Chicago’s Love Affair
Chicago is a funny town! Having once upon a time eschewed having anything as disruptive as The Olympics come to our sunny, albeit windy, shores, we are now all excited that the USOC chose us over L.A. It’s a matter of civic pride that the world love us as much as we ourselves love our town. We’re like insecure children asking Mommy and Daddy, “Am I really as good as people say?” Or that infamous scene when Sally Field accepted her Oscar, “You like me! You really like me!” It’s as if we share this “collective unconscious” that maybe we’re NOT quite good enough - expressed in the phrase “The Second City”. We, like Avis, “try harder.” And, actually, we’re ”The Third City” now - behind not only NYC but LA too. (Gasp!)
It always seems to come as a surprise to native Chicagoans that tourists come here and actually LIKE our city. We seem to feel as if we ourselves have somehow been given a personal compliment. “You like Chicago?! OH! Thank you very much!” We carry this “Like me - like my city” chip on our shoulders. But Chicago IS the City of Big Shoulders. Sure, we may be a little insecure about our likeability. You have to ask yourself how, with a climate such as ours, anyone can stand to live here. And, of course, that’s another point of civic pride - the fact that we’re “tough enough” to withstand such a whimsical and ridiculous climate. Anyways, how macho is it to really care whether we’re liked or not. We’re way too tough to make an assertion such as Sally Field’s. Whaddya take us for anyways? Sissies?
“All Things With Exuberance!”
mary!
