're usually happy to help out and they're very friendly.
4. You want culture, you got it. Chicago has a little bit of just about anything you could ever want here, including food, art, dance, music, language, social groups, and more for just about every ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, race, tradition, etc, and everything is open to everyone. And yet, prejudice still abounds, which is tragic.
5. Nature--you gotta look a little harder for it sometimes, but it's there. Personally, it's not enough for my liking, but still...
6. Institutions of learning--Take a college course, get a new degree, learn how to belly dance, brew coffee, parachute out of a plane, speak Armenian, whatever your heart desires. Whether it's a community college, private or public university, community center, place of worship, library, there's education to be had.
I think there's probably more that I love about Chicago, which makes it very hard to leave. Maybe I'll be back someday, but in the meantime, I'll continue to post about all the new things I'll love about the Triangle area, as well as some of the things I'll want to change. Adieu, Chicago. It's been a blast!
