Livin' on The Ledge
Sarah Collins
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In an effort to justify the $15 entrance fee, the Sears Tower (uh, Willis Tower) management this week opened its newest attraction, The Ledge. Years of wiping forehead prints off the glass finally taught them a simple truth: People want to look down. So they built a glass box that juts straight out of the building.
It's sort of like that scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, except much more terrifying. No amount of engineering fancy talk makes it feel safe; there are only three panes of half-inch thick glass and no visible supports. The fear is fun, and clinging to the wall while staring straight down is an adrenaline rush, judging from the number of women giggling like schoolgirls. Of course, children have stronger self-preservation instincts, and the smart ones refuse to step on the thing at all. Other children (read: normal) jump up and down on the glass. (Let's see where those risky behaviors get them in 20 years.)
But the experience has some problems. There's the barrage of gift shops and big-haired Wisconsinites, plus the unnecessary attempts to explain the height of the Willis Tower, as it's now referred to in the videos. No one needs to know that the Sky Deck is 283 Barack Obamas off the ground, but the constant pictures and life-size cutouts make it impossible to forget. Still, it's hard to be cynical when your face is against the glass and the city's spread out beneath you. Just ask the giggling women.
Sarah Collins
