I’m writing this in my head in a hotel room in Chicago. I can’t sleep. I hate it when I’m exhausted and turn in early only to wake up in the middle of the night with my body squarely deciding it’s only interested in a nap, k thx. But here I am.
It’s my first time visiting the city, and the pace and street noise dizzy me. I haven’t felt this way since I first moved to Cleveland. The skyscrapers in downtown Chicago shimmer like fish in clear water. Some look like harmonicas turned on their sides, others like obsidian blades. So scintillating that I cried a little on the initial drive in.
I was having a dream before I woke at 1:20 a.m. that I was doing comparative urban research and had demonstrated statistically that among a number of factors if you averaged NYC and Cleveland that you got Chicago.