CHICAGO CARLESS

(Photo: You never know where life will take you. Credit: Devyn Caldwell.)

The new Huffington Post Chicago page debuts today. And guess which Windy City carless blogger has got a byline there?

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Impending moves breed future-flavored angst. Such it is with my upcoming move back home to New York City–how exactly does one say goodbye to a city as wondrous as Chicago? (No, really, if anyone knows I’m dying to know, too).

Not long ago, a colleague and fellow writer clued me into “Jamestown”, a novel by fellow New Yorker Matt Sharpe. Funny thing, the novel smacks more of my move from NYC to Chicago than back the other way, but except for the gratuitous (fictional) blood-shed, the parallels are, frankly, annoying.

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(Photo: You never know where life will take you. Credit: Looper.)

Walking out my front door and into the remains of a bank robbery this evening brought to mind the absurdity of life. Never knowing where it’ll take you, it’s always best to be prepared for any eventuality. This eventuality brought six police cars, two paddy wagons, and an undercover police taxi to the foot of Marina City to arrest a pathetic-looking homeless man who had just robbed the Chase Bank beneath the House of Blues Hotel. Tried to rob, anyway.

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(Photo: San Francisco’s little bookstore with a big effect.)

It’s been three years since I came to Chicago and I still haven’t figured out why I did it. I know the factors that pushed me away from New York (slimy employer, post-9/11 angst, hermetically self-encased friends) and that pulled to me to Chitown (aggressively amiable locals, tall buildings, and cheap rent). I know I had lessons to learn here. But I’ve never ever been able to identify the moment when the idea to actually tear myself away from NYC and move across country to the “for Chrissakes, Michael, what are you thinking, it’s the” Midwest actually happened. One day I knew the decision had been made and, utterly, I no longer had a choice in the matter. But I just don’t remember ever making the decision, itself.

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