Chicago v. New York

So Chicago has a major chip on its shoulder about being the Second City. It's really odd to watch the news here because every story has to somehow relate back to Chicago. My favorite example is when they overturned the ability to get a gay marriage in San Francisco. Chicago covered the story by interviewing a little boy from Chicago whose aunt's marriage was no longer valid. WTF? Really? There's not a better way to cover the story? That wasn't the follow-up story either. That's how they informed people watching the news that this event had happened. Also when Stephan, myself, and our friend J went to New York last summer, Stephan spent the whole time being Chicago-ed out, talking about how the architecture is better in Chicago, Chicago's better, he wouldn't want to live in NY, yadda yadda. Now to be fair, J and I were egging him on. Also I'd rather live in Chicago too, but only because it's infinitely more affordable and I can keep my car. But I still acknowledge that NY is awesome and I love it. After having lived in Chicago for 8 years, Stephan can't even say the words that New York is great. He can't.

All that said, I found this map on kottke.org (quite an allure lately) comparing the space of Manhattan to Chicago. I assume Stephan will manage to spin this post into a more-evidence-Chicago-is-better. But mostly, it's pretty nuts to see. Chicago really is huge as far as the city itself goes. I live at approximately Damen and Division if you're interested.