We declare an undying love for our city, sometimes even defending it.
We pride ourselves on where we come from,
Standing by the statement that any other city has nothing on us.
We ignore the fact that maybe we haven't even visited the competition to know for sure--
But we don't have to; our city will always be better.
The El,
Navy Pier,
Grant Park,
the Sears Tower.
It all becomes our back yard, and eventually,
Our background.
It's "who we are, where we come from." (2)
Its essence rubs off on us and we become branded.
It becomes ridiculously easy to spot the real ones from the fakes,
a.k.a. the residents from the tourists.
We stand out with our accents and our undying love for "Daaaaaa Bears." (3)
We pride ourselves on our baseball teams,
Refusing to let the cross-town feud die.
"If you didn't know by now, I'm talking about ChiTown." (4)
We've grown accustomed to the extraordinarily tall buildings,
And the breeze from The Lake.
We've learned to harden ourselves against the harsh wind when we have to.
Braving the cold in the winter while bearing the heat in the summer.
Laughing it off with a 'That's Chicago weather for you,'
But secretly cursing its inconsistency and intensity under our breath.
We're a city full of taxis and buses and pedestrians who don't have the right-of-way.
It's the city of Chicago that makes everyone want to represent it.
We want to make it known where we're from.
Because we're proud,
Because it's "[our] kind of town." (5)
(1) Petey Pablo, "Raise Up"
(2) Common sports cheer
(3) NUMEROUS episodes of Saturday Night Live
(4) Kanye West, "Homecoming"
(5) Frank Sinatra, "My Kind of Town"
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