Is Chicago overrun with transplants? (Bridgeport: buses, trains, eat)

[Lorielicious]

Cool story, bro.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by chicago103

Who counts as a transplant and who doesn't?

I am kind of in a strange grey area myself, I consider myself to be 100% Chicagoan and don't identify with any other place. I am a third generation native born Chicagoan, there is no other place in America where I have family roots. My older family members still live on the southwest side of the city for the most part. However my dad had a job transfer when I was little to downstate Decatur and I spent kindergarten through high school down there. Some would not consider me a true Chicagoan because I did not spend my formative years here, however my family came up to Chicago about a dozen times a year and I spend about half of my summers at my grandma's house on the southwest side as a kid, I feel like I in part grew up in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood even though I never went to school here. My parents moved out of Decatur and back to the Chicago area in 2004 and I have not set foot in Decatur in seven years. People talk about transplants "visiting home for the holidays", well there is literally no home for me anymore outside of Chicago. So I think it is pretty short sighted to give me a life sentence association with a place I feel no family roots and have had no connection with for years simply because I went to grade and high school there. Honestly even people who know me well forget I grew up downstate, they view me as the consummate Chicagoan but with strangers it is a bit awkward when people ask "where are you from originally? where did you go to grade/high school?. I have also lived in Chicago continuously since 1999 when I started as a freshman at UIC, so unlike many transplants I also went to college here. Also every job I have ever had has been in Chicago.

So what do you think, what the heck am I?

I know with many transplants it is much more straight forward, there family lives somewhere else, they grew up somewhere else and went to school somewhere else and Chicago is where they began their professional career. I am just trying to point out there is a middle ground between someone 100% born and raised, lived here your whole life and being a total transplant with no other connection to Chicago besides a job. Regardless of what people say I consider myself a native Chicagoan but I am just curious what others think.

You're a person from Chicago who spent 'x' years in Decatur.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by chicago103

Who counts as a transplant and who doesn't?

I am kind of in a strange grey area myself, I consider myself to be 100% Chicagoan and don't identify with any other place. I am a third generation native born Chicagoan, there is no other place in America where I have family roots. My older family members still live on the southwest side of the city for the most part. However my dad had a job transfer when I was little to downstate Decatur and I spent kindergarten through high school down there. Some would not consider me a true Chicagoan because I did not spend my formative years here, however my family came up to Chicago about a dozen times a year and I spend about half of my summers at my grandma's house on the southwest side as a kid, I feel like I in part grew up in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood even though I never went to school here. My parents moved out of Decatur and back to the Chicago area in 2004 and I have not set foot in Decatur in seven years. People talk about transplants "visiting home for the holidays", well there is literally no home for me anymore outside of Chicago. So I think it is pretty short sighted to give me a life sentence association with a place I feel no family roots and have had no connection with for years simply because I went to grade and high school there. Honestly even people who know me well forget I grew up downstate, they view me as the consummate Chicagoan but with strangers it is a bit awkward when people ask "where are you from originally? where did you go to grade/high school?. I have also lived in Chicago continuously since 1999 when I started as a freshman at UIC, so unlike many transplants I also went to college here. Also every job I have ever had has been in Chicago.

So what do you think, what the heck am I?

I know with many transplants it is much more straight forward, there family lives somewhere else, they grew up somewhere else and went to school somewhere else and Chicago is where they began their professional career. I am just trying to point out there is a middle ground between someone 100% born and raised, lived here your whole life and being a total transplant with no other connection to Chicago besides a job. Regardless of what people say I consider myself a native Chicagoan but I am just curious what others think.

Literally, you're a native Chicagoan if you were born here. If you identify with our grid that's good enough for me.

btw, I did my student teaching in Decatur- that's no fairy tale suburb, it was pretty hard core blue collar & folks were tough as nails.

[Payne222]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

Southern urban areas have some beautiful women. Chicago obviously does too, but they join right in with the hard core sports culture, it decreases their femininity.

Really? I love a girl who I can talk Blackhawks with. If anything, that makes her even hotter.

[TheSunshineKid]

@ chicago103: this is the way I see it. By birth you're a Chicago native, but that's by sheer dumb luck and I don't really give a hoot, so big deal. What matters to me if you're familiar with the city, its politics, its grid system, if you know where to eat, what neighborhoods to avoid at night - basically if I can come to you as a tourist or as someone unfamiliar with the city and you're able to navigate your way through the city like it's a second skin, then I could care less if you were a transplant from California or grew up in amongst corn and soybeans. I have known people, born and raised, in the southwest side that never passed Western. Ave, or never explored the west side or even the north side. I have a brother that spent the majority of his life in Chicago but won't venture to 90% of the rest of Chicago. Do I consider him a Chicagoan? Yea, but a sad one at that.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by TheSunshineKid

@ chicago103: this is the way I see it. By birth you're a Chicago native, but that's by sheer dumb luck and I don't really give a hoot, so big deal. What matters to me if you're familiar with the city, its politics, its grid system, if you know where to eat, what neighborhoods to avoid at night - basically if I can come to you as a tourist or as someone unfamiliar with the city and you're able to navigate your way through the city like it's a second skin, then I could care less if you were a transplant from California or grew up in amongst corn and soybeans. I have known people, born and raised, in the southwest side that never passed Western. Ave, or never explored the west side or even the north side. I have a brother that spent the majority of his life in Chicago but won't venture to 90% of the rest of Chicago. Do I consider him a Chicagoan? Yea, but a sad one at that.

ha! great post.

expanding a bit on the grid thing, I know I've found a serious Chicagoan if I can rattle off 2 numbers as shorthand for an intersection and they know where I'm talking about. so if I tell you I grew up around 2800-1200 but now I live at 3000-3400 and you rattle off the same, in less than 3 seconds we've both got a pretty decent idea of where the other person is coming from on local issues.

[chicago103]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

ha! great post.

expanding a bit on the grid thing, I know I've found a serious Chicagoan if I can rattle off 2 numbers as shorthand for an intersection and they know where I'm talking about. so if I tell you I grew up around 2800-1200 but now I live at 3000-3400 and you rattle off the same, in less than 3 seconds we've both got a pretty decent idea of where the other person is coming from on local issues.

I live near 5500S 7200 W

Assuming the first numbers you gave are N-S then 2800-1200 is near Diversey and Racine and 3000-3400 is Wellington and Kimball.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by chicago103

I live near 5500S 7200 W

Assuming the first numbers you gave are N-S then 2800-1200 is near Diversey and Racine and 3000-3400 is Wellington and Kimball.

swish!

still learning my west side streets (I'm assuming 5500 is just 55th ), 7200 is Harlem? I'm trying to memorize every street that's a multiple of 8, in some northside neighborhoods I'm good to the 4s.

[mas23]

Originally Posted by TheSunshineKid

@ chicago103: this is the way I see it. By birth you're a Chicago native, but that's by sheer dumb luck and I don't really give a hoot, so big deal. What matters to me if you're familiar with the city, its politics, its grid system, if you know where to eat, what neighborhoods to avoid at night - basically if I can come to you as a tourist or as someone unfamiliar with the city and you're able to navigate your way through the city like it's a second skin, then I could care less if you were a transplant from California or grew up in amongst corn and soybeans. I have known people, born and raised, in the southwest side that never passed Western. Ave, or never explored the west side or even the north side. I have a brother that spent the majority of his life in Chicago but won't venture to 90% of the rest of Chicago. Do I consider him a Chicagoan? Yea, but a sad one at that.

there are some Chicagoans who have only been to the loop maybe 3 times in their lives. I'm talking about full grown adults too

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by mas23

there are some Chicagoans who have only been to the loop maybe 3 times in their lives. I'm talking about full grown adults too

It's sometimes contrary to stereotypes, but often the most parochial people are found in the large urban areas, as opposed to small towns. Many small-town residents, if they want to "get anywhere" in life, are forced to make the pilgrammage to the Big City, as opposed to those residents who already reside there, but never expand their horizens...