March 2009 – Page 3 – Glorious Generalist

I don’t normally like new words very much. I didn’t even use normal slang like “dude” or “awesome” until 2004 when I lived with a SoCal girl in Athens. But the word <em>staycation</em> has captured my heart, probably because it came into vogue around the time I and everybody else was unemployed.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to make the most of having free time during the day and living in a fantastic city to go out and see museums. Some of my recent forays have included the International Museum of Surgical Science, and the McCormick Freedom Museum. Yesterday I finally managed to visit the Chicago Cultural Center. This wasn’t something I planned, which is actually the same way I went to the Freedom Museum. Sometimes you get to Michigan Avenue and these things happen.

The Chicago Cultural Center used to be the Chicago Public Library a long time ago, and is incredibly ornate in the way that public buildings used to be. They have recently finished restoring the Tiffany glass dome, which is, as you can imagine, spectacular. The building now holds a variety of cultural events and art galleries, all of which are free. That’s pretty much how I found myself in there, since when spending money I like to think about it a lot first. My dentist’s office is right across the street, and I had an hour to kill before my appointment.

I saw most of the art exhibits, but the two big ones on right now are “William Conger: Paintings 1958 – 2008″ and “Collaborative Vision: The Poetic Dialogue Project”. The first was a retrospective of an important abstract artist, and the second was collaborative pieces between a visual artist and a poet. I’m kind of a philistine when it comes to modern art, but those two exhibits were definitely a fun surprise.

I’m sure the Staycation will continue, and I’ll keep you posted.

Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski

My mother bought this book for me at a booksale, and it floated around from place to place before it landed somewhere near my bed. I wasn’t feeling so great that night, and the Christian Science Monitor said its prose was like a down blanket, so I picked it up. It immediately sucked me in, but I like this sort of thing. I took a class on the history of the English country house in college, and definitely did all my reading for that class. In fact, while reading Home I wondered why we hadn’t read this book as well for that class.

Home, written by a historian of architecture, tells the story of how houses became homes, and on its way delves into the history of private life and the rise of the bourgeois (true story, I have never once been able to spell bourgeois correctly. Spell check told me I was wrong this time.) I asked Mike if he’d ever thought about not sitting in chairs or even not knowing what chairs were. He found that question preposterous, but if you find that question worth pondering, try this book.

Short takes

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

This bestseller finally explain statistics and probability in a way that even I manage to understand it and can’t put down. The author is a mathematician and screenwriter, and is heavy on the anecdotes. This is generally ok, since this is a quick read.

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul by Karen Abbott

It’s kind of silly and dramatic, but if you are a Chicagoan or are interested in Chicago history, this is a fun one. Similar to Devi in the White City with its sensationalized real history, this book tells about the most famous brothel in Chicago’s history.