I live in Chicago. Chicago is one of the big cities--third largest in the U.S. I got up from my desk a little while ago and took a walk around the block downtown. The weather is improving, thank goodness. It struck me that behind absolutely every sign, store, pebble, tree, blade of grass is human labor. Look at any square inch of your city, and know that at least one job was behind it. I don't find that depressing at all. I find it really inspiring. After all, our inventiveness was evolved as a way of furthering our species. And it worked. It may destroy our species as well, but that might be part of the natural order too, as certain leaps in evolution have led to the demise of other species. Inventiveness is human nature. Human nature is nature. Therefore a city is natural. It's the biggest evolutionary beaver-dam on the planet. And I like it. Yes, it has it's drawbacks. But this is a beautiful city. If you've never been to Chicago, you should go. It amazes me that I live here sometimes. It's so easy to become blind to how beautiful it is.

When I first moved here, I used to take the bus downtown from Hyde Park, and when the skyline and the lake became visible on Lake Shore Drive, I always caught my breath and felt simultaneously invigorated and intimidated. And then I would go to work for the American Cancer society, and plant my own blade of grass for future generations. That job had its drawbacks, too.