10 Questions About…

Dad was heading to Chicago to see friends. Very last minute I decided to go too. Not to see sick friends but to see my sister Katie and be the ultimate tourist downtown Chicago for a gorgeous afternoon of sun and 70 degrees. It was so much fun. The Art Institute was closed, which while sad made me do different fun things. I took the train downtown, walked around to soak up some downtown ambiance and then headed to at least say hello to the Art Institute lions and Millennial Park. Sadly even the Bean was under repair but I got to the fountain spit and then headed to Navy Pier.

First walking from Millennial Park to Navy Pier is probably the most expensive real estate in the Midwest. Whoa. Lots of private parks and chauffeurs (and not mom-chauffeurs either!). I hadn’t been to Navy Pier or years. There were people around but it wasn’t busy. The wind is exactly what you expect from the windy city but the views are spectacular and the air feels fresh. I stopped in to see The State of Sound highlight Chicago musicians. It’s a free, quick fun stop. I saw some folks I expected to see like Nat King Cole, John Prine, Louis Armstrong and Jeff Tweedy. I saw one of my lost favorites, Naked Raygun. I saw someone I watched play over the weekend -Shemekia Copeland.

Then Katie finished work and we met at the Museum of Contemporary Art. (More amazing addresses enroute!) There was a farmer’s market outside of the gallery – bonus for a Tuesday. So we got a picnic lunch and ate on the museum patio. We saw a few exhibits but the most striking to us was Public Enemy by Gary Simmons. He has been using art to call out racism and classicism especially in popular culture and everyday life in American since the 1980s. His most famous works are smudged chalk drawing that capture images from popular media. (Apparently one of his first studios had a large chalkboard, which goes to show you the power of happy accident.) The images are recognizable but ghostly in the smudge. He recreates the works in the studio – so that when the show closes, the MCA will just paint over it and the message will remain hidden in the walls.

Also he uses regalia without people to represent situations or conditions. He had a piece where tennis shoes (Puma, Nike, Adidas) were dipped in gold and places in front of a police witness lineup wall. The message is clear. Even without people in the shoes, we are trained to have a certain view. There’s another wall with tall, narrow, white chalkboards hung up furnished with white chalked places inches in front of a row of old school wooden desks representing the white washing of education. Finally, on the opposite was a bare bones school closet with several size 6x (think kindergartener) Ku Klux Klan costumes. The MCA always makes me think.

We stopped by my favorite consignment shop in Evanston on the way home. (Got new shoes.) And them Katie, Dad, Dan and I went to our favorite D&J Bistro in Lake Zurich for an amazing French meal. The folks there are so good and friendly. The food is amazing and I never need to eat again.

Now 12 hours after leaving the restaurant, Dad and I are halfway home to St Paul!