So, Chinatown and Pilsen and “University Village” are quiet. Almost no one on the streets, except smoking outside bars. I stopped to eat at Rodity’s, a restaurant in Greektown. My presence immediately increased the total number of customers by 50%. One couple at a table eating, a morose Greek watching the returns on Greek language local TV. When I sat down, he switched after a minute to Fox News. I almost asked him to turn it back to the Greeks, even though I don’t speak the language. The bartender, a lovely young woman, switched to CNN every time the owner walked around to count empty seats. She wondered why anyone watched Fox, where “All the men look so mean and ugly.” She cheered as Karl Rove and Brit Hume glumly announced various Dem victories.

I’m sending this with my laptop perched on a garbage can outside a closed Starbucks on Halsted. Lots of sirens, helicopters in the air. Riding north earlier, I looked east and saw the lights from Obama’s party piercing the sky like spots at a Hollywood premiere.

Let’s hope it’s reality.