Chicago has enjoyed the tourist spotlight over the years, due to its
cultural and economical prosperity. The crowded streets, ethnic bakeries, and
popular malls add zest and flavor to this enriching city. Since my short visit
in May with a high school class, I have dreamed of making the busy commuters,
blinding and mind-altering lights, and sheer musical excitement a part of my
everyday life.
Commuters livened up Chicago in delightful ways. Several groups of men
and women sat together in close, casual delicatessens on the street and
conversed about cosmopolitan attitudes and modern ideas in popular culture. In
another area of the city, men ate lunch at The Berghoff and seemed separated
from their surroundings, concentrating only on the conversation and the
condition on the food being served. To be acceptable at such high prices, the
food needed to be flawless. One look outside, from the close quarters of such a
place revealed to me a different world entirely: commuters rushed about
continuously, convinced they would never reach their destinations on time. On
the elevated train, faces contorted in distress and I heard laughter and loud
sighing. The flash of an Indian woman's purple sari caught
Holzman 2 my eye. The
different facial expressions, personalities, and wardrobes present added
sparkle to the otherwise dull and uninteresting dimension of public
transportation.

While watching these different characters, I was drawn to the highest
floor of the Sears Tower, where lights illuminated the sky and blended artfully
into a pattern of lines. When I walked in the street, lights from stores and
nightclubs permeated above and around me, making me feel as if I were at the
bottom of a pit of existence, looking up at all the activity. This visual<...