I was born in Chicago, my parents lived there briefly, then moved to the suburbs. So yes, as an infant, I briefly burbled & gurgled in the Big City, but as a fully, and sometimes not so fully, conscious adult, I have never actually lived in the Big City. I have worked downtown. I once was a shiny, young, computer salesman working out of an office on Michigan Avenue, and years later, traveling backwards in status & paygrade, I was a lowly, fully-armoured bike courier for a graphic arts shop on a street near the Chicago River.
I do know the streets intimately. It's like the map of city is imprinted in my head. My companion and I found ourselves back in the streets yesterday. We trained in from our leafy little northern town to Chicago to see the Georgia O'Keefe - My New Yorks exhibit.
The City is essentially the same, and radically different too. Same looming towers, same architecture, but the tempo of the City is different. Lots of deserted streets in the downtown area, all the action seems to be around Michigan Avenue, and the heartbeat is in Milllenium Park.
The exhibit was exquisite. Eye & head opening. Georgia is primarily known for works from her time in New Mexico, but her "New Yorks" are just as stunning & fabulous. We were dazzled by these canvases. Such beauty, color, detail. Shimmering & magnificent. So surprising. We thought knew the artist, but her New York work is a revelation. Elements of the real and the ideal dancing before us. An uncommon eye. An uncommon sensibility. So inspiring.
Then we took to the streets and park. Humanity spilling out in every color, shape and size. Bursting with life. It was a bit overwhelming. We found a shady spot under some trees and watched the children play in the water at Crown Fountain. It has to be one of the greatest public art projects ever conceived. Truly interactive. The joy and mad abandon of the children playing in the water is just stunning, and beautiful to behold.
What is Crown Fountain?
"Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park is a major addition to the city's world-renowned public art collection.The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out."
We then headed over to Old Town for a meal at one of our favorite restaurants. Old Town is ever-renewed. Not old at all. What used to be a funky, hippie & bohemian strip, is now a very slick, moneyed, super-thriving street. Property values have ballooned. Lots of bling, flowing hair, toned bodies. Young, wealthy, vibrant humans. They all looked like they owned the place.
We walked the streets and said to each other: "We are walking in the future." Yes. Indeed.
Still, happy to say, our restaurant was there. Essentially the same. Same family owners. The sons, the parents, the grandparents. Over the years, we have made friends with them all. All of us getting older, the generations coming and going. The menu is the same, the food is deliciously-excellent. The decor is pretty much the same, with upgraded tables and chairs.
Still, it was a bit of a mind-fuck. The past and present, the hours, days and decades of our lives colliding in our heads.The Big City is a time-piece, a recording device, a record, and an illustration of time. You see the past, present & future all at play, knocking against each other in every little element.
Then it was the trip home. We trained and taxied back. Both of us bone-tired, and quite satisfied. That was a good day trip for sure. My companion announced that according to her iPhone, we had walked over 10,000 steps. Ha. So many, so few. Every step counts. It was just a glimpse of a bigger reality. A small, reflecting glimpse. Life.
