Sunday, July 27, 2008

Diary: A Little July

So this blog isn't really near the blow-by-blow archive of my thoughts and opinions that it once was, and while I hope to make strides toward improvement, I don't think things are going to change here quickly. The prevailing theme these days seems to be transience... the scarcity of time, the brevity of passing moment, and there are hints of change in the air, so you better finish up what you're doing before it all gets flipped on its head.

Still, I think it's better to write a little than nothing at all, and this has been an amazing month so far. I don't want to lose that. The last weekend of June, of course, we went to a wedding, and the weekend after that I went to the U.P. for the fourth. A couple weeks following were comparably still... I've been working on Urbantasm nonstop (and succesfully)... studying Number Theory, reading Gravity's Rainbow and now the Mysteries of Udolpho. The weekend of the 12th I saw a movie with Jess and Sam, followed my an amazing rib dinner at Fat Willy's on Diversey, followed by a party to celebrate the release of House and Bird's first EP. The weekend after that I visited with friend and worked on Urbantasm some more. I visited Lisa and Sam among all of this, and spent a lot of time reading on the beach. On Friday, we hosted Gothic Funk Party #13 and yesterday, I saw another movie. I will be returning to these two movies momentarily. Next weekend, I will be at Lollapalooza on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sunday is my 30th birthday; it is also the night when Nine Inch Nails will be performing. In all of this, there is really too much poetry to contemplate.

But back to the movies for a moment...

I want to write more on both of them, but I do not have the time to right now... I can only say that these two movies brought me so much delight and excitement that I really feel came out of nowhere: I've already been looking forward to Lolla, and what did I do to deserve this. In many ways, they are polar opposites.

THE DARK KNIGHT

and

WALL-E

And I can't say anything about either that you don't 1) already know or 2) I can say in less than an hour. So just ignore all of that and go and see them, and when you have, talk to me about this, because seriously, I mean, seriously, they just seemed that good.

Labels: 2008, DIARY, film, Gothic Funk Nation, July

Monday, July 07, 2008

Diary: Lords of the Black Flies

I had a great weekend this weekend.

Thursday was really more low key than I meant for it to be. I got let out of work early but spent most of the evening wasting time. When Jess got home we went out for Mexican food and had a nice evening together, but I had to leave her behind then next day when the call of college and post-college friends drew me away on a Northern Adventure. Barb, Sky, Bill, and I rode in one vehicle, which Kender dubbed "the Humdrum V," while Kender, Emma, Sky, and Suzie rode in "the Fun V," (v = vehicle). I don't agree with his assessment; it always seemed like there was some insecurity nested at the heart of the Fun V's premise. Like they were so concerned to prove to us how much fun they were having. The Humdrum V, rum humming along, was mellow and chill. We were the cool cats, listening to Bill's country and techno, assembling mad libs, and wearing shades and sipping coffee as we rolled north across Wisconsin.

---

I won't tell this in chronological order, and I won't go into too much detail. I will say that the Marquette Fireworks were the best I'd seen anywhere, ever. They do tie with the Flint Fireworks of 1999, which were dramatic because I was standing under them as I fell, but this was the best show. Launched from the abandoned oredock below downtown, the show went on and on without the usual muffled and cheesy music to distract from the hollow pops and ringing. Here, many fireworks were launched from within the oredock, meaning that they richocheted and fizzled and threw out weird shadows. Also, because we were in the Eastern Time Zone to the West of Chicago, and well above the 45th parallel, it was still twilight as the fireworks flew well after nine o'clock. The expansive lawn was busy and bustling, but not packed tight; this is a town of 25,000 surrounded by hundreds of miles of pine.



The other dramatic course of the trip involved the black flies; I've always been to the U.P. off-season. I've never had to deal with the things. Quite simply, they swarm you literally dozens at a time, land on you, and salivated for a moment before biting. When they bite, they lock down and the thing feels like a sharp pinch from someone with really jagged nails. We didn't see any of the things until we came down to Lake Superior on the afternoon of the 6th. We saw a few and so we covered ourselves in bug spray, but it didn't do any good until our hands and feet were glistening with DEET. Sky and Emma and Barb and I all crossed out to Little Presque Isle hoping to do some cliff jumping there (it would've been my second time ever)... twenty feet high into thirty feet of water. But we didn't get the chance because the black flies caused a more dangerous situation. They would land on us in droves, and if they landed in DEET they'd just shake off their little fly feet and try for better traction. Of course, with that many flies settling all at once, the pressure of their landings feeling like little pings on the skin, it was just a matter of time before they found some weird patch of scalp or knuckle not toxic with drip. So we did keep being bit. And in fact, the flailing of arms and legs, the (unsuccessful) running to outpace the creatures not only didn't accomplish anything, but it distracted us from the very important task of not slipping from these giant stones above the water. That phase of the trip was harrowing and unpleasant. As we finally made it back to the car, a little girl from another family said:

"Mama, let's never go to this beach again. Ever ever."

We didn't escape the black flies completely that weekend. They ducked through the woods and followed Sky and Emma a whole mile back to our camp. By the next morning several dozen were buzzing over our breakfast. When we drove into downtown Marquette to lie on the beach they were waiting for us, and covering up with sand and towel and shirt and had didn't help. We had to give them the beach at the end of the day.

But this didn't ruin the success of the trip.

It was a bit of hunger to temper the sugar on everything else.

---

On the first night we sat around the fire telling ghost stories.
On the second day we sat down by the stream that our cabin overlooked drinking beer from the keg.
On the second evening we walked down along the shore of Marquette and hit the food fest before doubling back toward home.
On the third day we stopped for Pasties and at the Yoopers Tourist Trap, which is bigger (and marginally classier) than I'd remembered.
On the first evening we ate at a pub in town before going in for the fireworks.
On the first day we arrived and threw rocks out into the water.
Our cabin was large and clean and soon filled with snoring lumberjacks. We ate eggs and pancakes and brewed coffee in a percolator on a propane stove.
We drove up during the day and back during the evening and we finally pulled into Chicago at about 10:30. I had a dinner and went to bed. That was the third night.

On the second night, Sam and Barb and I climbed Sugarloaf mountains and I saw more stars than I have seen in one time since I think I was a Boy Scout. Anyway, we saw meteorites, too. That was around two in the morning, and I dozed off, and we didn't get back to the camp until three.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Diary: The Dog Days. The Fourth of July. Other adventures.

Yesterday was the first of the dog days, by the Old Farmers Almanac's definition: The 40 days between July 3rd and August 11th coinciding with the heliacal rising of Sirius, the dog star. Sirius does not rise at this time anymore, due to the precession of the equinoxes. The period marks out the hottest days of the summer, although so far this summer has been uncommonly cool.

Yesterday I stayed in from the Chicago fireworks. I was a little too tired and worn out from the excitement of the last few weeks. Today I'm going camping in the upper peninsula with Sam and some friends. I'll be back in the city on Sunday.

Labels: DIARY, weather

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Diary: The Year of the Magnet Castles

YEAR 30 was THE YEAR OF THE MAGNET CASTLES

Soundtrack:

1. Doris Henson, When You Go
2. Funkadelic, Cosmic Slop
3. Smashing Pumpkins, Starz
4. Smashing Pumpkins, Bring the Light
5. M.C. Breed, No Frontin' Allowed
6. Eminem, Evil Deeds
7. Ladytron, Cease 2 Exist
8. Mazzy Star, Unreflected
9. Elisabeth Blair, Secret
10. Unkle, War Stories
11. J.T., Murder Mitten
12. Nova Moturba, Burning Rain
13. Sufjan Stevens, Chicago
14. Tori Amos, Black Swan
15. Radiohead, House of Cards
16. James Brown, There Was a Time
17. Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart Again
18. Miles Davis, All Blues
19. Bjork, Mouth's Cradle
20. Bjork, One Day
21. Tori Amos, Girl Disappearing
22. The Velvet Underground, Heroin
23. Kansas, Carry on Wayward Son
24. R.E.M., Hollowman
25. Ladytron, Discotraxx
26. Radiohead, Iron Lung

---

Navel Gazing:

What a weird year... I always listen to the music and then make up my mind about what the year should be called, but it's never premeditated, and if I have an inkling beforehand the result usually isn't what I expect. As a result, the name may be more intuitive than allegorical.

I don't know exactly what a magnet castle is.

I do know that the last year felt sort of like an add one extension to my MFA eduction... I felt that I was learning and in a very structured and deliberative way. However, whoever was deliberating wasn't me, because most of the plans I made this year didn't quite pan out as expected. A little spooky. The year itself was vivisected between two cities, cut up with numerous weddings and funerals, I broke a lease so I wasn't living where I expected, and I didn't get the job I expected. In fact, I've worked three different jobs in the last twelve months, and soon I will be working the fourth. I spent the hottest summer and fall of my life in New York only to arrive in Chicago just in time for the coldest winter and spring since 1995-1996. My very capable wife is finishing up her career education, and I am in the role of breadwinner for the first time ever. The permutations on the Gothic Funk enterprise have been... interesting. And my big literary achievements this year have been a few successful readings, more way-pre-dinosaur time travel stories, an adaptation of Beowulf more violent than a Frank Miller comic, and the publication of a naughty poem. Still no word on Hungry Rats. I've been with such a fog that I haven't gone to church or posted here in months. Kind of strange: I have gotten a lot of reading and writing and exploring done.

One thought, though, does strike regarding the name: "Magnet Castles." Could they be cities? After all, cities, and specifically city centers are concentration fabricated metal things that could be more conveniently magnetized than an arbitrary patch of countryside. Or perhaps more meaningfully, cities are metaphorical social magnets, siphoning resources and human beings and repelling each other, with tension in both directions. In the second instance, this has certainly been the case for me this year. One of the last substantive posts I published here was a 21 point comparison of New York and Chicago. I still buy most of the arguments I made there, but in another way they seem frivolous, silly, kind of missing the point.

Of course, maybe it's frivolous and silly to compare cities so obsessively from any angle. But I can't escape the impression that moving back to Chicago transformed New York for me, and utterly changed Chicago itself. When I first moved to New York, I disliked the city. I was going there because a good, solid MFA program had accepted me, but I wasn't thrilled about New York itself. When I left last November, I had come to accept a grudging affection for that city. Now, in June, there's nothing grudging about it: I can be almost as full-throated in my praise of New York as I am of Chicago. This is in spite of the fact that the same things that bugged me about New York before (the crowdedness, the speed and impatience, the pretension, the Yankees) still bug me. Chicago does seem smaller than it did before, but I do not know that this is significant either. The most enduring impression I've ever had of Chicago is that it is a fundamentally lonely place, and maybe that's part of my affinity for it. I feel that maybe I am a fundamentally lonely person, which doesn't mean that I'm always feeling lonely or sad, nor does it mean that I revel in the melodrama of isolation. But solitude motivates me, stimulates me, and brings things into clarity. I've always felt that I do my best reading and writing alone in diners, when I am at a booth and all of the other booths are crowded and noisy, or when I'm up alone at five in the morning when the rest of the neighborhood is quiet and dark. That is one thing I've always loved about Chicago. The Red Line is lonely, the skyscrapers are lonely, as is the lake fading into nothing far away, empty and blue, and gray in cracking ice through the winter. Anyone who has seen the Loop at night (giant quarter-mile high shadows fall across empty alleys and streets) knows how lonely it can be, and it is a far cry from Midtown Manhattan. Blue and still and peaceful. The Blues radiated from here, after all.

On to the final point on magnets and castles and cities and things. If one accepts the notion of a human soul (and I do) and accepts a definition of city preferring institutional and social interaction at one place as opposed to the physical shape of the place itself, it is quite reasonable to say that a city has a soul. This is true in almost as literal a sense as can be said of a human. Comparing one city to another is a lot like gossiping about our friends and enemies: we may make honest and worthwhile observations, but we can never quite touch on the substance of what they are in such a conversation. Maybe that is why I am so touchy and invested in Flint, although I have not lived there for a substantial time since 2003: it is a soul that I've felt that I've known. Maybe I've been a bit of a hypocrite when it came to Chicago and New York.

Anyway...

A long and short year... an chopped and trunchated year... all sorts of meanderings. I do feel like I've grown a lot, but can't really pinpoint how or when.

Labels: Chicago, DIARY, New York City

Monday, March 24, 2008

Concept: Two Plugs: Sunday Salon and Tuesday Funk.

No kidding, those are the names of these two sweet series.


FIRST, I will be reading at Sunday Salon, a Brooklyn-based reading series that has sprouted offspring here in Chicago. My co-readers will be Elizabeth Wetmore and Mary Anne Mohanraj... that's right, I'm being trusted to stand among the tall-trees this time.

I will be reading a chapter from the first part of Hungry Rats.

March 30th, Sunday
7:30 P.M.
@ the Charleston bar in Bucktown:
2076 N. Hoyne Ave.
(773) 489-4757

This is really a very exciting opportunity for me, and I will be excited if
there are some familiar faces in the crowd.


SECOND, Tuesday Funk is a reading series has been organized by Reinhardt
Suarez, Hallie Gordon, and myself, with help from Barbara Swem. It will
debut on April 2nd. See the attached flier for more info (or the text
below).

Fig. 2
Tuesday Funk
ILLUSTRATING THE
Natural Language of the
GOTHIC FUNK NATION
A reading series to stimulate all parts of your mind.

Tuesday, April 1st, seven o'clock PM
Ennui Cafe, 6981 N Sheridan Rd.
(at the corner of Sheridan and Lunt Ave. in Chicago)

Labels: CONCEPT, Gothic Funk Nation, Reading

Friday, February 29, 2008

Concept: About this Blog.

If anybody is still readingthis, I realize that I haven't posted substantially or regularly for some three odd months now. It is difficult to attribute this to being "busy" since I've been busy for most of the time that I've kept this blog. But I've certainly busy in different ways than I've been before. For starters, I have been looking for a serious job (Dec. - Feb.) and working at a serious job (this past week). The pressure is on, the stakes are higher; for the last two years my wife has worked hard so that I would have the luxutry of pursuing a graduate education, and now that the tables are turned it is something of an imperative, I feel, to responsibly return the favor. So when I've been job-searching/working, a number of things have had to fall behind, and one of them is this blog. Second (and this is most strongly reflected in the development of the Gothic Funk Nation), this blog has simply not been an effective vehicle in promoting my career... I have had a few dozen readers, many with whom I maintain email contact, and many of whom only follow my career casually. It isn't the fault of readers; it is, however, a sign of how oversaturated the net is with erstwhile bloggers. Unless I'm posting about scavhunt or politics in Genesee County, this blog never seems to get the hits to warrant the amount of energy that goes into weekly posts.

I do want to continue to maintain this blog, and I do intend to pick up again. I like the opportunity it provides for correspondence, and I like that it is a convenient way to journal my life and adventures in a public and accessible way. But I have to strike a balance where the amount of payback – in readership and energy invested – is more balanced in general. I'm drafting short stories and novels, striving to be published, and supporting a family. I cannot sink an hour or two a day into a blog that is not promoting these interests.

I am interested in your thoughts. I do think that once I start posting regularly again, it will be easy to keep up. But I also hope you'll understand the changes that have been going on at hereisnowhy.com, and that you'll continue to check in and keep up.

More soon?

~ Connor

Labels: DIARY

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Concept: GOTHIC FUNK PARTY #10: The Fete of the Unseelie Court

*~*~* * * * --> The GOTHIC FUNK NATION <-- * * * *~*~*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ presents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* * * * An Event *** An Exhibition *** A Party * * * *



* Gothic Funk Party #10 *
THE FETE OF THE UNSEELIE COURT
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd from 9 PM
"Moomers" @ 5509 S. Hyde Park #3
$5 sacrifice



*** Shadow Puppet Theatre: THE TALE OF THE THREE SURGEONS ***
*** Live Performances by: HOUSE AND BIRD and RED LETTER KILL ***
*** Mysteries: THE GHASTLY LEGACY and THE CHAIN-LINK PARADE ***
*** Murder Ballads and Murder Salads ***
*** Complementary Refreshments ***



* THE UNSEELIE COURT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unseelie_Court#Seelie_and_Unseelie_courts

* HOUSE AND BIRD can be found at
http://houseandbird.com/index.cfm

* RED LETTER KILL can be found at
http://www.myspace.com/redletterkillband


* Party Information at
www.hereisnowhy.com/gothicfunk/party10.html

* Gothic Funk fashion tips at
www.hereisnowhy.com/gothicfunk/party3.html

* Information on the Gothic Funk Nation at
www.hereisnowhy.com/gothicfunk

Labels: CONCEPT, gothic funk, Gothic Funk Nation

Friday, February 01, 2008

Concept: The Gothic Funk Triannual is Live!

THE GOTHIC FUNK TRIANNUAL

. indeterminacy is not the end
. we are people of the 21st century: what is next?
. we want your IMAGES, SOUNDS, and WORDS.

. SUBMIT

gothicfunk.org/triannual

END OF POST.

Labels: CONCEPT, gothic funk

Monday, January 07, 2008

Diary: The Mysteries of Chicago, Part 1

I've started rereading Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, one of my favorite novels of all time, in preparation for the inception of the Gothic Funk Nation this February. The timing of all of these events, however, is uncanny, since in some ways the "plot arc" of December 2007 for me had a lot in common with the early English gothic novel in general, and The Mysteries of Udolpho specifically.

As such, when I'm trying to make excuses for the fact that I went AWOL here for the last fifty-or-so days, I might as well attempt to tell the story in the gothic style towards which it is most intrasigently propelled. I sit here now, on an uncharacteristically warm night in January in Chicago – a steamy and cloudy night with thunder and lightning, and perhaps later even hail and tornadoes – and I think back a little over a month, when everything was different...

---

I did post here less often in the weeks leading up to the move. It had been a very mild autumn in New York; it hadn't snowed at all by Thanksgiving, the leaves were changing in fits and starts through November, and by the last week many were still green and clinging to their branches. I went to the Met and the Frick Collection for the last time. I ate at Kinara's and El Paisano. I read from my novels at the Guerrilla Lit reading, and Marco and Scott put together a going away party for Jess and myself. It was the sunniest I'd ever felt about New York, but of course, we'd been gearing up to move back to Chicago for months at that point.

As the date approached, however, a few things began to come unravel. For the most part, it was nothing worth worrying about: moving is never simple, and of course the actual packing took much longer than I'd anticipated. The logistics of the move were in flux until the last minute, and most disconcertingly, three months of searching had not procured me a job at all. Friends were on the lookout, but nothing had really materialized.

The one saving grace was the apartment: I had found a place through a for-the-moment-unnamed rental agency, and they had taken Skylar around to several places. He recommended one: a large house in the East Village renting for $800. It had a basement and an attic, though I wasn't to have access to these parts of the house. A retired Polish policeman lived in a small apartment at the back; the house had been his family's and his ex-wife was the landlord. More, he believed that the second floor, which his parents had inhabited, was haunted. Skylar told me about this and showed me a number of pictures: a wrought-iron fence; tiny closet-like bedrooms and massive, looming arches connecting the dining and living room. Although the heating would be expensive in the winter, the house was too good a deal to pass up. The rental agency had faxed me the paperwork and I had mailed them my signatures and $1600 in rent and security deposit. I was happy to have had, at least, this one important issue resolved.

On the night, Friday, that the move finally was to take place, I picked up the Budget truck, and Jess helped me pack all day and then left for class. About the time Jess left, Scott arrived and helped me pack, and then Marco showed up at around eight. He had taken two weeks off work to help me with the move, and then to finish his novel. We'd planned on leaving at eight, but with expected and unexpected delays, we didn't really get on the road until midnight. I got a parking citation for leaving the truck parked and unattended in front of my apartment before heading out. We drove down Flatbush and crossed the Manhattan bridge. We took the West Side Highway. A strobe went off in my face for pushing through a red light. The night was not off to a good start.

We crossed the Washington Bridge and made it out of New Jersey after two. The weather was mostly fine, though a bit windy, and the only unnerving thing about this phase of the trip were the massive and sometimes spasming semis barrelling down along both lanes. It took over four hours to cross Pennsylvania on I-80, and both Marco and I were tired as we crossed into Ohio and the sun came up. We stopped at a rest area and I shut my eyes for fifteen minutes. Then, we continued on. We crossed the Cuyahoga River and the sun shot out from behind the clouds. We passed a horrific accident in which a passanger was impaled through the head by the corner of a shouldered semi truck. We drove through a couple hours of countryside and finally through Toledo; the first city of any size we'd approached since we'd actually left New York. On their northern spurs, both Ohio and Pennsylvania are quite desolate and intimidating. We stopped for a moment in Luna Pier so that I could update my parents on my progress and look out over Lake Erie. Then we jogged agross the crumbling and potholed roads to I-23, and drove the rest of the way up to Flint and Flushing. It was after noon when we finally arrived.

The next 24-hours were a fair respite. It was my mom's birthday, and after Marco and I had taken a four-hour nap, I took her out to Red Lobster for dinner, and my dad treated Marco, my sister, and myself. We got a decent sleep that night, and I dashed off to church for the Sunday opening of Advent at St. John Vianney in Flint. We had a lunch and got on the road again.

The last stretch of the drive was much shorter, but more harrowing. It was freezing rain, and occasionally whiteout snow, for the entirety of the two hundred miles between Lansing and Gary, and the trip must have taken at least an extra hour or two. There was black ice under the overpasses, and while the semi drivers seemed now to understand the laws of physics, many others were driving too far out. The snow finally subsided for good as we left Hammond and entered Chicago. We took the Skyway, and on the huge bridge at city limits we couldn't even see the skyline because the air was too thick and wet. We cruised fast along the Dan Ryan, but the Robert Taylor Homes had all been torn down, and it looked like the countryside for awhile. We passed over and through and alongside and under the Loop and exited onto Augusta. I followed Augusta and Milwaukee to the rental agency, where the landlord had assured me I could pick up the keys, checking on the time and date.

It was locked, however, and all of the lights were out.

Twilight was falling on Chicago, and there was no way to get into my new apartment.

Labels: Chicago, DIARY, gothic

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Diary: Quiet.

Wow. So this has been the longest posting drought since I started this blog, and it's probably going to last another couple weeks. Quite simply, I spent a couple weeks leaving New York, a week inhabiting a Gothic novel in Chicago, a week moving within Chicago, a week working without internet access. Now I've got internet access, but I'm leaving for Ohio and Michigan for the holidays, so I probably won't be posting much then either.

When I do post again, I have quite a story to tell, and I'll have to tell it in steps, so that I don't bore everyone to death.

Thank you for being patient, though, and have yourselves Happy Holidays.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Diary: Yes, I'm still alive.

I'm here and I will be posting again soon.

I haven't forgotten anyone.

Labels: DIARY

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Concept: Guerrilla Lit reading a week from tomorrow (your last chance to hear me read in New York).

I will be reading at this month's installment of the Guerrilla Lit series. Barring sudden and inexplicable fame, this is the last time I'll be reading in New York, inasmuch as I'm moving to Chicago two days later. The reading is:

7:30 PM Wednesday, 11/28
170 Ave. A (@ 11th St.)
Bar on A

The reading will also feature Erik Rhey, Dani Grammerstorf, and Bernie Kravitz. I know these kids, so seriously, it's going to be a *killer* evening. Bar on A has a *sweet* happy hour to boot, which I will employ to warm up for the event.

I will be reading from either:
A) The Silurians - A short story starring an alcholic middle-aged New York economist mother trapped 400 million years back in time with a motley crew including a politically idealistic college prof and her woe-is-me ex-husband.
B) Beowulf - A hyper!weird novel I'm drafting that, for all its bizarreness, has already managed to inspire a feature film with Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, not to mention a 1000-year Olde English poem.

If people show a strong preference for A or B, I'll follow their wise suggestions.

Otherwise, I'll maybe make up my own mind, or maybe leave it to the whims of the crowd.

Labels: CONCEPT, Reading, Writing

Gravitane 29, 30

- HAPPY BIRTHDAY -
Lyn!

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
New York City or Chicago? Why?

Concept: Chicago vs. New York in 21 Subjectively Determined Categories.

1. WORK
NEW YORK.
Easier to find, easier to keep.


2. HOUSING
CHICAGO.
Easier to find, won't rob you blind. Although you aren't as likely to be able to make a cassarole while sitting on your bed.


3. PUBLIC TRANSIT - EFFICIENCY
NEW YORK.
One late Sunday night, not long after I'd started living in New York, I got annoyed for waiting fifteen minutes for a subway. Then I remembered that in Chicago, I'd be blessed to have a train arrive after so long at such a time. Likewise, my apartment is a twenty minute walk to the subway, and a further twenty minutes to Union Square; my New York friends consiter this forty-minute public transit commute a great inconvenience. Now it does have to be acknowledged that New York stations are much dirtier than those in Chicago, but who cares? You're not spending as much time in them.
Exception: Chicago has two airports and two trains serving them. New York has two airports and zero trains serving them. What gives?


4. PUBLIC TRANSIT - ELEGANCE
CHICAGO.
Of course, I've read plenty about the train wreck that the CTA has become. And, of course, it is the job of public transit to be "efficient," not "elegant." But let us consider the potential here, for what could be if both systems were fully updated and maxed out on efficiency. On the one hand you have New York's bewildering spaghetti plate of letters, numbers, colors, dashed, solid, and dotted lines, and geographic morphing... it's taken almost two years to figure all this out, and I still make mistakes from time to time. Chicago's transit map, on the other hand is a work of art. Bright colors radiate from the core of the city like bicycle spokes, intersecting between the center and the periphery with the neat, solid black lines of bus service. Together, on a to-scale map that (shows streets and major features to boot), it presents a service that is immaculate, accessible, and seemingly comprehensive. If only the reality were so!


5. NEIGHBORHOODS.
CHICAGO.
New York neighborhoods are more conspicuously different from each other; they look different... the Brownstone isn't endemic to New York like the Brick Tenement is endemic to Chicago. But in Chicago the roots are deeper and more penetrating, more lasting, so that the difference between Bridgeport, Canaryville, and McKinley Park might as well be the difference between day and night.


6. PIZZA
CHICAGO.
Frankly, I don't even know why this is a debate. I once heard a compelling argument that New York style pizza is celebrated around counters by commuters on their way to work, and hence a source of camaraderie. A nice thought, but doesn't reliance on such an argument instead of the taste of the thing betray the point in the first place? New York style can be a soupy sweet snappy crunchy treat, but it is literally and figuratively crushed by the dense, rich, complex, and visually mighty Chicago-style.


7. MAYOR
NOT-A-TIE.
Now this is a difficult call. Since I've been reading Medieval history lately, I'll ask a comparable question: who do we like more, Charlemagne or Emperor Justinian of the Byzantines? Charlemagne was a able diplomat and something of the maverick true believer. His efforts managed to create a short-lived cultural Renaissance among subjects locked into mutual acrimony, but they also led to the creation of that most illogical and aberrant of all political institutions: the Holy Roman Empire. His greatest contribution in the long-term was probably the lower-case alphabet, and Bloomburg's will probably be Midtown traffic tolls. Whereas Emperor Justinian (and his successors, and theirs) integrated religious orthodoxy with state theology, autocracy, and political purges. He reinforced one of Byzantium's chief weaknesses: that provinces existed only to pay homage to the glittering capital. In doing so he was able to preserve a civilization that, by all logical rationales, ought to have died out eight-hundred years sooner than it did. J. Daley destroyed much of what was great about Chicago in the name of keeping it peopled and thriving, and his son is doing the same. If you read between the lines, I think you know both who I favor, and the massive reservations I have about that choice.


8. MUSEUMS - ART
NEW YORK.
I did expect New York to walk with this one, but I didn't expect it to be such a rout. The Met (which it took me six days to take in) has four times the square footage of the Art Institute and ten times the collection. Though what really hurts my feelings is the diversity and expansiveness and eclectiveness of the Met... after all, the Art Institute's pride and joy are their Impressionist works, which comes as close to boring me as any school of art really can. Also, just as Chicago has three museums to go toe-to-toe with the Museum of Natural History, MoMa has a right to take on the Art Institute, and doesn't do poorly in the contest. Both cities have, of course, numerous smaller collections of quality, but those in New York (the Frick, the Guggenheim, the Whitney) appear to be somewhat better endowed. I have to confess: I think I will miss this about New York more than any other single thing.


9. BASEBALL TEAMS (AND THEIR FANS) THAT I OBJECT TO
CHICAGO.
The Cubs have the most obnoxious fanbase on the planet, but Yankees fans are almost as obnoxious, with the added penalty of being frequently psychotic.


10. BASEBALL TEAMS (AND THEIR FANS) THAT I KINDA DON'T MIND.
NEW YORK.
If Cubs fans are frequently obnoxious, and Yankees fans are frequently obnoxious and psychotic, then White Sox fans are a generally decent non-obnoxious bunch, who nevertheless tend to go a little bit psycho. Whereas I've never even met a Mets fan I didn't like.


11. MUSIC
TIE.
To be fair, this, more than anything (for me, at least) comes down to a few key battles. Blues vs. Jazz, for instance (I go with Blues, and therefore Chicago). Or House vs. Hip Hop (which just rips me apart). I would have to go with the idea that New York does, in the end, represent a more diverse array of music on the whole, but the kinds of music that I love the most were perfected (and remain so) in Chicago. So there is no way to resolve this. It is a tie.


12. MUSEUMS - SCIENCE
CHICAGO.
Decisively, though not overwhelmingly. The comparison has to begin with the American Museum of Natural History vs. its equivalent, the Field Museum. Not only is the AMNH larger, but its execution is fresher, bolder, and its exhibits are more astonishing. The Cladographic exhibition of fossils is brilliant, and the Rose Space Center is visually striking and intricate. But unfortunately, that's the bulk of what New York brings to this question. The Museum of Science and Industry steps in on Chicago's behalf. As does Adler. And together, these three institutions, any of each could easily absorb one or several days exploring, do trump the AMNH. As for Shedd vs. the New York aquarium, there's simply no comparison. It's ironic that an aquarium so far from the ocean could display sea life with such panache. But then, it is situated on the world's most colorful deposits of Silurian marine life.


13. GRAFFITI
NEW YORK.
Unless one wants to lean heavily on Pilsen murals (which might be against the rules), this particular comparison is probably the worse spanking Chicago gets. In New York, there's graffiti everywhere, and a lot of it is awesome.


14. THEATER
CHICAGO.
I've seen some great theater in New York. But what I've never seen in New York a brilliant blackbox multimedia political parody of Scooby Doo in which $5 buys admission plus all the PBR you can drink.


15. SKYLINE
TIE.
Too different to compare. Early and changing building ordinances in New York imposed many different requirements on buildings for setbacks and spacing. This, combined with Manhattan's density, its irregular streets downtown, topographical variation, and the lack of alleys has created a rugged, craggy skyline that looks like mountains eroded over hundred of millions of years. Chicago, by comparison, is stark, austere, monolithic. There appears to be more of a plan to its layout, with the neat grid and fixation with clean rectangles. At the same time, Chicago has managed to avoid a lot of the explicit commercial construction that plagues New York, and despite the recent construction of (what a friend calls) "architrocities" on the periphery of the Loop, the Loop itself seems more quintessentially American: sharp and angular. Mountains rising from the prairie.


16. PARKS
NEW YORK.
Millennium Park is a marvel... let's just admit it. It looks like one of those awesome computer-generated cities-of-the-future we saw in the early 90s. And all of Chicago's flagship parks have something to offer. It's just that New York offers a lot more of this. How many worlds have been driven into and through Central Park? And how has Prospect Park been impacted so thoroughly by rolling meadows right there between Park Slope and Crown Heights? Hell, even Corona Park, with its lakes and lagoons and the Unisphere seems like this dreamy thing that half-Queens and half-Martian as envisioned by Ray Bradbury.


17. COFFEE
NEW YORK.
I'm sure the cities are neck-and-neck for fancy schmancy gooey deluxe coffee treat stuff. But I've never cared about that. Small coffee black no sugar is my poison. You can get it on any busy street corner in Manhattan for about a dollar. You don't even get it that cheap in Flint!


18. WATERFRONT
CHICAGO.
Now this is perhaps the most obvious of all. In fact, the New York waterfront has a nice level of diversity, being some 1 part pretty park space, 3 parts industrial sprawl, 3 parts highway/roadway, 4 parts other. What is truly objectionable about the New York lakefront is the lack of access in most cases. Not only does Chicago have twentyish miles of beautiful parklike setting, with dripping grass and black oaks, beaches, rocks, waves and sky, but most importantly, it's all public! For the last two years I've lived about two blocks from the East River, but I have to walk over a mile if I actually want to touch the water.


19. NEW YORK'S LEGITIPAPER (NEW YORK TIMES) VS. CHICAGO'S LEGITIPAPER (CHICAGO TRIBUNE)
NEW YORK.
No contest.


20. NEW YORK'S RANKING TABLOID (NEW YORK POST) VS. CHICAGO'S RANKING TABLOID (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES)
CHICAGO.
No contest.


21. CITY.
CHICAGO.
What can I say? I'm a Midwestern kid. More on this tomorrow...

Labels: Chicago, CONCEPT, midwest, New York City

Monday, November 19, 2007

Gravitane 28, 30.

- On Friday I defeated and destroyed the Met. That's right, after six visits I've traversed the two million square feet of this thing and took in a good chunk of the two million objects on display. The only sections I missed during these thirty-six hours of doom were the closed exhibits in 19th century painting, the Lehman wing, and the American Wing. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Africans, the Native Americans, the European Americans, the Modern Artists, the Koreans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Muslims, the Sumerians and descendents, they Mediterraneans... the entire Met: Pwned. By me.
On Saturday my wife and I went to hear Marco read at Kenny's Castaways, and then after a quick dinner with Marco and Scott, we headed up to the Upper West Side to see Beowulf. It wasn't, in the end, more or less faithful to the poem than I'd expected, and the attention to psychological depth was a small piece of disappointment. Still, the effects were eye-popping I was impressed by the films "fidelity in spirit."
The next day I went to church and we went to Marco and Scott's for a burrito meal that Hannah prepared (and Marco's roasted chestnuts). We also played a game of History in the World. I (per typical) came in last, but my Scythians survived until the industrial revolutions, and my renegade Romans were able to eke out a meager existence in the hills of Macedonia for 1500 years before entering into World War I on the side of the Allies. I think.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What should I do on the night that I get back into Chicago?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Gravitane 24, 30.

- Whatever. I walked around Battery Park City and Battery Park. I went home and was responsible (boring) all evening.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
If you were born in 9th century Europe, where would you hope to be born? This gorgeous map will help.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Gravitane 23, 30.

- Last night was quite productive. After a short nap I worked on financial stuff and put the permanent plates on the car.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
Which other planet of the solar system would you most like to visit? (Note: This blog does not consider Pluto a planet.)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Diary: I Need My Coffee.

As job and apartment hunting has become more and more pressing, I've cut exercising and most of my blogging to free up time. Now I'm about to consider reversion to pre-graduation-from-grad-school caffeine levels (eg. as much as I want). The way I figure, caffeine isn't like crack or nicotine. I really can go back to my current reduced level as soon as things settle down a little. Right?

Labels: DIARY

Gravitane 22, 30.

- Nothing (interesting) to report.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What kind of candy do you like?

Monday, November 12, 2007

Gravitane 21, 30.

- I have to be brief this week. So here it is: On Thursday and Friday I went to the Met, and finished the Asian Wing (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean galleries), spent a few minutes looking at Boroque Tapestries, took in the bit of the American Wing that wasn't closed off (the unexpected surprise was Washington Crossing the Delaware which isn't one of those tiny famous paintings... it filled the whole room) and the first floor of Modern Art. My favorite bits were the Chinese Landscape painters, Fudo Myo-o, Kannon, Kamo Matonobo, a piece attributed to Kano Takanobu, Ito Jakuchu, the Heart of the Andes by Church, Kenneth Noland, Gino Severini, Klee, Chagall, Stuart Davis, and of course, everything they had by Georgia O'Keeffe. Do many of these names ring bells to you (because most of them do not for me)?
After the museum on Friday I picked up my wife from work and we spent the rest of the night in a mad dash (an often very slow, bumper-to-bumper mad dash) from New York to Portland, Maine. Our friend Matt had invited us up for the weekend, but he lives on Peaks island, which is only accessible via ferry, and the last ferry leaves at 11:30. We made it, but with only maybe two minutes to spare. The rest of the weekend was spent exploring Portland and southeast Maine, eating good Irish and New Englandish food, and taking the ferry back and forth from restaurants and bars. Maine actually looks a lot like the prettier parts of the UP. Less mining. More lobster.
We got back last night, not too late, but late enough, and had a somewhat relaxing evening. This week, back to the usual.

QUESTION OF THE DAY
- What nation do you most wish you understood better? -

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Concept: NaNoWriMo

My profile.

My 2007 novel? Beowulf. There will be plenty of cheating and shenanigans this time through.

Labels: CONCEPT, Writing

Gravitane 16, 30.

- Yesterday sucked. Yesterday sucked. I did meet Amy for a drink though. That was cool.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
If the weather matched your mood, what would it be doing?

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Event: Once again, the Democrats disappoint.

New York Times: Nomination of Mukasey Sent to Full Senate.

"The vote was 11 to 8, with two Democrats, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California, joining all nine Republicans on the panel in backing the nominee. Eight Democrats voted against Mr. Mukasey." Well, eight of them didn't let us down. The rest have written off the independence of the Justice Department, as well as implied that, yeah, it is somehow ambiguous whether or not simulated drowning and strangulation constitutes torture (?!).

Labels: EVENT, torture, u.s. legislative

Event: Vote Walling for Flint Mayor Today.

More from Blue Skies Falling here.

Complete coverage from the Flint Journal here.

Labels: EVENT, Flint, politics