festival of maps: chicago

a friend pointed me in the direction of the Festival of Maps - Chicago. It looks like an incredible event, well-located in perhaps the finest city in the United States.

Mbuji-Mayi: the Chicago of the 21st century?

As I was reading Mike Davis's Planet of Slums this summer I was struck by one particular paragraph. In discussing the rapid urbanization in much of the so-called third world, Davis wrote about the stunning growth of a city named Mbuji-Mayi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - the central African country formerly known as Zaire. Davis writes of this rapid growth: "Most spectacular, perhaps, has been the transformation of the bleak Congolese diamond-trading center of Mbuji-Mayi from a small town of 25,000 in 1960 into a contemporary metropolis of 2 million, with growth occurring mostly in the last decade" (8).

This growth pattern made me think immediately of Chicago. When it was founded in 1833 Chicago had a population of just over 300 people. By the 1893 Columbian Exposition the 'second city' of the United States had grown to well over 1 million people. Although Chicago and Mbuji-Mayi share similar patterns of metropolitan growth and both serve as centers of industry the differences between the two cities could not be greater. I can safely say that the vast majority of people in the world have never heard of Mbuji-Mayi. It is stunning how a difference of 100 years can render such incredible urban growth to relative obscurity.

Searching around the internet for information on the DRC city yields little additional insight. The wikipedia page for Mbuji-Mayi, a source which typically contains a decent amount of information, is just a few sentences long. The primary reason for the city's tremendous growth is because of the mining industry and in particular the diamond mines. One site claimed that Mbuji-Mayi is responsible for 10% of the world's diamond production by weight but I'm not sure how accurate that statistic is. Wikipedia notes: "The city remains extremely remote for its huge population, with little connection to the outside world." The lack of information is underscored by the uncertainty over the city's population. Mike Davis states that the metropolis of Mbuji-Mayi contains 2 million people, wikipedia has the stunning figure of 3.8 million, and answers.com says there are just over 1 million inhabitants.

As a formerly Belgian colony, there seems to be some information on this mining site. I still am baffled that there is a city that multiplied its population 80 times since 1960 to well over 2 million today that I had never heard of - but perhaps that is just life in the urban millennium.

poems: the apology

moving is funny because you find all of these things that you've stuffed under your bed or pushed to the back of your closet. Today as I was looking through an old box of political stickers I found a poem I had written in 2001 just before starting my final year of college. Time is a trickster. It's called 'the apology' and looking back I can't remember to whom I was apologizing.

the apology

there might be an end
there might be a pause
or flicker or something I don't understand
on days when you feel so lucky
you could cry well I do but
I've always been sensitive I can
apologize for the rest of my life
never buy anything remain
in Virginia till the movie reel
runs out of film but I doubt you'll
even notice the difference in the distance
I feel the approach of Chicago
and there's one more year
and what else can I fear
I'm sorry I'm leaving
I'm sorry I'm sorry
the empty canister slid under the cabinet
collecting dust I wish everything could be
different but solutions erode with age

train movies (vol. 1)

a friend of mine suggested that I compile and analyze train movies in a similar manner in which I attempt to analyze train songs. The problem is, for whatever reason, my knowledge of train movies is extremely lacking. I am familiar with 4, count 'em 4, movies in which the Chicago 'L' is featured prominently: While You Were Sleeping, the Fugitive, High Fidelity, and of course the classic On the Line featuring N'Sync's Joey Fattone and Lance Bass.

But my train movie knowledge is lacking. I've seen Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, but remember not liking it too much. The incomparable North by Northwest includes trains but the story really doesn't revolve around them.

My friend recommends Sullivan's Travels (1941) and Closely Watched Trains (1966 from Czechoslovakia). I haven't seen either but I think I know what I'm doing over the next couple of weeks.

There's always Trainspotting (which I also haven't seen) and the classic celebration of multi-modal transportation: Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

Wait, I just thought of a classic train movie - Howlett favorite Dr. Zhivago. What a great movie! It includes everything you would want in a film: unrequited love, trains, Communism, the stunning Julie Christie, Russia, and Obi Wan Kenobi!!

What do you think? Any train movie suggestions?