A Deadly Weapon

Have you ever met someone who used knowledge as a weapon? Have you even met anyone that used book smarts as a tool to bludgeon you? Have you ever witnessed someone taut their pedigree to subjugate others. Have you ever met someone use logic, wit, and rhetoric to manipulate?

A True Chicago Greeting, Part II

In the last post I reflected on a Chicago greeting based on race. Recently though, another greeting has evolved, particularly in gentrifying neighborhoods or where people have moved that are not, in local's eyes, supposed to be living there. True Chicagoans ask this, how long have you lived here? Now lots of newer residents must clarify how long they have lived in the city.As evidence, see any Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Pilsen, or Bridgeport Everyblock posts.(Do True Chicagoans use this?). I think born and raised is the standard now, for a True Chicagoan.

A True Chicago Greeting

As I sat in a restaurant talking to my friend, who was born and raised in Cincinnati, he asked me if I knew the difference between Chicago and other places across the country, I said, no. He said that in other places, people, upon meeting a stranger,ask you where you are from, in Chicago, upon meeting a stranger, people ask, what are you.

Critical Thinking? You Think Too Much!

Educational theorists argue whether critical thinking can be taught or not. I can tell you this, whether or not it is something that can be taught, I know it can be devalued and if it is innate, it can be suppressed. I spent much of my life, probably until about 26 years old or later filtering my decisions and ideas through the lens of what other people thought. I think valuing and owning your own thoughts and ideas sometimes comes through an emancipation process; realizing you are an autonomous person subjugated and inundated by family,media,opinions, history, context, and fear. I feel like I have become emancipated, but am I really free?