1,001 Chicago Afternoons

Kathleen hadn’t seen the oboist’s twin sister in 15 years.

“Our kids were in the sixth grade,” she said as we sat down at our table in the Garfield Park Conservatory’s Horticulture Room.

To clarify, the oboist’s twin sister didn’t have sixth-graders all those years ago — she was one of the sixth-graders. Also to clarify, Kathleen and I were complete strangers. » Read the rest of this entry «

Surrounded by palm trees inside the glowing steampunk UFO of the Garfield Park Conservatory, a woman who made her glockenspiel out of a series of hardware store plumbing pipes explained the rules to me.

I was going to write the symphony. » Read the rest of this entry «