I had a pretty great week. On Monday it was warm enough that we went swimming in South Pond, Evan, Holly, Lydia, Sarah and I.


I'm busy, and happy. I have an office now in the basement of Dalrymple where I got to work on my Plan. Yesterday I figured out what my Plan is really about. It's about aesthetics and civic identity. In Chicago. These are my abstract, jumping-off-point questions: When we talk about the aesthetics of the city, what are we talking about? Architecture, the skyline, parks, general layout, etc?
What is civic identity and civic pride? What gives people these feelings?
What is the popular vision, again, the literal mental image which is brought to mind by the words “city” and specifically “Chicago?” In what way has that image been planted in our minds by photographs and other deliberate means?
Why is Chicago the place for this study? Because there's the lake and then the park and then you stand on Michigan avenue and look east, over the park and over the lake, and your back is to that sheer cliff of buildings, there at like 400 South, the just jut up, you stand with your back to that cliff you stand on the edge of America.
What is significant about the Progressive era in the history of city planning? In the history of Chicago?
What kind of place is the city? Is it a magical place where everything is possible or a world of depravity and sin in need of salvation?
What are the contested spaces?

I have my work cut out for me and I am delighted. Seriously, it's quarter to nine on a Friday and I'm happy just to sit here with my books and perfect those questions.

I got elected to the social committee. People must think I'm pretty fun and cool, huh? I think social committee is probably the hardest working of the town meeting committees. I also wrote my first citizen article, although I didnt really have to write that much since it was just interviews with the math and classics fellows. They are young, foreign and male and therefore interesting.