>Broad exposure to higher education, then?

Yeah, and there was a Freudian slip in there too. (What Freud's slip is doing in one of my posts, I don't know< bg >).

>I spent some time in the seminaries -- UC Div School and McCormick -- and lived across from the Robie House for those years. Later, I moved to 52nd and Dorchester for several years working in the Loop. There was a great ribs place right across the street that I'd stop for dinner some nights.

I grew up just off of 51st (Hyde Park Blvd.) and Blackstone. Used to be a patrol boy at 52nd and Dorchester. Went to gammar school at Phillip Murray just off of 53rd and Kimbark and Bret Hart (56th and Stoney). Went to high school at the Harvard School for Boys near 47th and Ellis.

Where in the Loop? Used to work at Michigan and Van Buren.

>Interesting and very diverse community. John Fry pastored at First Pres there in the 60s and 70s -- and got involved, many would say overly involved, in the youthful activity in the neighborhood.

Absolutely. It was the university that kept the whole neighborhood from becoming a ghetto like the areas south, west and north.

>When I've been back recently, the whole Stony Island corridor looks pretty healthy. Lot's of new commercial building.

It's been quite awhile since I've been back there. 1993 I think.

>I spent my early walking days in West Pullman -- due south. We lived across the street from our congressman -- Derwinski. You can always tell you're in the neighborhood by the smell of the Sherwin-Williams paint factory! But, the folks left for the 'burbs in the early 60's. I've always considered myself a city person, though, and am happy to be living now in a historical district in Indy.

Cartersville is like most suburbs except it's about a 10 minute drive to rural America.