daytripper

Took 90% of the day on a cool shopping mission. There is this college (Shimer) that is moving to unite w/ IIT near Comisky. They have a book sale, and I was able to strenghten our collection of art history, drawing books (like the nudes), a bit of Marx, an Akers-Stahl bio, and etc............ Shimer is way up in WauKeegan, so I had the liteyear trip from Mt. Greenwood to the Wisc. border, but it got done.

First time I set foot in WauKeegan as well. When we were 14-15, we'd take Metra trips out to the small suburbs that ring Chicago (Elgin, Aurora, etc...) to explore their little downtowns. Today was WauKeegans turn. Nice place.

To this day, I have a fascination about "Main Street"'s in either small towns/cities or in the kool 'hoods of the city. Growing up in the 'hood that I did, I developed this deep respect for the "Walking City" type community. The "Walking City" refers to the older types of neighbourhoods before the advent of cars where everybody had to walk to get their daily bread. Now it's all parking lots.

Marquette Park was this type of 'hood. We had department stores, cornershops, bookshops, grocery stores, ma and pa record stores (many !!!) etc etc etc all over the place. The street scence was always bustling. I will save my roofing stories for another day, but leave you with this little story.

With my rural irish cousin in Ireland in 2000 or 1999, and on passing an impossibly green valley, beautiful nature and stuff, he said to me I've always thought that this is the real Ireland. I replied that My favourite view of Ireland was the view of Ballyshannon's twin main streets ...................

..................................opens to the twin ideas of :

Not nature, but concrete for me/ not nature, but humans for me