Dear Cinnamon is a monthly column based on the idea that all of life's questions can be answered by art, because, after all, art is the spice of life. To submit your own anonymous questions, fill out this form.
Dear Cinnamon,
I can’t afford a warm destination vacation which I desperately need. Is there any way to get the same effect of feeling warm here in Chicago?
The only way to get warm to the core is at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Free to Chicago residents but don’t forget to make a reservation online before going. You can roam the gardens and find a spot to sit, read a new book, and realize that spring really will come (check out their Spring Flower Show: Rooted in Mystery) and we will all be sloughing off our hibernation funk, heading outdoors to sit at cafes and baseball games very soon.
Dear Cinnamon,
Valentine’s Day is terrifying and I need to escape the hearts. What can I do instead of chef’s menus and boxes of chocolate that will remind me that normal life still persists this month?
First of all, never deny yourself chocolate. Second, post hiding away for yet another day of consumerism, go to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to see their new Atrium exhibit Who Am We? by Do Ho Suh. A collection of small images, viewed from afar, looks like a mass of dots, but as you walk closer you realize that those dots are high school yearbook photos. It is an exploration of the relationship between the individual and the collective. Museums are always better viewed solo so there is zero need for a plus one as you roam freely uninhibited by someone else’s desires.