Grand Crossing

Dance, Chance, and Possibility

At the start of Dance 4 Peace last Saturday, the spacious auditorium of the Gary Comer Youth Center, so usually bathed in light coming through its glass walls, went slowly dark in anticipation for the night’s first dance act.

Past the Line

eta Creative Arts’ current production juxtaposes two one-act plays, “Florence” and “Wine in the Wilderness,” exploring what it means to promulgate any racial agenda, white or black.

Africa in America

  It was late on a frigid Wednesday night, and I was stranded miles from home. Immersed in a sea of unfamiliar faces, I was at a loss to ask someone for a ride home. My company was warm, but…

Fried Chicken for the Soul

“I highly suggest the quarter fried chicken,” says Yvette, my waitress for the day. “It’s what we’re known for around here.” Chicken quarters are lightly breaded in what seems to be a cayenne-infused breading and flour mixture, dunked into a pot of bubbling oil, and served with my choice of macaroni and cheese and chilled coleslaw.

The Lost Stories of ’68

Out of all the documents of the landmark, radical left protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, most people tend to focus on those involving the Youth International Party (more commonly known as the Yippies) and the Abby Hoffman-led “Chicago Seven.”

Directing Democracy

If you didn’t know what was at stake, you might have mistaken the 5th Ward Neighborhood Assembly at St. Philip Neri School in South Shore for a small PTA meeting. By 6:40pm, less than two dozen people had gathered in the school’s blue- tiled gymnasium, only enough to fill the first two of the ten rows of seats that had been set up.