YSEALI PFP Day 8: Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

27 April 2019

The weather turned chilly in the morning. The day before, we were told there would be snow. Snow? In Spring? 

Trump Tower, which was a site of protests when President Trump won the election

By the Chicago River

Queuing to enter the Chicago's First Lady Cruise

First on the agenda today was the Chicago Architectural Foundation Center Boat Tour.

Our bright, glowing and dry faces at the start of the tour

Our journey began.

Wrigley Building (Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate)- Intricate bell tower on the roof top

Jewelers' Building - built in 1920s, it was once the tallest building in the world outside New York City. It housed a car lift for jewelry merchants to drive their entire car in and up the building.

Chicago has probably the most number of moveable bridges

333 West Wacker Drive - reflection facade flowing in harmony with the river's hue

Groupon

The confluence of the Chicago River

Former Chicago Tribune building

This bridge is no longer in use, but is lowered once a year

Near our residence

Boeing

Civic Opera Building

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Center - the largest options and futures contracts of any futures exchange in the world

Our guide joked that because no one was talking about this building, the owner had the River of Chicago drawn onto it. There is a dot that indicates where we are on the map

So I was distracted and suddenly heard "X Box", and was wondering where the X Box was, until Jason pointed to this building...

It started raining

150 N. Riverside - the building houses a pool at the rooftop which stabilises the building from wind

And it snowed! Gungho us continued to stay at the open deck to learn from the guide

Merchandise Mart - light shows are projected on the building in the evenings. It was the largest in the world in terms of floorspace, but was surpassed by the Pentagon in 1943

Marina City

Navy Pier

The city disappears in the fog of snow

Waiting for our Uber who got lost amidst the multilevel streets of Chicago; we eventually got on a taxi instead

While at the Chicago Architecture Center, I checked out the Amazon Go (cashier free mart)

One has to download the Amazon Go app to access the mart

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow~

Braved the weather to visit the Chicago Culture Center.

It was about 4 degrees Celsius

Passed by the Chicago Theatre

Chicago musical exhibit at Chicago Cultural Center:

Grand Army of the Republic Memorial

Wedding

How exquisite

An exhibition on Goat Island, a performance group of Chicago:

About Goat Island

Moving on:

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it," Samuel Johnson. --> He might just have predicted Google

2019 Year of Chicago Theatre

Crowdsourcing of views on the cultural assets in the city

Preston Bradley Hall

Interesting quotes surrounding the hall:

"He that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter," Isaac Barrow

"A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit embalmed and treasured upon purpose to a life beyond life"

"A Library implies an act of faith which generations, still in darkness hid, sign in their night in witness of the dawn"

Another group of bridesmaid with the bride

 

Listening to the music

A studio that collects recordings of stories from people

Millennium Park

Chicago Cultural Center's Community Wall - free for all to post community events

Chicago Cultural Center

Initially thought that it was a movie poster for Winter Soldier

Bought donuts at Dunkin' Donut and had a very interesting conversation with the sales attendant on work hours. He shared with me about the operations and franchise model, as well as how he had lobbied his boss to close the store from 12 midnight to 4am, as sales revenue during that timing did not even cover for staff's minimum wage (USD 12). 

In the evening, Anna drove us to the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) Dorin Forum to participate in a talk featuring Stacey Abrams on Leading from the Outside, which was part of the Joanne H. Alter Women in Government Lecture of the Chicago Humanities Week. It was a great opportunity from Yasmin's host - Anna - who got us the tickets to this sold out event. 

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot made a surprise entrance and introduced the speaker Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams served as Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. She was the first African American female gubernatorial nominee of a major party in the United States. The session was facilitated by columnist Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Abrams shared about her humble family background, which did not prevent her family from volunteering their time to help others. Her father used to share with her that, "no matter how little you have, there will always be others with less." She added that "poverty is a waste of human capital."

Abrams shared that politics was not about the aggregation of power but how you empowered others. A leader is successful when the purpose of what one was pursuing lasted beyond oneself. She lamented that Republicans had exploited the rhetoric of faith, instead of emulating the principles of faith, and had weaponised it. She added that, on the other hand, the Democratic Party was the party of everyone else. 

Another quotable quote: "We live what we learn."

After not winning the gubernatorial election, she was now focusing on eliminating voter suppression via Fair Fight Action.

"Don't be afraid to be wholly who you are, unless you are a jerk, then work on it," Stacey Abrams

Illinois - Land of Lincoln

Thankful to Anna who dropped Ivy and I at United Center for Trevor Noah's Loud and Clear tour.

It was a chilly wait as the queue to clear security extended outdoors. Imagine the cold wind standing at the door.

Dinner!

An inefficient workflow resulting in frustrated customers waiting for their drinks. A guy dropped his drink and stained my pants with his coffee, and shouted expletives. I thought I should be the one screaming. Chill man~ we're here for laughs!

The event was due to start at 8pm, and we were stuck at the drinks collection till 8.40pm. We entered the theatre just in time for Trevor's entrance!

Trevor Noah was simply amazing. He joked on Chicago, accents, politics, gender, and the top five things that White Americans love. It was interesting to see politics, after learning so much about it in the past week of meetings, in a comical and light-hearted way.

We made it!

It had been some time since we used Uber, since its business in Southeast Asia was sold to Grab. UberPool was slightly different from how we had it back then. UberPool required passengers to walk to a nearby meeting point, and the drop-off was at a location of walking distance to the intended destination.

* It was hard to decide what the title of this blog post should be, given the diversity of the activities for the day. The title was meant to express how FROZEN we were, in a funny way as how we ended the day.