Sweet Jesus

This is so very, very wrong

Creepy.

So this happened a block from where I live two nights ago:

"A man and woman were shot and killed in the Albany Park neighborhood early Sunday in a condo where a police source said drugs were found.

A witness who was in the condo in the 3500 block of West Sunnyside when the shootings occurred said the victims were a 24-year-old man and his 19-year-old girlfriend."

I was walking Annie yesterday morning around 6:45 and saw a Channel 7 news truck in front of the church down the street. So I asked what was going on. The reporter told me two people were shot in their apartment and they didn't know much else. Then he proceeded to ask me stupid questions like "how does knowing this happened in your neighborhood make you feel?"

I feel great about it - wonderful! Fantastic!... what a DUMB question. I'm convinced that most people on the news sound stupid because they're responding to stupid questions.

It's still creepy, but remind myself when thinking about this that this sort of thing can and does happen almost anywhere. Sure, I knew when I moved here that the neighborhood wasn't as "nice" (read: white) as my previous neighborhoods, but I knew people who lived where I'm at and they all said it's fine. For the record, I still think it's fine. Maybe it's not as 'safe' as Lincoln Park (then again, the city puts more services and cops in areas that provide the city more property tax money). Yes, there's some problems here. Neighbors I talk to while walking Annie said they heard the man who was shot was a drug dealer with a rap sheet a mile long.

The other thing that lessens the creepy factor is that this was probably not random. I'm not excusing the behavior at all (I know how this will sound) but the guy who did this had a reason to kick down that particular door. Maybe it was drugs, money owed, or a jilted ex-boyfriend - but it was something. That means that unlike a random act, it couldn't have just as likely been my door or someone in my building. These people knew each other - I'll bet a year's salary on that.

That makes it less creepy than an incident about 5 years ago in Lincoln Park (rich, whitey McTrixiville) where a woman was dragged into a gangway between two houses and raped two doors down from my apartment on a night I was coming home late from something. It happened about two hours after I had gotten home - but still - it could have just as easily been me in that case. That, to me, is scarier than this AND it happened in a "good" and "safe" neighborhood.

It still sucks, it's still creepy, and it's still sad that human beings continue to do things like this to each other. But it's part of life anywhere, particularly in a city. It's a reason to learn to be aware of your surroundings and learn how to handle yourself when you're out.

There was a candlelight vigil last night outside the building with a crowd of about 15 people. The candles were still lit this morning.

Book Review: The Devil in the White City

So being from and living in Chicago, everyone I knew was appalled that I hadn't yet read this. I just never got around to it until now. It is strange that I didn't read it right away because I love Chicago architecture, reading about the history of architecture, and Chicago history in general. So I finally checked it out of the library.

For those unfamiliar, it is an well researched historical account (with some fictitious sections to fill in gaps of the way some things plausibly happened) of the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair intertwined with the life of a serial killer in Chicago during that same time.

I was somewhat disappointed with the book, overall. While interesting, I already knew most of the architectural history. I did enjoy reading about the personal struggles of Daniel Burnham, John Root, and Fredrick Olmstead - the genius architects who made the White City the wonderful place it was. I found the story of H.H. Holmes, the sociopathic serial killer that stalked young women in Chicago during the fair to be intriguing, but I found the way it was intertwined into the World's Fair construction to be awkward. I would have liked to have read a story entirely about Holmes, with the Fair as a backdrop. But the way the two stories just flipped back and forth seemed forced.

Both could have been their own story independently, and I think it should have been that way. The story of the World's Fair and all the innovations that were first introduced to the world there is interesting all by itself. The Ferris Wheel and alternating current are two. And it's not like Holmes was stalking people INSIDE the fair or that he had any direct contact with the characters in the construction story (Burnham, Root, Olmstead, etc). It was just that his murders were occurring in Chicago during the same time as the fair.

For those interested in architectural history and/or Chicago history though, it's worth a read.

But I will share some photos....

Last weekend I went with a few friends to the 30th Anniversary party for Neo, now officially Chicago's oldest and longest running nightclub. Cillic has been going there forever, and he and AuntieHeathen started bringing me there about what, 6-7 years ago? It took me a while to feel comfortable there - because it took me a while to figure out that nobody gave a fuck what you wore, what you look like, how you dance, or what (or if) you drink. Plus, well, I love Industrial music so =>plus. Here's a recent Tribune article about the place and it's history. Interesting stuff.



Here's some other pictures I took today.

I went with boy to the Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park and got a lovely SteamPunk pinky ring:



And here's a few Chicago shots from a downtown rooftop deck. I love this city.
Navy Pier:

Hancock & Water Tower Place in a cloud.

Slacking...

I've been sucked into the Facebook vortex and also haven't had anything I really wanted to blog about lately. I am going to probably have something to say about Caster Semenya, the South African runner and how our binary way of thinking about sex and gender is just simply not realistic.