south of the loop

Dear Internet,

I need to replace a pair of shoes. I’ve been looking for months (and months!), and I just can’t find anything that does it for me, and I need your help! I know I could just get the old shoes resoled (and maybe clean them up a bit), but I think I can do better. I love these shoes, but they aren’t the most comfortable—there’s very little support, and the leather across the toes starts to pinch after awhile. The brand is Tabarca, but all I can find online in that brand are sandals.

I’m looking for an everyday shoe that’s mostly black. It doesn’t have to be dressy, but I should be able to fake it if I wear them with a pair of black pants. (I work in a pretty casual office). I love love love the red straps on these—enough to make the shoes fun, but not enough that I worry about them not matching. Here are my other requirements:

- Must have at least reasonable support. I live in Chicago and walk a lot—I don’t need to be able to walk all day in them, but I need to be able to walk a couple miles at a time.

- Must be flat or very low-heeled. I have enough knee problems already, thank you.

- No loafers.

- No ballet slippers (I have lots already, including a particularly beloved turquoise patent pair), and no Mary Janes (I have lots and LOTS).

- I thought about something like these, but they are just so dreadfully boring.

- I wear size 10 shoes but am only 5′6″. Things that look cute and dainty in a size 7 often look like boats on me. I’m not overly concerned about this, but really chunky shoes and shoes with long pointy toes (that extend the size of my foot by several inches) are usually no-gos.

- Reasonably priced. I’m going to leave that definition open-ended, but no $400 Taryn Rose shoes.

Okay, internets, whaddaya got for me? Leave links/suggestions in the comments. Photos of my poor beat-up shoes below.

Filed under: shoes by admin2
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When I told my friend John that I might have whooping cough, he listed all the things whooping cough reminded him of. “Reminds me of whooping cranes. And Whoppers, both the Burger King hamburgers and the chalky malt balls. And the 1993 Tag Team classic, ‘Whoomp! There It Is.’ All right, I’ll stop.”

My diagnosis is unconfirmed—my doctor is treating me for whooping cough (pertussis), but said that the antibiotics would kill whatever bacterial infection I’ve got, and that “if you’re still coughing in a month, we’ll know it was pertussis.” Super! I’ve been on antibiotics for four days and feel much better, but I’m still coughing, especially at night. (And in case you were wondering, my coughs lack the characteristic “whoop” sound, but according to the internets, adults may have milder symptoms than children do).

I’m not sure yet how this is going to affect my winter running schedule; presumably I’ll have to modify it to accommodate my reduced lung capacity, but I’m still hoping I can do the Austin 3M Half-Marathon (although I may have to let Mark beat me this year).

And I never did like those chalky malt balls.

*           *          *

current book: Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark (and with much thanks to Harriett for the tip)

current music: The last few days have been spent in codeine-induced slumber. Not so much with the music. I fear it would just give me weird dreams.

current socks: Black with multi-colored kitties on them.

Filed under: life in general by admin2
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I feel incredibly lucky to be living in Chicago right now. From my office window, I’ve been watching the Obama rally tents go up for the last week. I’m surrounded by citizens who believe in a black man from the South Side of Chicago, whose street I used to run down when I lived in Hyde Park. Last night I went to the rally in Grant Park and cheered and screamed and celebrated because this wasn’t just a referendum on eight devastating years, this was a mandate for change. This was an uncynical, unjaded acceptance of the word hope.

I hope that President-elect Obama exhibits the same thoughtfulness and spirit of unification that he’s shown in his campaign, and I hope that the tears welling up as I type this won’t someday dry up out of contempt or cynicism. I’ve never been so involved in politics before—this is the first time I’ve ever given money to a campaign, the first time I’ve cared so much. Some people complain that Obama is all style and no substance, but I guarantee you that it’s not substance that’s inspired investment in his campaign, and it’s not style that’s kept us there.

A year ago, blogger Andrew Sullivan wrote a beautiful post that I was happy to see reposted today:

Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.

I suspect McCain sees this, too. The enormous crowd in Grant Park stood quietly during his concession speech and clapped respectfully when he finished. I wish we had seen this McCain during the campaign—he was moving and gracious, not bitter and defensive, and he clearly recognized the magnitude of this election. This also made me tear up:

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

And finally, the words of the 44th President of the United States of America:

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.  Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.  As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

More pictures and video here.

Filed under: chicago, politics by admin2
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