Years ago, when there was much less policing and the inner city pressed closer and harder against a smaller university community, to me and most of my friends it was a point of honor to walk all over Hyde Park, Jackson and Washington Parks and into Woodlawn (or to live in Woodlawn, as many of us did) without thinking about - or certainly without showing that we were thinking about - any dangers lurking in these places. It was distinctly uncool to be uptight about such things. It marked you as being “suburban” not simply as a matter of your personal history and geography but as a matter of sensibility and preference. There was an element of bravado and pose in all this, but I would assert that it was also idealistic, democratic and healthy. Many of us acquired muggings and robberies as part of the experience, but everyone lived to tell the tale and all were the better for it. It seems a pity to come to the U of C and live cautiously, whether physically, psychologically or intellectually.