Sears Tower still standing

Chicagoans can rest easy tonight, now that some of the presumably endless number individuals suspected of plotting to knock over the Sears Tower are under arrest. Tall buildings remain popular targets for powerless-feeling men, for reasons Freud could explain far more eloquently than I. But in any case, I'm obviously always glad to see such catastrophes averted.

Perhaps the mere threat of Islamic terrorism will make friends out of Chicago's notoriously segregated and mutually suspicious black and white populations, as real-life Islamic terrorism did in New York. Maybe white people other than those who attend the University of Chicago will all of a sudden start taking the El, and African-Americans will head up to Lincoln Park, purchase Adidas track pants and North Face fleeces, and turn into just another subset of trixies. Chicagoans may start warning visitors of the dangers of visiting Devon, not the South Side. Would this be an improvement? Of course not-- racism's bad news, regardless-- but it would change Chicago as a city quite a bit, and so I'm curious to see if this happens.