One of the great things about the Chicago flag is how easily the design can be adapted yet remain recognizable--put four red things between two blue stripey things and there's your flag. I ran into Daniel at a mutual friend's suburban barbeque and asked him about his bike-gears and bike-chains version of the flag that he had tattooed on his right calf:
Chicagoans are so enraptured by their city, it's great. Growing up in the city and eventually leaving for a semester for college I realized how much I loved the city, had to move back. So, eventually, I'd say about two-three years ago, I knew that it'd be the only city I would actually want to live in for the rest of my life. I was OK with that. I was actually really happy with that. Once I realized that, and at the time I was biking so much I wanted to incorporate the two and that's how this came about. And actually there are thirteen teeth on each cog, but that was because I like prime numbers, [laugh], so I altered it a little bit, but beyond that it was just to have a Chicago flag, and to have something that symbolized biking.
CFT: Are you a lifelong Chicagoan?
Lifelong. I grew up in the city, within the city bounds, mostly on the north to northwest side, along the Blue Line hallway. Originally Rogers Park, and then to Edgewater, down to Humbolt Park, Logan Square, eventually down to UIC when I went to UIC, and back to Logan Square. And so always been around there.
CFT: Where did you get it done?
I got it at Revolution, which is around Western, just south of Fullerton.
