No Miracle On State Street

Department store giant bought another giant department store chain, Marshall Field's, sometime around two years ago I think. One year ago Macy's put up their sign on the main Marshall Field's store in downtown Chicago, making the name change official and complete.

Yesterday at that same State Street store about 200 protesters showed up to mark the occasion. They had a moment of silence under the store clock. They carried signs of protest against Macy's. They chanted anti-Macy's slogans. Some of the chants and the signs were quotes from the man Marshall Field himself ("Give the lady what she wants," etc) as if Macy's had actually taken the store directly from the original owner rather than after years of various other corporate, often out of town, ownership.

The things that people have cherished memories of at Field's mostly all still exist. Christmas window displays, the Walnut Room restaurant, even the much loved Frango mints (which actually originated in Seattle) are all still part of the tradition at the now-Macy's Chicago State Street store. Their only real beef is the changing of the name of the store.

So let's see now. Thousands are dying every month in Iraq and Afghanistan. AIDS is devastating South Africa and their president is advocating the use of garlic to treat HIV while saying that antiretroviral drugs make you sick. The president of our own country is trying as hard as he can to shred the last remaining rights out of the Constitution. Genocide is still happening in Darfur. The military junta in Burma continues to hold democratic reformer and the legitimately elected leader of that country, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest.

But what got these people out of bed on a Sunday morning and fired up enough to take the time to make a bunch of signs and chant slogans for a few hours? They don't like the sign on their favorite department store.

And my friends wonder why people tend to annoy me so fucking much.