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.
It was not the first day over 70F this season, but one of the first (and also, I missed a couple when I was out of town). I didn’t have a chance to get out of the office during the day because I had no time between meetings, but the weather was so nice that I made a point to go for a walk before I boarded the train back home.
When I reached the Tapp (and found that the Tiny Cafe was not open yet, so there was no ice cream), I sat down on the granite and looked at the River. No phone, no listening to an audiobook. Instead, I was taking in the noise of the Happy Hour crowd, this unique Chicago summer buzz, and looking at the summertime over-the-river sfumato:).
Sometimes, you need a day when you do not have to hurry somewhere after work!
It didn’t become any warmer, and not only did I not plant anything; I can’t even think about hanging the flower baskets! However, this morning, I biked to the Buckingham Fountain for the first time this season. After three days of biking hills in Helsinki, it was easy 🙂
On the way back, I biked against the wind all the way, and the wind was so strong that it took me twenty minutes longer! I went to Charmers immediately after I returned home. They do not serve quiche, but I love their avocado toasts!
One of the conference attendees (and my good friend) stayed at my house for the whole event and the weekend after, which was great for both of us, and we were each other’s moral support :). It was her second visit to Chicago, and this time, not only did I show her places in the city she hadn’t seen before, but also, I walked with her around Rogers Park and showed all the best local spots, because she and her family will stay with me in August.
I hope I will have more time to reflect on the actual days of action, but for now, I just want to say that there were no major issues, things went well, and all my efforts were well paid off.
I had to be at the venue at 7 AM, which meant I had to wake up my houseguests by five, and we had to be out of the house by 6 AM (so that I won’t subject them to running to the train station with my speed :)).
I had fewer people on the training day than signed up, but that’s because I was limited in how much I could advertise, and because it was new. Those who attended loved it and said it was a useful thing before the conference.
Also, it was great that we had to test everything before the main conference day (although some new technical issues came up later). My co-workers helped with stuffing the bags, otherwise we won’t make it 🙂
No pictures from the training itself, since I was running around all the time.
Anns came to help me; she was sick the week before, and ended up having an ear infection and bronchitis, which she found out when she finally went to a Minute Clinic in the evening. I do appreciate her sacrifices, and I can’t even say she shouldn’t have done it, because her help was more than essential.
After the training, I managed to fit in a very short meetup with Jay Miller:
I worked very hard to ensure that this event was held in collaboration with our Black Employees resource group, and that’s part of my commitment to supporting DEI, no matter what the rest of the world does.
And the day was not over yet – we had a speakers and volunteers dinner, which was set up in a great way, and I am very thankful for the catering company for making it just the way I wanted and on a budget!
Keeping going through the last week. I hosted two conference attendees, plus Anna for one of the nights. My first houseguest, B., was a conference speaker from Madagascar. She is an absolutely outstanding woman, and I want ot tell more about her in the near future. That was her first time coming to the US, and she had a 22-hour long journey with two connections. I told her I would meet her at ORD, because it is very difficult to navigate this airport even when you are an experienced traveler.
Her flight arrival time was 7:30 AM, and I took the L-train there, because everything runs relatively normally on a weekday morning, so it was a 4 AM wake-up, leaving the house at 5:30. The airport was as quiet as it could possibly be, and we saw each other right away. I took her to the office where we left her luggage, and then to the Architectural tour, because Wednesday was the only opportunity for her to see something!
One of the conference attendees took the same boat tour with us, and then we went to the Art Institute. I didn’t plan to be at work on that day, but one of the customers kept having issues, and I was the only person who could fix them. I asked Igor to take over my Chicago guide responsibilities, and rushed to the office to save the world. My second houseguest, L. was arriving at 4 PM, and we calculated that with the luggage and the passport control, she would be at my house by 6 PM, so I had plenty of time. But then I was stuck with saving the world, and her flight arrived earlier, and by some miracle, her luggage came out very fast as well.
With all that, she waited for us for twenty minutes! At least, the weather was warm on Wednesday, and she just sat on her luggage in the sun reading a book. Nobody wanted to go out for dinner, so I made a quick meal and went to bed.
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 met many new people at the conference, including two people who currently live in Chicago and one who lived in Chicago before. When I said that I live in Chicago, all of them immediately asked the follow-up question: Where in Chicago? To which I proudly replied: Rogers Park.
There is probably nothing to be especially proud of or make a big deal of, but I love how much Chicago neighborhoods define us! I love how many questions are answered by this one reply: I am from Rogers Park, that’s my neighborhood!
And while we are on the topic of Chicago, I shamelessly promoted the city to the international conference participants, so I hope more international speakers will come to us in the future!
Hettie's Reflections 