trendymatt's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Golly, dem's some big buildin's! Chicago was an event, to say the least. Never have I experienced so much diversity in every sense of the word in the course of a week. I started off the trip in the depths of the South Side slums, surveying students in what I was later informed was heavy gang territory. One of the schools actually worked out a deal with a local gang leader for a 50-foot "safe zone" for students and teachers to pass from their cars to the school without incident - my boss and I actually parked outside that zone without knowing, thus making us obvious targets in a car with an out-of-state license plate and carrying 20 laptop computers between us. Yikes. I swear to all that is good and holy, I will never talk shit about growing up in Radcliff ever again! That town is practically Mayberry compared to what I saw last week. Three days later, I was walking down Michigan Avenue past Cartier, Tiffany, and Bloomingdale's. Despite my best efforts, I'm sure I looked like a slackjawed yokel from Butcher Holler. I spent about ten hours on Thursday exploring the city solo, taking in the sights and trying not to be overwhelmed by it all. While standing at the end of the Navy Pier, I found myself staring, mouth agape, at the city skyline for a good ten minutes. We got Will and Shelley moved into their new place, which I soon found was just a quick walk to Boystown. Their apartment is specatcular, the neighborhood is a dream, and parking is a nightmare - not quite as nightmarish as moving a futon up three flights of a spiral staircase, but anytime I have to cruise over an hour to park, it's time for this boy to find a valet. I'm proud to say that my car survived parking on the city streets without a single scratch. I'm also proud that I adapted to driving in Chicago traffic like a champ. I learned within ten minutes of my arrival the three main rules for driving in the city: 1) under no circumstances should you attempt to drive any slower than at least ten over the speed limit on the expressway, 2) turn signals are for the weak, if you muscle your way between cars you will get through much easier, and 3) the car horn is your most effective mode of communication - use it liberally. By Thursday afternoon, I was navigating the streets like a native. Can we talk about the food? Over the course of the week, I ate at a Lithuanian restaurant, which was such an experience since that is one quarter of my ancestry, had the requisite deep-dish pizza, a polish sausage across the street from Wrigley Field, ate at a delightful place called Nookies Tree that serves the best cream of asparagus soup on the planet, and came to the conclusion that if I lived in Chicago, I would eat at Melrose most every day of the week. I'm such a foodie, and the restaurants in Chicago fed my culinary obsession like no other. Boystown was amazing and overwhelming to say the very least. To come from what from my limited experience is a fairly gay-friendly town that has three or four mostly gay bars, exploring a section of a city that is a little bigger than all of downtown Lexington with rainbow flags on every corner and gay couples walking together on the street just felt empowering. For the first time ever, I didn't feel like a minority. I was more awestruck wandering around Boystown than I was downtown amongst the high-rise buildings and prohibitively expensive shopping. I had, to say the least, an absolute blast in the city. Regardless, I got really homesick about halfway through my trip. As incredibly culturally rich as Chicago is, I don't think I could ever live there permanently. The pace of life seems a little to fast. Also, you can't get a sweet tea to save your LIFE at a restaurant. Where I come from, sweet tea is served like water at most places - if you want it unsweetened, you have to request that. I requested a sweet tea on my first day in town and the server looked at me like I had purple horns growing out of my head. "There are sugar packets on your table," she said very slowly and deliberately, as if I had seriously confused her. I think that was the moment I realized I'm not nearly as metro as I claim to be. You can take the boy out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the boy. P.S. Many thanks to Ozwald for giving me the skinny on the city before I got there. I regret that I didn't have 'net access to contact you while I was there. On my next visit, I promise some cheap martinis will be shared! 10:47 am - 05.11.04 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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