What is an elected representative school board and why does it matter? Chicagoans don’t get to vote for the people who run our schools. We are the only district in the state of Illinois that does not have an elected representative school board (ERSB). …

The refrain became so familiar, so quickly. I heard it from Joe Biden on the radio just this morning, talking about Charlottesville. I heard it in the days following the president’s first attempt to ban Muslim immigrants from entering the country. …

Considering desire in the past and future of Chicago’s vacant schools. — The late afternoon light coming west on 51st Street lends a gilded edge to the leaves scattered along the sidewalk, reminding me that we are approaching the time photographers refer to as the “golden hour” — when the sun sits in a way that makes even the most unadorned landscapes…

Antiblackness at the root of gun violence “solutions” — When I was 18, a white woman drove me home to my dormitory after a volunteer meeting for a local dog rescue organization. “Home” was the University of Chicago campus. As we drove through the South Side, she commented that this part of the city “has a lot of what…