Getting lost, or being disappointed in Chicago, does not
have the same perks as in Japan. There, when I couldn’t see the Yanagi
map, or find a specific destination, something
wonderful, some surprise or pleasure, occurred as compensation. Here it’s just
gray and tiresome, at least in part because I know the city so well. No
surprises, no beautiful gardens (February, after all, and slush
abounds), no language problems, although occasional communication
glitches.

I began the day at Spertus Institute to see their new building and to talk to their archivist about donating photos and materials about my grandmother. From there, I got on the subway and went to Aiko’s, where I found they were closing the shop. I haven’t been a wonderful customer for them, but over the years, I’ve bought many beautiful papers and books. I’m sad to see them go. I almost felt like I was going to a cemetery to pay my respects.

I took the bus back downtown, walked a few blocks to Michigan Avenue and got on another bus going further south to find a bookstore specializing in books about Asia. I remembered the address wrong, slight dislexia on my part, and to my great disappointment, never found the shop. Should have called first — someday, I’ll learn. Then I got on the wrong bus, went far out of my way, and had to take still another bus to get back. There were no compensating discoveries in any of this.

Robin, Steve and Charna arrived in time for dinner and we all went to the folk festival, a good finish to a not so good day.

Thursday was a nice day: temperature above freezing with hints of sunshine. Romy, Eli and I went downtown, where I introduced them to the Cultural Center, easily one of my favorite places in Chicago. You can see lots of photos of the building here. This was, originally, the main building of the Chicago Public Library, and I spent many happy hours there as a young girl. It’s sitting on a prime piece of real estate, and for a while, there were plans to tear it down and sell the land for mega- mega-bucks. Wiser heads prevailed, fortunately, and the building now enjoys a second life as one of Chicago’s primary tourist attractions.

One of the stated reasons for tearing it down was that it no longer fulfilled it’s function as a library. They put the books in storage where they were largely unavailable, and some years later built the Harold Washington Central Library. Here’s a page with statistics about the building. Note that they don’t tell you how many books are shelved, or how much use is made of them. They also don’t mention that the most prominent feature of the building is the escalators taking up huge amounts of space in the center. I suppose I shouldn’t write all of this; I haven’t been over there since I moved from Chicago 10 years ago. Maybe they have filled the place with books by now.

That turned into a rant, didn’t it. I seldom know where I’m going when I start one of these posts.

We met Betty at the Center, spent a little more time there, then lunch and a walk through Millennium Park. The city has put up a winter event: Museum of Modern Ice. I found the snow on the Anish Kapoor sculpture more interesting. I’ll have pictures next week.

We spent most of the afternoon at the Art Institute. Eli and Romy left us to do some shopping and return to campus; Betty and I sat over coffee for most of an hour; then she left and I returned to the Art Institute to spend serious time in the Asian Art Galleries. They have a wonderful collection of Japanese woodblock prints. Each time I come there is something different to see, and I always enjoy them. As I walked through the galleries with Buddhist sculptures I realized, for the first time, that while they give lots of information about each individual piece, how it was made and what it represents, there is no information about where the piece came from and why it was made. This is the kind of thing I’ve been studying, the context of the work, and I was uncomfortable. In the past, when I looked at these pieces, I thought about them only in terms of what they are as free-standing objects; now I want all of the context. Amazing what a little learning does for you.

I walked back through Millennium Park to see the ice sculpture with lights on it. Sometimes they make things more interesting. Then dinner and back to my cell; a nice day.

Big nostalgia trip, being back here in Chicago.
Nostalgia is all I’ve got today sitting in my iHouse cell with a raging blizzard outside. Should have stayed in the here and now in Pittsburgh

I started school here in 1950, at the age of 16 and lived near the University for most of the next 7 years. Some things have changed, but the neighborhood remains very familiar to me. To belabor the obvious, I’m the one who has changed, but not in an expected way. This morning I left iHouse, walked a mile or so to the center of the University, in nasty, cold rain, and realized I never would have easily walked this far when I was 16; one or two blocks would have seemed excessive. No wonder I’ve always had a weight problem.

I went to the Oriental Institute, a wonderful museum on the campus, and then went to the Alumni House to look at old yearbooks and directories. One of the things about nostalgia is trying to put it all in the right place. I don’t look back very much, and my memory is often vague on dates. I looked up a few things and now I’m more confused than before. I guess there are some things I’ll never know.

I entered the University of Chicago after only 2 ½ years of the high school I hated. Several large schools had similar programs at that time. Chicago was my only option; my mother would never have allowed me to leave home and go to Yale or Columbia.

At that time, Robert Maynard Hutchins was chancellor of the University. He was hugely famous in academic circles, although seldom remembered now. Looking at the 1960 yearbook I found a speech he gave about power and responsibility, particularly the responsibility of government to use power responsibly. Much of what he said, almost 50 years ago, would be applicable to our situation today.

Hutchins was one of the early naysayers to McCarthyism
and the House Un-American Activities Committee and warned about the dangers of “anti-communism”. Were he still alive, I’m sure he would have much to say about the Patriot Act and the current bill awaiting Senate approval. It seems to me we are about to enter another period of this kind of paranoid behavior.

One of the great things about keeping a blog is recalling what you did so you can write about it. My house guests went to see Falling Water giving me the opportunity to finish telling about my Chicago trip. I’ve been going over the 200 some pictures I took in the three days and have created two new photo albums: Chicago 2007 and Nikki in Chicago.

On Tuesday, walking around Chicago, we stopped into the Cultural Center, a fabulous building they almost tore down, so Renee could see it. That’s where we found out about Nikki in the Garden, a show of the work of Nikki de Saint Phalle at the Garfield Park Conservatory. That went on the list for Wednesday.

We walked around downtown most of the afternoon, spending quite a lot of time at Millennium Park. It was a beautiful day; amazing, perfect weather for Chicago. Renee thought she wanted to take an architectural tour, but having already walked two miles or more, I knew I wouldn’t make it. So we walked another mile around the park, finally collapsing into a cab and going back to Betty’s apartment where we rested up (and had some wine) for our next challenge, dinner. Betty is terrific on restaurant recommendations; she took us too a new place in Chinatown called Mulan. It lived up to her review.

See the Chicago 2007 album for photos of sculpture in the park and some other things in Chicago.

Wednesday morning we got ready to leave. We had been staying out in Northbrook, with Carol, and I didn’t want to drive back there for the night after going all the way out to the south side to see Eli again. Enough driving!

Carol made a lovely breakfast for us and sent us on our way–to Garfield Park and Nikki in the Garden. It’s a great show; everything looks so good sitting amidst the plants and flowers. I took the opportunity to make one last photo for an old project of mine about the subway and elevated in Chicago. Back in 1975 I had a show at the Cultural Center of photos documenting the trains, stations and surrounding areas. All the photos were black and white. Here is my last ‘el’ photo, in color:Too bad I can’t add it to the show.

I’m so pleased that Chicago has found a way to make the Conservatory a vital part of the Chicago scene. It was a forgotten neighborhood for most of my life in the city. They had a wonderful Chihuly show there a few years ago and it suddenly became a destination.

After a too short visit with Eli we drove east and
finally stayed overnight just short of the Ohio border. On Thursday we
went to the Amish flea market and I already wrote all I intend to say
about it.

we went to the Bahai Temple in Wilmette. I’m ashamed to say I lived in Wilmette for 17 years and only went inside the Temple once before. It’s a beautiful place, and the sanctuary is awesome. I haven’t researched it, but there must be a great story about why the Temple was built in Wilmette. And, I was very impressed to learn they only accept donations from their own believers.

We walked around the building,
Renee

climbed up to the sanctuary and explored the visitor’s center, where we found a small room with the Peace Tapestry, four exquisite panels created by Vickie Hu Poirier of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Each panel has text about peace, the necessity of achieving peace, the means of achieving peace; the work is a veritable sampler of fabric techniques. I put more photos and some details in the Wonderful Cloth photo album on the left.