Who speaks for black Chicago?

Who speaks for black Chicago? 2 Comments

You read the headline on the Chicago Defender that says, “Don’t Count Us Out.” Underneath that it says, “Defender remains a staunch advocate for the community.” On page two, president Michael House refutes a Chicago Sun-Times story about his newspaper’s viability. His 106-year-old newspaper, he insists, is not about to vanish. And you wonder. What [...]

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Written by on November 2, 2011

Saving teens’ hopes, a meeting worth covering

Saving teens' hopes, a meeting worth covering No Comments

We know joblessness is a headache that isn’t going away today. We know that the black and Latino communities have suffered greatly in jobs lost and jobs that won’t ever return. But how about teens? Our economic collapse has tossed teens into a job wasteland. The rate of teens who worked this summer was the [...]

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Written by on October 26, 2011

Hey, did you hear this, read this, know about this?

Hey, did you hear this, read this, know about this? No Comments

Have you been listening to stories on the WBEZ stories about trauma care? I stopped and purposely listened this morning. And I’m glad I did. They are about life and what needs to be done to save lives in Chicago. They are about, more precisely, what happened to trauma care in Chicago and how a [...]

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Written by on October 12, 2011

What’s the real news in Chicago’s African-American community? A public dialogue, Nov. 8

What's the real news in Chicago's African-American community? A public dialogue, Nov. 8 No Comments

Today’s paper says hunger in parts of the South Side are the city’s worst. And there are marches around the city about jobs and justice. And I see the campaigning for the Second Congressional District, Jesse Jackson Jr.’s district, is heating up. Is this the news that  matters to Chicago’s African-American community? What else? What’s [...]

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Written by on October 10, 2011

U-M Center for Chinese Studies Kite Festival and keeping the conversation going | adventures in multicultural living

U-M Center for Chinese Studies Kite Festival and keeping the conversation going | adventures in multicultural living No Comments

An English teacher at Huron High School used one of my columns to stimulate classroom discussion of a Maya Angelou book they were reading — which was so lively it spilled into a second day, and even more impressive, students who normally never talked in class really got into the discussion.

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Written by on October 3, 2011

‘Looking Both Ways’ at the ‘Made in China’ label and 9/11 fears

'Looking Both Ways' at the 'Made in China' label and 9/11 fears No Comments

Looking into the eyes of another and engaging in their arts and learning their language are such important ways to get to know another person, another people, and to help us get past the easy labels and fears.

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Written by on September 23, 2011

Hello world, Chicago is singing your song.

Hello world, Chicago is singing your song. No Comments

Half-way through her performance the other night, Nuriya, whose high energy makes Shakira seem as if she were powered by a tiny triple A battery, stops to tell a story. She recounts how her grandfather who came from Baghdad and migrated to Mexico would always implore her grandmother at large gatherings to sing one of [...]

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Written by on September 19, 2011

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