A Midwestern Respite (from the Midwest)

I live in Chicago. However, I was raised in Indiana, which I came to resent. Recently, though, I've had to come back because I simply can't get around that easily. Sure, there are taxis and such, but only dealing with stairs and an extensive hallway is enough to frustrate me.

So here I am, back in Indiana. On the one hand, it's refreshing to be able to traipse the land, at the mercy of whomever is at the wheel of course. Honestly, moving one fucking block satiates any restlessness that I feel relegated to the indoors. Here, of course, I'm at the mercy of those with cars aka mostly family, but I'm much more mobile. Sure, I know people in Chicago with cars as well, but for some reason it's much easier to be driven around outside of the city.

That brings me to a major point that many people overlook, or don't even think of: people who live in cities are actually more isolated, personally insular, and just plain lonely than those in the suburbs or whatever. This sounds very contradictory. After all, shouldn't a massive population feed a huge, pulsing, constantly active social network?

This seems very obvious, but in fact people in cities are among the most lonely citizens. I think Lester Bangs first said that. Anyways, I'm not saying that I was lonely or any of those wimpy sentiments. I'm saying that I hated being locked, figuratively but actually literally, inside my apartment. I mentioned Bauby before, and I felt like him if he were ambulatory.

Unfortunately, though, this means that we'll all have to wait for my oft-mentioned linen wardrobe that I keep mentioning. Does a hospital gown count? If it does, I need only wait about a month before I find out the answer to that.

So for now, I'll take a small break from the metropolis with a brief sojourn in suburbia. Sounds like bad times, but only if you think about it too much.

R