Chicago Posts: Why Chicago Still Thrills

I figured out why Chicago thrills me so.  I wish the answer was more nuanced or complex, but the fact is, I love tall buildings.  I always have. 

Skyscrapers have always stirred me, since before I can remember.  I always knew I would live in New York City some day, not because I wanted to be an actor (I did) but because of the skyscrapers.  I wanted to live among them, in them.  I wanted to look out from the tops of them.  As fate would have it, I got to work as a window cleaner for a few years in New York and later a few months in Seattle.  I got to hang from these amazing human constructions by thin lines.  The job ultimately carved scars on my face, head, back and arms but if that was the price of getting to see Manhattan and Seattle in ways only a handful of people can claim, I say I got a bargain.

Perhaps more crucial to Chicago’s thrill, over, say, Seattle or Baltimore or L.A., is how these buildings I love are all jammed together to form the canyons that turn far off sirens and car horns into the most comforting music.  Yesterday, Heather and I meditated with that song as background before heading out to drinks and dinner.  I fell asleep to it last night.

The song of aspiration.