Until this summer, I had never spent more than a week in a town larger than Boise. Sure, my family and I had visited New York, Washington D.C., Orlando, Munich, Johannesburg, and other big cities, however we hadn’t actually “been there.” We had visited the tourist attractions, been to the “Best Places to Go” on Yelp and lived in hotels.
However, this summer was a whole new experience. I lived in Chicago, as a local.
Whether it was walking to get groceries, walking to work or using the train system for transportation, I felt out of my element and often extremely unsure. Everything was new, nothing like I have had growing up in rural southern Idaho.
One thing that struck me as odd was the few people that knew anything about our state of Idaho. Yes, they had heard about it in the news and seen the name on a sack of potatoes, but for the most part that was it. Their idea of Idaho was vastly different from what I had come to know and love.
On the other hand, Chicago was very eye opening to me, as well. Before arriving, I had done a bit of research to understand what the city was like. I learned that Chicago is very well known for their cultural diversity and inclusion of people from all walks of life. This was dead on, and something I appreciated very much.
One of the best conversations I had while in Chicago was with an Uber driver. I still remember him and the stories he told of Ghana very well. He was able to immigrate to the United States and settle in Chicago. His son, and only child, is now serving in the United States Navy.
He truly inspired me to talk to others and listen to their stories.
There are so many people with stories just like his across the world that we haven’t and probably won’t ever hear about.
Cole Lickley | Argonaut
Along with that, I was surprised to see the extreme disconnect between the thriving metropolis of downtown Chicago and some of the outer neighborhoods. The business class of Chicago seems to almost ignore that poverty and violence doesn’t occur. The idea is to avoid those areas to keep safe. This may be good in theory, but definitely not the ideal long-term solution.
We hear in the news constantly about the gun violence and subsequent protests, but it didn’t seem real until I was there living around it.
One day there would be freeways shut down to protest the gun violence in Chicago neighborhoods and their plea for help, then the next there would be protests aimed toward police using too much force when dealing with gun violence. The people protesting are not bad people with bad intentions, but good people seeking answers and help from their torn everyday lives.
These types of dilemmas and concerns are some that I hadn’t been exposed to before, so the experiences this summer opened my eyes, ears and mind to the kinds of things going on across our country and world.
Because I benefited so much from going and experiencing Chicago’s culture, I believe there would be a lot of benefit in those from large metropolitan areas coming to Idaho.
We may see differences in city life and rural life, especially when it comes to public lands and agriculture — discusssions we tend to have in Idaho regularly.
To try a new lifestyle in a different place is to experience new people and fresh perspectives.
Cole Lickley can be reached at [email protected]