Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Spring is Taking Root in Chicago

It appears that spring as sprung in the Windy City! The weather has been beautiful, despite a few consecutive rainy days to begin the week, but the trees are blossoming and baseball has begun!

In a way, spring is a kind of rebirth. Sometimes I think it would be nice if people were like trees... we could shed our leaves in the fall and start over again with fresh buds in the spring. Mentally, I think most of us do that anyway. Looking back at the winter, it's all a blur, or maybe I'm too focused on moving forward in the direction of spring to care.

The arrival of the warm weather has made it a little difficult to concentrate on a new academic quarter, which has shifted into full gear after just a week and a half. I've opted to take just two classes this time around because I foresee myself wanting to spend more time outside enjoying Chicago rather than in a library or editing lab in the coming months. I'm already having a hard time going to class and it's only April...these classes last until June and it will only get more difficult to walk into a classroom amid BBQ smells and chirping birds.

I can see some of you nodding your heads in agreement, applauding my smart decision. I don't have a 3.8 GPA for nothin', you know.

This spring I've added a few new buds to my tree. Last quarter I mentioned I was involved in a class that launched a neighborhood news blog. I enjoyed it so much that I asked to be involved in the development of one of the neighborhood blogs where I live, and landed a spot on Team Wrigleyville. Wrigleyville is the area of the city where--you guessed it!--Wrigley Field is located and everyone is Cub and club crazy (thanks to the plethora of bars around the stadium).

We've officially launched RedEye Wrigleyville and I think it is going to prove to be a fun challenge as we move forward.

Today, while walking back from my meeting with my Wrigleyville editor and co-bloggers, I witnessed a crew working on the exterior of Wrigley Field, hanging banners and posters around the outside to help positively promote Opening Day 2010 (they need to help fans forget the team's 16-5 opening loss to the Braves earlier this week somehow).

I wrote a post about it for the blog and took some photos of the work in progress (I always carry my camera and a notepad around with me just in case something like this ever happens). The new decorations look kind of gaudy to me... the Cubs don't really to use need excessive marketing like the White Sox do in order to get warm bodies into the stadium, especially for the home opener. Let's hope this rain clears by next Monday for the Cubbies, the baseball season just started and they already need a rebirth to their season!

Despite the clouds and rain, my tree is certainly blossoming this spring and my roots to this fine city are finally taking hold (if I was a real tree, I'd be pretty wet right now...guess that settles the human vs. tree argument). I just can't wait until the weather starts to really match my mood... but preferably only on non-class days!

Happy Spring!

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