#3 Welcome to the Jungle
Chicago. The city of rebels. From the upsetting, upchuck-inducing stockyards of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to Theodore Dreiser’s warning tale of the indefinite climb up (or down) the social ladder Sister Carrie, Chicago has been a centerpiece for many American stories. I’ve been to Chicago twice before, but I never really explored the cultural landscape, understood how this massive, sprawling labyrinth or railroads and lakeviews transformed the people who lived and traveled within.
As Phil Cosineau, a lead travel writer, states, “What matters most on your journey is how deeply you see, how attentively you hear, how richly the encounters are felt in your heart and soul” (Cousineau, 1998). By reading about a place and then exploring it, your love and desire grows for the place itself. The beauty of this blog is that the research and insight I gain allows my travels to transcend the mundane and reach an almost mythical quality. And now I get to share some of this with you all.
Many wonderful writers call Chicago home: Gwnedolyn Brooks, with her hard hitting lines from Bronzeville; Richard Wright, who would become the “precursor to the Black Arts Movement” (Poetry Foundation) and source of inspiration for writers like James Baldwin; Carl Sandburg, who is famous for his poems describing his “stormy, husky, and brawling” city. And I discovered about these and many more famous Chicagoans as my long-time college friends took me to gallivant around the city, to add my own small bit of ink to the narrative landscape.
As was mentioned in the last blog post, my travel to Chicago was an adventure in itself. Trains breaking down, stuffy buses, and hours upon hours praying to suck in huge gulps of cold, windy air. When I finally stepped off the bus, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a bigger hurry to put distance between myself and any mode of transportation. The bus dropped us outside of Union Station in downtown Chicago, which was a mess of traffic at about 5pm on a weekday. My friends, being quite clever folks, told me to meet them at the H-mart, which is about three blocks walk from Union Station. A traveler pro-tip right there: find a good store like that to pick your friends up from. The traffic is less gruesome, the hunt is less stressful, and while you wait you can pick up some Asian goodies. Much preferred way to do a four-way embrace in the parking lot.
The majority of our time spent together was enjoying the food, culture, and art of their new hometown. My friends have created a little Appalachian diaspora in Northalsted, aka Boystown, in Chicago – a district known for its well-dressed men, late night wiener waffles at Willies, and one of the “oldest officially recognized gay neighborhood[s]” (Choose Chicago) in the nation. While my friends and I are not a part of the LGBTQ+ crowd, we’ve always been the open-minded sort, and the rent in Boystown is relatively affordable compared to the rest of Chicago. Especially considering the neighborhoods themselves are quite lovely. They got themselves a little slice of the that deep-dish pie, so to speak.
My arrival in Chicago was fortuitous, as it coincided well with the Chinese Lunar New Year, which meant it was the perfect time for me and my xenophile friends to experience some unique food and festivities. This has become something of a trend for us, as we also got to experience the Chinese Lunar New Year in New York for my friend Tyler’s bachelor party back in 2017, crashing with our buddy Brett who had an apartment there at the time. And just like in 2017, we gorged ourselves on good food and watched the Chinese dragons chasing away the evil spirits and promoting good luck for their given neighborhoods.
This year, we opted for the much more quiet parade in Uptown, on West Argyle Street. While the street is known as “Little Saigon” and has a host of Vietnamese restaurants and shops, it was transformed into its current form thanks to immigrants from Vietnam and Cambodia, backed by Chinese entrepreneurs, in the 70s. Hence the Chinese influence. Regardless of the cultural intricacies inherent here, we enjoyed the parade, the dancing lions, and the cold (as best we could) as outsiders in an expatriate place. I got an ube matcha latte from Fat Milk (a purple yam mixed with Chinese green tea that was…interesting texture wise) to help warm me up as we stood in the cold to watch the two-person dragon dances. Also on display was a giant Medusa head (since it was the year of the snake), many schools with kids waving and trying to hide their cold displeasure behind half-hearted smiles, and musical performances and acts from juggling to stilts. A traditional parade in every sense, with me getting within eight feet of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Which is odd, considering how little clout he seems to hold with the Chicago people, according to recent polls (Spielman, 2024). I felt like he needed more security.
But after our festivities in Uptown, we decided to take a proper trip to Chicago’s Chinatown where my buddy Tyler “knew a place.” And boy did he. Hidden under the HeungSeng Square in Chicago’s Chinatown is a food court which does little to hide what it is. No fluff. No thrill. Sketchy staircase down. But, it is a place to get things you wouldn’t get from a tailored American experience. Sure, most of the vendors know English, and sure, there is English on most of the menus, but this is a more authentic taste of eastern cuisine. The shops apparently open and closed based of vendor whims (Gebert 2016) and are full of items that are not available at your typical American-Chinese Buffet. I for one opted for the “spicy and numbing potato noodle soup” from J’s Snack House with an addition of braised beef. All of this, by the way, was after the teller realized I had no idea what I was doing down there and made suggestions to help get me out of the way quicker. In a very kind way.
She wasn’t wrong. I ordered the “medium,” which I knew was “white person medium” and not actual medium. But still, it had a good kick that left me watering and warm, much needed after a day standing around in the cold. I got to try a variety of new flavor experiences, including quail eggs, tripe (cow or sheep stomach lining), and the famous potato tornadoes (Korean: 회오리 감자) which were probably my favorite of all the snacking. However, while gorging myself on cultural flavors, I couldn’t get Sinclair’s depiction of Chicago out of my head. Still, when you’re hungry and cold, convenience and experience melt together well with apathy. And the food was good, so I just had to turn off the “inner critic” and enjoy.
Besides Chinese cuisine, I also got to have my first deep dish pizza experience from one of the big names in pizza in Chicago: Giordano’s. They thankfully offer a personal pan size, as my friend’s weren’t feeling quite as touristy as I was, and it only ran about $18 for a mushroom and olive six inch. However, the wait was about fifty minutes for takeout, so if you are wanting to get a little za to go, plan ahead. While we waited, we got to experience the Chicago Public Library, which is (to date) the largest library I’ve ever gotten to walk around. We only explored the top floor’s Winter Room, with it’s spacious atrium and little art exhibits, but it was still more than enough to help eat away at the time.
With a full belly, we finally got to tackle the main events of this trip: The Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, and the American Writer’s Museum. I’ve been to The Art Institute of Chicago on a previous adventure, so there wasn’t too much here that I hadn’t seen before. But it is always nice to explore classic paintings like A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte by Seurat, American Gothic by Wood, and The Bedroom by Vincent Van Gogh. My new personal favorite, however, is Scholz’s Small Town by Day, with all of its macabre hidden within a seemingly idyllic quiet town.
I should also mention that my friend Brett Marshall Tucker is the artist here. I am just an art adjacent dilletante who likes words and experiences. He was a great guide when it came to helping me find my way through this artistic wonderland. Same with the Cultural Center, which was his suggestion as well. We got to experience Potential Energy and A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, where unfortunately I was so tired that I fell asleep in one of the audiovisual displays, leaning back along padded wall in the dark and quiet. The life of a road nomad I suppose. Even while experiencing unique and beautiful splendor, you can fall asleep just about anywhere.
Of course, the coup de grace for me was the American Writer’s Museum, which my buddy Tyler has been saving specifically for me. The beautiful part here is that the $16 fee can be waived if you got a local friend with a library card. He was able to get me and Brett in for free. What a steal. There is of course a donation box, which I still contributed to, but I felt like the experience deserved so much more than that.
Their newest exhibit was the Game Writing exhibit, titled Level Up: Writers & Gamers. Which was perfect, as Brett works for Bethesda, I teach writing for a living, and Tyler enjoys both the books and the games. I cannot begin to describe my joy, walking through the interactive and modern A Nation of Writers exhibit, the many new voices I discovered in the Wintrust Chicago gallery, or the wealth of knowledge I gained from the kiosks in the S. Leigh Pierson Conant and Douglas R. Conant Readers Hall. They had typewriters to make collaborative narrative pieces, games to battle your friends head-to-head in a mad libs styles (turns out Brett is way better at that than I am), and a little machine to print out stories based off of how long you want to read (one, three, and five minute stories in particular).
Suffice to say, a word nerd like myself was entranced. It was hard to leave the museum, but even three hours wasn’t enough to experience everything the admission had to offer. So, we ended our trip with some cosplay and a few souvenir bookmarks and made our way to another hidden gem of Chicago: The Game Room. While it sounds like your typical darts and pool type spot, they got another half of the restaurant / lounge catered to the academics and studious types…a little half of the whole that is the perfect vibe for a third year reading Joyce for the first time. Good drinks and a fireplace is always nice during the February months.
The return back to the apartment included a Dude, Where’s My Car movie night and a quick couple of rounds of indoor mini-golf at Big Mini Putt Club, a place I would frequent at least once a week if I lived in the area. Darts, trivia, N64 Mario Kart, and big Jenga is all you need to get my everlasting patronage. With some early morning mimosas and a large, hearty American breakfast at Pancake Café Wrigleyville, it was time to make a hurried goodbye, a quick hug, and a farewell salute to my beloved friends.
The travel home was thankfully uneventful. Despite an hour bus ride to Union Station, an hour delay at the station itself, and a long fourteen hour train ride home, nothing got hitched up like it did on my first train ride. It wasn’t the best way to travel, my opinion, but this is what I was expecting out of my train experience. Seeing the backyards of my neighbors, the cities from the rails, and the Ohio River from a floaty aircar. Much more the ideal. And with that, I was back home in Charleston, WV. Tired. Ready to sleep. And already planning the next adventure.
And now, to End with Etymology:
Clout. Noun. While it used to mean a blow, “especially with the hand,” it transformed in the 1950s with Chicago writers who used the word to mean “political power and influence,” likely based on baseball terms like “What a clout!” and eventually the word gained nationwide usage in the 1970s (The Encyclopedia of Chicago). Now, to have “clout” means to have power within a group or organization. Like Walter White has “clout” with Gus Fring up until their explosive disagreement. Then Walter White becomes the only one with clout. “I am the danger.”
Works Cited (because I’m an English teacher at heart)
Cousinau, Phil. The Art of Pilgrimage: A Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred. Conari Press, 1998.
Gebert, Michael. “The Fooditor Guide to Chinatown’s Richland Food Court (2016 Edition).” Fooditor, 3 Oct. 2016, https://fooditor.com/the-fooditor-guide-to-the-richland-food-court-in-chinatown/. Accessed 26 February 2025.
Greene, Daniel. “Clout.” Enclyopedia of Chicago, 2004, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/301.html. Accessed 26 February 2025.
“Northalsted (Boystown).” Choose Chicago, https://www.choosechicago.com/neighborhoods/boystown/. Accessed 26 February 2025.
“Richard Wright.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/richard-wright. Accessed 26 February 2025.
Spielman, Fran. “Mayor Brandon Johnson’s job performance rated fair to poor by majority of Chicago voters in new poll.” Chicago Sun Times, 25 Jan. 2024, https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024/1/25/24050977/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-job-approval-poll-tulchin-research. Accessed 26 February 2025.
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