Opinion and Column Writing @ DePaul University

Maybe I should befriend Victoria Beckham. We would have plenty to talk about: our athletic husbands, oversized black sunglasses, and what it’s like to be on the cover of the tabloids.

Wait. Before you pass judgment, please know that while I chose the husband and the sunglasses, I became a member of the ‘ tabloid cover girl club’ most unwittingly. Continue Reading »

Barack Obama is a white man.

Yes, you read that correctly. Forget the endless stream of analysis and conjecture to suggest otherwise: “Can a black man win over working-class white voters? Is the nation ready for its first black president?”

In reality, the man dubbed the prospective ‘first black president’ can just as accurately be described as, potentially, the 44th consecutive white man to hold the highest office in the land.

You see, Obama is as much white as he is black. Born to a Kenyan father and a white American mother from Kansas, he is of mixed race. Though his background is widely known, I rarely hear news commentators describe him as bi-racial. Nearly every political commentary I have heard or read related to race in the 2008 election, focuses on Obama’s ‘blackness.’ To acknowledge one-half of his lineage to the exclusion of the other is an affront to the growing population of mixed-race Americans who do not fit neatly into one category.
Like Obama, I am the product of an interracial marriage. My father is of Greek and German descent while my mother is African-American and Native-American. My parents married in 1976, just nine years after Loving v. Virginia, the historic Supreme Court Case that overturned many long-standing state laws banning interracial marriages.

Making it legal certainly didn’t make it always easy for multi-racial families like my own. “How will you raise them?” people would ask my mother of her four, caramel-colored, curly-haired children. “What will they be?”

Skeptics worried how we would adjust in this black and white world. Would we be confused or feel out-of-place?

From choosing where to sit in the lunchroom, to the race questions on standardized tests, I faced societal pressure to pick one race or the other. Those test forms were particularly problematic. Check one box only, the forms clearly stated. ‘Black,’ ‘white,’ or ‘other.’ I spent a large chunk of my childhood identified as an ‘other.’

Fortunately, my parents raised my siblings and me to carve out our own identities. We took gymnastics and swimming lessons and participated in community theatre. We also sang in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. community choir and attended a black Baptist church. I proudly embrace both halves of my whole.

My 86-year-old African-American grandmother, who grew up with “whites only” signs, was moved to tears by Obama’s presence in this year’s election. After years subjected to hatred and discrimination because of her skin color, Obama’s presidential feat seemed an impossibility. I can certainly appreciate the progress represented by having a person of color ascend to legitimate contender for president. As a nation, we have come a long way.

But clearly we haven’t come far enough.

Identifying Obama as black-only ignores the progress made by another fast-growing group of Americans. 6.8 million people in this country identify themselves as being of two or more races. That is 2.4 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

For many years, bi-racial children carried with them the stigma of scandal and prejudice. Their identity was scorned rather than celebrated.

Recently, a group of researchers, including University of Chicago professor Steven D. Levitt, released the results of a study outlining “The Plight of Mixed Race Adolescents.” Levitt and company explain that bi-racial or ‘mixed’ children were once considered “to be morally and physically inferior to “pure” blacks, and more prone to diseases.”

Though these longstanding misconceptions no longer pervade common thought, bi-racial Americans continue to face unique challenges.

As a bi-racial American, I celebrate Obama’s position as legitimate contender for president, politics aside.

His campaign is an iconic one for both black and bi-racial Americans alike.

But if we really want to call it progress, let’s embrace Obama for what he is: a blend of two distinctly different races, and living proof that love can transcend racial differences.

Some restaurants, like provocatively dressed women, leave little to the imagination. Like the Mexican restaurants that plaster a red, white and green flag across the front of their bright orange buildings. Or the steakhouses that incorporate a raging bull into the logo. You can drive by these restaurants in any city in any state and know exactly what to expect. Lincoln Park’s newest hotspot Perennial (1800 N. Lincoln Avenue) is the exact opposite, which is precisely what drew me in. Continue Reading »

To any passerby, the Prairie Tower, in the South Loop’s Prairie Avenue Historic District, looks like a dream home. With its red brick exterior, views of Lake Michigan and Soldier Field, and generous amenities, the development drew plenty of interest from potential homeowners like Tom Dzurison. After doing his homework, comparing other properties and developers in the area, the retired school teacher was ready to sign a contract.

“It was considered an up-and-coming [neighborhood],” recalls Dzurison, who moved into the Prairie Tower in 2004, shortly after major construction was complete. “At the time when I bought it, it was such a positive development.” Continue Reading »

Standing in the rain, in front of an empty building, I struggled to hold on to the microphone, my broken umbrella, and a handwritten script,

“Five seconds,” the news photographer said. “And please turn your umbrella so we can see your face.”

I adjusted my umbrella, took a deep breath and waited for my cue. Continue Reading »

Of all the reasons to support Chicago 2016, here’s one you probably haven’t heard of. Bringing the Olympic Games to Chicago could help you shed a few pounds. Seriously, chicago2016.org lists “motivating Chicagoans to get in shape” as one of the benefits of being a host city. I know it sounds funny, but think about it. Continue Reading »