Dan Sullivan, my parents' neighbor, was talking about it over the back fence one night. He was saying he sees shards of the Silicon Valley story in DuPage County, where he lives. He watches the valley, he says, to see what to expect for his town in the future. It's coming all right. Twentysomethings are forming start-ups in the corn fields around the University of Illinois' technology incubator.
Technology is seen as a path to riches there, too.
And the residents of Chicagoland are paying the price. People are pressed for time as they scramble to get ahead. Traffic is horrendous. Housing prices are going nuts. Two of my high school friends, now married to each other, work opposite shifts so that one can always be home with their two boys.