every summer chicago hosts one of the largest LGBT pride parades in the country. this weekend a half-million people line the streets on the north end of town to cheer on the scores of floats and countless number of marchers. the parade itself normally lasts about 3 hours, but the revelry which started earlier this week in anticipation of the parade will continue long into the evening. the city also amends or suspends its ordinances concerning alcohol sales and the public consumption of alcohol on the street giving the entire neighborhood the feel of a huge outdoor party -like a micro mardi gras or something.

and the neighborhood that hosts all of this, happens to be my neighborhood.

over the course of the week the LGBT component in lakeview -sizable to begin with- has intensified dramatically. and i, a white heterosexual male, have become in some sense a member of the minority. it isn't real of course. i'll probably never really know what it's actually like to be the member of a minority community but today, as part of a numerically smaller group, it's valuable to reflect on notions of "neighbor" and what it is that makes for a good neighbor or a good neighborhood. tolerance and acceptance of what it is that makes others "others" --different that is-- is a large component of that. so is the recognition of the fact that the sharp edges that these differences represent are not to be rounded off or smoothed over, but instead celebrated.

of course this is all rather heavy stuff to think about on a sunday afternoon. perhaps it should wait, there is after all a party going on outside.