Category: everyday life

On Abortion

At the PAC event on March 18, the speakers mentioned the number of out-of-state abortions performed in Illinois per year. Even before Dobbs, the numbers were high: 19K in 2022 and 87K in 2023. They didn’t have the numbers for 2024 yet, but I can only imagine!

That’s for this Saturday morning, when I was once again in escort by the FPA clinic on West Washington.

The anis are trying to blend in with the colors very similar to ours, but you can still tell them! And you can see how close to the clinic entrance they are!

One woman I was escorting to another clinic entrance said that she “didn’t expect these people to be there” and asked: Are they here every day? I said: yes, and they are not coming from other states, those are ours, “homegrown” antis. And she said: Oh, I am not from here, I am from Texas! Then we had a usual conversation about ” why are they doing this? what are they trying to achieve? that’s my choice.”

I knew that people from Texas come to Illinois to have an abortion, but that was the first time I met someone who went such a long distance to get the care they needed. And once again, it reminded me how important it is to preserve all rights and freedoms in our state.

Books

I haven’t updated Goodreads in a very long time, so now I have to add a whole bunch of books at once. That’s because of how my life has been during the past several weeks! I mostly listened on the go, mixing the audiobooks with BBC news and WBEZ podcasts. And sometimes, I was too stressed to listen to anything! Here is my list from the past five or six weeks:

Machiavelli for Women. I read it because Stacey Vanek Smith came to our office and gave a talk, and I was in Finland! I couldn’t even dial in because I was on my way home from the coworking, and the day was insane, and I couldn’t leave earlier. I liked the book, but I liked the author’s talk and especially the Q&A even more!

Bel Canto by Ann Prachett. I read it for the book club at work, and didn’t like it. Can’t tell why exactly, but it is entirely “not my book.” If it weren’t for a book club, I would abandon it after the first ten minutes of listening, but I listened to the end, hoping to figure out why people chose it. I am not even going to stay for the discussion later this week.

The Goddess of Warsaw. I was listening to it non-stop, that’s how captivating it was, but the ending didn’t feel convincing.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens. I remember why I started this book and who recommended it, but it didn’t click. I am half into it, and thinking whether I should abandon it or finish.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I gave it four stars, but maybe I will get back and change it to five :). I love these series, and possibly I have higher expectations than I should.

On Immigration

Shortly after the elections, I published a blog post about one of Time Magazine’s articles on immigration. In that post, I mentioned my Venezuelan co-worker who “didn’t want them here.”

It took just two months of Trump’s presidency for her position to alter in a most drastic way. Now, each time we go for lunch, she tells me what a horrible person Trump is to deport people when “maybe ten out of two hundred are criminals, and the others are honest hard-working people.” Now she sees for herself the impact of all Trump’s policies on economics and on people’s well-being in general, and she is asking me whether Democrats will be able “to put everything back” or some irreversible damage is already done.

And while I would prefer these revelations to come before, not after the fact, I hope she is one of many.

Protests Are On The Rise

I think the most significant factor contributing to the increasing number of Trump/Musk protests around the country is the Congresspersons’ meetings with their constituents in mid-March. From what I hear, the rallies affected both Democratic and Republican Representatives. I remember what Anna used to tell me during the time she worked at Melissa Bean’s campaign, and it looks like Representatives have nothing to lose… I am not implying that the protests are organized by elected officials – I’ve organized enough and participated enough to know. However, I think these townhalls helped people feel they still have power.

When I saw Titanique, I was surprised to hear a political satire with direct references to current events, which I hadn’t heard for a while. Then the messages about the upcoming National Hands Off Day started to arrive from multiple sources. That gave me hope that the April 5 protests will be massive. We have just six days to wait and see.

I will keep making people aware of protests, because I know what a difference in numbers this can make. And yes, there is a little bit of that thought: why did I wait for somebody to start organizing?! Don’t I know how this works? I know well that I didn’t have any organizational capacity in the past two weeks because I was fighting my own battles, but retrospectively, I still feel like I could be more active.

That’s for those who are in Chicago. For those who are not, there are multiple events on the same day and time all over the country – find the closest to you. Things are happening.

Office On Friday

Most people prefer to work from home on Friday, especially when the weather is as nice as it was yesterday, but then you miss out on all of the Friday food!

A Small Miracle

On Wednesday, my neighbor and I saw a play Tiatnique at the Broadway Playhouse. There are many good things I can say about this theater: it is the only one of all of the Broadway in Chicago theaters built recently, so the floor plan is much better, the seats are more comfortable, and the view of the stage is great from any angle. Also, it’s the only one of the Broadway in Chicago theaters that is located outside the Chicago Theater District, close to the Water Tower. With that, getting there and getting home requires some planning, simply because it’s not the usual way we get home.

When we got out of the theater and reached Michigan Avenue, we saw bus 147 approaching the stop, and my neighbor said: Let’s go! (We were going to walk to the Red Line.) I hesitated, because I expected a way longer ride, but I saw that she would prefer the bus, and said – OK. The miracle was that it took us only 27 minutes to get home from the Water Tower, and half of this time was spent on frequent stops closer to our home. I still can’t believe it! It was as fast as a cab ride! If the announced plans to increase service come true in the next couple of months, there will be less than 10-minute intervals between bus services. Fingers crossed!

Member’s Night at Aquarium

On Friday, I left work earlier and took a train to Milwaukee to pick up Nadia and Kira for the Shedd Aquarium Member’s Night. We already did it multiple times: Anna brings the girls to the train station, I get out, pick up the girls, and hop on the same train. That works great because the wait is minimal, and there is no risk of missing the train: it’s actually the same train going back!

I have many reasons to be proud of my granddaughters, one of which is that they can walk a long distance without complaints and understand what it means to wait for a bus or for the museum doors to open. We ended up walking most of the way from the Union Station to the Aquarium, with only a short Red Line ride in between two strides, and they did great 🙂

The Shedd is undergoing a major renovation, but some parts are already open, including the former Rotunda reimaged as two exhibits:

These are two live ecosystems: one with fresh water and one with salt water, and some parts of the glass are magnifying. The best part is that the systems live and evolve, so the promise is that each time you come, you see a slightly different

Nadia’s personal achievement was that she finally touched a sea star 🙂 (not pictured). and a couple of creepy creatures we spotted – there were more, but we were very busy watching!

Friends! In case you are wondering – life is getting on my way again 🙂 But I am alive and well! Probably too much alive!!!

Art Institute: Ancient Roman Sculpture

I still keep myself muted about the activities that take most of my time these days, draining my whole self in the process. There still appears to be room for cultural activities (but no time to blog about them), so I will try to post a short summary of the past two weeks.

Myths and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from Torlonia Collection is a new exhibit that opened at the Art Institute last week. I was there on the opening night for the Members-only preview (and invited a friend). I didn’t expect anything groundbreaking from this exhibit (what could be new about the Roman Sculpture?) and mostly thought about taking my friend out, but there were plenty of new things!

This private collection was not on public view for over 70 years, and many sculptures where cleaned and restored for this exhibit specifically.

Men were always presented with their distinct personal features, and women in a more generic way, so it’s often difficult to identify the portraits, or even tell whether it was a portrait of a nobility or a goddess or a random person.
Younger and older Markus Aurelius on the right
As my friend noted, in most couples represented in this exhibit, the man looks way happier than the woman
Hercules is smaller than Athena and Apollo, probably because he was mortal
Arthemis with multiple breasts
Bacchus

After we saw this exhibit, I realized that my friend hadn’t seen the Black Planet exhibit yet, and we rushed there, and didn’t have enough time. And now, one more exhibit is about to open!

A Turnaway Play

Tuesday was the day of the DevOps conference, and after it was over, I went to one more event: a staged reading of the excerpts from the Turnaway Play, a play by Lesley Lisa Greene that looks at what really happens when a woman is denied access to abortion. The play was inspired by the Turnaway study, which offered the first scientific examination of the consequences of abortion bans. The reading was followed by a discussion with Personal PAC CEO Sarah Garza Resnick and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.

Several things were interesting about this event. The venue was Theo Ubique Cabaret, which I patronize several times a year, and it was a political fundraiser I hadn’t attended for a while. Adding to that, the topic is really close to my heart, and I felt the unity and readiness to fight, which I didn’t feel for a while.

The best moment from the play reading was when the lecturer posed a question to the class. She described a young woman getting into exciting educational program, being able to participate in a research of her dream. However, she does any rainy day fund, and she is not in a stable relationships, and she finds out that she is pregnant. What should she do? – asked the lecturer. Should she get abortion or should she keep the baby? And the answer is: it’s not your business! Only she can decide what’s the best for her! And that’s the statement I agree with 1000%!

The political speeches were very empowering. Sarah Resnick and Daniel Biss talked about the importance of the local elections and our commitment to defend the humanitarian values locally when the federal governments doesn’t. So were the talks with the guest – I didn’t feel so good for a very long time!

Overall, this day, which ran from 7 AM to 9 PM, was prefect: revitalizing and inspiring.

Constructing Hope: Ukraine

Saturday was the day of St. Patrick’s celebration, but I did anything but that. In the morning, I was in the clinic escort, and then I walked to the CAC because I wanted to see two new exhibits and buy Chicago River Cruise tickets for people coming in April.

Unfortunately, the shortest way from the clinic to the CAC building is along the Chicago River, and unfortunately, that was precisely when they started to dye the river green!

A side note: two years ago, when I was in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day, I was shocked to see how calmer and more civilized the celebration was there!

The last two shots were taken from the windows of the Chicago Architectural Center, and my goal was to see the Constructing Hope: Ukraine exhibit.

This exhibit showcases the work of grassroots initiatives to support short- and long-term Ukrainian reconstruction efforts. While the exhibit space is filled with first-aid sheltering kits, Co-Haty project works, and design ideas, the video monitors screen the footage of the crews asserting the damage to the buildings, women crying over the ruins of their homes, cursing the invaders. To be honest, that left me with hopelessness rather than hope, but that was how that day went.

By the end of the day on Saturday, having clinic escort in the morning, then seeing this exhibit, and then watching Under the Grey Sky, I felt like there were so many real threads in the world that all my troubles and fights were absolutely not important and I have no right to be upset about them.

I still do, though 🙂