City of Neighbors

I've been digging on how great it is to live in a big city these past few weeks. Being the hopeless extrovert that I am, I need to be around people. Lots of people. And while cities have an inherently isolating tendency to them, it's that sense of a cohesive community that gives me a connection to Chicago as something more than just a place to hang my hat.

Last weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. I'm not all that into the handmade/craft movement, but I get why people feel that making something by hand and selling it in an independent venue connects them other people. I got something nice for my sister.

Earlier in the week I was walking through Daley Plaza when I found myself in the middle of Christkindlmarket. The market was interesting, but a little too traditional for my tastes. What really caught my attention, though, was a crowd of people standing around a musical bike with a box on the back. I couldn't quite figure out what it was at first, so I worked my way into the small crowd to get a better look.



I had found the Puppet Bike! As I was watching this, I was thinking about something that Heidi Schallberg wrote on her blog: "I want to live in a city where this happens." Dreamed up by inventor and artist Jason Trusty, the Puppet Bike pops up around the city at events as diverse as neighborhood festivals, the MCA and Michigan Avenue. “One of the greatest things about the Puppet Bike is how it disarms so many people from so many different places in life,” Trusty told Time Out Chicago. “First it makes them laugh, then makes them dance and sing, and then later on it makes them think.”

In spite of the passions this city arouses - both good and bad - it's that connection to the community that makes cities so great. As suburbanization and sprawl push us further and further away from the center city, and therefore our neighbors, walking into the little wonders of the city reminds me of how good it feels to be with my neighbors.

Image via CAH2007