Mere Anarchy, and the Sears Tower

I just want to begin this post by mentioning that although we thought our recycling situation was exceptionally dire (i.e., there is no way for us to recycle anything, including paper, wine bottles, soda cans, whatever!), it is actually averagely dire. That is to say that although there are laws requiring Chicago to recycle a certain percentage of its garbage and provide the possibility of recycling to at least some residents, these laws are not enforced. The pathetic system they do have in place--known as the blue bag system, where people are supposed to put recyclables in special blue bags and then chuck them into the dumpster with everything else--is a miserable failure because a) no one does it (I wouldn't even know how to get a blue bag) and b) even when people do put stuff in the blue bags, sanitation workers have next to no incentive to wade through the garbage and fish them out. After all, there's no penalty for not doing it. Nor is there a penalty for failing to recycle or for failing to provide recycling (e.g., to employees or tenants). Says the spokesman of the company that is supposed to be running the recycling program, "We want people to recycle and are willing to work with them so that they end up doing it.... We don't believe that beating them up with tickets is the way to accomplish this" (Chicago Reader, July 21). But wait. Actually, beating them up with tickets is the way to accomplish this.

Another unenforced law we have discovered: a smoking ban in bars and restaurants is actually on the books, but is completely ignored. It works in NYC, why not here? Now Chicago is considering banning foie gras, and the serving of trans fats in restaurants. But why bother thinking up new laws when they can't even enforce the laws they have? Mere anarchy.

Despite the deplorable state of the law in this town, we made time on Sunday to go to one of its popular tourist attractions, the Sears Tower. I guess I never realized how tall it is: 1729 feet to the top of the Western antenna. From 1970 to 1998 (or so--the figure is debated) it was the tallest building in the world. Another interesting thing about it is that it is constructed from 9 tubes arranged in a cube shape, and some of the tubes are higher and lower than others. Very interesting. Sad to say, we were in the tower so we did not actually get a good picture of it. But there is one here.

It was a real tourist "thing," which is to say long lines with lots of non-Chicagoans. The rather high price ($12 for adults) pretty much guarantees that it wouldn't be something you'd do more than once, unless you had relatives visiting from out of town or something. But it was fun to do it once, despite being herded from one elevator to another, forced to watch a movie ("they should reduce the price and skip the movie," I joked, although in fact the movie was sort of interesting), and finally deposited on the observation deck (104th floor?) with hordes of others. It didn't matter, though, as it was really cool. Looking down on skyscrapers!

I would also like to point out that we got a good shot of Colin's future place of employment, the UIC campus. From so high in the air, it is really clear why its old name is "Chicago Circle." The tall ugly building is the one Colin works in (on the 14th floor, about halfway up). There's no getting around the fact that it is ugly, but on the upside, it is lavishly air-conditioned and has a comfortable, sprawling coffee-shop/study area on the second floor. So actually, I have been spending a lot of time there recently, and in the nearby Daley Library.

Anyway, here are some other photos:


Us in the elevator on the way down. I don't know, for some reason I just thought it would be a cool shot:


Three more of my beloved squished pennies added to my collection. My particular favorite is the cow, a reference to the O'Leary cow who allegedly started the great Chicago fire of 1871 by kicking over a lantern in the barn. Actually, the cow was probably a figment of anti-Irish imagination, not a true culprit. Besides, the real damage was done when the fire hit the tar factory, ammunition dump, and the gasworks!