Sitting on the bus today, I thought about this. Watching people get on and off, the way they sat and behaved, watching each other. The city full of randomness and interaction that most of us ignore or take for granted. My plan is to go to different places throughout Chicago, different neighborhoods with different types of people, and to spin simple observations into a web of coversation that we all have with this city every day.
Belmont (between Wilton and Sheffield) 12:45pm
Tuesday 11/24/09 12:45pm
Earlier rain and low clouds leave the streets and sidewalks perpetually wet today. Nothing wants to dry.
At Belmont and Wilton four old teens or young 20s smoke and laugh. One of the girls wears a ring through her septum. The construction West under the El tracks is the power washer one man mans with one hand while the other holds his cigarette, and smokers others too across the street. Short haired brunette and down the way a couple. He bearded and looking straight at me while she talks to him with her hands. None of the other construction workers are working. One leans on the cherry picker, one talks to another who listens with a smoke dangling from him mouth. Looking up a few men on the tracks. The couple across the street flick their butts and walk into the second floor tanning salon entryway. It’s lunchtime and people walk about. Two women and a stroller cross Sheffield but neither lights up.
The huff-shh of bus hydrolics and the squeek of a cab brake all backgrounded by the hissy woosh of power wash. Then green light and trucks growl into motion.
