My Kind of Town Monday

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detail of a turret, North and Oakley, Chicago, IL

More weekly features! My Kind of Town Monday is a series of photos I’ve taken around Chicago. Some of them are well-known spots, others less so, and some are just places I love and don’t want to forget when I move away. It’s a year-long project of remembrance, and bonus, you get to look at pretty pictures.

Humboldt Park boathouse, Chicago, IL

Where in the World Wednesday

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Adams and Clark, Chicago, IL, June 29, 2008

Here’s a new feature: Where in the World Wednesday. I figured, I talk about places I’ve been enough, but maybe there aren’t enough photos. Everyone loves a picture. So every Wednesday, I’ll post a photo from someplace I’ve traveled for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

It’s SO Hot Out…

Posted on July 21, 2011 by lisafindley

How hot is it?

It’s so hot that the pigeons have given up. Rather than strut around their little poop-splattered kingdoms under the El tracks, or dive-bomb pedestrians in their petty turf wars, they’re lying down and calling it quits. I saw two pigeons today do this:

This is what defeat looks like.

Not even quite that. There was shade to be had, but it looked like they just couldn’t even make it that far, so they were sitting in direct sunlight, at noon, waiting for death. They each had the right wing out a little, as if it were sheltering something, but I saw nothing under the wing, just a patch of shade that did them no good. Poor little pigeons.

That’s right, it’s so hot out that even pigeons are inspiring sympathy.

Photo from here.

Sweet Home Chicago

Posted on May 3, 2011 by lisafindley

On my way home from work today, I passed a middle-aged woman who perfectly embodied that Chicago stubbornness and optimism I love so well: She was dressed appropriately for the overcast, 45-degree day in pants, a jacket with the hood up, even gloves. And she was crossing the street licking an ice cream cone. Rock on, spring, rock on.

Spring in Chicago: tulips and parkas

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferdsfotos/2468995357/.

I’m working on a longer piece, so I’m afraid that’s all for today, but be sure to come back on Thursday for a Mother’s Day post I’m pretty excited about.

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on September 10, 2010 by lisafindley

Some of these are from last week, since I meant to post a GBS on Friday but flew to Boston instead. Like ya do. Enjoy, and as ever, put your own links in comments!

The Good

Daley has decided to step down as mayor of Chicago. I’m joining the 65% of Chicagoans who think this is either a good move or one that won’t make a difference — he’s done some really awful things while in office, but the Chicago political system is so rife with corruption that I can’t see his successor being much of an improvement. [EDIT: Bad word choice. He’s not stepping down, he’s simply not running again come the next election.]

Peter and Paul say hell no to the National Organization for Marriage using the Peter, Paul and Mary version of “This Land is Your Land” at NOM rallies. There’s a long history of political candidates pissing off musicians by using their songs without permission, but my favorites are when the musicians respond not just to copyright violation but to their seeming endorsement of a candidate they find reprehensible — like Springsteen telling Reagan “Born in the U.S.A.” wasn’t exactly a celebratory song, or Heart telling Sarah Palin she ain’t no “Barracuda.”

The Ginsburgs sound like they were a fantastic couple, and Ruth is such a winner. (Via.)

The Bad

This is terrifying news from June that I just read about. As post author Problem Chylde says, “The line between a conscientious dissenter and a terrorist is becoming blurrier, and citizens of all nations are treading a fine line between acting under a moral imperative and obeying the law. What is the use of having freedoms one cannot exercise?”

Traister and Holmes lay it out for us: It’s a disgrace that Sarah Palin is heralded as the face of feminism in politics. Where is that face for the Democrats?

The Silly

“If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses“… apparently it’d all still be 15-year-old boys. Yikes! But still funny.

Two words: Hipster dinosaurs (thanks to Mlle. O’Leary for the tip)

In Which We Join the Hallowed Halls and Hated Ranks of Published Critics

Posted on August 12, 2010 by lisafindley

Just a short self-promotion post today: I have a theater review up at Centerstage! Centerstage is one of those nifty social life guides, and they’re good at covering a lot of theater in this, the second most popular theater city in the country. It’s a pleasure to be joining their ranks. Here’s a snippet:

Perhaps it’s an unfair criticism of a play titled “The Armageddon Dance Party,” but there is too much death and not enough dancing here.

That’s not to director Jack Dugan Carpenter’s discredit; he fills the tiny stage at Gorilla Tango Theatre with plenty of movement, without ever letting it feel too frenetic. But David L. Williams’ script shoehorns entirely too many speeches into what started out as an interesting meditation on how we negotiate our relationships and beliefs in the face of certain doom and ended as a platform for the playwright’s pet peeves.