Amid the opportunities for elevating at MLA’19, many attendees seized the chance to take in the sights of Chicago. I hope you had some great adventures. My own adventure included lions, cubs, and Danish princes!
- The Lions on Michigan Avenue – Whether or not you made it inside the Art Institute of Chicago, perhaps you enjoyed the site of the great cats that grace the entrance. The lions, created by Edward Kemeys, first took up their guard in May 1894—exactly 125 years before MLA’19.
- The Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field – The wind was blowing, the temps were unseasonably cool, the ivy had yet to leaf out, and alas, the Cubbies lost, but huddling under a blanket was well worth it to be a part of this baseball tradition for an evening.
- Hamlet at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre – After the curtain closed on MLA’19, I shuffled over to Navy Pier to spend the entire afternoon with the Bard. What a wonderful way to close out the conference—after all, the play’s the thing (Act 2, sc. 2).