pants and chitown are special

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.