My Sunday Feeling

As I mentioned previously, I just got back from visiting my friends Jim and Judy in Chicago for a few days. Chicago is one hell of a great town. For a big city-and it is big. There are 4 million people in the Chicagoland area-it has a manageable feel to it. The El-or elevated train-can get you pretty much anywhere you need to be. This is a black and white rendition of a picture I took from the Sheridan Road El stop a few blocks from Wrigley Field. It took us back to Wilmette in about 30 minutes. This is the only way to go to a Cubs game. God only knows how long it would have taken us to drive in and out of Wrigleyville. The Cubs actually won, in case you are wondering.

While I won't bore you with the details of my trip, I will share with you one particularly amusing incident that occurred last Tuesday. My friends and I went to the Art Institute of Chicago last Monday. As we were walking up, who should I see coming out other than the famous historian Garry Wills whom I had drinks with a couple of Springs ago at the Arkansas Literary Festival and whose recent book, "What Jesus Meant," I had reviewed for the local paper. He actually remembered me and asked about my friend J. I mean, what are the odds of running into a guy like that? Wills lives there and teaches at Northwestern and I guess it's not completely crazy that he might want to kill some time at the Art Institute like anybody else. But still. Like I said, Chicago is a big place. What are the odds? And what are the odds that he would remember me? I was so excited about seeing him again and introducing him to my friends that I forgot to ask him to pose for a picture. I don't think I stopped smiling for an hour.

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While I don't pretend to be widely traveled as are some of my friends, one of the things I invariably find myself doing is comparing Little Rock to the place I am visiting. One of the things that struck me during my visit to Chicago is how much safer it is now than when I last visited 8 years ago. We sat outside one night at a restaurant in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. Jim said that 10 years ago the place was crime infested. Now the buildings in the neighborhood are mostly condos. As we sat, young people walked by with dogs and strollers. Folks jogged. Kids rode skateboards. It looked about as dangerous as my neighborhood. Jim also pointed out that the area around Wrigley Field was a high crime area not all that long ago. The only crime I saw while I was roaming around the Friendly Confines before the game came from all the guys trying to scalp tickets. I certainly felt completely safe walking past the brownstones full of drunk happy Cub fans as we went back to the El after the game.

Now don't get me wrong. There are some places in Chicago where a person can really get his ass kicked. And my friends conceded that the West and South sides of town are still pretty dangerous. But all my friends talked about was how much safer Chicago in general had become. You sure don't hear much of that kind of talk around our fair city nowadays. In fact, just reading the papers and listening to the news, you get the impression that the crime in Chicago on a per capita basis is no worse than Little Rock's. And we sure don't make it a point to brag on how safe it is around here. That is kind of sad.

I guarantee you that it won't be another 8 years before I go back to the Windy City. In fact, with any luck maybe I'll go back in the Spring. Hopefully, I can get some more Cubs tickets. Wrigley is way cool. What the hell. Maybe Garry Wills will be there. If I see him, the first Old Style will be on me.