Chicago is my 3rd favorite city

I know my title may not seem like a screaming testament, but this is how it goes:

I was born in Edmonton and go back all the time to visit my family, and it is only 4th. Maybe 5th.

My favorite is Toronto. Toronto is my home, where I spend my time and due to familiarity, the best mix of culture, music, fashion and everything I can think of it is #1. Followed sooooo closely by Montreal (which is 2nd, for those that can't count). That makes Chicago third. Chicago is pretty, large, exciting, has good night life, it does not smell, there are beautiful things to see and to buy, and there is a good selection of food. That makes a city for me.

I just returned from Chicago and it was a good trip. I did notice that there was some serious desperation by the people there to try and steal my money. I don't mean that I was constantly being mugged. I mean that people were charging me random amounts of money for things that I new didn't cost as much as I was being asked to pay - I don't think that this was just because I was a tourist, either. My friend that live in the city and who was playing host to us one evening went to buy a package of cigarettes, and the guy at the counter asked her for $15. She refused to pay, and finally he agreed to charge her the $9 that the cigarettes are actually worth. I left Chicago (now my second visit in ten months) this week wondering how fucking poor everyone is that they are trying to rip off tourists and their own residents. That sort of thing will ruin a tourist industry and send an economy into certain recession, if not worse.

Then there was Detroit. The most logical border for us to cross was at the Ambassador bridge. Unfortunately, Detroit was doing road work around the bridge and sent us on a poorly signed detour - it was a little comical, however. There were all of these Canadians driving around the border in circles trying to find the bridge, and what should have been minutes took us all an hour. What is not so comical, however, is the horrific state of ruin that Detroit has been left in. It looks like a war zone?!? I have seen pictures of Iraq that I would rather live in than some of the neighborhoods we drove through in Detroit. Why is it like this? What is the American government doing leaving their people like this? If I had never been taken on such a fucked up detour, I would never have known how awful the neglect was. Who the hell is George Bush trying to kid. I would like to mention that the extent of this damage was older than a decade, and therefore it is likely that the former Democrats led by the illustrious Bill Clinton also had to have been ignorant to the poor people of Detroit. This city is way to destroyed to possibly have had it all happen in the last 10 years. I am irate and as a Canadian there's not a damn thing I can do about it. However, my partner can. He is an American citizen and is going to vote and hopefully this election it is going to count.

Even though I love Chicago, and it is my third favorite place, I don't think I will return to the U.S. until they can get their financial priorities on track. I can't give my money to an economy that is fueling a war and letting their own people starve.

On another note, Bernie Mac died this morning, and he is the best Chicago comedian I have known in forever. We'll miss you.






I have some pictures from my trip that I really enjoy, children playing in the fountain at millenium park: