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Chicagoist: Man Killed by Red Line; Passengers in the Dark. The article in today's Chicagoist.com reminds of me an entry I posted in March 2001. I have been blogging for 4 1/2 years now. Uptempo Orpheus is actually my second blog. The first was called I'm Just Glad to be Here.

reposted from March 15, 2001:
Ides of March Train Trauma
The weather is gray and rainy.
The rain may turn to snow. The Purple Line train is not running to
the Loop. The Brown Line (my train) is only making stops in half of the Loop because of structural damage to a downtown building . Needless to say, the
commute this morning was not so pleasant. The trains were super-packed and
no one was happy to be on them. Everyone seemed wet, tired and annoyed.
Anyway, I have to transfer to the Red Line train at Belmont. Per usual,
assholes get on the train and stand near the entrance/exit rather than
actually moving into the train so others can get on behind them. I decide to
push my way in. No one moves even when I use my kindest and most civil voice
to say, "excuse me, please." The best I can get from these lumps of wet wool
is a shoulder that someone moves for me to pass. I exchange glances with a
sitting passenger and I can tell that he gets the absurdity of the whole
thing.

So, there I am standing smooshed in this crowd just breathing
and trying to think of something other than the fact that I am trapped in
this box underground in a crowd. BTW, I have an acute case of demophobia,
which is like agoraphobia but I could care less about open spaces and
markets. As a matter of fact, I am better when the crowd is in the open. I
have trouble in enclosed spaces with a crowd. I can perform for a huge crowd
but I hate to be in one.

Finally, someone near me gets off the train. Yeah, we are going to spread out a little. No, we are not because the queen in front of me has decided that only he needs more room. He actually takes space from me. Now, I lived in London and have travelled around Europe so I know I can used to the idea of a smaller personal space but this guy is taking advantage. At the next stop, someone else exits, the queen takes more space. Now wait a minute. I tapped him on the shoulder and say, "excuse me but do you have enough room sweetie?" He replies, "yes." I say, "Share the wealth, Honey. Share the wealth". I go on,"If you back up any further, my umbrella is going to be up your ass. And it has a hair trigger. It could go up any moment." He moved. I sighed. I got off two stops later.