The Windy City

Well, it's been an interesting news week for those of us who work and live in the Chicago area. I work in what's called the loop in Chicago - so called because of how public transportation "loops" around an area - mostly the financial district. Here's the wiki definition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Loop

It just so also happens that the building I work in is only one block away from where President-Elect Obama has his Chicago transition office. So, lots of law enforcement in the area.

But add to this the recent arrest of the governor and the protest against the Bank of America for calling the loan on a local company and the workers staging a sit-in, and you have a news week dominated by Chicago politics and the local economy.

Now I'm originally from the west coast where seeing movie stars at restaurants and on the street isn't that unusual - at least not when I was living there - but this amount of media attention with the cameras and news crews is somewhat flabbergasting. It really is like living in a circus.

Now interestingly enough, most people think that the name - Windy City - is mostly attributed to the prairie winds, but if we look at cartoons that existed in the late 1800's and into the 1900's, it has has a strong link to the blustery or windy politicians from Chicago. Food for thought in the context of recent events. Once again, here's wiki's take on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks let alone the next few days. Stay tuned!