A Line Drawn in Concrete," and I was inspired. I have since learned there are some interesting and unexpected elements to our city and its history. We have been lucky that we haven't had any major incidents in Oak Park in the last few years (I know, bad luck), but when I am walking around downtown (the main part of town), I am always seeing interesting and fun things in the storefronts. For example, several restaurants and bars here have historical elements in their design. There is the Red Lion Inn, which has a lot of classic design elements. Even one of the newer places I have found a little funky called "Ginny's on Harrison" has a classic design inside and out. I feel like Oak Park's city center and downtowns are still full of character and interest for visitors and new residents alike. I am sure that there is an abundance of things to do around town for even the most die-hard outdoorsman. The "Ginny's on Harrison" on Harrison has great homemade meals and even serves breakfast with home-made bread. They are open daily and have some amazing local and organic ingredients. The menu is really unique and very creative, which I love. The menu is not really like anything else I have ever been to in a restaurant. I also love the places around town that focus on food that they have the fresh ingredients for. It is refreshing when you walk down the street in the evening and you can smell the great food coming out of the restaurants. A lot of the things we do around here are outdoors, as well. My husband and I do quite a bit of hiking around the area. We love to run (I actually have a treadmill desk), bike, go for hikes, play Frisbee, watch movies, and so many other things. A view from my bedroom at home...the sun shining through the trees. If you have any ideas for getting involved or volunteering that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to contact me. I think one of the biggest barriers for getting involved is the lack of information about what is available. The best way to get involved is by volunteering. The City of Oak Park has an excellent online resource for finding volunteer opportunities. It is called Be Oak Park - Volunteer at The Oak Park Public Library. I got a lot of information from them to prepare for my trip. I would encourage anyone looking to get involved to check out the information. If you have any questions or comments about volunteering or what it is like to live in Oak Park, please comment. I would be glad to continue this conversation. ]]>Noise and Loudness - My Life Is Not a Noise Festivalhttps://www.theoatmeal.com/blog/noise_and_loudness_my_life_is_not_a_noise_festival/ Wed, 09 Aug 2017 00:30:44 +0000http://www.theoatmeal.com/blog/?p=3525When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to be granted a scholarship to the Yale School of Drama. It was a rigorous training program where we lived in a shared apartment, ate in the same dining hall, and were basically forced to be friendly with each other. Before my life was completely ruined by acting and living in New York City, I had a number of friends, and one of my college acquaintances once said to me, "That's what I like about New York. It's a city of strangers." I don't want to be rude, but this line is incredibly annoying. Sure, I think that there are a lot of people here, but that's not why people like it here. It's because of all the amazing things this city has to offer: parks, museums, Broadway shows, the beach, cheap eats, music venues, art galleries, and so many other things. However, having a great array of people from every race, religion, culture, and creed is an added bonus. I don't know if I can explain it any better than that. The bottom line is, I don't want to live in a place where it's not a city of strangers. That said, it's also very important to me to get to know people here. Maybe it's because I just got out of a rigorous program that I didn't enjoy much, but I don't like it when people are forced to be friends with someone they don't like. I think people are better off trying to get to know me, as opposed to just forcing me to be friends with them. While I don't have a whole lot of time, I still want to try to make people happy. And if you happen to see me at a coffee shop in the morning, I am probably just waiting to meet you. I recently did a podcast interview for a local radio station, which is all about how terrible I am at making friends. I do my best to tell people upfront that I will not be spending much time talking about myself and just want to get to know people, but no matter how nice I am, there will always be someone who thinks this is a horrible thing. No matter. Some people are just assholes, and the people I work with aren't going to try and make me comfortable when I need to finish up an article or book, for example. You have a job, I have a job, and I am going to do my job. That's the bottom line. Anyway, just wanted to tell everyone that I want to get to know people here. I love getting to know new people, and I don't want to have to get to know someone just because we're forced to. We're too busy to make friends at work, so let's do something fun in a more social setting. For me, that's usually just getting together to have a good time. Now I just have to get to know you. And if you're ever in a group of people and one of them gets on your nerves, please feel free to tell me. I probably won't be able to hear you, but if you can please let me know. Because, as we all know, a little kindness is often all it takes. ]]>Noise and Loudness - I Love This Townhttps://www.theoatmeal.com/blog/noise_and_loudness_i_love_this_town/ Wed, 09 Aug 2017 00:12:08 +0000http://www.theoatmeal.com/blog/?p=3521There is this book called "I Love This Town" by Jack E. Davis. It's a series of pictures, each with a thought bubble that is basically a joke about some famous person saying, "I Love This Town!" I never saw the book growing up, but my cousin told me about it when I was in high school. He used to make jokes about it as he was reading it to me, and it took me awhile to get it because there was no way he could actually read that book out loud. I guess I was just too dumb at that time to realize that it was just a bunch of pictures. Anyway, it's a great book, and I think it applies to the real world as well. It's basically people's way of saying "I love this town" which I think is usually meant to be funny or cute. The thought bubble for the book comes from the "I Love Lucy" episode where Lucy gets excited about playing the piano. I think that Lucy is a great example of people saying that they love their town in a way that is kind of ridiculous. For me, this also applies to my life. I like thinking about living in a city like New York, which is one of the most expensive and stressful cities in the world. But I also love the city, and I do believe in the fact that there are some great benefits to living in a large city. There are so many wonderful, diverse experiences that I get to have just walking around. Whether I'm on the subway or just walking to work or to grab lunch, I get to see new things. I've always been so proud of being in New York. While I haven't written any books about my favorite songs, I think that maybe that's where it comes from for me. I love walking around listening to music, sometimes on