All Comments on 'Welcome to Prague'

I don't get the Prague/Czecago connection. Prague is not some burnt-out hulk, but one of the most beautiful medieval European cities. I believe it is now pulluted with Golden Arches, but other than that I can think of no connection with Chicago. I haven't been there, but I am told on good architechtural authority that my home city of Glasgow is the nearest European city to Chicago - but they are way different!

A lot going on in this excellent short story. You may be petite but you got big skills.

Regarding the Prague connection: It isn't a put-down of Prague, it is a matter of history. You see, in April 1968 the Czech people were enjoying a burst of personal freedoms called the "Prague Spring," but the Soviet Union sent in tanks to wrest control. So the Yippies are comparing the militarized Chicago to the scenes of several months prior, of tanks rumbling through Prague to put down a revolution.

This is about the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, which the author compares to Prague under communism. Sorry the historical allusion slipped past you, for one, I loved it.

I wonder if there is fiction being written about the WTO protests, or the Earth Liberation Front. It's a nice little snapshot. I can see this expanding into a novel; you've excellently captured the feeling so many have when caught up in moments larger than themselves, that moment when you realize the lines between observer and participant have been wiped away.