Dear Reader:
When I moved to Chicago in the 80s, the northern skyline was dominated by the PLAYBOY sign, its neon fuchsia clashing with the staid Old English letters spelling out “The Drake.” The 80s collapsed, the building stood, but the Playboy corporation moved out and the sign fell.
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From the apartment where I moved to in the 90s, I can just make out the Prudent in the Prudential sign, its letters as red as the one Hester Prynne wore, the buildings blotting out the rest. Sign o’ the times, I guess. Even Hugh Hefner got married, the prudent playboy. Prudence, safe sex, good judgment veered into overprudent political correctness, even prudish, imprudent self- or other censorship.
The other day I noticed that a man who lives in my building got a parking ticket. I saw him take it off the windshield of his car with a disgusted jerk. I live in the South Loop, not far from the city police headquarters, on South State Street. I too find it disgusting that people get tickets around here, because police personnel always park illegally and never find a ticket on their cars.
