1,001 Chicago Afternoons

In the darkened street where the road bends for no reason, the woman leaning against the motorcycle shook her head. She didn’t know. The man wandering down Milwaukee, head up in the air and body doing that search-stumble thing you do when you’re not looking where you’re going, I didn’t ask. He clearly didn’t know. [...]

I think the turning point was when the guy swept up the beer bottle.

It didn’t hit me until later, after the bar, the packed crowd, after the sweat-covered me with my hair standing on end cooled and combed and got safely back at home where my girlfriend now slumbered as I kept checking @ourmaninchicago’s live-tweeting of the bottle of Jeppson’s Malört he won at the thing, it didn’t [...]

All the passengers shifted in their seats when he got into position. Some suddenly found the window enthralling. Others looked down at their hands with vigor renewed. Those of us lucky enough to already be facing away from the man in winter gear slumped lower in our seats as he took his stance in the [...]

“This is worth $1,200 dollars to me because my torso is always cold but my arms are always warm,” I said, gesturing at a padded vest priced at, in fact, $1.2K.

I noticed the pigeon pacing along the Pink Line platform had a band on its ankle, which was pretty keen of me considering how much my head hurt. My phone buzzed. “I’m listening to the wbez live show- did you make it down there?” the text read.

On the east side of Michigan Avenue, the Chinese-American protesters waved PRC and U.S. flags, sang songs of solidarity and held huge signs and banners declaring their outrage at Japan’s claim on the Diaoyu Islands, which they consider a breach of inviolable and sacred international borders. On the west side of the street, the Free [...]

The bartender poured a pint full of froth, frowned at it and poured it out. He then did it again. And again. “By the end of the night when it’s been pouring all night, it’ll be fine, but it takes like 10 beers to pour one good one,” he said by way of apology.