Today is the last full day of summer. You know what to do next: put on a sweater, boil a pot of tea, badger your landlord to turn on the radiator early. Pat Quinn knows what to do next, too. He’ll be spending the first week of autumn in Brazil! According to a press release:
Governor Quinn is the first Illinois governor to lead a trade mission to Brazil. With Illinois already leading the Midwest in exports, the trade mission will build on the state’s prior successes as part of Governor Quinn’s agenda to aggressively pursue international trade and create jobs in Illinois. In 2011, Illinois exports to Brazil totaled $2.55 billion, up 24 percent from the previous year, making Brazil the state’s fifth-largest export market. Illinois is the fourth-largest exporter to Brazil in the U.S.
Here’s your weather forecast for the next week, followed by Governor Quinn’s.
Sunday:
Chicago 60/39 Rainy
Brasilia 86/61 Partly Cloudy
Monday:
Chicago 70/53 Sunny
Brasilia 85/63 Mostly Cloudy
Tuesday:
Chicago 75/56 Isolated Thunderstorms
Brasilia 87/63 Mostly Cloudy
Wednesday:
Chicago 69/48 Mostly Sunny
Brasilia 84/61 Partly Cloudy
Thursday:
Chicago 69/52 Partly Cloudy
Brasilia 79/52 Scattered Thunderstorms
Friday:
Chicago 70/53 Cloudy
Brasilia 82/58 Partly Cloudy
Quinn will also visit Sao Paulo to “address the Brazil travel trade industry to encourage Brazilians to visit Illinois. The opportunity to attract more international tourism spending to Illinois is significant, with 1.5 million Brazilians visiting the U.S. in 2011, but less than 4 percent traveling to Illinois.”
Whatever you do, governor, don’t mention the weather.
This month, Ward Room blogger Edward McClelland’s Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President will be available on Kindle for $9.99. Tracing Obama’s career in Chicago from his arrival as a community organizer to his election to the U.S. Senate, Young Mr. Obama tells the story of how a callow, presumptuous young man became a master politician, and of why only Chicago could have produced our first black president.
