Goodness, you did not want to see our tired faces this morning when we arrived at the airport at 5:30am. We had a two hour layover in Denver, ate some chili, and knocked out on the plane to Chicago. In no time, we were welcomed by cold wind and sun (surprisngly).
The city is amazing though. Imagine the Chicago skyline showcasing old brick housing complexes, a wealth of historic monuments and landmarks, artistic expression at every corner, a plethora of cultural communities, and an array of diverse food inviting us to dive into the diversity that Chi-city has to offer.
We spent our first night at the Les Fleur de Lis Restaurant, a Creole restaurant in Kentwood. We were embraced with Chicago hospitality and good eats! Dishes ranged from shrimp po-boys to jambalaya to (my personal dish) blackened catfish, rice dressing, and fresh asparagus. Delicious! The dim-lit atmosphere was a great segway into the night. It was Asylum Sundays at Les Fleur. The restaurant was slowly filled (and eventually packed) with a community of pariticipants who enjoy spoken word poetry and live music. Artists, or rather, your average folks from the community, came to to the restaurant to express feelings of happiness, grief, anger, joy, humility, empowerment, strength, sadness, and love. The emcee applauded our guest appearance and the community welcomed us into their world. We went through a well of of emotions and after three hours of performances, we finally retreated to our hostel for a good night’s sleep reflecting on the reality that we were really in urban Chicago.
-Giselle