Tatoo City Chicago

To my mind, Chicago is an unpretentious, art and architecture-forward, ethnic hodge-podge, whose stature has unfairly diminished with the boom of pretend cities like Houston, Denver and, er, um, Vancouver.  The region's decade long embrace of math rock and Jerry Springer didn't do it any favors, either.  But as this is written, the Chicago Cubs were in first place 100 years after their last title but just got swept in the first round of the playoff by my Los Angeles Dodgers, (Whoooooohooooooo!  Think Blue!)  Calatrava threatens topierce the skyline, usurping the Sears Tower by building the nation's tallest skyscraper the Spire; Devin Hester is still a Bear, and finally, there are beautiful young women, who maybe spend a bit too much time honing sketches of their next tattoo, around overy corner.