1,001 Chicago Afternoons

“Why do you call him Uncle Go Paul? He’s Uncle Paul because his name is Paul and he’s our uncle,” the older said to the younger. “He’s Uncle Go Paul because we go places with him,” the younger replied. I was touched. But not enough to get let them get a second thing of candy [...]

Two young women with rolling carts walked up at the O’Hare Blue Line station. They wore fresh smiles and gabbed happily in an Asian language I didn’t know. “Does this go downtown? To the Forest Park?” one asked, pointing at the nearby car. “Yes,” I said. “It does.” Tag, I thought to myself as I [...]

A friend of mine wrote a book.

It wasn’t the corkboard feet high and feet wide full of inch by inch Polaroids that made me realize how many people volunteer at Open Books. It was the coatrack.

Nerds. Just a buncha goddamn nerds. Nerds blocking the stairs. Nerds cramming the bars and taking up the booths. Nerds dressed up as the men from TV, clapping and cheering between the whams and slams on the show amid bouts of reciting each other nerd trivia. But luckily the game ended and the nerds in [...]

So I was at the Grant Street Metro Transit station, waiting for the Blue Line to Fremont or, if the spirit moved me, hop over to the Black Line to Banacaville.

You can tell the neighborhood has gone up in the world because they no longer use the bulletproof lazy susan to hand over the sandwiches.