Posts tagged: chicago
Pretty offensive sculpture of Marilyn Monroe erupts in Chicago - and I thought the bean was a bit strange.
Another post from Summer 2010.
It has been quite a while since my last true post, and although the updates I can provide are limited to work on my dissertation, there have been some noteworthy musings.
First, I should note that I have returned to Chicago to work on my dissertation and spend some much needed time with family. There are no revelations in my return, and I spend quite a bit of time daydreaming of my return to London.
It is not that London is an easy place to live and I had the most enjoyable time of my life there. Quite the contrary, in fact, I dealt with theft, illness (x5), heartbreak, loneliness, frustration and desperation. Oh, and embarrassment. But that is nothing new in my book, and have found all of them tend to follow you around. There were some enjoyable times as well, with friendships that are stronger than the bond that alcohol creates. The city itself breeds the creativity inside, and for me, pushed me to go further and work harder than I had ever done. The results were a bit like waiting for Simon Cowell’s opinion - quite bittersweet. Which is probably the way I would describe the city.
I am now in a place that no one really enjoys: uncertainty. If I had my way, I would fly back, possibly stopping off in Nepal and my current obsessions Romania and Turkey, and live happily ever after. Reality puts obstacles in my way. I lived quite comfortably in Seoul with few challenges, aside from attempting to maintain a perfect physique. Tsu provided a small barrier of isolation, but realistically I had few difficulties. Chicago’s major challenge is the weather, but combined with a lagging job market, I hesitate in my return.
The constant of my (mostly) daily jog down the Fox Valley River has been my one saving grace. The trees and the wind against my face calm the worries swimming through my mind, but I continue to think of the people and places I have yet to visit. This city is also quite bittersweet.
Before coming here, I really thought that London would fulfill a couple of critical requirements for an amazing city. The first was the beauty and resilience of London architecture. But when I got here, I quickly realised I had to look up to see most of it. In fact, John R. Murray has written a book about it called London Above Eye Level, where he shows us in a picture book the kinds of things we could be viewing if we just lifted our heads when we walk. The major problem with that being that London is busy enough that you are bound to either get run over or run into someone in the process. There are also more cobblestones in London than a lot of major cities I’ve resided in (Chicago is mostly about modern, clean lines; Korea the same; Japan has some but for the most part I was trying to walk around the visually impaired guidance lines). So It halfway fulfilled my first expectation.
Another assumption I had was that I would move to Chicago after my tenure here. I know the Chicago independent publishing industry is quite strong, particularly in primary and secondary academic books. However, the longer I stay, despite terrible forecasts for a deteriorating industry, the longer I’d like to stay. Despite my stolen wallet (the first time in 20 countries), despite the sometimes tediousness of my course, despite my brain aching for familiarity and not finding it; I have found some kind of strange affinity for this city. Perhaps it is time I perch for a moment.
