The Other American Story: “The Struggle to Be a “Free Spirit”

By Donmyno

This book is about my life, accomplishments and Places i got to be. It will point out some of these parallels about life in Chicago’s during my early childhood development. There is always a reason for the things that happen to us in life. Sometimes we can control it, sometimes it will control us. It really depends on the “Choices” we make.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796060171

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Copyright © 2019 by Donmyno.

ISBN:       Softcover       978-1-7960-6014-0

                 eBook            978-1-7960-6017-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/17/2019

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CONTENTS

Chapter I The Early Stages of Development

Chapter II Those High School Days

Chapter III A Free Spirit

Chapter IV

CHAPTER 1

The Early Stages of Development

A Tale of Two Communities:

In some ways this story has some parallels and similarities to the Dickens book (A Tale of Two Cities), if you will. It will point out some of these parallels about life in Chicago’s during my early childhood development. According to Eric Erikson’s (eight stages of psychosocial development include:

1. Trust vs. mistrust,

2. Autonomy vs. shame/doubt,

3. Initiative vs. guilt,

4. Industry vs. inferiority,

5. Identity vs. role confusion,

6. Intimacy vs. isolation,

7. Generativity vs. stagnation,

8. and Integrity vs. despair.

That we all have to deal with or the lack of understanding them will be problematic throughout your life. So I had to learn to understand those things I didn’t know in order to have any success in life. With that thought in mind, this journey in life to be a Free Spirit begins.

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Chicago is a big modern city that consist of 77 neighborhoods / communities. Each one is like a small town in many ways. There is at least one street or area in every community that is the center or commercial hub of the area. It’s where most of the businesses can be found or where the people hang out. I grew up on the Southside of Chicago in a neighborhood. For us 47th Street was like the Main Street of the community. This chapter begins my pursuit of the American Dream. The twist and turns I had to go through during my earlier Stages of Development, of (Trust and mistrust), how it has played out in this Space in Time.

There were advantages and disadvantages of growing up in in my neighborhood. On one hand it was one of the best communities in the city. We lived within walking distance to the Lake. Over time, because of the way events and situations in Chicago was occurring. The journey I want to take you on will describe how it changed the lives of two particular Groups of People, American/Blacks from the South, and American/ Whites from Ireland dramatically. Causing the future of two neighborhoods, In my neighborhood and Bridgeport to flip, so to speak.

In my neighborhood to me was a place where everybody knew everybody on your block, because they were either, extended family members, kids you went to school and church with or friends of your parents they worked with or party with. If they didn’t live on your block they lived close by within walking distance. Millions of them came to Chicago during the Great Migration (The Great Migration, a long-term movement of African Americans from the South to the urban North, transformed Chicago and other northern cities between 1916 and 1970. Chicago attracted slightly more than 500,000 of the approximately 7 million African Americans who left the South during these decades).

My dad was a blue-collar middle class in the construction business. He worked for a big construction company in Chicago as an art-welder. He welded the skeleton or interior structures that supported skyscrapers. He and uncle also had their own little construction business on the side. I was told by my Grandma, that he built the house I was born in. My other uncle was a lawyer. My mother and her friend had a little beauty shop together. My first music teacher lived two door from our house. The rest of the block had school teachers, business people also. My other Uncle (my mother’s older brother) was a Police Officer, before becoming the Ward Committeeman on the Westside of Chicago.

I didn’t know much about Bridgeport at Those Times, where Mayor Daley lived and grew up. Except it is located near the area where the old Chicago Stock Yards use to be. Most of the people who lived their worked for the Stock yards. Many of them were immigrants from Ireland who came to America to escape poverty and famine. (In fact, nearly 40 million people said they have had some Irish ancestry according to the 2008 U.S. Census. That’s about 12 percent of the population of the United States. Many Irish people came to America during the years of the Irish Potato Famine, or the Great Famine, as it was called.)

It was around These Times that the people who lived in Bridgeport decided to turn their attention from just blue-collar labor to white-collar politics, and the rest is history, so to speak. While one neighborhood/ community growth and development stopped, crashed and began to decade. Causing dramatic and dynamic changes to take place for the people living in in my neighborhood. The growth and development of Bridgeport, which is only a stone throw away, so to speak. On the other side of the tracts. In this case the Dan Ryan Expressway was taking off like a rocket, for bigger and better things. Why you might ask? Was it because one community was predominantly American / Black, and the other predominantly American / White? Was it because these similar kinds of events and situations were occurring in other parts of the country and having an influence on Chicago also? There were similar serious concerns and issues all over the country. In places like New York City, Detroit, Philadelphia, L. A. to one degree or the other.

Some Events of These Times

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The race into space was fueled by the United States’ rivalry with the Soviet Union during this era. The Soviets sent their first artificial satellite into space in 1957 -- prompting the U.S. to hasten into the game. Alan Shepard was the first American in space in 1961. In 1963, John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, and in 1969, the crew of Apollo XI became the first men to land on the moon. The U.S. also butted heads with Cuban leader Fidel Castro during this time. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy, elected as the nation’s first Catholic president, sent a team of Cuban exiles into Cuba to stop Castro -- a fiasco that ended with the exiles being captured. That incident, dubbed the Bay of Pigs invasion, heightened tensions between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. In 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected to divide Soviet-controlled East Germany from western-controlled West Germany. Other conflicts included the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviets pointed nuclear missiles at the U.S. from Cuba. In 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated -- a huge blow to the American people.

The decade will be remembered by many as an era of breakthroughs for marginalized people, most notably, people of color and women. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the face of the anti-segregation movement, and his influence helped pave the way for the desegregation of schools and other institutions. Meanwhile, books such as The Feminine Mystique motivated women to fight for more equality and to adopt a feminist perspective. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was changed to bar discrimination based on gender. Hispanic farm workers, meanwhile, were empowered by the work of Cesar Chavez, who formed the United Farm Workers Association.

The social climate-Politically, perhaps no other issue was quite as contentious as the conflict in Vietnam. Starting in 1965, troops began to be sent to the country in great numbers, resulting in a mandatory draft. Men opposed to the war fled the U.S. to escape the draft, and massive anti-war protests took place on a regular basis. Members of the peace and environmental justice movements included the hippies who made the East Village of New York and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco their home.

In the 1960s, many of the babies born after World War II were teenagers or young adults with very different mindsets than the previous generation. Their parents were conservative and traditional, but that was not the case for many youths during the time. Young people questioned everything, from the traditional gender roles in the family to the methods of education. That break from the traditional resulted in the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll, more liberal film and literature, and a new appreciation of non-Western ideas, such as the transcendental meditation and consciousness movement. Some have even posited that in the ‘60s, the liberal values took the place of more traditional religions.

The 1960s brought great changes to the political and social landscape in the United States. Americans made their voices heard in the streets and inside the voting booth. In fact, according to PBS, more Americans were voting in the 1960s than in any other decade since World War II. Additionally, African-Americans, women and anti-war demonstrators challenged the existing order of American society. The 1960s were a time of great social upheaval and change.

The sexual revolution and feminism, in the 1960s had many American women began to work outside the home. This trend challenged the old social order where men were the breadwinners and women managed the home and cared for children. The introduction of the birth control pill in the 1960s enabled women to control their child-bearing decisions. Feminist Betty Friedman wrote The Feminine Mystique in 1963 and, according to PBS, it expressed the question posed by both men and women at the time: Is this all there is?

These are just some of the issues including The Environment, and Crime, that had an impact on me. Maybe you can reflect back and relate also on some of these social, economic, moral injustices and disenfranchisement, even oppressive situations, had on all Americans.

Yes, it was the best of times, and the worst of times growing up in Chicago. In the big city, where there were many opportunities for a young Army Air force veteran, like my dad, to make a life for himself, and wife and son. Chicago is the biggest city in the state of Illinois. Where the summers were hot, and the winters were very cold. But because Chicago is such a beautiful city, we learned how to endure and deal with it. In that realm of enlighten thoughts, lies the basic genesis of this chapter. How things were then for me, growing up as a young American / Black boy, trying to survive and reach adolescence. I think you will find this story to be fascinating to some, of interest to many, and a good read you can relate too. There are a lot of In my neighborhoods and Bridgeport’s Communities all over America. Hopefully you will see what I mean on this journey of my boyhood, towards becoming the man I am today.

I never really thought about overcoming the odds against me, surviving the challenges of Those Times that could have turned into disasters. I was constantly having to make critical decision to Do the Right Things, and making something out of nothing in terms of creating opportunities with support from my family and community. Drawing from the foundation that had been instilled in me for motivation to help me too succeed in life. How it all turned out in the end? Well, I will let you be the judge of that.

Donmyno

At the age of ten my story begins.

This story begin—I knew when—Kiss my first girlfriend.

Some kind of wonderful—It was a beautiful thing—

All of a sudden— my heart had wings.–The sun was shinning—

My future looked bright—That’s when my dreams—took flight,

took flight.

It felt so good, so good—Sweet moment of bliss. All I could wish for—

Was just one more kiss

Bright lights—Big city. Young man growing up—Smooth and Gritty—

Living just enough—For Chicago––

the best of times.

Growing up on the Southside of Chicago was a fun experience at first. In my neighborhood was a great community to grow up in. One of the best neighborhoods in the city. I thought we had everything we needed right there in the community. We had the beautiful South Parkway Boulevard that begin at Cermak Road on the North and ended at 51st, or Hyde Park Boulevard, on the South at Washington Park. We lived within walking distance to the lake to the East. The 31st street beach and 47th street, was the main shopping, entertainment and commercial business center for the community.

Bridgeport was West of In my neighborhood on the Westside of the Dan Ryan Expressway. Parts of Halsted and Ashland were the two major commercial and business streets, it did not have a boulevard. It ran from 31st Street on the North, to 67th Street on the South. Marquette Park was located nearby and further to the Southwest. But both neighborhoods were not nearly as great or beautiful as the Gold Coast on the Northside.

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The Gold Coast was the standard for the best community of all. It was located along Lake Shore Drive. On the near north side of the Chicago River. From Chicago Avenue to North Avenue. The Magnificant Mile on Michigan Avenue is the main business and shopping area for Chicago. It is near by the Lincoln Park neighborhood that ain’t too shabby either, which is further north. The Goal Coast has everything you could want in a neighborhood. The best shopping, scenery, views from the high rise apartments along the lake shore, restaurants, entertainment, cultural venues, beaches, and parks, whatever your heart could desire.

Don’t forget sleep on downtown Chicago, or the center of the city, better known as the Loop, which today, has become probably, the second best place to live in the city. Why? Because of the Quality of Life, since the building of places like Marina City, by Bertrand Goldberg. Who created one of the first all-in-one living environment within the downtown area, with movie theatre, stores, restaurants, and yes, a marina for boats. Park Homes which use to be a hole in the ground near the Lake Shore Drive Curve. The West-loop area on Madison, Randolph and Fulton Market. The South-loop area across from Soldier Fields are all parts of the downtown Chicago living experience. It is an amazing life-style experience for an inner city neighborhood of this size. I know some of you may be thinking, how can downtown be a neighborhood. Which is something Chicago has been working on since Daniel Burnham started the Chicago Plan.

That’s just one of the many unique characteristics about this fascinating city. It’s not only a place to work and play, but now it has become one of the best places to live also. In fact, it has become so impressive, other cities around the world or also following the Chicago model of living in a big city. For example, China has built over a hundred brand new cities since Y2K (the year 2000), with over 10 million people in each one. Today you will also find that the people in Chicago are some of the most honest, hardworking, spiritually minded, fun loving people in the world. Even New Yorkers will admit that Chicagoans or nicer. Believe me that’s saying a lot.

No! It wasn’t always like this, but it is now, and that’s what’s important to me, as I continue to Move Forward with life.

Even though you sometimes hear stories about the high crime rate, especially murders lately. Those rumors are not quite accurate. Yes the murder rate situation is alarming to everyone. But there is a reason why that is, that don’t get explained. You know, the Tom Brady Syndrome, (When people hate you because they are not successful like you are). So some people like to blow the situation out of proportions. Maybe to distract people attention away from what they have not done, or should have been doing for the people in their cities or states.

Remember there are 77 neighborhoods. Over 70% of these murders you hear about today occurs mostly in just two of them. The majority of the people who are involve, are mostly young adults who know each other. Those young undereducated and disenfranchised Americans youths who some of our political and community leaders have tried to forget are the results of those Dysfunctional 80’s years. Many of them who are really victims from the systemic devastating results of Poverty. As a society we have ignored for too long. That some elected officials and the business community continue ignored. It has been this type of behavior, and attitudes that are really what have created many of these Events and Situations. That is now causing some of these generational conditions since Y2K. It will take time and programs to correct them. If we decide to do something as a country together. It does have an effect on everyone one way or the other. Because it does take a village!

In Chicago, thank God, We the People, who love Chicago, have finally started to do some things to Make Things Happen!, with or without the politicians or big business leaders help. Like the impact of the Million Man March, which asked millions of American/Black men and others to atone (to make amends for a sin or fault) and try to build a better life for our family and community. Also the election of President Obama has helped tremendously to instill a positive image of life. To restore Faith and inspire, and encourage our youths to continue to have hope in their pursuit of the American Dream. It have had a very lasting and positive effect on all Ture Americans, including some of those who have lost their souls. Many have thought they would never see any change. But more of the real work is yet to come. It takes time to educate all those directly involve, and providing them with the resources and opportunities that’s needed so the changes will last. So don’t believe the haters, Chicago is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, for a reason.

A city Moving Forward once again since the Great Recession of 2008. With the right attitude, of always trying to do better than before. Adopting that same vision of men like Montgomery Ward, the McCormicks, Potter and Bertha Palmer and others. But especially Daniel Burnham, who once said, Make no small plan that lacks the magic to stir the blood of man, or something like that. Some of us have recaptured that spirit of the 1893 World’s Fair once again. The fair that introduced the world to the incandescent light bulb, Edison and alternating current, Tesla and Westinghouse, and much, much more. That helped change the world forever.

Summer of my youth

In the beginning of those developmental stages of my earlier years. The part Sigmund Freud and others call the development of the Id. Which is the formative stage of our Unconscious Mind. That functional part of the mind which occurs, automatically. Not yet able to have Introspection of thoughts. It involves our thought processes, memories, interest, and motivation. Which exist well under the surface of our Conscious Awareness. As I remember back to then, the summers were hot, and the winters were very cold.

In the summer time when it was hot, and we didn’t have air condition we found ways to endure. So the next best thing to do was to find a cool spot or sit near the fan. Or find some shady spot outside and try to catch a breeze from the lake. (Lake Michigan is the third largest of the Great Lakes, when measured by water surface and the only Great Lake located entirely in the United States.)

Now that I think about it, we always lived close to Lake Michigan. In ‘Those Times, we lived in a multi-unit apartment building. Within walking distance to the lake. In the early part of the afternoon during the summer we tried to stay out of the direct effects of the sun Vons as much as possible. Because we knew once the sun started to set, you could catch that cool breeze coming off the lake. It was so hot sometimes, that my parents wouldn’t allow us to go outside to play. I use to think they were being too strict. I could see from the window that other kids were outside playing. But my mom or dad would say, Boy, you better take your but over there and sit down by that fan and shut up", so that’s what I did, and that was that. Later I realized they were only trying to keep us away from trouble, and the heat.

My dad was a good man by many standards of normal understanding of ‘Those Times. He went to work every day, made enough money for us to live a Blue-collar" middle class lifestyle. We always had a decent place to live in a nice community. There were crime back in the day too. But my parents tried to shield