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PHOTO GALLERY: Chicago

Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Updated: Thursday, September 23, 2010 16:09

The Chicago skyline is iconic with spectacular sunsets. Particulate matter in the air adds character to the beauty of the skyline.

The skies of Chicago are mesmeric; the people are congenial; Chicago is addictive.

I visited Hyde Park, three blocks from the residence of President Obama and Louis Farrakhan, where my sister lives.

Obama's street is continually patrolled by the U. S. Secret Service. Otherwise, Hyde Park is a quaint oasis of neighborliness.

Chicago's Westside is a lot like any other inner-city neighborhoods in America.

It is a city of sharp dichotomies. Chicago is rich and ostentatious, juxtaposed against poverty and squalor.

I visited the "Magnificent Mile" where "old money" abides in Chicago. The infamous and legendary "Westside" is a boarded-up economic ghost town.

Race and ethnicity is fluid yet static in Chicago. Chicago might be the most segregated city in America; every ethnicity has its segregated and distinct niche.

For all its faults, Chicago is still the "golden" land of opportunity, an economic mecca where fortunes are made and careers advanced. Chicago is my kind of town.

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