I figured I had left the seismic activity behind when we left California. This morning, Tawny woke me up saying “We are having an earthquake”. I told her the noise our house was making was just rain in the gutters and Wrigley was shaking the bed because he was scratching himself. Then I realized that it wasn’t raining that hard and our gutters had never made that sound before. And Wrigley was at my feet, not moving a bit. Why should I doubt a native Californian. She knows what an earthquake feels like.
Sure enough, we had an earthquake. Well, we didn’t, but Southern Illinois did. The epicenter was near West Salem, Illinois. Earthquakes must travel better through this rich and compact midwestern soil than it does in sandy California. It was only a 5.4 and felt 450 miles away.
So in the last week, this place has really felt like Los Angeles. We’ve had a black man shot by the cops which lead to near riots that has caused tension between cops and the public and an earthquake. How can people live here? Oh yeah, affordable housing and zero traffic…except the corner of 34th Street and 12th Avenue, now.
