Stop using Chicago without knowing Chicago.

Chris Boehm grew up in a conservative home in a suburb of Rochester , New York .

He moved to Chicago in 1991 and met his wife at a conference in Chicago .

He says he was smitten by the city's culture, architecture and architecture.

Chicago has had its ups and downs, but Boehm says it's never been violent.

Chicago is a city like any other in the United States of America at this point in time, writes Chris Boehm .

Violence doesn’t define the city, but it didn”t define it in the time of Al Capone or John Dillinger or John Wayne Gacy , he says.

Boehm: Chicago is defined by beautiful architecture, racist housing practices and massive feats of civil engineering.