notes & things | 8/31/2025
It has arrived. Yesterday on the very tippy top cusp of autumn, the light was different in the apartment. It felt rather delightfully fall-ish with the open window and I could once again hear the rustling of the neighborhood without the A/C's hum. A baby crying in the air bnb across the courtyard. A gathering of Loyola-ans somewhere above who would occasionally crescendo in drunken shouts. The kid upstairs who yells at video games I can hear above my perch near the dining room windows.
There has been much focus on Chicago as the orange menace (who may or may not be dead or dying) pumps his fists and makes shit up, but I promise you the city is as it ever was. As someone who has moved around quite liberally even late at night (commuting after 10pm each evening via public trans and much later after bar outings by Red Line) in my nearly three decades living here, Even now, with access to J's car, we are mainly nocturnal, going to late movie outings all over the city and hitting up 24 hour diners. I have never felt particularly unsafe here (well more than anywhere else as a woman aware of her surroundings at all times) There is some crime as there is anywhere if you are not vigilant, but overall the most common run-in for most I know who have encountered such has been phone snatching on sidewalks and trains. The deserted streets right after covid may have spiked an uptick in problems, but as the city fills with people, there is much, much less.
Also, considering I'm from Rockford, where little old ladies get rolled in the Walmart parking lot for their social security money, Chicago usually seems pretty tame. There are (smaller than you would think) pockets of neighborhoods with more problems (gang conflicts, break-ins, abandoned houses) but you are likely to find these things in urban areas of any size. Also, some roving teen problems that occasionally turn violent lakeside and downtown that afflict the summer months (likely because kids no longer have places to go and things to do) On the whole, I would say percentage wise, much of the city is safe to live and work in. Faux News seems to have a particular hard-on for Chicago and I've never been able to figure out why. They like to talk about less foot travel and abandoned storefronts on the Mag Mile, which is true, but it is much less any kind of crime and more exorbitant rents that make those locations unsustainable for the few retail outlets that haven't already been gutted by online shopping. In the 22 years I commuted up and down it everyday, there was a lot of turnover during that time as habits changed. Yes, there may be underpasses under LSD with tents and the unhoused (who are not usually criminal and just doing their best in bad circumstances) are a social issue that actually has very simple solutions if the government actually cared to help people instead of clearing them out with no where to go. And yet, here we are...
Most days, I hit my tolerance for "news" and ridiculous, but real, headlines early in the day, and then struggle to get my attention back in line in the hours afterward to do freelance work, make books and poems as best I can. Then I wake up again and do it all over. In between, there are some good things. Things to look forward to that keep me hanging on amid the madness. J's homemade edibles help to unwind before bed (right now, we have weed snickerdoodles in the cookie jar) as do older episodes of South Park. This weekend, I made some paper dolls and more collages and started a new series of poems. Fall will bring some more theater outings (including another performance of Book of Mormon downtown) the revving up of the fall horror film season, and a new tattoo at the end of the month. (a larger butterfly that will also finish off the sleeve entirely on the backside of my arm.)
And, of course, the hope that we will all soon wake up to the one headline we want to hear most.
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