Brenna Swift: Random City

I’ve learned to like randomness. Things are more interesting when they’re crazy, totally unrelated to one another, and unexpected.

Fortunately, I’ve never had to go far before finding some places where randomness thrives like weeks in a neglected garden — or maybe mold on an old cheese.

One of them is on public transportation. The other is any thrift store, the older the better. Or sometimes I encounter it while along Navy Pier.  Life is a big mess, and I think we like it that way….

I think I can guess what the CTA’s policy is about taking cats on the train. But now that I’m in on this woman’s secret, I won’t let the cat out of the bag. Well, at least not to the CTA….

Before it moved, the Urban Thrift Store in Lakeview was one of the messiest I’d ever seen. This mannequin was right by the cash registers….

Her boldness worked. A couple of weeks later, she’d nabbed herself a man with an awful tie….

“I think we should revisit our wild days and have a party at Navy Pier. Except this time I would like all of us to wear purple and red, which won’t clash at all. I think my shirt should say `Hats!’ And I think we should just walk around looking proud….”

These two hippies were riding the train home from a dumpster-diving expedition. They smelled like it, too….

Ah, if only everybody was this calm and pensive on the train…

By Brenna Swift

Editor’s Note:  Brenna Swift has got the city covered for The Third City….

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