A quick update on my homey the Salty Virgin Mary. This morning on my way into work I noticed that the first weekend after her appearance has resulted in the number of candles, flowers, pictures, etc multiplying by a factor of five. A significant portion of the underpass is now filled with various mementos and offerings. It’s crazy. There are still guards there providing security, although I’m not sure whether they are private security, police, or IDOT workers. Another interesting point that has been made is that despite a near-constant rain all day Friday, the image is unchanged. Depending on what time I get home tonight I’ll head over and get updated pictures for ya’ll.
Needless to say, all this is only increasing the traffic in my neighborhood. I’ve started wondering whether or not IDOT is eventually going to have to wash off the image just to keep traffic under control. I’m sure they were hoping beyond measure that the rains this weekend would wash it away and take care of it for them. But now the stage is being set for a fun “dialogue” between those who want to keep traffic moving and those who still want to see the image. I’ll keep ya’ll informed as events happen.
Two more interesting SVM notes to mention. First, if you do a yahoo search for “pictures of the chicago overpass with the virgin mary” my blog is the third mention – right after stories posted by the local NBC and CBS affiliates. But I totally kicked ABC’s tukkus. (In your face ABC 7!) And thanks to J.Bro for mentioning my little docu-blog on the image on Althouse’s blog. I never thought I’d ever have that many people looking at this thing ever. Now about half of my page views and visits are from Althouse referrals. Sheesh. The power of a law professor…
CORRECTION: It was, in fact, J.Bro and not Theo who recommended this blog on the Althouse blog. That should have been fact-checked and I apologize for allowing Dan Rather to ghost-post in my name. Mr. Rather has since been re-assigned to other duties.
Needless to say, all this is only increasing the traffic in my neighborhood. I’ve started wondering whether or not IDOT is eventually going to have to wash off the image just to keep traffic under control. I’m sure they were hoping beyond measure that the rains this weekend would wash it away and take care of it for them. But now the stage is being set for a fun “dialogue” between those who want to keep traffic moving and those who still want to see the image. I’ll keep ya’ll informed as events happen.
Two more interesting SVM notes to mention. First, if you do a yahoo search for “pictures of the chicago overpass with the virgin mary” my blog is the third mention – right after stories posted by the local NBC and CBS affiliates. But I totally kicked ABC’s tukkus. (In your face ABC 7!) And thanks to J.Bro for mentioning my little docu-blog on the image on Althouse’s blog. I never thought I’d ever have that many people looking at this thing ever. Now about half of my page views and visits are from Althouse referrals. Sheesh. The power of a law professor…
CORRECTION: It was, in fact, J.Bro and not Theo who recommended this blog on the Althouse blog. That should have been fact-checked and I apologize for allowing Dan Rather to ghost-post in my name. Mr. Rather has since been re-assigned to other duties.
Comments
If I did start such a local station, it'd apparently be pretty popular.
I don't have any new pics of the SVM today. I got home late last night and was too tired. I did, however, see a man carrying one of those big poles full of cotton candy down towards the crowd. Yes my friends, capitalism has hit the SVM.
I'll definitely try to head down there for a bit this weekend. It'll probably have turned into a bona fide street carnival by then.