"WERE YOU AT GRANT PARK LAST NIGHT?"*




That's the question of the day here in Chicago, where the mood is jovial.

People actually seem happy. They even seem to like each other.

There seems to be a feeling of purpose and shared identity.

That's a rare thing in this tamastic, segregated city that keeps voting for the same thuggish mayor over and over and over again.

The last time I noticed this collective feeling of joy was when the Bears were in the Superbowl.

Before that, it was when Harold Washington was mayor....






May it last past today.....

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*Last night ABC News kept showing (and interviewing) the crowd in New York City's Times Square rather than at Chicago's Grant Park. What, pray tell, were they thinking? For once, NYC was not the center of the world - Chicago was - and they completely missed the boat.

Last night E. called Blet's house at 8PM to ask if he wanted to go down to Grant Park with her. Her husband, a McCain supporter, did not want to go. "Why don't you call someone who doesn't have kids?" Blet suggested.

Yesterday many businesses near Grant Park were closed, including Columbia College. I know this because an adjunct professor and avid ashtangi had the night off and came to class. Today, someone in the banking sector said that her downtown company sent everyone home at 3PM. The CTA trains going both directions were packed to the gills; with people fleeing downtown, and those coming in for the rally. She said there was a strange tension in the air, and that her company had sent people home in case there was trouble. A race riot? I asked. Impossible! People will be dancing with joy. No, she said. They were worried that "the other side" would cause trouble. You mean the Republicans? I asked. Impossible!. I couldn't see it; not unless they were conducting abortions and same-sex marriages at the rally. Besides, Republicans want to protect property, not destroy it. No, not them, she said; they were worried about skinheads and other white supremacists. Oh.





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Top photo of Marina City snapped today, at the corner of Wabash and Wacker.