Between the Lines, Iowa City, University of Iowa, 2013

(Between the Lines (BTL), a program that brings high school writers, aged 16-19, to the University of Iowa for creative writing study and cultural interaction)

July 12, Exploring Chicago

Chicago! Finally. Students’ excitement was bursting out of windows of the van that brought us to the city. I got a message in the morning. We are downstairs having breakfast. Heading to walk around straight away. Gosh! You were given time for relaxing and rest in the morning, guys! The first group left the hotel at 7 a.m. to climb the 103d floor of Willis Tower, famous Chicago sky deck. It was Sears Tower when I was an explorer there myself, 8 years ago, on a weekend trip with a group of internationals. I couldn’t stop smiling. The streets of the Windy City (or Paris of the Prairie, as   ran a familiar bell though I didn’t recognize anything except for the Water tower (the only stone building that preserved after Chicago fire in 1871. The first thing we visited with the second group of BTL (those who slept till 7.30 a.m.) was public library, and impressive 4-story building in an ornate antiquated style with green sculptures on the roof. The first thing that drew students’ attention was a rack with plastic covers for wet umbrellas at the door. And my first pictures was at a rubbish bin with a sign ‘Recycle your flag’. So typical of 

Americans.

The whole group had a scheduled tour of Poetry Foundation where we got by subway (not underground!) with a daily transit card. Poetry Foundation has open door policy (meaning that everybody can have free access to new, astonishing, tried and true, children, funny collections of poetry) and runs social programs like Poetry Out Loud, which is a contest for schoolchildren nationwide.

Art Institute ‘run’ followed, with late admission at half-price, and a lengthy walk in Millennium Park and along the Michigan lake full of yachts and begging swans.

To finish the intense day we took a boat cruise exploring Chicago architecture. Well, not all the skyscrapers are the same. Some are built in contextual style, that is they reflect the history or surroundings like a bend of a river or give you a hint what they have inside with a small statue on top.  Some are modern, postmodern, triangle (and built by Mr. Triangle – yes, that’s the nickname of the famous Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright). They reflect the vigor and perplexity of the city built on a swamp in the early 19^th century that first became a major transportation point, then a center of meat-packing industry, and now is a cultural center with Art Institute, summer festivals and Taste of Chicago gastronomical extravaganza.