2nd 30 Day Letter Challenge: Day 14--Letter to Your Favorite City

Dear Chicago,

I have to be honest, I was worried about meeting you. Before I left I wondered who I had become, how I could agree to spend so much time with you before I even knew you. I'd had bad experiences with cities before and didn't think I could grow to be that kind of girl. I'll admit it, I used to discriminate against cities; I talked shit about y'all all the time.
And then I met you...and for the first two weeks or so, I hated you. I was scared and I was lonely and I thought all my stereotypes about places like you were coming true. Then I stopped being a little bitch and decided to get out of my comfort zone of home and work, even if that meant exploring by myself, which was a RADICAL concept at the time. 
And a few weeks later, you had totally and completely enchanted me. Suddenly I was using Google Maps to take a series of trains and buses like you were my turf, exploring your countless festivals and street fairs and museums on free days. I went to your parks and swam in your lake--which, btw, totally revolutionized everything I thought of lakes as being--and made a bucket list I didn't come close to finishing. You gave me friendships like I'd never had before, showed me what happens when you play along with random somewhat sketchy guys you meet in public places, taught me to be entirely comfortable with public transportation (who knew you could like standing on the subway? It reminds me of what I imagine surfing would feel like...), gave me my first club experience, got me to experience art, and taught me to be less afraid of the dark. KO told me once about his "DC-face," a serious look he had to put on to ride the train to work in that city, and I guess you inspired something similar in me, Chicago: you taught me to look uncertainty in the face bravely. You taught me to make short-term plans and act on them. You taught me how not to look lost and how to understand North, South, East, and West finally. You taught me to be okay doing things by myself, which is invaluable. You also gave me the second experience of my life in which I was surrounded entirely by strangers and had to make friends. You introduced me to artisan jewelers, Arts Districts, FARMERS MARKETS, and taught me to make earrings and bracelets and to belly dance and to salsa and opened me to the fact that naturals had a real-world community off the internet. You gave me free concerts and strange pizza and Greek, Indian, and African foods for the first time. Oh and brie! You gave me a rich mentor who had a part-time apartment bigger than my house in NJ, along with my first country club experience and a VIP pass to visit the Natural History museum after-hours. You made me stop giving a shit about rain. You introduced me to BLACK schools with black teachers and staff, a concept that blew my mind. You got me to talk to high school kids without feeling totally awkward. You gave me my first real-world work experiences. For the first time in my life, I felt totally independent, and I will always treasure you for that.  You made me feel GROWN.
I can't wait to see you again, Chicago. I was so jealous when KO got to visit you. Perks of living in corn-country, I suppose. We will meet again. Maybe for grad school if I can build up a tolerance for snow...

Affectionately,

Maya

PS: Don't tell New Brunswick, but it just can't compare to you. 
PPS: Oh, how I wish I had been 21 when we were together... 

2nd (Annual?) 30 Day Letter Challenge! Day One: Letter to a Dinosaur

So my best friend (whose blog can be found here) and I had so much fun with the 30 Day Letter Challenge we did last year that we decided to create our own and do it again this year! We had to get pretty creative for some of the days, since we did all the normal things last time around. Example A:

Dear Sue,


I have to admit, you're a pretty cool greeter at the Natural History Museum in Chicago. When I first walked in, I felt like I had stepped onto the set of Night at the Museum and half expected you to start wagging your tail. Then I got closer to the point where I was standing right up against the metal bars surrounding you, looking up in awe as you towered over me. In that instant, I remembered what it felt like being seven years old and fascinated by dinosaurs. I remembered my collection of figurines and the stuffed stegosaurus I got for Christmas that year that I slept with every night. It was like running into an old friend you haven't seen in a long time--you're suddenly transported back to an earlier time when you were a different person with different hopes and dreams and wants and needs. I was in awe again of the pure majesty you must have had in your day, Sue. And I was a little sad, because it's kind of a shame that you were once a bad-ass bitch at the top of the food chain, in total control, and now you're just an attraction for tourists like me to come take pictures of. But maybe that's not so sad, maybe it's just a testament to how awesome you, in fact, are: true greatness is permanent; even your bones are worthy of display and deserve respect. Hmm. I like that.


Admiringly,


Maya

30 Day Letter Challenge--Day Twenty-Seven: To the friendliest person you knew for only a day

If you told me your name then, I've forgotten it, but this letter is to you anyway,

You took one look at me and knew I didn't belong anywhere near the 47th Street Green Line stop. You were nice enough to not come right out and say it, though. I think you asked what time it was. I was reading, the same book I just finished, I think, (confession: I believe that, subconsciously, I only read that book because the narrator sounded just like *******. I think it's the whole learned-English-in-Kenya thing; their sentence structure is almost identical in its roundabout elegance.) and I recall being slightly perturbed that you kept talking to me. (Sorry.) You asked if I was waiting for a train, and I told you I'd just gotten off one; I was waiting for a friend. You were waiting rather impatiently for another train; you'd been waiting for a long time already. You made me aware of how much time I spent in Chicago waiting; writing this now, I think about how much of our lives we spent waiting. (This is totally unrelated, by my new favorite random fact is that, according to a Dentyne Ice commercial, the average person will spend 20,000 minutes of their life kissing.) You laughed at how long I thought the trip would take, because the Green Line is 'real fast', but warned that it would take longer if my friend was coming from farther north than Roosevelt. You asked where we were going, and marveled at the nice area our barbeque was being held in. You let me know where the bus stop we'd need to get on was, and about how far we had to go. I wouldn't normally talk to someone sitting near me at a train station, but you were relentless in leading this conversation, and until your train finally came, you were really great company. It was also pretty reassuring knowing exactly where I was going once I left the station, and I think my friend was impressed. You even told me to be careful and to have fun when you were getting on your train, and it wasn't condescending at all because I'm pretty sure you were a few years younger than me...just a LOT more street smart. 


Anyway, I never said thanks. :)


Maya

30 Day Letter Challenge--Day Fifteen: To the Person You Miss the Most

Dear Person I Miss the Most,


I'm having issues writing this letter. I'm slightly confused as to whether or not this is a good thing, but I'm not exactly sure who you are. There are many moments when I strongly miss someone in that moment, such as when I'm at the beach or when I'm having an India party or when I did that double-take on the train last week. But like, an overall pining over someone that I miss above everyone else?? No one is really standing out to me. It's not the silly boy; I'm still convinced that I've successfully moved him to the back burner of my life for the time being, despite what the best friend says. It's not the best friend, I'm pretty used to our relationship being primarily digital. Sometimes it's my mommy but only for a moment.
Last summer I would have had issues writing this letter as well, but for totally different reasons. I'd have missed so many people so much that it would be hard to choose who to write to. Besides another year's worth of life lessons and maturity, I guess the obvious difference is Chicago. My life is just so FULL here; it's sometimes hard to even remember the things I miss unless I really try to focus on them. A dull day in this city has to be, like, an active decision, haha.Instead of just distracting myself with things to fill the days, here I can actively plan a new adventure each day and feel satisfied at night after my exploration. It's a pretty fulfilling way of life; I'm going to miss it.
So I don't know who it is right now, but in a few weeks the person I miss most will probably be the independent-city-explorer-fulfilled-curious-free-to-be-herself person I have been here. Home will squish her like a bug. *sigh*


-My

BGLH Meetup

I haven't done a hair post in a while, but this totally deserves blogging about.

So two Saturdays ago I journeyed down to this neighborhood called Kenwood on the South Side, and went to a Naturals Meet Up for women with natural hair in the Chicago area. If that's not cool enough, it was run by this woman named Leila who writes this blog I've been reading since last year (bglhonline.com <--check it out) and I got to meet her and personally thank her for being awesome, haha. 


So in addition to with a bag full of cool unique new artisan jewelry and a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of bellydancing (!), I left this meet up with a renewed sense of self-worth and validation. I still remember one of the first things my new coworkers said to me on my first day at my internship was that they loved my hair. Here I have actually been stopped on the street numerous times to be given compliments about it. And coming from Mays Landing, NJ, where I struggle to remember a time when I have ever even seen another natural woman, this means a lot. 


At the meet up I saw women with hairstyles I'd never have thought of but now want to try, and got cool new tips--I might try henna!--but the things I'll probably never forget about this experience are the great things other natural women said to me. I went up to this one woman I'd been ogling throughout the entire discussion to compliment her on how beautiful her curls were, and she smiled and thanked me and then said that she's incredibly jealous of the way my hair falls. While I was at the product-swap table (you know free is just my price, haha), this new natural came up to me "just dying" to know what products I use, and when I told her my basic staples, a woman nearby said, "Ain't none of that gon make your hair curl like that though. That's your natural curl pattern, ain't it?" And I smiled and said yeah and the look on the woman's face made me feel really really proud, proud in a different way than if Darnell likes my shoes or the woman at the bus stop likes my dress, and in a more important way. 
Proud because I'd finally accepted the true beauty that lies in something I'd tried to hide and destroy for years and years, and because despite what certain other people in my life--**cough** my mother **cough**--think, the world is beginning to accept it to. Proud like a peacock must be proud of his feathers, or a lion of his mane. When I was going to the gas station to get more money to buy more jewelry (don't judge me), an older black woman sitting in her car stopped me and said, and I quote, "I haven't seen this many afros since the sixties!" I explained what was going on and that she should drop by and check it out...I'm proud of how far we've come.

Chicago Bucket List

So I'd been here two weeks and I hadn't gone out to explore the city since my second day when I went with my roommate and her boyfriend to Navy Pier. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my roommate had gone home for the weekend and I had the apartment all to myself on Saturday...which translated into I didn't see another human being for over 24 hours. 

I got to feeling pretty lonely--go figure--and after a great but unexpected pep talk from a friend who's probably going to become a lot closer, I decided to make a Chicago Bucket List: a great big list of awesome shit I want to do while I'm here. I'm determined to do all of it. And I've already basically wasted 20% of my time here, so it's time to kick it into high-gear.

I need to stop being a little bitch about doing things by myself; I'm not going to have much fun if I sit around waiting for someone else to want to have fun with me. New motto: make every day an adventure! 

Here's my list. I'll probably add to it from time to time, and I'll be sure to come back and cross things off as they get accomplished. Feel free to comment and suggest other awesome Chicago things to do!

Chicago Bucket List

1.        Write a poem in the Lincoln Park Conservatory

2.      Go to the Lincoln Park Zoo

3.      Go to the DuSable Museum (free July 3)

4.      Visit the Art Institute (free Thurs. 5-8pm)

5.      Eat deep dish pizza

6.      Sears Tower

7.       Take pictures in the Hot Air Balloon at Navy Peir

8.      “Beach”

9.      Record the Buckingham Fountain Show

10.    Swimming at a pool

11.      Water playground

12.    Attend BGLH meetup June 26

13.    Go to a natural hair salon

14.     Adler planetarium

15.    Shedd Aquarium

16.     Field Museum

17.     Museum of Contemporary Art (Free Tuesdays til 8pm)

18.    Museum of Contemporary Photography (free daily, Thurs til 8pm)

19.    Picnic in Millennium Park

20.  Take cool reflection pictures at the Bean

21.    Eat dinner at at least one soul food restaurant

22.  Take a free dance class

23.  Take a free yoga class

24.  Make a midnight donut run

25.  See at least one concert

So I Probably Should Have Realized this Sooner...

...but there are hella black people in Chicago! The high school my company is based in is 94% African-American. It kind of just hit me today that every student who wanders into my office during the day is black! As a person who barely even talked to any other black people during high school, this is CRAZY WEIRD. 

You know what else is weird? Catching the bus in the morning alongside little like, 12 year olds on their way to middle school, when they're soooo much more comfortable and confident in where they're going than I am.

This kind of makes me wonder who I would be if I'd grown up in a city...and who I'll be after Chicago leaves its mark on me...

P.S.--Hella black folks includes hella fine-ass black men, at least from what I saw on the train today! I might hafta go out on the prowl, haha!

Lessons Chicago Taught Me...

Check back often, cuz this one will be constantly updated:

1. Airport shuttles are an epic win over taxis.
2. Plastic bags were not meant to transport $112 worth of groceries by hand own 5.5 city blocks.
3. Cities are very lonely places when you don't know anyone in them yet.
4. The people who are supposed to give you information you need, won't; harass them via email.
5. You will never remember to buy all the things your kitchen needs. Ever.