Article on Chicago, do other's agree? Disagree?

Read this in todays Sun Times, on the first page. Do other's feel this way??


Maybe we have a small chip on our big shoulders
July 28, 2006

BY DEBRA PICKETT SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement


Must we now pretend to take seriously the city's campaign to land the 2016 Olympics? Is that really what we've come to?

This week's news that we beat out Houston and Philadelphia to make the top three finalists for a potential U.S. bid to host the Games was not exactly earth-shattering. (It is, after all, hard to imagine being a less-attractive summer destination than Houston.)



But we got all puffed up and celebratory about it anyway. Because, frankly, we've been feeling a little desperate lately.

It was not so long ago that it seemed like people loved us, well, just for us. Sure, it was slightly condescending, the way they affected such genuine surprise when remarking on our vibrant cultural life, our clean streets and our fabulous restaurants, like they expected our standards to be permanently stuck in "No fries, chips!" mode.

But, still, they fawned and fussed over us. They featured us in fancy, glossy magazines.

And we got used to it.

The Kirstie Alley effect



There's nothing quite like those first days after you've been on a big diet and made your debut in your new, skinny clothes. Everyone tells you how great you look. They all want to know how you did it. All the attention goes to your head and, without realizing it, you're prancing down the hallways of your office building and grinning flirtatiously with strangers on the street.

Then, in far, far less time than it took you to lose the weight, people stop noticing. And those super-expensive jeans you bought aren't looking quite as cute as they did originally, anyway. Without the blinding glow of positive reinforcement, you start to notice certain things that you'd been blocking from your mind: like how low-fat muffins taste like cardboard.

From there, it's a slippery slide into a needy kind of paranoia. You want people to notice how great you look, but you're also convinced they've begun to pick up on how, in ever-so-subtle ways, you've started to let yourself go.

Chicago's urban renaissance has followed the same pattern. We worked hard on ourselves. We got really beautiful. And even though we swore we were doing it for ourselves, that it didn't matter what other cities thought, that it was all about making positive changes, not just meeting some socially mandated aesthetic standard, we still loved the way it felt to be so suddenly glamorous.

We felt a little sorry, really, for Seattle, trying so hard to hang on to that whole '90s grunge and coffee thing, when it was clear that the fickle finger of trendiness had moved on. We promised ourselves we'd be more graceful about it when the time came for us to pass the torch to some other city. Of course, that sort of thing was easy to say when Boeing was hightailing it out of there to make its new corporate home here.

We're not quite so blithe about it now.

Now we find it newsworthy when some big organization -- the National Restaurant Association convention, United Airlines -- decides to stay here.

A cute slogan is probably next



It's making us feel a little anxious, the way we have to get all gussied up just to hold people's attention anymore. We've been furtively checking out those keep-the-spark-alive books, thinking about trying out some new seduction tricks, like maybe wrapping ourselves in Saran Wrap. (What is Christo doing these days, anyway?)

And we've begun to suspect that other cities might see through all this elaborate posturing.

"Hosting the Gay Games," we told them, with some swagger, "was practically the same thing as having the Olympics."

Was it just our imagination, or did the other two U.S. Olympic finalists, Los Angeles and San Francisco, roll their eyes at that one when they thought we weren't looking? Philadelphia said they did, but that was probably just sour grapes.

We've been trotting out every achievement we can find -- our airport is even busier than Atlanta's! -- but the fact is that people just don't seem as impressed with us as they once were.

Look, we're not naive. We can see how it's partly our fault. You get comfortable; let things slip a little. The tulips on Michigan Avenue probably weren't as impressive as they might have been this year.

But just because some of the magic's faded a little, that's no reason to dump us for some flashy young tart like Austin.

We'll admit we've been a little distracted lately, getting caught up in petty fights over goose livers and how best to express our contempt for Wal-Mart. And we've been losing sleep -- just a little -- over some of this corruption stuff, which seems not only morally hazardous but also tacky.

But, listen, we can change. Just tell us what you want.

Collapsible stadium? Absolutely.

Private money to pay for all the overhead costs? Not a problem.

Civic pride? Sure. We feel great about ourselves. Really.

You do believe us, don't you?>