Mundanely Profound

In some chats with people I'm learning some new things about Chicago that don't shed it in very good light.

1. From some planning students that have been in the graduate program for a while, I've learned Chicago is a very corrupt city, more than most municipalities even. Apparently, if I wanted to get a job in the planning department of Chicago (not necessarily a main career goal, but it would be on a long list of jobs I'd like) I would have to "know" somebody that runs Chicago, if you know what I mean. I really hope I get some skill sets out of my Master's degree and that I can COMBINE that professionalism with a marriage to the daughter of a well-connected rich Chicago Jewish politician to get a job in Chicago. Going by personal connections alone (what's the term for that? something-ism? not nepotism) I would feel too guilty for not getting a cushy job by merit alone... unless I marry a total hottie Jewish girl. If she was moderately attractive and a had a good personality, then I would feel guilty.

2. Chicago is a very Democratic city, but not necessarily a liberal one. There's this entrenched political machine that will always elect Democrats but they won't be necessarily progressive, help the needy, or advocate for the rights of minorities and other marginalized groups. This partisanship without any values behind it is definitely more pervasive on the other side of the aisle, so its kind of dissapointing. A open-minded Republican elected in Chicago would probably bring some bold new ideas that could change this city, maybe for the better. The current mayor Richard M. Daley has served since 1989 and from what I know plans on running over and over again until, well he's dead. That's what his father, Richard J. Daley did, when he served for almost 20 YEARS as Chicago mayor. There's something creepily royal about that. As horrible as the national political scene is (what's good about it, huh?), is some consolation that the Dubya era will only last 8 years.

3. Chicago is an extremely unhealthy city. In the top 10 ranking of obese cities (watch Supersize Me to get more stats) Chicago is up there with all these red state cities with huge consumptive lifestyles. The unhealthy food is really good here, though, so maybe there's some excuse. But I don't see a lot of vegetarian restaurants, recycling isn't as easy or pervasive as in Iowa, and public transportation is used a lot less. A visiting professor candidate that I was escorting who was from New York was very surprised that the trains weren't packed right during rush hours. These are just empirical observations (again with the big words, I hope I used that term right), but I'm sensing Chicago isn't such an enlightened place. At least it doesn't live up to my perception of it when I visited it as a tourist.

But I still like it here.