The Mabley Archive: Do we say we're from Glenview? Or from Chicago?

Michael Jordan lives in Highland Park. Most of his teammates live in nearby suburbs. The Bulls headquarters and practice gym are in Deerfield.

(Rodman probably lives in Chicago. It's hard to picture him as a suburbanite).

So could the Bulls be called the Highland Park Bulls or the Deerfield Bulls or the Chicago and Suburban Bulls?

No. But when we suburbanites travel we take a bit of pride in being identified with the Chicago Bulls.

This is about identity, and the extent to which we in the suburbs relate to our giant neighbor.

I have a communication from an Elgin resident who I'll call only Ed because he doesn't want to offend his neighbors.

"Suburbanites have a semantic problem," Ed claims. "Suburbanites are not Chicagoans.

"I lived in Marquette Park on the Southwest Side for six years, and have lived in Elgin for one year. So I speak as an outsider from central Indiana who's had the city and the suburbs."

As a general rule, Ed says, anyone living west of Harlem Avenue has more in common with DeKalb or Peoria than with Chicago in terms of lifestyle, traditions and ethnic diversity.

I'm not sure what we who live north of Howard Street identify with. Milwaukee? Racine?

"It completely amazes me how a suburbanite who calls himself from Chicago knows so little about the basics of life in Chicago," Ed says.

"Just because someone eats an occasional Polish sausage, drinks Old Style beer, plays 16-inch softball and wears a Chicago Bulls jersey doesn't mean he is a Chicagoan.

"More likely, he's someone aspiring to be a Chicagoan.

"By and large, it is not the Chicagoan ... who eats at Michael Jordan's or Planet Hollywood, or who is fascinated by Dennis Rodman."

Ed's advice to suburbanites: "Look around your community, find a reason to be proud of it, and go forth into the world identifying yourself as a citizen of that place."

Easier said than done, Ed. I've tried it. Trading greetings with fellow travelers, I'd say: "I'm from Glenview, a nice town in northern Illinois, and we have a working 20-acre farm right smack in the middle of town."

This induces a blank look on the fellow traveler.

How about: "I'm from Arlington Heights, Illinois, a really nice city with a lot of parks and churches and one closed racetrack?"

I'm somewhat confused by all this. I worked on Chicago papers for 40-plus years. As a columnist I was regarded by some as a voice of Chicago.

But every night after work I drove or took the train back to Glenview. Most of the Chicago paper's editors lived on the North Shore. I think most of them still do.

Previously I had lived on Greenwood on the South Side, and on Elm, Barry, and Sheridan Road on the north.

I played on a 16-inch softball team in the suburbs, but one year we won a tournament against the best Chicago teams. Our best players had moved from Chicago.

Television hasn't helped. Every night we get news of the latest killings and fires and accidents and whatnot in Chicago. The stations have as many or maybe more viewers in the suburbs, but a fraction of the TV news involves the suburbs.

I guess one reason is we don't have enough shootings and rapes. A 20-acre working farm and no homicides doesn't make for lively television.

Snow storms are equalizers. The TV crews usually head for the suburbs for snow shots.

I like Chicago. It's a city which we can be proud to be a part of.

A suburban part. But I'll still say "I'm from Chicago" if I ever get back to Holland. And the Dutchman will say: "Ahhh Michael Jordan."

He used to say "Ahhh ... Al Capone."