Like Living In The Far Western Suburbs

As regular blog readers know, I would much prefer that we throw away cellphones and go back to rotary dial telephones that plug into the wall. Also, that the internet would somehow just magically disappear. However, one thing I do like about the "Information Super Highway" (and does anyone else use that phrase anymore?) is the fact that I can watch the WGN Chicago news, read the Chicago Tribune, watch all the White Sox games I want, and generally just keep up with what is happening in my old home town. Back when I lived in Chicago, especially when I had a studio apartment in Forest Park, I would hop on the "L" on my days off and be downtown in 20 minutes. Sometimes I would talk to people while waiting for a bus or train, and that person would tell me that they lived in some suburb and hadn't been downtown in 10 years or so. My friend Stuart once told me that his father would never think of going into Chicago - everything he needed was in the suburb where he lived. But what is the point of living so close to such a great city if you never go there? Residing here in Denver, I am probably more in touch with Chicago than they are. Perhaps all those suburbanites should get together with their neighbors, charter a bus and a guide, and get the hell downtown to the lakefront, the parks, the ballpark, the museums, take some architectural walking tours, or perhaps even a boat tour of the city. I could go on and on. And perhaps I already have. Wake up people! The photograph above, by the way, is of Tahman Bradley and Jackie Bange (who I think I remember from when I lived in Chicago) doing the weekend newscast on WGN. Weatherman Tom Skilling is also still on WGN, and I definitely remember him - he is old (the same age as me, actually), but still doing the weather. Good for you, Tom!