It’s 3 am on a Sunday morning.
The time’s just changed on my phone, but the analog clock on the wall still lives in the past.
The flight back home wasn’t long, but the day has caught up with me now.
The slight drooping of my eyelids and the heavy sigh of relief when I sit down are proof of that.
The scent of simmering meat, the squeak of the spinny stools.
They all add to the atmosphere of this place.
They transcend my experience entirely.
In spite of time’s grip on this town
This place never changes.
In spite of all that the world has thrown at us
And all it has prepared
I know that when life gets Real,
There’s chili now and there’s chili forever.
Noah Salins is a student studying Political Science & English. This piece considers time’s influence over life and the continuous movement of both. But it also reflects on the things that stay the same, the Real Chilis of the world.
Scene inside the Real Chili restaurant on Wells Street in Milwaukee, 1979-1980 by Marquette University, http://cdm16280.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16280coll1/id/231