The Windy City

After a quick dinner with my friend Katia at Ann Arbor's infamous Fleetwood Diner (small, smokey, bad service - and not as cheap as we'd been told!), we left for Chicago to stay with our friend Owens. Owen has a beautiful apartment that he shares with his sister. They were nice enough to let us invade their space, even though Owen had just returned from a trip to India the day before, and his sister was in the middle of studying for her exams...and Owen even gave up his bed to us in favour of the couch!

The next morning Owen directed us to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. We spent a lot of time there in an exhibit featuring a German submarine that had been captured by the US Navy during the second World War. I had some very emotional responses to that exhibit. Whenever I hear about war, I find myself thinking about the situations of individuals, rather than any larger conflict. I just can't discount individual experience, especially in such horrific circumstances. I also find myself getting frustrated with stories of heroism, as it seems to me to be so much military propaganda. I dislike the insidious undertones that are applied to the apparently routine actions of those seen as enemies. I think it negates the lessons of past conflicts to continue describing them in terms of winner&loser, right&wrong, goodside&badside. I think it is necessary to discuss war as the horror that it truly must be for everyone who experiences it, and only from there can we begin to ensure that no one need experience the same again.

We also got to visit the prenatal exhibition, with preserved fetuses from varying stages of pregnancy. Most of them looked like little aliens, really. A sign had been posted reassuring visitors that all the specimens had died of natural reasons. No aborted fetuses need apply. Really, what would be so wrong about using any specimens to further education, no matter how they became available? Abortion can be - may often be - a responsible choice, and for me it seems petty to exclude public education from the realm of possibilities that can result from a woman's choice not to become a parent.

I guess that's all from me, for now. I hope no one minds my ranting. Comments are always welcome.
xo, Amy