Writing and Wayfaring: Ice Town, U.S.A.

First off, apologies to any of you who came to this post expecting a tribute to Ben Wyatt, former boy mayor, teenage ice clown, and human disaster on Parks and Rec. I'm a big fan of the show too, so I'll understand your disappointment.

Earlier this week my city got sucked into the grips of a vortex. A polar vortex to be exact. You may have heard about it, and yes, it was as scary as it sounds. Temperatures in Chicago dipped 10 to 15 degrees below 0 on Monday, with the wind chill at 30 to 40 degrees below 0. What's more, this post-apocalyptic phase was preceded by bombardments of snowfall for hours on end beginning on New Year's Eve. Happy 2014, Chicago!!

Snow on State St., downtown Chicago

The Chicago River, Jan. 8, 2014

Chicagoans are truly tough people--among the toughest I know. And the long, hard winters we have to endure are a big factor in the resilience and strength of the people here. It's extremely rare for this city to shut down over anything--so you know things must have been bad this week for the city and suburban schools to close for a couple days along with a number of city offices and businesses. (By contrast, I've been in other towns and cities--cough, Carbondale, IL, cough--that shut down when they get half an inch of snow, and I've seen friends in warmer parts of the U.S. and in Ireland and the U.K. freak out on Facebook over a full inch of snow and 30 degree Fahrenheit temps. Wow.)

Snow-covered sidewalk, State St.

Sit yourself down...in the snow. An outdoor bench in downtown Chicago.

Probably ditched for a cab. In front of Harold Washington Library.

A friend of mine from Ireland/England was in town with his fiancee in the midst of this Chiberian weather, bravely driving all the way from Ohio on Sunday. Needless to say, it was too cold for them to do much sightseeing. The city went into deep freeze mode, and everyone here went into temporary hibernation, the only safe and sensible thing to do in such truly dangerous weather. God help those people in the region with no homes and those animals living outside.

No kidding.

Stay alive.

On Wednesday I managed to meet up with my friends downtown. It was 10 to 15 degrees that day, but in the wake of the polar vortex it felt almost tropical. I wandered around for as long as I could outside downtown and snapped a few pictures. These shots aren't as impressive as many of the ones you can see online of Chicago trapped in ice--for those kind of pics, go here and here--but if you think I was gonna go traipsing around the lakefront in below zero temps just for a photo then you're crazier than the people who did go traipsing around the lakefront in below zero temps just for a photo this week. Like these people:

Chicago on Jan. 6, 2014, pic by Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune.

In the last couple days, life has returned to usual in Chicago. As I write this, it's somewhere in the mid-30s at 10 PM. That's more in line with what we're used to in this part of world in January. Yes, it's still cold--the kind of cold where you can see your breath when you exhale, but those are breaths of relief.