Urban Scarecrow

I never noticed it before but there’s a scarecrow on the Union Pacific North line headed into Chicago.  Just before the train heads into Ogilvie station there’s a small patch of corn off to the side of the rail road tracks. (So if you’re headed into the city it’s on your left side.) Sticking up over this small patch of corn is a blue faced scarecrow. I had to do a three take to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. But it was there.  The train was moving a little fast so I couldn’t get a super clear look at it but I’m quite positive it was there.

It’s so strange it has to be true. So if you have a chance and ride that train; try and spot the urban scarecrow. It did make me think of all the crazy things Stephen King has written over the years. I mean this bizarre urban scarecrow holding dominion over a small patch of corn on a heavily travelled train line in the middle of Chicago. I’m sure there’s something sinister behind it. At night it probably comes to life and leads little lost girls from Kansas to the “Wizard” where they wind up in a life of prostitution and smack. John’s coming up to her, asking her how much for the “Auntie Em”.

But that’s a little cynical I suppose. I’m sure it’s some wonderfully intentioned Eco/Green Group trying to prove that an urban environment could and should be used for some farming. I’ve seen some futurists comment on the use of urban space for some limited farming resources. I think it’s a pretty neat idea. There’s a lot of wasted space in big cities and some of that could be used for small farming. Imagine a large office building and the huge roof space it has. Now imagine that roof space is a lush green space filled with various plants and foods. Chicago would truly live up to its city motto of “Urbs in Horto”, or City in a Garden.

I think for me as a writer, I prefer to think that scarecrow is something dark and evil though. A malignant reminder of an era lost to urban expansion and a loss of American innocence. A tumor of a lost time when most people knew how to plant something in the ground and reap what the Earth provided. I know I can barely keep a house plant alive. God forbid there was any disaster that required the desertion of the city. I’d starve in no time without the local supermarket to provide me with all my pre-packaged, pre-prepared meals. I’d end up eating something poisonous, turning blue and keeling over before the first wave of evacuations was complete. All the while cursing the day I saw that damned Urban Scarecrow.