Profile - Rough, rough, rough, rough draft

The scene found in downtown Flint on a typical April day, while typical of any downtown area, represents a great deal of progress for the city. Businessmen walking into their offices while on cell phones show how companies have begun moving branches from the suburbs to downtown. The students of local UM-Flint and Mott Community College relaxing outside before class represent the importance of the local colleges to the city. The families carrying shopping bags back to their cars are a group who had long avoided the downtown area in previous times. Road repair and the huge cranes of work crews mark the completion of much-needed construction work.

One of the men most responsible for the progress of the downtown area is local businessmen Tim Herman. A lifelong Flint resident, Herman has been involved in Flint’s finances for the last fifteen years. On top of his private finance work for the Flint branch of Merrill Lynch and his association with a local law firm, Herman previously served as the city finance director and the city commissioner of finance.

His greatest challenge, however, began in 2000, when he formed Uptown Reinvestment Corporation with seven other developers. Disappointed with the deterioration of Flint’s downtown caused by its failing economy and growing crime rates, Herman designed the group as a non-profit rebuilding organization for the downtown area. Uptown has proved to be a tremendous success in only seven years, through both its rebuilding projects and in successfully recruiting other area investors to become involved with the work needed.

As President of Uptown and as President/CEO of the newly formed Genesee Area Focus Council, Herman has spearheaded Uptown’s mission to purchase many of the unoccupied buildings and boarded-up businesses found in downtown, working to renovate and redesign the structures. Herman then combines the newly refurbished facilities with valuable business incentives, such as decreased tax rates and financing, to attract outside investors.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Uptown is its makeup as a non-profit organization. Its funds are almost entirely composed of private money from local investors, with the remainder coming from contributions from either local foundations, or from state-supplied grants. Herman and the other investors gain no profit from their work, as all gains are then invested back into the general fund.

Many around Flint, though, are skeptical about Uptown and for Herman’s involvement. Some believe that the group secretly takes a profit, while others wonder about Herman’s political aspirations. Others such as Randy Huber, a 56 year old Flint resident and GM employee, wonder about the monopoly Uptown is seemingly forming in downtown. “They (Uptown) are the ones who are buying all those buildings there (downtown),” Huber stated. “Who knows what will happen once they own it all?”

For his part, Herman understands such criticism. “Our (non-profit) work has been completely different from the other groups that have tried to renovate downtown. It’s only natural for the people to question why we would do it without the profit,” Herman stated. Recent research completed by the Flint Journal backs the groups’ claims about profits, and Herman doubts whether political office is in his future, citing the obvious conflict of interests.

Herman views his involvement as a way to give back to his community. At the time when Flint’s infrastructure was crumbling, Herman decided to stay and continue working in the city, a decision many of his peers failed to comprehend. “I had friends, co-workers who left Flint and went to the suburbs or went to Detroit or out of the state, who thought I was crazy for staying around. They saw the city failing and went for the greener pastures.”

Meanwhile, Herman never moved from the city and feels his current work allows to him to pay the city back for all that they have done for him and his family. He still feels the importance of working and living in the heart of the city. He has sent his children to Flint schools, and has remained very involved in his community.

Herman feels that his dreams for Flint are realistic. Instead of falsely promising a quick and easy overhaul, he realizes that Uptown’s must rebuild a small step at a time. Paramount to the development will be ability of investors to attract citizens to move into downtown. Herman sees the newly completed loft apartments as a key to the downtown rebuilding. He believes that outside businesses will be hesitant to invest in the area without a significant increase in the area’s population.

Herman feels that the local colleges will be another important component of the downtown renewal. Both have large campuses in the downtown area, and both desire to expand their enrollments and campuses in the next five years. He hopes to attract students to use the loft apartments as off-campus housing, eventually hoping for an Ann Arbor-style development of college-related businesses to the downtown.

Another focus of Uptown has been on roads and the environment. Uptown recently completed a $2.5 million renovation project, repairing the cobbled streets of downtown, restoring the arches of Saginaw Street (once a trademark of the city), adding new trees and cleaning the Flint River. Lighting in the downtown was increased, encouraging more people to walk around the downtown at night.

With new housing and students living in the downtown area, Herman hopes to cause a domino effect. First, he hopes to attract entertainment venues in the downtown area. A current $3.8 million project overhaul of three buildings includes tentative plans for a Brazilian steakhouse and a nightclub. An oft-delayed renovation of the Capitol Theatre, a historic theatre closed for over twenty-five years, has recently been green-lit. Herman also recently announced a successful Flint restaurant will open a chain in the downtown area.

Herman stated that several different kinds of businesses are still needed downtown to attract citizens to move to the area. A grocery store is desperately needed, as is a pharmacy and gas station. “We’ll run into trouble convincing people to move if they have to drive to the other side of town just to buy a gallon of milk,” Herman worried.

One of the final keys, however, will be the development of small specialty stores and other locally-owned stores. He believes that small clothing shops, bakeries, and arts and crafts shops will help bring people into the downtown area. “The final piece,” Herman believes, “won’t be a McDonald’s or a Walgreen’s or branch of a large corporation. It will be when we attract local small-business owners to open their shops in the area.”

Still, though, it can appear difficult to follow Herman’s plan. The streets are paved, the arches restored and new construction completed, but the renovation of downtown is not a cure-all to Flint’s troubles. The unemployment rate still remains incredibly high, the public school system is in shambles, the crime and murder rates still place Flint near the top of the country. Loft apartments and small businesses may attract the citizens of Flint back to the area, but, with its falling population and failing economy, it’s unclear how many people will remain in Flint to enjoy the fruits of Uptown’s labor.

However, even with remaining concern’s many other problems unsolved, the efforts of Tim Herman and his group have been a complete success. Herman has already completed a great deal of renovating projects, and his efforts have already begun attracting new investors. Herman’s work has allowed for the organization of other investors to focus on a single project at a time, allowing for increased cooperation between groups with similar aims. It will only be through the efforts of people like Herman that Flint will finally repair itself.

Profile Topic

For my profile, I have decided to stick with my original idea. During my freshmen Seminar class, I interviewed the father of two of my friends who is responsible for essentially rebuilding downtown Flint. The interview was very interesting and allowed me to see a different side of the rebuilding effort than I had read in the local newspapers. I enjoyed doing the interview and I have been following along on the project's progress for the last few years. However, a large number of new issues have risen lately, and I was actually thinking of giving my friends' dad a call before I graduated to see what he thought of it all.

Therefore, this paper will allow me to get an update on the progress made and to see what he thinks of the recent changes. Since the assignment is more of a profile on an interesting person, I also decided to focus more on his own story and motivations than on the actual business plan. I'm most interested to hear his reasons for staying around Flint (when he could have left and possible been more successful elsewhere) and for his current interest in helping the downtown area be rebuilt, when so many other efforts have failed in the past. Should be interesting!

The Day I Met My Niece Final Draft

“Go ahead and hold her,” my sister Deirdre told me. I responded by giving her a look somehow encompassing shock, fear, and confusion into a single facial expression. My mind was spinning, my arms tightened, and I felt as if I couldn’t move. Here I was, a junior in high school with a great deal of experience being nervous, having given speeches in front on my entire school, played in overtime football games, shot free throws to win a game in front of a packed gym, but nothing compared to my feeling of sheer terror at being handed my screaming niece.

Aisling was born very premature, so tiny that she had been able to fit in her Christmas stocking, and during the seven hour flight to London over my Christmas break, I had sufficiently convinced myself that I was going to be unable to handle her and would drop her within seconds.
I was one the youngest of five siblings and had no real experience with babies. My brothers and sisters had always told me about the fun they had with me when I was a child and about the enjoyment they experienced in watching me grow. They told me that I would soon experience the same with Aisling. Still, I was expecting to be eased into this whole “uncle thing” one small step at a time. Maybe get accustomed to my surroundings for a little while, grab something to eat, do my taxes, read a book; anything but having to step into all-out uncle mode. I was 100% confident in my inability to be able to hold my niece. However, my sister had other ideas. For some strange reason, within minutes of my arrival, thought that the perfect time for easing me into this unknown territory would be to hand her hungry, tired, and crying daughter to me.

Now, here is where I would like to describe how she immediately calmed down when I held her and how she never cried when I held her from that day on, but that isn’t what happened. She took me one look at me and her crying reached record levels. However, I calmed down and felt my anxieties disappear immediately. Luckily, I didn’t drop her and I soon became comfortable with my duties as uncle (even if I refused to change diapers).

Our first meeting, though, was only the first chapter in the many great experiences I have had since my niece and nephew (born two years after Aisling) were born. She is now five (five and a half, as she would be quick to point out), and I have already had some of the best times of my life with her. We have had family vacations in Ireland and England, been together for graduations, baptisms, and trips to the beach, and even a surprise visit on Christmas.

I never could have imagined how much fun being an uncle could be. Once I put aside my nerves, I was able to sit back and watch my niece grow and learn. Six years ago, I never would have guessed the amount of hours spent playing hide-and-seek, re-enacting entire scenes from Christmas plays, or being chased around the house during an intense game of “dragons.” I now can’t picture my life without voicemail messages on my phone with a tiny, British voice on the other end or the many drawings sent on birthdays and holidays.

However, it took another moment for me to realize how much my family and I have changed since Aisling was born. We were at my parent’s home in Michigan, and I was in the middle of playing “Rocket ship” with Aisling, a game that my older brothers and siblings had played with me for hours when I was younger. One of my earliest memories is playing the game with my siblings as they threw me high in the air before always being there to catch me. I was in our living room playing with Aisling when my sister Deirdre, Aisling’s mother, walked into the room and froze in terror. I realized that the look on her face when she saw her twenty-one year old brother throwing her five year old daughter high into the air was the exact look my parents had given her fifteen years ago when she was playing with me.

My sister and I immediately laughed at the irony, but it was in that moment that I realized how we had all changed since my niece was born. We had all gotten older and taken on different roles. My sister had become the responsible mother, able to watch her child grow, but still horrified that someone was throwing her child in the air, though she had done the same years ago. For my part, I was getting to experience the same joy and feelings that my siblings had as they watched me grow. They were the ones who played with me, who I drew pictures for, and who I chased around the house for hours, and now I was getting to do the same for my niece and nephew. Aisling, meanwhile, seemed little concerned in recalling her mother and uncle’s memories and was only anxious to be thrown back up in the air. I laughed, took one look at my sister and then threw my niece high in the air, knowing that I would be there to catch her, just as my sister had been there for me.

Don Imus Reaction

One reason that I picked this Imus article instead of others that were written in the last few weeks is that I felt that this was much more well-rounded. I felt that it presented the entire scope of the story, from his history to the comments to the move to get Imus fired. Many of the columns and other stories out now seem to be too one-sided. They can't put aside their bias to present the entire story.

As I previously said, I thought that he did deserve to be fired. If this had been his first mistake or his first racial comment, then I could possibly see him getting by with a suspension. However, one of the other columns that I read (which was actually written by the Washington Wizard's Etan Thomas for SLAM Magazine) listed some of his previous slip ups. Imus called Barack Obama "that colored fellow," called New York Times sportswriter William Rhoden a "quote hire," and called an award-winning journalist Gwen Ifill "a cleaning lady."

I just can't stand any of the "shock" radio DJ's. For one thing, I can't stand listening to talk radio. I listen to radio "only if I need to know the sports or the weather," just like Andre said (haha). Any time, I heard talk radio, I get annoyed. On top of that, they all just try to get attention for their show by taking outlandish opinions. It could be a ridiculous take on an issue, but they take a stand merely so that they get attention.

(It is the same problem that I have with ESPN's talk shows, like Cold Pizza, PTI, Around the Horn, Rome is Burning. ESPN runs all four of these shows throughout the day. All four shows argue about the same ten to twenty sports stories of the day. In order to keep the watchers entertained, and their ratings up, they have the reporters on these shows take ridiculous stands on issues and have their counterparts argue with them. On top of the fact that there is no reason to have four of these shows, they have morons like Skip Bayless, Woody Paige, or Michael Smith on the show every day. I am 100% convinced that I know more about sports than those three. They bring nothing to the show and get a paycheck for doing it. Interview me and I'll do it for free.)

A final problem that I have will the entire Imus affair is that hip-hop is not basically under fire from the media. Many people took up the cause of blaming hip-hop after Imus was fired and they were left with a deadline and nothing to write about. Now, I can absolutely understand why some people want to point the finger at some rappers for the language they use on their albums. I can buy the argument that since rappers have been using certain words they have become much more prevalent in society. I can even understand why some people want to hold hip-hop to a higher degree of accountability for their words.

However, I have three main faults with the current assault of the media on hip-hop for three main reasons. First, though they blame the music, the media appears to be actually taking on "hip-hop culture," rather than the actual music. Hip-hop has become so big and prevalent in society that it can be found everywhere now, from advertising to movies to TV shows. Hip-hop has become an important part of the media culture in the U.S. However, whenever controversial issues come up, such as the Imus affair or the NBA All-Star game controversy, the genre of music gets the blame, but the media actually focuses on how hip-hop has affected the culture. If you want to take on the music, then blame the music. Quote 2 Live Crew and Too Short; don't blame Allen Iverson.

Second, if you are going to blame hip-hop for the prevalence of violence or bad language, then movie makers and Hollywood need to share the blame. I feel that this is a strong double standard. The violence and language in movies is much, much worse than in hip-hop. How can you blame rappers and other musicians when there are increases in violence among young people and not include Hollywood? If the media claims that seeing G-Unit with guns on the cover of the "Beg For Mercy" album or Dr. Dre on the cover of the Source with a gun to his head (like he did back when he left Death Row) makes young people numb to the use of the guns, then where are the people protesting Marty Scorsese, Quintin Tarrintino, or Francis Ford Coppola movies? Many rappers are simply acting a role in order to sell records, the majority of the "hardcore rappers" today included. They see the public being gangster albums, and they market themselves accordingly. They are showing fictional stories about violence, just as in movies and TV. (And, on a somewhat related note, why was "Get Rich Or Die Trying" protested for advertising with 50 Cent holding a gun, when at the exact same time, "Casino Royale" was advertising with Daniel Craig holding a gun as James Bond and "Mission Impossible: III" with Tom Cruise holding a gun? Double standard, again)

My third, and main, problem I have with the current media attack on hip-hop is that they are taking the music as a single entity, attempting to blame the entire genre. I have read many of the columns in the last few weeks about the hip-hop/Imus situation, and I have yet to read a single one where there is mention of non-"gangster" rappers. Hip-hop is not a single type of music, just as there is no one type of rock, jazz, or classical. There are many different types of hip-hop. A single type of hip-hop is the so-called "gangster" (I know I'm spelling it gangster and not gangsta. I don't really know why) rap, and, yes, many of these acts do deserve some blame. But the entire genre is not like this. I would love for a single one of these critics to go listen to acts like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, etc. and then say that there is no positivity in hip-hop. I also don't mean to say that I'm some backpack hip hop fan that only listens to these groups, but if people would just listen to a broader example of the music, then they could finally learn to appreciate it.

I do not really know how I ended up talking about Kweli and Lupe from a column about Don Imus, but I guess that's what happens. This whole thing has really been annoying me and I could for days on it.

Don Imus - Race, Power, and the Media

For my example of a profile, I decided to post this week's Newsweek article on Don Imus and the entire controversy surrounding his comments. There is obviously a great deal amount of material being written about the situation, but I decided to post this article since it delves more into his history (and his history of inappropriate statements). It also goes into detail about many of the issues surrounding the entire situation.

At the very least, I figured it would be an article that could get a good conversation going. Most people seem to have strong opinions on the subject, and I thought it would be interesting to get some different thoughts. I, for one, was ecstatic that CBS and MSNBC fired him, and I also hate most of the other similar radio/TV personalities, like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, or Howard Stern.

I'll give a much-more detailed reaction on the article and on the entire situation tomorrow.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18110453/site/newsweek/

Blog Recommendation

For our class, we needed to send a link to a blog that we enjoy reading. I actually have a few different blogs that I like, so I thought I'd send a few different links.

The first is Bill Simmons' "The Sports Guy" blog on ESPN.com. I enjoy his work a lot because he writes solely from the perspective of a fan. He has one of the most influential and widely read sports columns on the web and his work has become widely imitated by other sports writers. He tends to write with a completely free-lancing style, and his columns could easily go from the NBA to Major League Baseball to "Entourage" to random MTV shows in a single sentence. He's not perfect, and I have my own problems with some of his work (not to mention the fact that he tends to hate on the Pistons), but I have been reading him for quite some time and I also check for any updates.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index

The second one that I'm posting are two Detroit Pistons blogs that I usually read every day. They differ in style, but I enjoy both of them. The first, and my favorite of the two, is called "Need 4 Sheed" and is written by a diehard Pistons fan. I like her blog because she gives detailed write-ups on each game and posts links to most Pistons articles on the web. Plus, any site that you can order T-Shirts that say "Ball Don't Lie" with Sheed's face on it and "Count That Baby And A Foul" with George Blaha's face on it. The second Pistons blog is written more in a style that A Free Press or Detroit News beat reporter would cover the team.

http://www.need4sheed.com/
http://www.detroitbadboys.com/

Plus, Rog's blog is just as good as these two, and we agree on 99.9% of Pistons-related topics, so I'll post to his, too.

http://kzooguru5.blogspot.com/

Why I Don't Like My Personal Essay

So, I have obviously posted my personal essay about my niece. I can say that I like the first 1/2 or so - the section where I am basically telling a story. I enjoyed writing that part, and it seemed like it flowed pretty well. Then, I completely hit the wall. I had about 9 different versions of the next part, including:

• Detailing the actual night she was born
• Writing about what was going on in my life the year she was born
• Writing about how my life has changed since she was born
• A section where I spoke about my family has changed since her birth
• A section where I detailed fun times I have had with my niece
• Comparing my situation with my niece to my relationship with my siblings
• Writing about how important my family is to me

Basically, what is in written here in my blog, is some strange combination of all of the above, and I do not like it. So, if you read my first draft, PLEASE let me know what direction I should take it in and let me know what I should.
By the way, I do feel bad leaving my nephew out of most of my essay, but it was hard to get both of them into the one essay.

Personal Essay - The Day I Met My Niece

The Day I Met My Niece

“Go ahead and hold her,” my sister told me. I responded by giving her a look somehow encompassing shock, fear, sheer terror, and confusion into a single facial expression. Here I was, a junior in high school with a great deal of experience with being nervous in my life, having given speeches in front on my entire school, played in overtime football games, shot free throws to win a game in front of a packed gym, and faced a full count with two outs and the bases loaded in the final inning, but nothing compared to my feeling of sheer terror at being handed my screaming niece.

She had been very premature, being so tiny that she had been able to fit in her Christmas stocking a month before I saw her, and during my seven hour flight to London over my Christmas break, I had sufficiently convinced myself that I was going to be unable to handle her and would drop her within minutes. I was one of the youngest family members on both sides and had almost no experience with babies, my lone experience being my best friend’s little brother and sister.

I was expecting to be eased into this whole “uncle thing” one small step at a time. Maybe get accustomed to my surroundings for a little while, grab something to eat, do my taxes, read a book; anything but having to step into all-out uncle mode right away. I was 100% confident in my inability to be able to hold my niece. However, my sister had other ideas, and, for some strange reason, within minutes of my arrival, thought that the perfect first time for easing me into this unknown territory would be to hand me her hungry, tired, and crying daughter.

Now, here is where I would normally describe how she immediately calmed down when I held her and how she never cried when I held her from that day on, but that would not entirely be the truth. Luckily, I didn’t drop her (nor have I to this day), but she did continue to cry, which I still think is hilarious as her first reaction to seeing me. Though our first meeting did not go exactly as planned, it is only the first chapter in the many great experiences I have had since my niece and nephew were born. She is only five (and a half, as she would tell you), but I have already had some of the best times of my life with her.

The best experience about watching my niece grow up has been watching our family change along with her and to see how important she and her brother, Liam (born two years after Aisling), have become to our lives. From both of our initial nerves, my brother and I have changed into the best uncles in the world (if I do say so), quick to outfit our niece and nephew in Baby Air Jordan’s and Detroit Pistons gear, and even quicker to take any challenge from them to play any of the games of the days. My other sister has even been gracious enough to give Aisling another play partner in her husband Franco, who has instantly been welcomed into the family.

I never could have imagined how much fun being an uncle could be. Once I put aside my nerves, I was able to sit back and watch my niece grow and learn. Six years ago, I never would have guessed the amount of hours spent playing hide-and-seek, re-enacting entire scenes from Christmas plays, or being chased around the house during an intense game of “dragons.” I now can’t picture my life without voicemail messages on my phone with a tiny, British voice on the other end or the many drawings sent on birthdays and holidays and I’m able to share in the joy of first steps, first words, and first days of school.

Being the youngest of my five siblings, I also feel that my relationship with Aisling has allowed me to experience the same joy and feelings that my siblings had as they watched me grow. They were the ones who played with me, who I drew pictures for, and who I chased around the house. They love to tell me stories of how I was a kid and I can feel their pride in knowing the part that they all played in getting me to where I am today. Now, Aisling allows me to return the favor to them in a way and gives me the chance to share the same pride in watching her grow, until it’s her turn to become nervous about meeting her own niece.

"Badge of Courage"

I did not enjoy the second article, "Badge of Courage" by Deborah Lewis, as much as many of the other articles I read for today's class. It was a good story, but I did not feel that Lewis was able to keep me involved and interested in the article for its entirety. I understand that the author was using her tattoo to symbolize all of the pain and struggle during her battle with cancer. The tattoo was a type of closure for her, allowing her to focus on her victory one last time before getting back into her normal everyday life.

However, I thought that she have included more information on her struggle with her breast cancer. I felt that a small chronicle of the days of pain and the hours in hospitals would have added a great deal to her story. As a wife and a mother of two children, an anecdote about their experiences with her cancer could also have added depth to her writing. Now, the subject may be too difficult for her to speak about, or the trauma may be too soon to appear in the her writing. I just was dissapointed with the way her story ended up. I read the opening paragraph and thought that she would detail her experiences. Instead, she ends up arguing with several friends about what style of tattoo to get. I suppose that I sound inconsiderate to the woman, but I just felt that she had a great story to tell, and failed to tell it.

"Pattern of Migration"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/magazine/25Lives.t.html?ex=1332302400&en=e0232c3c7444bf0f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

My first post on the blog is a reaction to the article "Pattern of Migration" by Trish O'Kane. First, I knew I had to write on this article when I saw such a good name as "O'Kane," which I immediately thought was Irish. I also enjoyed reading her perspective on her life and her constant migration from place to place, without ever really finding a "home." I could identify with a few aspects of her constant travel, having spent time living in Kalamazoo, Flushing, Chicago, and Madrid in the last two years. However, unlike O'Kane, I have a firm sense of where my true home is, having grown up in the same house in Flushing my entire life. I have always considered my parents' house to be my home, even when I was living in a foreign country and even as I am moving out of the house for the final time in two months when I go to work in Chicago.

I felt that one of O'Kane's greatest strengths in her story was her powerful use of imagery. She excelled at describing locations and allowing the reader to picture locations where they had never been. Her descriptions of her parent's home truly brought the building to life. It was easy to close my eyes and picture "the wild peacocks strutting among the roses" and to picture the family sitting on their the porch, listening to "the sound of the coyotes howling in the desert at night." The city of Montgomery was given a great deal of texture with the descriptions of the forests, rivers, and birds, which became her temporary home. When she and her fiancee moved to New Orleans, her

She also used her imagery to bring the characters in her work to life. Her parents became identifable to me with her description of her father tending "the 20,000 young orange trees in his care, as if they were his children." I also felt that she brought the reader close to Miss Mabel, a woman who she did not even know, with her coloring of Miss Mabel's garden.

Though I enjoyed her writing style, I would never wish for O'Kane's life. I do not think that I could ever handle her constant moving, never allowing herself to settle down. On the one hand, it would allow for an exciting life, with brand new locations, people, and adventures simply a new job away. She is able to see a great deal of the world and meet many more people than she would living in a single location her entire working life. And, in some ways, I would enjoy her lifestyle for a part of my life. I am only 22 and would enjoy doing all that I can while I am still young.

However, I also see a great deal of positives in settling down in a single location, advantages that O'Kane may not agree with. When you stay in a single city for a long period of the time, you do not only get to know the location, you become closer to the people and the community. You learn all of the ins and outs of a city. I remember moving to Kalamazoo my freshmen year and thinking that I knew everything about the city in around a month, but the longer I have lived here, the more you are able to learn about it (Not to say that Kalamazoo is New York City by any stretch of the imagination). The job that I have taken in Chicago will force me to get to know everything about my specific area of the city, including the people, the schools, and the businesses. I will essentially need to throw myself into the community and its people to become a presence there, or else I will not be able to succeed in the business side. My work will require that I do exactly what O'Kane has been unable to do; to settle down, to become comfortable in a new location, to finally be able to call another place my second home.