

I live in Crystal Lake, a sort of small town in the Chicago area. Actually, when you think about it, Crystal Lake is not all that small. You would think it was because there is so little to do here and it is so lacking in resources like buses, trains, movie theaters, and things like that. What it does have is people, lots of them. It is a multi-ethnic area, and quite economically and socially diverse. 

I live in what is called the Canterbury area of Crystal Lake. It is what you would call a working class or "right in the middle" of "Middle Class" suburb. People are from all walks of life and nationalities. There are many Hispanic families, many Caucasian, some Asians, but very few African Americans. As a matter of fact, the African American demographic is very under represented here in this part of Middle America we call Crystal Lake. 

The Canterbury area is definitely not an affluent part of Crystal Lake, as one can see from the empty and abandoned homes and "short-sales" or foreclosures that are all over. In the four block square radius that I call "home" and where I often walk my dogs there are no fewer than a dozen homes that are sitting empty, bearing the tell-tale green "Do not occupy without a Certificate of Occupancy" sticker fixed to one of the windows. It's hard to believe that this was once pretty affluent area.

Another telltale sign of Crystal Lake's gradual economic demise is the number of stores in the area that are just not there anymore. Illinois' Route 14, also called "Northwest Highway" is a major road that goes right through Crystal Lake and connects with a lot of other towns. It is dotted with "strip-malls" or more accurately, it IS one long strip mall-broken intermittently by a short side street or parking lot-  Sadly, though, at least half of the small stores, restaurants, beauty salons and other "mom and pop" type businesses that populated this "mall" for years are now gone-victims of the long and still raging recession. Somehow, though,there is still a large, although always empty, Sears store that sits on Highway 14 right across from my apartment building. That is a blessing for me, since I have no car and in the winter months even the short walk to the one grocery store within walking distance can leave me feeling like a large Popsicle. Cutting through Sears for a while lets me thaw a bit before proceeding on my journey. 

Of course, like most towns, Crystal Lake still has its affluent citizenry. "Walkup" the street that traverses Crystal Lake from north to south,still sports a large number of beautiful old homes, and the housing developments that have sprung up off of "Walkup" contain the requisite acres of green lawn showing off huge "McMansions" spaced appropriately apart. But even for the wealthy, Crystal Lake is still a large and very boring bedroom community too far from Chicago to be much fun. 

