Placebo

Living in Hyde Park can be challenging. It's hard to get to the rest of the city, the restaurants are somewhat mediocre, and after a while you feel like you know absolutely everyone. One thing I do like about it: Jackson Park. It's a magical place.

I think part of the magic of Jackson Park is that it's not very well kept. Take the Japanese garden (above). It's kind of been left alone -- brownish water, crumbling stone statues, very few flowers. Sometimes it feels more like a ruin of a Japanese garden -- a forgotten place. It's what might happen in Chicago more generally if all the people suddenly disappeared.

I also like to imagine that this is where the Hyde Park coyotes spend most of their time. They keep an eye on the Museum of Science and Industry, which lurks behind the brushy, weedy landscape.

This is the first time I've seen evidence of beaver activity. Some serious tree nomming occurred here. It seems kind of unneccessary though, this place is already dammed. (And possibly damned?). I guess beavers just can't help themselves -- like a cat attacking a toy mouse, or a fruit fly chasing a stripe. Beaver's gotta dam. 

Jackson Park is the closest to nature you can get in Chicago, at least as far as I know. It's kind of a placebo wilderness. It's not real, but it still kind of works.