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Sigh.
So I've been in Chicago for nearly nine years now, after growing up in semiurban cities (30,000-70,000 residents) my entire life prior (17 years prior). About one-third of my life I've spent living in Chicago proper, most of which I spent living on the south side, in Hyde Park (about 7 of the 9 years).
I've always considered myself to be of the relatively small group of University of Chicagoans (where I went to school and live near) that isn't afraid of the city, that doesn't quake in fear of taking the train downtown or of walking a few blocks outside of the campus police patrol zones. See, Hyde Park is a mecca inside an urban desert; if you look at crime rates, where lighter shades of gray identify lower rates, you see this little white blotch inside a dark black area. (Sadly, you also see that racially ... Hyde Park, particularly southern HP around the uni, still is basically white-run, with blacks occupying mostly service positions; that's changing, but slowly)
So the Uni says "don't go past 63rd south or 51st north, for fear of your life... and definitely don't go past Cottage Grove west ..." I really never believed them, happily going to the green line train on 63rd and Cottage Grove (about 4 blocks from my dorm at the time) rather than going way out of my way to the bus far east of there; never had any problems. I worked at a school near 55th and Ashland, which is about 3 miles west on 55th; I rollerbladed down 55th (Garfield) every day to and from it. No problems there, either, except dodging broken beer bottles littering the sidewalks under the bridges. I tended to make fun of my friends who were scared to take the train or even the bus, constantly living in fear basically, for what I saw as no reason; as long as you were smart, and stayed on major, well-lit streets where cars can see you, I figure you're safe.
So fast-forward to Friday. I'm coming home from work, and instead of taking the bus (that is close to my current apartment), I decide to go by Target (roosevelt, a few blocks south of the bus' last stop before going express) and then take the train home; the Red Line stops at target, and then has a stop on 55th about halfway between my home and where the school I worked at was. I've done this dozens of times, no problem, even quite late at night. This was around 8:30 pm or so, dark but still quite a busy street. (55th is one of the largest east-west streets in the city, and is full of cars until about 2am typically.) I got off the train, with two huge bags of cat food and paper towels, and notice about 30 students are getting off with me, obviously taking the same bus as me. For years I'd always thought that if I had this problem, I could walk down to the gas station west of the red line (about 20 meters west) and wait for the bus there, getting on the bus ahead of the crowd. So I do that.
I notice the bus stop sign is gone, and instead of chancing the bus stopping there (it ultimately does, btw) I decide to just keep walking and go to the next stop - there are stops every 100 to 150 meters, usually. This stop turns out to be a bit further than that, and after walking near to a bridge maybe 50 meters past the gas station, I decide i've gone too far, and also notice a bus. I turn around, and in doing so pass by three kids (18-22 yrs) that I'd seen on the way; they'd been standing outside a fence, just hanging out.
I walk the other way, back to the gas station, and get about halfway back, when one of the kids starts walking a bit faster behind me, and catches up. He sticks his finger in my back, and says, "This is a stickup." I try hard not to laugh, figuring this is a joke, and just say, "Get off of me", and get out of his grasp, trying to keep walking (the bus has just passed me).
Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, and he's giving me a couple of nice bruises on my face. I start screaming for help, but none of the dozens of passing by cars stop... I don't fight back at all, don't even consider the possibility; after all, I'd never been hit in anger before, and have no training at all in it; my mind doesn't work fast enough, I guess, to figure out to stick my arms up or anything. The only thing I'm able to do is partially get up when he looks like he's getting ready to stomp me with his foot (which would probably break ribs, and thus scares me into doing something); at that point. a car finally pulls over and the three kids run off, with my shopping bags (but not my messenger bag/backpack thing that was around my neck), and surprisingly enough without my wallet, which they never even asked for.
Fortunately the car contained a minister and his wife, who were travelling (From Missouri) and had a cooler with some ice, and a cell phone. They made a bag of ice for me for my worst injury (my left cheek was very swollen) and called the cops, who came in a few minutes and took me on a half-hour trip around the neighborhood, which turns out to be called "the projects", as in any-cop-in-chicago-would-know-of-this-place-if-you-said-"the projects" - which in Chicago is darned impressive. How I didn't know this, I have no clue; like I said, I bladed past this area for a year and never saw or heard anything odd. (turns out the projects are one street south of the major street, so I wouldn't have actually seen them). As far as I can tell, they were more trying to show me why I should stay away from there, as the kids obviously ran off and weren't stupid enough to come back (sometimes they come back, oddly enough).
I ended up going to the hospital, after going home first to make sure my GF wasn't worried, and getting four stitches and taking a "bite test" to make sure I don't have a fractured suborbital or other bones in my upper cheeck to lower eye. No serious wounds, thank god, just some pretty nice bruises and such. Probably a few hundred $ for the hospital, even though I have insurance it's semicrappy insurance (aetna's lower variety) with $150 deductible that i never use any of, and probably an ER deductible too
4 stitches right below my eyebrow, might be an impressive scar come a few months from now... I'm still not 100% sure there's not a minor fracture, but it's of a nonmobile bone if there is; the swelling of the upper cheek area hasn't gone down in 2 days, though, which makes me wonder.
Anyhow, I have to think I got off quite lucky, and maybe this was for the better ... I didn't have anything serious happen, no permanent injuries, and didn't lose more than $25 worth of groceries. And on the plus side, I no longer have an irrational nonfear of areas that I honestly SHOULD fear going into; policemen are afraid of going into the area I had blithely walked into, and that means I really shouldn't be there without at least an automatic weapon and body armor ... I'm not going to be scared of things that I don't need to be, like taking the train at all, but there's a healthier fear in me, I think, that might keep me from being seriously hurt or killed from walking in the wrong area ... especially for the wrong reasons.
The worst part of it is, they obvoiusly were just playing around; it's sad that people are brought up that way, that it's okay to seriously injure someone just for fun. Frankly, I'd feel less irritated in one sense if they HAD been robbing me for the money; but they weren't, obviously, just showing that they could hurt me, essentially playing. That sort of thing goes straight back to their parents, who probably are barely there if at all, and is the reason so many people can't get out of the projects ...
So I've been in Chicago for nearly nine years now, after growing up in semiurban cities (30,000-70,000 residents) my entire life prior (17 years prior). About one-third of my life I've spent living in Chicago proper, most of which I spent living on the south side, in Hyde Park (about 7 of the 9 years).
I've always considered myself to be of the relatively small group of University of Chicagoans (where I went to school and live near) that isn't afraid of the city, that doesn't quake in fear of taking the train downtown or of walking a few blocks outside of the campus police patrol zones. See, Hyde Park is a mecca inside an urban desert; if you look at crime rates, where lighter shades of gray identify lower rates, you see this little white blotch inside a dark black area. (Sadly, you also see that racially ... Hyde Park, particularly southern HP around the uni, still is basically white-run, with blacks occupying mostly service positions; that's changing, but slowly)
So the Uni says "don't go past 63rd south or 51st north, for fear of your life... and definitely don't go past Cottage Grove west ..." I really never believed them, happily going to the green line train on 63rd and Cottage Grove (about 4 blocks from my dorm at the time) rather than going way out of my way to the bus far east of there; never had any problems. I worked at a school near 55th and Ashland, which is about 3 miles west on 55th; I rollerbladed down 55th (Garfield) every day to and from it. No problems there, either, except dodging broken beer bottles littering the sidewalks under the bridges. I tended to make fun of my friends who were scared to take the train or even the bus, constantly living in fear basically, for what I saw as no reason; as long as you were smart, and stayed on major, well-lit streets where cars can see you, I figure you're safe.
So fast-forward to Friday. I'm coming home from work, and instead of taking the bus (that is close to my current apartment), I decide to go by Target (roosevelt, a few blocks south of the bus' last stop before going express) and then take the train home; the Red Line stops at target, and then has a stop on 55th about halfway between my home and where the school I worked at was. I've done this dozens of times, no problem, even quite late at night. This was around 8:30 pm or so, dark but still quite a busy street. (55th is one of the largest east-west streets in the city, and is full of cars until about 2am typically.) I got off the train, with two huge bags of cat food and paper towels, and notice about 30 students are getting off with me, obviously taking the same bus as me. For years I'd always thought that if I had this problem, I could walk down to the gas station west of the red line (about 20 meters west) and wait for the bus there, getting on the bus ahead of the crowd. So I do that.
I notice the bus stop sign is gone, and instead of chancing the bus stopping there (it ultimately does, btw) I decide to just keep walking and go to the next stop - there are stops every 100 to 150 meters, usually. This stop turns out to be a bit further than that, and after walking near to a bridge maybe 50 meters past the gas station, I decide i've gone too far, and also notice a bus. I turn around, and in doing so pass by three kids (18-22 yrs) that I'd seen on the way; they'd been standing outside a fence, just hanging out.
I walk the other way, back to the gas station, and get about halfway back, when one of the kids starts walking a bit faster behind me, and catches up. He sticks his finger in my back, and says, "This is a stickup." I try hard not to laugh, figuring this is a joke, and just say, "Get off of me", and get out of his grasp, trying to keep walking (the bus has just passed me).
Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, and he's giving me a couple of nice bruises on my face. I start screaming for help, but none of the dozens of passing by cars stop... I don't fight back at all, don't even consider the possibility; after all, I'd never been hit in anger before, and have no training at all in it; my mind doesn't work fast enough, I guess, to figure out to stick my arms up or anything. The only thing I'm able to do is partially get up when he looks like he's getting ready to stomp me with his foot (which would probably break ribs, and thus scares me into doing something); at that point. a car finally pulls over and the three kids run off, with my shopping bags (but not my messenger bag/backpack thing that was around my neck), and surprisingly enough without my wallet, which they never even asked for.
Fortunately the car contained a minister and his wife, who were travelling (From Missouri) and had a cooler with some ice, and a cell phone. They made a bag of ice for me for my worst injury (my left cheek was very swollen) and called the cops, who came in a few minutes and took me on a half-hour trip around the neighborhood, which turns out to be called "the projects", as in any-cop-in-chicago-would-know-of-this-place-if-you-said-"the projects" - which in Chicago is darned impressive. How I didn't know this, I have no clue; like I said, I bladed past this area for a year and never saw or heard anything odd. (turns out the projects are one street south of the major street, so I wouldn't have actually seen them). As far as I can tell, they were more trying to show me why I should stay away from there, as the kids obviously ran off and weren't stupid enough to come back (sometimes they come back, oddly enough).
I ended up going to the hospital, after going home first to make sure my GF wasn't worried, and getting four stitches and taking a "bite test" to make sure I don't have a fractured suborbital or other bones in my upper cheeck to lower eye. No serious wounds, thank god, just some pretty nice bruises and such. Probably a few hundred $ for the hospital, even though I have insurance it's semicrappy insurance (aetna's lower variety) with $150 deductible that i never use any of, and probably an ER deductible too
4 stitches right below my eyebrow, might be an impressive scar come a few months from now... I'm still not 100% sure there's not a minor fracture, but it's of a nonmobile bone if there is; the swelling of the upper cheek area hasn't gone down in 2 days, though, which makes me wonder.Anyhow, I have to think I got off quite lucky, and maybe this was for the better ... I didn't have anything serious happen, no permanent injuries, and didn't lose more than $25 worth of groceries. And on the plus side, I no longer have an irrational nonfear of areas that I honestly SHOULD fear going into; policemen are afraid of going into the area I had blithely walked into, and that means I really shouldn't be there without at least an automatic weapon and body armor ... I'm not going to be scared of things that I don't need to be, like taking the train at all, but there's a healthier fear in me, I think, that might keep me from being seriously hurt or killed from walking in the wrong area ... especially for the wrong reasons.
The worst part of it is, they obvoiusly were just playing around; it's sad that people are brought up that way, that it's okay to seriously injure someone just for fun. Frankly, I'd feel less irritated in one sense if they HAD been robbing me for the money; but they weren't, obviously, just showing that they could hurt me, essentially playing. That sort of thing goes straight back to their parents, who probably are barely there if at all, and is the reason so many people can't get out of the projects ...
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