I was Made for Public Transportation

I am in love with Chicago. I can't think of a thing I didn't like about it. There were some definite differences, but fun differences. The University of Chicago was amazing. Jake was able to speak with the director of graduate studies for the music school.

I always tend to form rash decisions about cities depending on whether or not it's sunny on my first encounter. There were occasional clouds that blocked the sun, but for the most part, the sun was a shinin'.

My favorite part of it all was mass transportation. I love the CTA. I've always been a people watcher, so it was wonderful to be temporarily locked in a metal car with such a variety of people. It's such a stark contrast. There was a man sitting behind me on the Red line who was in pretty bad shape. He smelled heavily of cigarettes and alcohol. He was behind me for two stops, when he made his way off and straight out to the trash can outside our car. I'm sure that is his main existence - living on the subway. One stop after he got off, a well-dressed man came and filled his seat.

We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. One exhibit reminded me of a porn mag. I didn't spend much time with it, but there were three others that were awe inspiring: Sarah Sze Proportioned to the Groove, Alexander Calder in focus, and I can't remember the the last one - they were x-rays with random material objects inside - it was actually my favorite. I was too busy looking at the pieces to look at the name or titles.

And finally, a piece of Champaign, IL. The best bookstore I've ever been in so far is in downtown Champaign: Jane Addams Book Shop. We were there almost two years ago when Jake auditioned for the University of Illinois (when he was going to go for Collaborative Piano). Last time we found a James Agee poetry book we'd been looking for for some time. We also got the Carter Family biography. This time I found two Anne Sexton poetry books: Love Poems and Transformations. I could spend hours and hours and, oh yes, more hours looking through all of the books.

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