Southern Man

His voice was thick as Delta mud. "I just looove New York City," Kenneth Conn told me, sitting in Langan's on W. 47th St.

The 31-year-old Conn was born and raised in a small town in Mississippi. According to family legend, a local college girl and a professor are his birth parents, but they couldn't raise him. No official adoption records exist, so Conn has never been able to uncover their identities. But he has his suspicions.

"I've always been fascinated by New York City. There has to be some kind of blood connection with one of my birth parents because, throughout my life New York has been like a magnet to me."

When he was 13 years old, Conn declined Christmas gifts, asking instead for cash. With that money, he bought a one-way Greyhound ticket to New York.

"I got picked up as soon as I left the bus in the Port Authority? The Port Authority cops brought me to a caseworker. I didn't want to tell them where I was from, but I finally did. Later that day they put me back on a bus to Mississippi."

Conn was never unhappy with his parents; he just wanted to live here. At 16, he enlisted in the federal Job Corps program, knowing there was a center in the Bronx. After a six-month stay in Tennessee-where he waited for his New York City request to be approved-he was enrolled in the South Bronx Job Corps. on Andrews Ave.

"Coming from small-town Mississippi, it was quite a shock? I was the only Caucasian enrolled in that Job Corps. I had my ups and downs. It was a unique experience. I got my fair share of knowing how a minority must feel."

Conn spent two years in the Bronx, exploring the city and falling in love with it. He got his GED and went home, knowing he would eventually return. In Biloxi, MS, he learned the jewelry and pawnbroking business, mastering his craft and earning a certification in diamond grading.

Eleven years later, Conn sold everything he could, scored a studio apartment via the internet and became a full-time New York City resident. Within weeks he had a job at GEM Financial, a pawnbroking outfit with its main offices in Brooklyn.

"I make three times the money here than I did down South. This is just the greatest city in the world. The opportunities are endless. It is hard to get started, but once you crack the shell, you're welcomed with open arms."

What advice does Conn offer to those seeking to make New York their home?

"Be ready for a tough fight. This city is relentless. But it is worth it."