What a week! Last week was the first full week of the semester. At the end of what was already a busy week, I had to present a talk at the ACUBE conference in Chicago. The net result was that on Thursday I taught from 2:30-4:30, ran downtown to pick up new glasses, taught from 6-9pm, finished my presentation, had dinner at 10pm, got up at 4am on Friday, picked up Tom, drove to the airport, caught the 6:40 flight to Chicago, took at taxi downtown, and then chased around Columbia College until we found the conference just in time to register and give my talk at 10am.
I really hate Chicago. I'm not sure exactly why I dislike it so much. Partly it is the level of poverty and evident homelessness. I was only chased by one seemingly homeless person begging, but it seemed like there were about 2 homeless people per block. Walking to dinner at the Congress Hotel on Michigan Ave, we saw a fellow handcuffed and pinned to the ground by police, with one policeman kneeling on his back. The contrast, having dinner in the palacial dining room of the Congress Hotel, with renaisance paintings and gilded scrollwork, was painful. How many of these people have ever had an experience like that?
It seems disgraceful that our society cannot solve even basic problems like homelessness. Upon reflection, I realized that some of these people probably do have some choice over where they are. The problem likely can't be solved for people who choose not to accept the solutions that are available.
Once the meeting was over, I walked briskly to the train station and caught a train back to the airport. The relief I experienced as I watched the towers of Chicago sink into the horizon was almost palpable. I wrote a couple of haiku on the subject as I waited for my flight.
I was exhausted on Sunday. I slept late and then took a long nap and went to bed early. Today I feel almost normal.