Dirksen Federal Building

Everyone who is obtaining the U.S. Citizenship through any form of naturalization should be very, very happy and excited to be in this building.
I went through the naturalization process through marriage. Whatever it took to get to this point, it’s now all worth it!
Just be mindful that there’s lots of waiting involved. I assumed the ceremony would start at 1200 hour… sharp, it didn’t because it literally took one (1) hour to check every candidate in. However, my suggestion is to come in at least thirsty (30) minutes early and get in the line.
If you don’t want to wait onsite, I recommend you folks to chill at one of my favorite cafes east to the Dirksen Federal Building: Ge Pa De Caffe (please see my review on GPD). It’s located by the CTA Adam/​Wabash Brown line station.
The security here wasn’t as strict as the one in the USCIS building in South Loop (where candidates had the naturalization interviews). Thus, I was well on my way to the 25^th. floor in no time.
Everyone, from the court workers to the immigration officers, was courteous. Well, they should be somewhat nice to you since you’ve gone through the entire process successfully.
The judge delivered a very sentimental speech. There were some 8^th. graders invited to observe the entire oath ceremony.
Once you received the certificate of naturalization, you were good to go, unless your name was spelt incorrectly. Then the day of your oath ceremony would be your ONLY day to get this record rectified without an extra charge. Otherwise, any change request made afterward will be $ 400.
I believe we’ve paid the government enough money for the immigration and naturalization processes, so double check all documents before walking out of the building.
By the way, the judge decides if taking photographs is allowed during the ceremony. Our judge gave us permissions to take pictures, which was very kind of her.
Folks, whether you were newly-​naturalized or have always been citizens, please exercise your right to vote. Don’t let me hear that «I don’t like politics… it has nothing to do with me.» You’re voting for someone whom you believe he or she will work for you to create a better America, so can you say America’s future has nothing to do with you? Think about what kind of problems this nation has, then vote for someone who can solve the problems, regardless his or her political affiliation.
You will probably see Rosa J. run for the governor… someday? Whatever direction she takes, she will continue to Unilocal,without a doubt!

A classic of Bauhaus architecture, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (okay okay, it’s not the Seagram Building, but if anything, it’s an improvement on that prototype). You can only really appreciate the Dirksen (named after that dude who said that you get like a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money… except no one can figure out where that dude actually said it and when). Anyhow, you can only really get a feel for this building if you spend about a week in it, which is something you only do if a) you’re a soulless lawyer, in which the experience is wasn’t on you due to your lack of soul, or b) if you’re having your pants sued off, in which case you probably won’t care that much about the architecture. Me? Neither. I just had to hang out there for a week, so I got to appreciate it. The individual courtrooms, for example, are staggeringly beautiful with incredible proportion and balance, super high ceilings, and the signs of Mies everywhere you look (it’s like the guy signed each individual bench (the lawyers complain bitterly about said benches and bring little cushions to sit on). Anyhow, the whole center is well worth the pilgrimage, even if it means having to spend a week worrying in the Federal Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

For the suburbanite, all the buildings look the same. I had Jury Duty there. Take off your coat & belt before going through security and don’t bring in any liquids and you’ll do fine!