I had promised I wouldn't write about Illinois politics here since it is a blog dedicated to the Barcelona experience, and I had claimed that I wasn't even keeping track of what's going on (just reading the headlines, really), but I can't let this just go by. I'm sitting here watching the BBC World News Channel and on the screen appears a view I know well of the Michigan Avenue bridge. My interest is piqued. My city is on the BBC World News. I knew that the news of our latest political circus had made it into the more local news sources (i.e. not just USA Today), but I didn't realize the BBC sent a correspondent to Chicago to follow the Blago story. So across the screen go Roland Burris, G-Rod, Jay Stewart (of the BGA), Laura Washington, and John Kass, of all people. The correspondent was seen strolling through the snowy 5th district talking of the "Chicago way" and how Rahm and Barack were brought up politically in this way. It's probably not untrue, but what the hell?! It looks like having the President come from your city can be a blessing and a curse. When I used to tell people here that I was from Chicago, they would say "Ah, Al Capone, Michael Jordan", and I would say "Yes, yes, the mafia and basketball". Now, they say "Ah, Obama, and that other guy, Blag-a-something, that guy's really bad". And I just shake my head and say, "Uh, yeah" and sometimes, if I'm feeling a bit more nationalistic (or metropolitanistic?), "Yes, Obama lives in my neighborhood. Pretty cool, huh?" It's really great.
More on happenings in Barcelona soon.
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