First of several posts from me today. I've been pretty absent for awhile.

[Coventina]

It's been a mixture of depression, other issues taking up my mental and physical space, etc.

Anyway, I got back late last night from a week in the Chicago area. My husband's family had a reunion / internment service for their matriarch that my husband really wanted to attend. Not going to talk about that, it's boring personal stuff anyway.

I wanted to give some reflections on my time in Chicago, because it was the first time I'd spent significant time there.

Issue one: Foreign tourism

I saw plenty of evidence that there were a lot of foreign tourists there. If foreigners are boycotting the US, they must have been really present in droves in previous years. I only have my one data point, but there were a lot of them. It did seem that Asians far outnumbered Europeans, though. South Asians particularly seemed to be very well represented.

Issue two: Chicago as a crime-ridden Hellscape

Absolutely UNTRUE! Chicago is a wonderful, lovely city and I would move there in a heartbeat, if I could get a job to put food on my family. I was out in the downtown area at all hours of the day and night and never felt unsafe for a second. There were homeless people, but show me a city that doesn't have homeless? Having been a homeless person most of my childhood, I can tell you that homeless people are much more likely to be victims, rather than perpetrators of crime.

Also, it is a surprisingly affordable city, in comparison to New York anyway. I found real estate in Chicago for $300,000 that would easily be 3 million in New York. (Guilty secret, I'm always on Zillow when I travel, because I'm just curious about stuff like that).

Everywhere we went people were friendly, and always full of helpful advice if they thought we were lost / confused.

One huge (for me) drawback: Along the fabulous, lovely Riverwalk, the Trump tower looms extremely ostentatiously, I'm sure by design. I was constantly flipping it off every time the Trump name was in view. Most people walking along agreed with me.

I was finally able to attend a Cubs game at Wrigley, with my life-long Cubs fan husband. They destroyed the Reds, and hearing the whole crowd sing "Go Cubs Go" at the end of the game was really unexpectedly emotional, even though I'm not a sports person.

(Don't tell my husband, but my very first boyfriend was also from Chicago, but a White Sox fan! So, there is a little bit of sentimentality for the Sox somewhere in my heart.)

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[Aristus]

1. Right-wingers are required by their own by-laws to describe cities as 'crime-ridden hellscapes'.

It's supposed to make the rubes feel better about living in their tar-paper shacks up there in Squalor Holler, where the only pastimes are incest, meth-cooking, and pointless, decades-long blood feuds.

[Coventina]

3. LOL! Thanks for a much-needed laugh!

[Aristus]

6. My pleasure. Nice to have you back.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Welcome back, my dear Coventina!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Chicago. It is a wonderful city and I'm glad to hear all your thoughts on how very cool it is.

I look forward to reading your following posts!

[Coventina]

4. My dear CaliforniaPeggy! You are a continuous delight in my life!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Wow, what a sweet thing to say, my dear Coventina!

Thank you.

[electric_blue68]

7. Nice report about a city I hope to yet visit.

🙂 👍

[Diamond_Dog]

8. My son recently made a business trip to Chicago.

He did not see any evidence of a crime ridden hellhole. In fact he thought the city was great. His group took a group photo in front of the bean. Went to a White Sox game, went out for deep dish pizza, etc. Very cool. My other son went to San Francisco on a work trip last month, and he walked around the city all alone and never felt threatened, in fact he greatly enjoyed all the Asian food, vintage shops, markets, etc.

Only right wingers feel unsafe when they are out of their fear bubble because they can’t handle seeing people of other races. Sure most major cities have problems, but not to the extent they holler about on Fox “News”.