The neighborhood was right in line with my liberal leanings, and was certainly the place to be after the horrible riots of the '68 convention. The staff was young and idealistic, and took very seriously our mandate to report the news fairly.

One day a guy walked into my office. He was not much younger than me, a bit disheveled, and was a student at the University of Chicago. He asked if he could be the political editor of the Herald. I liked him right away and hired him on the spot, He was paid $5.00 a week. He and I worked long hard hours writing news of the political future of Chicago and of our community - Hyde Park.

His name was David Axelrod, and he is now the campaign strategist for the most historic campaign I can remember....Barack Obama for President of the United States. I am honored to have "known him when". He was a genius then and a genius now.

Here we are at the Eagle Bar near the University of Chicago campus. He and I (naturally) are on the left.

Cheryl Kravitz, President of CRK Communications, is respected nationally for her expertise in community relations, motivational speaking, crisis communications, media relations, media training, feature writing, diversity training, fund development and issues management. You can contact her at: Crk725@aol.com