God In Chicago

As I drive up Princeton Street, I couldn’t help but think about the cruel irony of the street’s name. A name it shares with one of America’s oldest institutions of privilege, power, and wealth.This street runs as a kind of middle track between the Dan Ryan Expressway and the Norfolk Southern freight train tracks. If you were doing one of those ESPN feature profiles of a young athlete from the “mean streets” of Chicago’s south side, the landscape of this street on this morning is the video footage you would see: gray skies, bordered up homes, vacant lots, few businesses.As I waited for the event to begin, I watched the comfortable conversation between pairs and small groups of people as they made their way to their preferred rows.Next to me, a 3-4 year old boy politely steps into a conversation between two women discussing pre-kindergarten registration:“Can you please top talking to my mommy?”Both women laugh. This child looks comfortable in this space. He has been here before many times. He recognizes faces,