Chicago Part 4: The People (1 comment)
When I first arrived in Forest Park, it became apparent that there was no parking for visitors. It appeared that my only option might be the park & ride at the train station, but that ran twelve quarters every twelve hours. Julia lives across the street from the fire department and municipal building. A fire truck returned from duty while I was pondering my overnight parking, and I had the opportunity to ask a very cute firewoman if she had any idea where visitors to town could park. She pointed me to the police office across the parking lot from the fire station. It probably should have occurred to me to ask there first, but hey, I got to talk to a cute firefighter.
The police officer on duty was more helpful than I'd expected. After I gave him all the information about my lodging and vehicle, he wrote me a temporary pass to park on the streets. I later noticed that he wrote it on the back of a case report and tore off the corner to give to me. The back of my permit thus tells a chunk of the story of Michael, a 25-year-old who got in trouble for driving on a suspended license in June.
While I was finishing unloading my car, I noticed one of Julia's neighbors standing behind her screen door, staring at me. When I passed her door, she stepped out and proceeded to follow me around the apartment complex and into the alley. I went up the stairs from the parking lot to Julia's apartment and didn't see any more of her. I'm told that later, when I was talking to the police, she knocked on Julia's door and warned Julia and Mel that I was a rapist.
On our walk back from the wedding, a few people sitting in the park told us we looked nice and noted that my tie matched mel's dress (it didn't really, but both were blue). That was odd since I'm used to a much more reserved social atmosphere where one doesn't talk to people they don't know, even if it's to complement their attire. The Chicago way is better.
Unfortunately, the most memorable people in Chicago were all bad parents at the museums. I understand that a small child at the aquarium will point at anything orange and yell "Nemo!" I get annoyed, though, when parents do the same thing. The way I see it, museums are a good opportunity to learn in a fun environment, so the parents owe it to their kids to make an effort to avoid lying about the exhibits, especially given that almost all of the displays include an explanation of what's on display. I also tended to get aggravated with parents who tried to make sure their kids were monopolizing an exhibit. There are a pair of periscopes next to the submarine display, and at one point, they were both being played with by one woman's kids. I don't mind seeing kids having a good time with the exhibits, but there were people waiting in line to have a look, and when the mother pulled her other kid away from another exhibit to cut in front of those people, it struck me as an incredibly rude thing to do.
The parents that I tend to think are doing a good job are those who treat their kids with respect. When we were in line for the submarine tour, there was a family in front of us with three kids. The kids were being loud while we waited for our turn, and as the group in front of us was being briefed for their tour, the father told his kids "when we get up there, other people will want to hear what that woman is saying, so you'll need to be quiet." That worked pretty well compared to the other major technique in use, involving the parents ignoring their kids until they do something particularly egregious and then forcing them onto the next exhibit where the process could start anew. Granted, different kids respond differently to various techniques, and I don't have any parenting experience, but it looks like it pays to treat the child like a reasonable being.