Chicago Nation?

For all the talk we generate about New York, LA, the coasts and how we compare to them, there is also something very provencial and localized about Chicago. And I'm not using either provencial or localized in a negative way. I'm using them more in the sense that Chicago, among America's great cities, and ironically associated with the nation's middle, may be more in its "own world" than any other An "own world" though that is sophisticated, diverse, culturally powerful, economically motivated. Why do I see us that way? 1. Other than Chicago, there is no great inland city than Chicago. And while "inland" does not mean a weakened connection to the world, inland has afforded Chicago an opporutnity to create its own special environment, less drawn in to trends to which we choose not to partake in. 2. No US city dominates its region the way Chicago does. Chicago and the Midwest are unique in the sense that one great city exists that none challenge it or even give evidence of world power. There is no NY/DC/Bos cluster of the east, Mia/Atl/Dal/Hou of the south, LA/SF/Sea of the west. Psychologically (even if our brethern middle western cities don't agree), Chicago often feels it rules th elandscape and doesn't need to reach out the way that cities do in regions with more power centers 3. Chicago's history may not be the longest of any American city, but its history is as rich as any of them. The fact that this has been a major US city for so long loads us with traditons and sense of place that few locations have, particularly those in inland areas. 4. Building on history, Chicago's traditonal relationship between the business community and that community's ability to support culture and civic endeavors is legendary. The business comunnity has been a huge part of our building our own world. As i said, there really is, IMHO, a sense of Chicago being "a place apart", a special world unto its own in many positive ways.>