CONCEPT
COMMENTS:
– Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to use Armour Square as a litmust test for an age old question: How long does it take to photograph a relatively small Chicago neighborhood, if one is trying to photograph everything interesting? The answer is: a pretty long time. I spent almost five hours in Armour Square, taking in Wentworth Gardens, Comiskey Park, Armour Square, and most of Chinatown. Even then, I gave up after dusk, leaving Chinatown proper (along Wentworth, Cermak, and Archer) for next time. But it was a lot of fun. Armour Square is an incredibly dynamic area, and I’m excited to share the over 200 pictures I took yesterday. Look for a post on this soon.
– It does, however, mean that I need to critically reevaluate my strategy for exploring Chicago. The short apologia: The sixth part of my novel-in-progress Euphemism will consist of 77 chapters, each set in one of Chicago’s 77 Community Areas. Which means I need some familiarity with each. I really could have done this if I’d committed substantial energy to accomplishing it for the last four years. In the next four months, and with so much on my plate… impossible. Part Six will have to wait until I’m getting fat off the royalties (and movie rights) for Urbàntasm.
– Still, I’ve been a part of this city for eight years now, and I think it proper to give it a good sendoff. So I will be exploring, and photographing, some neighborhoods. Look for a list in the next post.
– I got home from my wanderings at around 8:30 last night. I enjoyed a brief conversation with Jessica, and went to bed by about nine.
– This morning, sore from exercise and walking and exhaustion, I was barely able to drag myself out of bed in time to attend Mass at Assumption Church in River North. I was actually about ten-minutes late, slipping in at the end of the gospel. I’ve been reading these ahead of time on the bus, so at least the homily is comprehensible, though I’d rather be on time. Again, I took a few pictures on the way out, and will try to post them, along with St. Peter’s, tonight.
– Today I’m going out to dinner with Jessica and Steve, the surgical coordinator for the Laser Vision Center. Some of our help has been out lately for medical reasons lately, and so I’ve helped to fill in. I guess my anxieties were overstates. But I am very flattered, and looking forward to it.
– Between Terri and the pope, the news today revolves almost entirely around feeding tube. Everyone’s essentially forgotten the earthquake in Indonesia yesterday that killed over a thousand people. And shame on the New York Times for their lack of coverage.
CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE DAY
West Lawn. There is a Blue Skies Falling reader with roots in West Lawn.
WORD OF THE DAY
Mawkishness.
NEWS OF THE DAY
BBC News:
Aid struggles to reach Indonesia
PICTURE OF THE DAY
Chinatown, Chicago. Chicago – The Windy City! – Reisebericht und Reiseinformationen mit vielen Fotos!
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What is your favorite Chicago neighborhood. If you wish you can list more than one…
Also, what is your favorite side of Chicago. List only one.