picture by Michelle Luhm on December 11, 2016; unretouched
What? This is Milwaukee after a snow storm, looking east towards Lake Michigan. Does not look like a metropolitan area. You could tell me its Green Bay and I would believe you. It looks so small town.
And why the “crystal”? Someone must be high to associate Milwaukee with crystal. For me when flying in at night to land at Mitchell Field , Milwaukee has a distinctive look. Milwaukee’s South Side extends below you with its modest neighborhoods similar to the one above. The streets are unusually wide and usually there is scant traffic. For some reason, the buildings are pretty much dark, unlit, like most of the houses in this photo. So the street lights look very singular between the houses and along the streets. They dominate the cityscape as distinct, lone points of bright light.
Chicago? Philadelphia? God, L.A. and New York? All too dense, a brilliant haze of light and traffic. But sleepy Milwaukee glints with facets of individual light. Not colorfully bright like a diamond. Whew, that would be a stretch. But still, a crystal of some sort, a gem of sepia.
Home does this kind of thing to the mind.
On the Beach At Night Alone 