Is Chicago Better Than New York?
Many Midwesterners, like my husband, Joe, and other cosmopolitan individuals, claim that Chicago is better than New York. That “toddlin’ town” is easier to get around, cleaner, and its residents are friendlier, compared to those demonic New Yorkers. At the Bean (July 2023) Joe last shared this view when he and I were walking on Michigan Avenue in late August. As someone who once lived in New York and visits there often, my first instinct was to bristle and defend Gotham. I thought of the lyric from Hamilton about “how lucky we are to be alive right now in the greatest city in the world.” The Schuyler sisters weren’t singing Chicago’s praises in that catchy showtune . Chicago may have been Frank Sinatra's kind of town , but he never sang that if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere. Rockefeller Center Tree (December 2021) And "Christmastime in the city" evokes New York, not Chicago. I have treasured memories of both New York and Chicago. My father introduced m...
