Yesterday, my guests and I went to see Parade at the CIBC theater. I knew nothing about this show except that it was “about antisemitism,” and it shocked me. It sends a very clear message that all forms of racism are related, and no one is “better” than the other. It also demonstrates how easy it is to frame an innocent person, and how easy it is to turn public opinion against somebody. It was an incredibly heavy show, but my friends liked it.
All photos and videos, except for the first one, are from the official Broadway in Chicago website.
The plan for Sunday that my guests and I had was to go to the market in the morning, and then straight to the Field Museum. We planned to be there by 11 and probably stick around until 3 or 4 PM.
We left the house a little bit later than we planned, and waited for the next L-train a little bit more than we planned, but it was still fine; we didn’t need to rush. We had two options: either to take the Red Line to Lake, and take bus 146 from there, or take the Red Line all the way to Roosevelt, and then walk. I decided on the first option, because it was a hot day, and the walk might not be so enjoyable, and also, it’s more fun to see something through the windows rather than being underground.
When we got out of the Red Line at Lake, we saw that State Street was closed for a small/medium size rally. It looked like it was about to pass to the North, so we waited, and about 15 minutes later, we finally saw our bus. It was packed, and when we entered, we realized that there was a Bears game at Soldier Field. That meant not only that the bus was packed, but also that it was barely moving, and all the traffic was stalled. People started to get off the bus and walk. I felt like an idiot for choosing the bus in the first place, and we still had to walk! We finally arrived at the Field Museum at 12:30, and we had to start with lunch.
Fortunately, everything was great after that: we stayed in the museum until it was closed. We saw the Evolving Planet exhibit, the T-Rex 3-D movie, and the new exhibit Reptiles Alive!
As usual, there were more things we didn’t see than the ones we saw :).
The best part was that they didn’t change anything about the fight against climate change. Not only did all the notes in the exhibits stay as they were, including the Wild Reef and Amazon Rising, but they are also repeating this message during the dolphin show and other spotlight events.
I remember how, at the beginning of the year, several Chicago museums sent out the patron surveys asking the visitors’ opinion about the museum’s mission, supporting science and education, etc. I believe that the answer was almost unanimous, and when there is a will, there is a way.
My friends from France are staying with me for twelve days. We planned this visit for over two years, and I can’t believe it finally happened!
We had talked so much about the lake, and the first thing they wanted to do when they arrived at my house from the airport was go to the beach. I was happy to do this because I believe that the lake is the best thing in Rogers Park, and I completely approve of the idea of the beach being more important than dinner.
I was even happier to see their faces when they got into the water and declared that it was exactly what they needed.
I took a day and a half off, so today we went to the Aquarium, and it was an absolutely perfect visit!
…and went to the beach again!
Tomorrow, they will have a whole day on the beach while I will be at work, but I think it still won’t be enough!