Election Day

It's election day in Chicago. We're voting for a new mayor. There are six candidates, down from twenty that initially filed for candidacy.

If a candidate gets an absolute majority (50% of the vote + 1) then that person gets to move into City Hall on May 16 and the whole city gets spared 42 more days of speeches, debates, TV commercials, and photo-ops (including snow shoveling, restaurant visits, el stop handshakes, and way more information about all the different areas of the city each candidate ever called 'home' than most people care to know). In short, we get to move on from politics to the pressing topic of whether the Cubs can break their 103 year pennant drought (and don't think we haven't noticed that while the candidates like to discuss their solutions to budgets, taxes, and education, none of them seem to have a plan to solve the Cubs' curse).

If no candidate gets an absolute majority then the top two vote getters get back to the trenches until April 5.

Wish us luck!

Urbs in Horto

You actually have to be at the Brown Line's Library stop to see these decorative sculptures of Ceres and corn that line the walls of the Harold Washington Library. If you look closely at the ribbon under Ceres' face, you can make out the City of Chicago's motto: Urbs in Horto (City in a Garden).

Wish on a ... CTA Card?

This is the little reflecting pool in the Harold Washington Library. I guess people think of it as a wishing well, too, because there is always a large number of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters in it. Somebody apparently wished that the CTA would run on time forever and felt that tossing a CTA fare card in would ensure that the wish came true. (The CTA card is directly left of the drain.)

Oh, it looks like it is a 3 day CTA pass -- guess they only needed on-time service for the weekend.

ChiPubLib.Org

The Harold Washington Public Library in downtown Chicago is currently displaying various posters designed by local artists to promote the library's website.

Clockwise from top right:
Next Stop by Alexus Viscius
ChiPubLib.org by Eric Sheer
One Stop by Liz Razionale

Something Other Than Snow

I was cutting through a building (again) to escape the cold. This time it was the Chicago Cultural Center. I found this great mosaic in the ceiling near the Washington entrance. The ceiling also has mosaics of author names, like Longfellow and Irving, because the Cultural Center used to be the main Chicago Public Library.

The tiny suns and dolphins in the corners gave it a tropical look and a nice escape from the brutal outside temperatures.

Reading Light

The library is such a great, yet often overlooked, resource.

My latest "discovery" is that the library has a huge cookbook selection. I can go, check out some cookbooks, try some of the recipes, make sure they work and that I like the results, and then return them. That way, if I like the book and the recipes, I can go buy it. If I don't like the book ... well that's OK because it isn't taking up precious shelf space in my personal "library". And, don't even get me started about how convenient it is to search the library catalog via the internet to see which library has the book before you head out. They've come a long way from those typewritten card catalog files.

This particular library, the Harold Washington Library, also has a lot of art, interesting designs, and architecture. This isn't a hallway to the window. It's more like a long narrow window sill. I liked how the windows from the building across the street lined up so well (at my eye level -- someone taller or shorter wouldn't get the same view) and all the different angles.