the reality tunnel

Me this week Last week, I talked with Rhonda Jones-Gillespie, news editor at the Chicago Defender and I feel like I need to follow up with her.  It wasn’t until after our conversation that I realized why there seemed to be a disconnect around some of my questions.  While the Defender does report about African-American [...]

The last two weeks haven’t been very productive for my independent study as I’ve had stories or projects due for other classes.  Though I was too late to shadow youth reporters covering teen depression as part of a Community TV Network summer program, I was able to watch the youth film their introduction sequences, get [...]

This was on a scrap of paper on my wall for months.  It was part of an attempt at new songwriting processes.  I’m not sure whether it worked or not.  The passage still describes Chicago, even if the characters have changed a bit. “A commonly observed phenomenon: during the early evening hour, trains, crowded, predominantly [...]

I live in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.  When I tell people where I live, I’m often  asked “why Lakeview?” or given a glum, “oh.  That’s cool.”  My friends in Chicago don’t live in the neighborhood.  People think of it for the college town style bars in Wrigleyville, or going to The Alley when they [...]

This is a letter to the editor that I just submitted in response to an editorial in today’s H-T, Graffiti not art; it is vandalism: I was disappointed by today’s editorial condemning graffiti.  Rather than fostering a nuanced and frank dialog about complicated issues like the state of public and private spaces in Bloomington, the [...]

Next week is spring break for IU and public school students in Bloomington.  I have heard that many students’ spring break trips to Mexico have been cancelled because of parental fears related to reports of drug-trade related violence in Mexico.  Bz came over last night for dinner and brought some mole sauce she got on [...]

I’m in the process of reading the book Sundown Towns and I just started the chapter about “triggers”, or events that Whites used to rationalize running all the Black residents out of town. I was just watching PBS’ Independent Lens when I saw this documentary about Tulia, Texas.  The story sounded all too familiar …

From my pretty removed perspective, I know that there is homophobia in some Black communities.  This dynamic has been getting a lot of attention lately due to reports, which I wrote about earlier, that Black voters in California were instrumental in the state’s electorate passing Proposition 8.  While I believe that homophobia is a complicated [...]

Two days ago, I voted early in Bloomington, Indiana. It took me around forty minutes and was a pretty great experience. I want to encourage everyone who is registered to vote, to do so, but even if you aren’t registered to vote, can’t vote, or choose not to, please go to a polling place on [...]

Via racewire, I can’t believe how much thoughtful analysis Byron Hurt was able to cram into 10 minutes.  It’s a great example of criticism without over-simplified condemnation.   Damn.