Laura

I had a great time in Chicago. My mind is refreshed and I’m feeling very inspired. It is so easy to become stuck in the general mind-set of your hometown. After a few days in Chicago it is clear to me that, although Minneapolis is a fantastic city and is probably, per capita, as legit as any global community, we need to focus and step up our brand game if we want to compete culturally on a national level.

Friday night in Chicago we went to the Beat Kitchen, a small music venue, to see Owen. I was resigned to a chill night with my bros, some beer, and keeping my eyes open, excited to learn whatever it was Obama, Kanye and Oprah picked up from this city. The venue was a dive. Tucked away in a dirty corner of the city, it was a refuge to punk kids who were hiding from more popular bars. This was a sovereign territory populated by tattooed elitists, the kind of bros who complain about “selling out” because they are so committed to their narrow lifestyle that they can’t imagine a better way to live.

BASICALLY THEY REALLY NEED A HUG

But some girls were cute despite their best efforts. A pretty girl has a glow that can shine like a sunburst even through ripped hoodies and solemn expressions. These are damsels in ideological distress. They stand at a bar like they would at a funeral, seemingly in perpetual mourning, sick with an attitude of fuck off.

“I HATE YOU MOM AND/OR DAD!”

Time to drink, I thought, and moved toward others with the same plan. I almost ordered a PBR (just to fit in) but went with a quality foreign beer just to be subversive. “I won free tickets on Twitter,” some douche, feeling very well-connected, said to someone else. The girl in front of me turned around and rolled her eyes. She was beautiful. Her eyes were bright and her style was understated, almost simple. Her face was soft and looked incapable of evil.

“I hate Twitter,” she complained. “Me too,” I lied.

She went on to complain about the impact new media has had on society, blaming Twitter, Facebook and blogs for “dumbing down America.” Her name is Laura and she is a freelance journalist who, like a lot of “smart” people, holds language to an abstract set of ideals that, while intended to preserve the integrity of words, only end up limiting their potential. Too many people are afraid to embrace the future and therefore idealize the way things used to be. Laura was romantic in this way, which gave her a statuesque quality, like a captain going down with the ship. But we had the right balance of likes and dislikes that makes conversation easy. She told me she was visiting Chicago for a writing assignment. And I couldn’t believe what she told me next.

She lives in Minneapolis.

We even have some of the same friends. Wtf? We made plans to hang out sometime. As Owen finished his set a crowd grew near the bar where we stood as people rushed to buy post-show drinks. Laura was halfway through her gin and tonic when my friends, totally smashed and ready to check out a different bar, raided toward us. I asked Laura to join us but she was tired. Without thinking I asked if I could find her on Facebook. She laughed sarcastically and gave me her business card. The fonts were terrible. She slammed her drink and was gone.

Should I keep in touch with Laura? Sometimes it’s good to hang out with people with different perspectives because they help us see the world differently and the more our brands are challenged, the stronger they become. Besides, maybe she is right. Maybe culture isn’t evolving but is actually, like all the “smart” people say, in a long and slow decline. Maybe I am part of the problem. Maybe Laura will convince me to read more literature and watch more foreign films. Or maybe I can make her chill out, be more open-minded and accept that “real life” can be as culturally relevant as “real art.”