Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member. James Bradley McCallum Jan Chicago for Carl Sandburg. Who wanted me to go to Chicago on January 6th? I did! The night before, 20 below zero Fahrenheit with the wind chill; as the blizzard of 99 lay in mountains of blackening snow.
I packed two coats, two suits, three sweaters, multiple sets of long johns and heavy white socks for a two-day stay. I left from Newark. The 2nd City to whom? To the bone! But Chi Town is still cool. Bartenders mixing drinks, cabbies jamming on their breaks, honey dew waitresses serving sugar, buildings swerving, fire tongued preachers are preaching and the farmers are measuring the moon.
The lake, unlike Ontario is in the midst of freezing. Bones of ice threaten to gel into a solid mass over the expanse of the Michigan Lake. If this keeps up, you can walk clear to Toronto on a silver carpet. Along the shore the ice is permanent. Thank God I caught a cab. Outside I hear The Hawk nippin hard. Yes Nueva York, a city that has placed last in the standings for many years.
Except the last two. Yanks are 1! Middle of a country, center of a continent, smack dab in the mean of a hemisphere, vortex to a world, Chicago! Kansas City, Nashville, St. Cities, A collection of vanities? Engineered complex utilitarianism? The need for community a social necessity? Ego one with the mass? Chicago is more then that. The namesake river segments the city, canals of commerce, all perpendicular, is rife throughout, still guiding barges to the Mississippi and St.
Now also tourist attractions for a cafe society. Chicago is really jazzy, swanky clubs, big steaks, juices and drinks. You get the best coffee from Seattle and the finest teas from China. Great restaurants serve liquid jazz al la carte. Great Lakes wonder of water. Niagara Falls still her heart gushes forth. Buffalo connected to this holy heart. Finger Lakes and Adirondacks are part of this watershed, all the way down to the Delaware and Chesapeake.
