I see all that is happening in my hometown and in the words of Marvin Gaye, I shake my head wondering, “What’s going on?” From education, the economy, and politics, Chicago seems stuck and in the worst way. Will Rachel Shtier’s critique of Chicago become a reality? She eerily proclaimed that if Chicago was not careful, it too would go the way of Detroit. She received much flack over that statement and her general critique. After my initial anger over her comments subsided, I realized I was angry because her comments, though stinging, were true. While the NY Times went in spin and damage control mode over readers anger at Ms. Shtier, I wrote a piece defending the native New Yorker’s commentary in my post Poor Chicago Indeed.
My critique of the unhappiest city, NYC, was dubbed super critical. However, I will take the good with the bad and keep it rolling. So now I move on to a critique of my beloved, violence beleaguered sweet home Chicago – Chicago at a Crossroad. May it inspire as many comments as the one of NYC.
Feel free to comment via email or twitter. We can agree to disagree and that’s the beautiful thing about discourse. Thanks for lending me your ear even when my commentary may be strong and bitter to digest.
http://rondaisms.kinja.com/chicago-at-a-crossroad-1611371057
Ronda is an attorney, writer, and entrepreneur. She is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. Originally from Chicago, she has lived in Los Angeles and New York. She loves to travel and is passionate about education equity, especially for first generation college students.