TOP TEN Months in Chicago - Heather Mekkelson
Johnny and June
1. June: No matter what you thought in February, the world underneath the ice was not dead forever. Try to get your vitamin D since you’re so deficient. Call your friends and find an excuse to linger outside. Yeah, it might get hot out, but enjoy it! If June cooperates, there should be some seventy-five and sunny days interspersed with the first summer thunderstorm. Neat-o negative ions.
Max Vorin and May Day in “A View to a Kill”
2. May: Winter has finally and completely passed. Sunny days are not common, but the warmth of the sun is noticeable. People are so crazed to feel their skin that they bare it all, with incredible paleness, to the visual chagrin of everyone else. Leaving whatever interior space you’ve been hibernating in for the last seven months is your top priority.
Time for costumes and theory
3. October: Fall is nice. Usually it is still mild until Halloween hits. And who doesn’t love the first smoky smell of autumn?
Patriotic streamers and TP rolls
4. July: Get out your patriotism because summer is in full swing. All of the green is super-vivid and burns your Chicago-adjusted cones and rods. As long as the swamp heat stays at bay its delicious outside. I’m not one to go to the Taste, I live here after all, but there is that, as well as plenty of other street festivals that have you realizing there are a lot of people here.
Earth, Wind and Fire
5. September: With global warming at our fingertips, its never really fall in September. The sky stays clear; seventy-degree days with a slight breeze are common. If there was sticky heat its blown out of town by now. The only difference is that you think you should be working on something. Maybe it’s the residual effect from a lifetime of school calendars.
Goat cheese
6. August: So the swamp heat is probably here by now, and it’s a little sad when you see signs of summer limping to the finish line. But it’s not gone yet! This is when you try to avoid taking the summer for granted. Get your ass to any and all outdoor seating before they’re gone—café patios, beer gardens, any excuse will do—like celebrating National Goat Cheese Month.
April Fools’
7. April: Taxes have been filed and that’s a relief. It’s probably still shitty out though. That one tempting day when its warm and sunny shows up about now. Thought it might stay that way? April Fools’! Get your puffy coat back out. Unfortunately with the seemingly never-ending thaw/freeze cycles, the smell of urine infiltrates all of the sidewalks and train stations.
December landscape in Chicago
8. December: It’s bearable because of the pretty lights. Since they’ve been up since Halloween you really can’t miss them.
This November’s highlight
9. November: November ’08 flew by with the excitement of the election starting out the month. Normally this would be even lower on the ranking. OK, really, this shouldn’t even be on the list. Thanksgiving doesn’t save it. And there’s nothing more annoying than figuring out how you should dress for the combination of rain and snow that I call snain. But it is a fun game to guess how much more your heating bill is this year compared to last.
Janus
10. January: I don’t know. This is only placed in the top ten because nothing is worse than February and March. At least in ‘09 we can celebrate the end of the Bush era!
Heather Mekkelson is a Chicago-based artist and a recent graduate of the University of Illinois, Chicago. Heather recently had solo exhibitions in Chicago at Old Gold and threewalls. She will also be included in the upcoming group show PhotoDimensional at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.