Follow the Lighted Promenade

Into the mysterious, the heart of light, the silence... I've often pondered on the fact that I've not found my niche in Chicago. I always long to be with the crowds I see flowing past my window, for they look so beautiful and vibrant, yet when I go to them, I find that I have nothing to say, that I'm awkward, that I speak a different language. Wednesday night, after immersing myself in the editing of my novel (losing time in the process), I took a long, lovely walk through the approaching winter chill to the green line - that north to Ashland - and then an even lovelier walk through quiet streets, past bright windows, to a bar called The Empty Bottle. I had come to see a band called The Goddamn Shame (with a band called The Lab Partners). I knew no one when I arrived - graded papers at the bar, read The Fountainhead . I didn't feel lonely, just out of place. Everyone was so cool, so conscious of how they were saying things. I didn't feel there was much honest reacti