Posts tagged chicago

Sometimes I think about writing about Chicago, and then I read this:

By nights when the yellow salamanders of the EL bend all one way and the cold rain runs with the red-lit rain.By the way the city’s million wires are burdened only by lightest snow; When chairs are stacked and glasses are turned and arc-lamps all are dimmed. By days when the wind bangs alley gates ajar and the sun goes by on the wind. By nights when the moon is an only child above the measured thunder of the cars, you may know Chicago’s heart at last.

from Nelson Algren’s Chicago: City on the Make and I know that it’s pretty much already done.

It can join everything by Stuart Dybeck, Royko, Studs Terkel, and yes, Sandburg in the ranks of stuff you always think of when you think of Chicago because Chicago is awesome and so is the writing.

So, I was walking through Love Park today for work-related reasons, and I saw this. Not actually the cheerleaders, or the uh, Eagle (does it have a name? Eagly? Jed? and do the cheerleaders have a name? Chiclets?), but the horrifyingly green fountain.

I suggest anyone in the area go see it, if they want to relive “You Can’t Do That On Television” as instillation art. Or some kind of scene out of a comic book, where the urine smell/urban background lends itself to the creation story superhero: “One day, a timid football mascot fell in to a pool of radioactive goo in a city fountain. He emerged with powers beyond human/furry comprehension.”

While I’m tempted to say that only Philadelphia would dye it’s water such a horrifying color, it’s clearly not true: