today’s ride started out a little weird, because i’m busy at work this week (the perfect time to start a conceptual blog about doing stuff other than working!) and didn’t have much time to think about where i wanted to go. by the time i got out, it was already getting dark, so i headed down humboldt boulevard towards the park again. i’m realizing that until the days get a bit longer, these are all going to be light blue, silhouette-y pictures. no matter! i rode by the illinois national guard (i initially wrote that as the “illinois bird guard building,” as i was looking at the bird flying by in this picture). this building is also known as the Northwest Armory (cooler-sounding, in my opinion) and was built in 1940.

i rode south through the park down to division, and rode along the section of division called Paseo Boricua, the core promenade of the west side’s Puerto Rican community. until the early 90s, this entire neighborhood was considered to be a deadzone by developers and urban planners. halfway to western, i saw this garden/art gallery, but i didn’t stop to check who the guy standing there is (the traffic was a little busy so i was distracted). i took a detour down campbell, passed this store, then back up division to the flag gates that arch over division street. these huge things were built by city officials and community leaders in 1995 to memorialize the Puerto Rican workers who worked in the steel mills here (i think). In some circles the flags have been controversial - some people say they look like barriers, but they’re intended to be seen as gateways into  the community.

on my way back home, i stopped to take a picture of some stained glass on a church around armitage and humboldt. there was a service going on inside, and a guy wearing a crossing guard’s uniform over a suit was clearly waiting to direct the post-service traffic in a few minutes. he told me that the stained glass window on the other side was more beautiful (more green). he was right, but my crappy iphone couldn’t take a decent picture of it in the twilight. the altar boy-cum-crossing guard told me that this church was in its opening celebration week - they’d been working for four years to buy it, and it finally happened. he told me that it’s connected to other sister churches throughout the neighborhood, and also in iowa and wisconsin. “oh, like a midwestern network,” i said. he said yeah, exactly (but also in brazil, and europe, and new zealand, and australia). i asked him if it was a catholic church (no, pentecostal). and i am welcome any time (all the services are translated).

ahhh, i see what he did there.