Love it!

Best story of today, for sure!

See here, and here.

Try as I might, I couldn’t find a facebook OR myspace page for Jackie Kucinich.

it’s like trying to (difficult task) with a (inadequate tool)

I have my very own office. It is pretty big, and it has a big window. The reason for this is simple — real estate is probably pretty cheap where I work (South Side of Chicago, though not that far South). I was told by the girl who previously occupied my office that her new office, downtown, is a quarter the size of mine. So be it. The big window doesn’t open, but it is a big window.

 

A client was sitting in my office yesterday, and remarked upon my “crappy view.” I hadn’t really thought of it that way, since I do have a nice big window and all. I pointed out that I have a view of something historical — the last standing Robert Taylor Homes building — the last vestige of what was at one time the largest public housing project in the United States. Her response? “Thank Jesus I never lived in the Taylor Homes.”

 

The building that is still standing has been the sole surviving building for some time now, several years. I could probably find out why this one was left standing after the others were demolished (in a HOPE VI-fueled frenzy of beneficent destruction), but I haven’t bothered to research it. At any rate, it is something to see. It’s enormous, with a mostly intact skeleton, but most of the windows and walls blown out. Part of the building simply slumps downward to one side, as if it were dissolving. I’d always thought a building had to be either standing or demolished, pretty much. This one has been hovering between those two states, at least for as long as I’ve been watching it out my window (admittedly only 2 weeks, but longer than I’d have thought such a thing could last.)

 

I was standing on the El platform today, waiting for the train to take me up to the Cook County Court.

I looked over at the last standing Robert Taylor Home, and for the first time saw (or noticed) a crane with a wrecking ball intently attacking it. Next to the building, the wrecking ball looked positively puny. Are wrecking balls always that much smaller than the buildings they’re trying to demolish? The wrecking ball was persistent. It swung slowly at the building, over and over, though it didn’t seem to be doing much damage at all.

It was fucking poetic.

Yay!

i usually think banners at big important hearings are a little tedious and unproductive, but this one is really an instant classic:

hooray for protesters!

Am I just incredibly dense?

I have noticed that people seem to have particularly strong opinions about reggaeton.  By “people” I mean a number of my friends, but they are a diverse group — some are in punk bands, for example, while some are classically trained musicians who compose and produce crazy experimental music, while others are total non-musicians who listen to Top 40, pretty much.

Why is reggaeton so divisive?

I asked one person, and he said “cause it’s freakin’ annoying.”

While this question may appear to be “so a couple of years ago,”  I assure you of its continued relevance both in my neighborhood and on my ipod.

Could you object to these little faces?

I went out dancing with X (alias chosen by him) last night. We had a drink beforehand, and discussed the following:

 

Jeanmeanie: You still haven’t met my cats! You need to meet them. Wait, do you even like cats?

 

X: I don’t object to cats…

 

Yeah, that cat looks THRILLED to have a “vote Hillary” sticker on her ass

Did you know that Teddy Roosevelt’s pets included “a nameless one-legged rooster?”

should we do it?

REDACTED, what do you think?