Colorful Chicago
October 10, 2021
For many people in the Chicago land area, that date is synonymous with the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. For me, this date had been marked in my calendar since the beginning of the school year, as it was the day almost all of my family would be in town. My mom, stepdad and brother got into town on Friday, then one of my older cousins got in on Saturday afternoon, either by plane or train. We had taken some good walks the nights before. My mom used to live in Chicago in the 80s, and for part of her stay here she actually lived in Lincoln Park, right above the bar called “Irish Eyes” on North Lincoln Avenue. On Sunday, we decided to go to the contemporary art museum, and from there our walk began. My two paint swatches were two different shades of red, two colors that surprisingly are not too common in the city.
11:20: We got off on the “red” line at the Chicago stop, from there we walked to the art museum. We passed a nice courtyard and park area by the fire department. Across the way from the museum, there were people sitting in the park. Although it is right by the magnificent mile, a popular tourist destination, it seemed like all of the people belonged at this park. I cannot explain why, but the people there seemed like they have been at this park for lifetimes, like it almost comes second nature to them. It is interesting to see how lively this area by the fire station is and to think about how this whole area once burn down.
12:00: By this time I had finished looking at the museum. There were not very many exhibits. I stayed around for a while as my cousin looked around for a bit longer. He is a design major at the University of Utah, and he was also doing a project for school. I waited in the lobby for a while and walked through my favorite exhibits on the main floor again. While I was there, someone dressed in a red flannel shirt and red air Jordan shoes asked me to take a picture of him in front of some paintings. I had noticed him earlier and realized that I was not the first person he asked to take a picture of him. He was very comfortable in front of the camera, posing in various ways. When I asked him what he was doing, he said that he was an aspiring artist and social media influencer, hoping to get his Instagram page noticed by the museum and hopefully some other talent agencies. I would have taken a picture, but the reds were two very different shades.
1:00: We ate a very late breakfast at Wildberry which is kitty cornered from the museum. The banner matched one of my swatches very well. I came to Chicago about a week before my actual move in date and stayed a bit closer to millennium park. Over there, there was another Wildberry that we ate at a few times including the morning before my move in. It reminded me of the blistering late August heat, but also my Dad since he was with me then and was not able to join us this time.
2:00: We left the restaurant and headed down Michigan Avenue to head to Millennium Park. This was my cousins first time in Chicago and had never seen The Bean before, so we had to stop by. As I talked about earlier, you can almost feel when you are in a place in a city that locals go to versus a place where it is all tourists. Due to the Chicago marathon that took place on Sunday, the energy seemed to be overtaken by tourists. When you are at a place of the locals, it feels like you are in some sort of club. To me, I almost feel mischievous because I know that it is not a club that I should be apart of. The only red I saw were the red lanyards holding the runners’ medals around their necks.
4:00: By this time we had made it back to Lincoln Park. The night we had gone to a late performance at The Second City, and we were all still very tired and in need of a pick me up. We found a café called “The Bourgeois Pig Café” and stayed there for a bit, watching the cars and the people go by.
When I hear the word “capital” my first thought is money. If you have enough capital to start a business, it means that either you have enough money on hand or a bank thought that you eventually have enough money to make their loan worth their while. Having “social capital” is like this. When a city has social capital, it means that they have ample opportunities around for people to be able to build connections with others. When there is easily accessible walking opportunities, it allows for more people to easily meet and form connections. Once people form a group of connections and pathways, they now belong to the “local club” and they will be more willing to protect and care for their city. This is equally beneficial for both the city and it’s residents. People from all over are drawn to this sense of community provided to them by this social capital, which in turn will make more money for the city. (163)
