The trees, more red, more full of life.Or am I just seeing things? Chicago is still the bitterly cold, bitterly divisive city it always has been.  Cars still crash, and from them, drivers cuss, or blood pools under their seats, or they are flung from their windows and onto the pavement outside.  Children are killed.People are abused, they are beaten, they are trodden underfoot.People die.  But something seems brighter today, seemed brighter yesterday.  Something made me want to stay up all night eating pizza and staring with unnatural intensity at the television, clipping my nails with compulsive fervor.   I switched between FOX and MSNBC, laughing at the difference in reporting (it was “Hmmm, this guy would have to pull off some sort of miracle in order to win,” versus, “well, the race is still in its first stages, and it’s far too close to call”).  My friend was over, and we had a good time jumping off of the couch and doing shamefully embarrassing dances in the general direction of the TV when Obama won a state.  The pizza wasn’t bad either, although it could just be my selective memory. That day, it was unseasonably warm. And the day after.The day after that, of course, it rained– a combo-breaker, but that was okay.  The lady at the coffee shop and I smiled at each other, recognizing the other’s tell-tale sleepy eyes, triumphant smiles.  We had a nice time being obnoxious and loud liberals.I’m just trying, you see, to take down notes of everything I can.  The t-shirts we wore, what everyone around us said, how we rushed through our studies so we could run to watch TV.  So I can look back later and remember.   I wish I could take some form of credit for this monumental victory, but I cannot.  I’m not even old enough to vote.  Sure, I went out and TRIED to get people to vote for our guy, but that was about all I could do short of walking in and voting, pretending to be older than I actually am.  Which would be impossible.  I’m pretty sure I’m too pellucid for that sort of thing.But this is historic.Chicago is still cold, still big, and horrible things happen here every day.But lately, it seems a lot warmer.And the sky looks far more blue than it did yesterday.