Cities are largely the same, no matter where you go; they’ve been captured in literature, in song, in poetry, and in rather stunning photographs. Italo Calvino writes of invisible cities—cities of desire, imagination, and memory. Samuel R. Delany writes of the grandest of cities, New York, as well as the strangest of them, Bellona; Delany’s Bellona is so strange that it is completely detached from normal reality in his novel, Dhalgren, and it re-appears on another world all-together in his gender/sex-shifting opus, Trouble on Triton. I cannot say that Chicago is my favorite city, but it’s definitely an interesting place. It isn’t magical, not in a shimmering, beguiling sense but it does have a particular vibe…usually at 3am in the presence of sandpipers at Oak Street Beach, or wandering guitar players in the super-expensive River North area: where night-clubs and plastic surgery “studios”, but it is nice. On my first Saturday shift at work since moving to Berwyn, I noticed a skyless portion of Chicago. Due to my particular location, I now trace the actual Chicago Loop via the elevated train tracks that define the loop. In the image captured here, I found myself facing west. There was sunlight (way up there) but at eye-level, there was nothing but glass, concrete, and metal. I can’t say that I like the view, but it is compelling. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.