September 14th: National Crazy Parade Day
Living in a big city means sometimes running across some people who are, diplomatically speaking, not quite all there. Granted, the vast majority of people I see are normal people like you or I--we're lucky to have a roof over our heads and our wits about us (well, most of the time). This isn't to say that the, erm, "not quite all theres" aren't normal people per se--this isn't meant to be a discussion on mental health, homelessness, or any combination of the two. There are plenty of homeless people who are completely all there, and tons of "normal" people who are completely out of the gourd. This is a story about the latter.
There's this woman who I see maybe once every few months or so parading down Canal Street. I assumed she just got off a train at Union Station and just decided that, "Hmm, today is a good day to rant about X and Y. And...we march!" She looks like a suburban mom, albeit a frumpy one--always in track pants and a sweatshirt, and always carries a tote bag or a lunch bag. If she just walked down the street with the crowd, you wouldn't even notice her. But she always walks in the left lane of traffic (it's a one way street, for those of you not in the know) and screams at the top of her lungs, "Fuck the X!" or "Fucking Ys!". It's like a one-woman protest. The best part is that she only screams while walking. So while she was waiting for the crosswalk signal at Monroe to change, she stood silently, fidgeting with her jacket like any other commuter. But when she got across the street, she started up again.
Today it sounded like she was saying, "Fuck the lemurs!" but that can't be right. Who wants to tell a lemur to fuck off? They're not indigenous to Chicago, so it's not like they've taken over her backyard. Maybe she saw them in the zoo and they hated on her? Who knows. Either way, it was a one-woman crazy parade today on Canal Street, and thankfully, I was not in it.
There's this woman who I see maybe once every few months or so parading down Canal Street. I assumed she just got off a train at Union Station and just decided that, "Hmm, today is a good day to rant about X and Y. And...we march!" She looks like a suburban mom, albeit a frumpy one--always in track pants and a sweatshirt, and always carries a tote bag or a lunch bag. If she just walked down the street with the crowd, you wouldn't even notice her. But she always walks in the left lane of traffic (it's a one way street, for those of you not in the know) and screams at the top of her lungs, "Fuck the X!" or "Fucking Ys!". It's like a one-woman protest. The best part is that she only screams while walking. So while she was waiting for the crosswalk signal at Monroe to change, she stood silently, fidgeting with her jacket like any other commuter. But when she got across the street, she started up again.
Today it sounded like she was saying, "Fuck the lemurs!" but that can't be right. Who wants to tell a lemur to fuck off? They're not indigenous to Chicago, so it's not like they've taken over her backyard. Maybe she saw them in the zoo and they hated on her? Who knows. Either way, it was a one-woman crazy parade today on Canal Street, and thankfully, I was not in it.