Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Super Tuesday with Stanley

My neice has entrusted me with her precious charge, a full-color, paper cut-out Flat Stanley. For those who don't know, Flat Stanley is a character from a children's book from back when I was a kid (ok, quit looking that up). Anyway, this 2D guy got new legs in the early 90s, when a teacher got students to send Flat Stanleys all across the world so his adventures could be recorded.
This particular Flat Stanley has come to us in Chicago, which presents us with the challenge of making our lives a story -- of figuring out what could possibly be worthy of documentation.

So far we've taken him to the Mexican grocery store; to my sourdough lesson over the weekend; onto the el, where he was fortunate enough to get a seat; and most recently, to the voting booth for the Illinois primary, where some cajoling on my part got his photo taken with a blank ballot.

Can't say I was altogether thrilled with the election results, but I also can't say I was as informed as I'd hoped to be, especially with respect to the local races. This is a call to action for me between now and November, when I hope to vote with a stronger degree of both conviction and lucidity.

Next up for Stanley, though, is bicycling to the Polish district about a half-mile north, where I fully expect to come home with some kruschiki and homemade kielbasa, and maybe some Polish candy to send back as a souvenir.

2 comments:

tracy said...

What a good aunt you are! Stanley should definitely be rubbed with a Kielbasa so that he smells good and garlicky for his trip home.

Christy said...

I know! I was thinking of you and Mike on your flight that time -- all full of vapory goodness!