despite confusion from friends curious why i chose chicago, im really loving it here. im a sucker for inspired architecture and public art, which abounds here in the city of broad shoulders. i wonder if these impressive public works were created in part to soothe the chip on said shoulders.
sure, the 'l' into the city takes too long and the weather seems either too hot n muggy or bitterly cold, but who has ever heard of 12-hour parking meters (25 cents for an hour!), real live fireflies (!) and miles upon miles of beautiful lakefront beaches (am i on south beach or ipanema? no, its chicago!)?!
one of my favorite spots so far is the recently unveiled
millennium park. the design for the frank gehry-designed pritzker pavilion is a lil played out, but theres an indulgently large flower garden and a wonderful interactive water sculpture designed by spanish artist jaume plensa. the parks website does a better job of describing it than i would, so:
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. plensa adapted this practice by having faces of chicago citizens projected on l.e.d. screens and having water flow through a water outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths. the collection of faces, plensa's tribute to chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents. these twin towers of video and water were refreshingly playful, optimistic and inter-generational. when i was there, the screens reflected an elderly black man and asian woman looking at each other, almost flirtatiously, while young children squealed in the wet pools beneath them. the best part, however, was when both of them pursed their lips and jets of water spewed forth to everyones surprise. such clever and interactive art makes me happy.
being in new environs makes what was typical day-to-day seattle behavior suddenly remarkable. living here is helping me recognize my own personal culture- how aspects of my behavior (eg minimizing waste, enjoying solitude, etc) are reflections of my previous experiences and communities rather than universal status quo. conversely, there are aspects of my identity that seem better suited here than there. both reactions are comforting- what seemed typical now seems rather unique, and much of what felt awkward is now affirmed. i guess this self-revelatory and flattering aspect of travel is part of what makes it so appealing. epiphany this is not, but good food for my auto pilot-prone thought.
after a few lowkey days in montana (and another delayed flight) i touched down at good ole seatac today for a 3-wk stint before heading back to chicago and prepping for my 'autumn in asia' super tour. the main reason why im back is to host my friend from seoul, since this is the place im best able to provide a snapshot of american life. 
like so much of asia and europa, korea is a land without guns. so what does my lil ambassador see on his first day in gods country (in addition to flying fish at pike place market)? barricaded streets and police choppers downtown thanks to a multiple shooting at the jewish federation. so far ive heard there are 6 casualties with possibly one death. all made more eerie by the anti-israeli bombing of lebanon performance art happening simultaneously at westlake center. it kinda felt like the world was coming to an end.
its been an especially violent year for a town whose annual homicide tallies are dwarfed by other us cities. preliminary fbi crime stats claim 25 murders in seattle last year. compare this to 195 in dc and 136 in memphis, cities of comparable size (nyc led the nation with 539 homicides in 2005). as of our publishing date, there have been 18 hits this year, which doesnt include the '9 dead in 9 days' homicide spree outside city limits just last month. despite low murder rates, seattle can boast two of the nations top three serial killers: gary 'green river killer' ridgway tops the charts with 48 admitted homicides and ted 'i like brunettes' bundy with 30 confessed murders. perhaps murder may soon accompany two other unfortunate consequences of living at the 47th parallel: high incidents of depression and an inexplicable preponderance of multiple sclerosis.
*PANTS
