In September 1963 my life changed again, dramatically. From an all-white suburb and nearly a, transit city of Chicago.  Truly a change worth some trepidation.

My point of landing was the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. ID was a school I knew nothing about upon entry. I had applied to three colleges and was accepted to all. IIT won because it was the furthest away from Minneapolis.

Chicago had approximately 3.5 million residents, 88% white from every European and Eastern European country. And they were easy to find because they settled in conclaves throughout the city. A city block would have an Irish Catholic church on the north corner and the Polish Catholics’ church would be on the southern corner.

With my background, it appeared the Black community lived all around the campus. The school euphemistically was called the “white island.” However, the only truly troubling occasion was the weekend MLK was murdered.

To further immerse myself, my 1st year roommate was a kid named Finley. I was the 8^th son in a fatherless family attending IIT on a full ride scholarship. We spent the all of 3 hours discussing everything we had in common in our lifetimes. And then 2 hours discussing safety in the city.  

Yes, Chicago was everything and more I had expected. Eventually I grew to appreciate all it had to offer.

And eventually Finley graduated number one in his class in aerospace engineering.