Okay, so for the past six months, I’ve been living as an honorary hippie at a faith based community in Chicago’s Uptown. If you’re not familiar with the neighborhood, Uptown is where Chicago’s down and out congregate. There are bullets and Baptists with pamphlets, flamboyant street walkers and shady street corner pharmacists, immigrants from Africa to Asia, panhandlers and skateboarders. Plus the colorful residents of JPUSA. And […]
Down and Out in Uptown
Creating a Craving for Literacy
Harriet the Spy. Curious George. Homer Price with his donut machine Three of my favorite childhood friends. I would travel around the world and back with them, my ticket to these places being a local library card. Now, kids aren’t even getting off the tarmac of their imagination, as some won’t read anything longer than a tweet. In Asia, there […]
Mosquito Theology
I call him skeeter. That’s what Frank* reminds me of. Actually, with his tweed cap and trimmed beard, Frank reminds me of someone who should be smoking a pipe at an English pub instead of making cornbread at a Jesus Hippie Community. Anyway, he started telling me his story while cracking thirty six eggs. “I was a drug evangelist. I liked them so much, I’d […]
The Year of Mamahuhu
Even before the confetti was swept up from Time’s Square, there were signs that the misfortune of 2014 would be sticking around for a while. Black ice and car crashes. Hungry cats and fur ball treats…with laxative effects. No New Year Kiss. So I went to yoga, trying to start the year off right, look or at least trying to retain bladder […]
National Eat Ice Cream in Bed Day
That day was anything but a bowl full of cherries. The door to my sister’s loft opened, a frosty version of my husband appeared. Ice crystals were stuck to his scruffy beard and eye lashes. “Here,” he passed me a box and gave me a peck on the cheek. “It’s for your mother.” I opened the cardboard box and peered inside. […]
Regifting
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ? John Bunyan It could literally fill a bathtub, that being the amount of jewelry that my aunt had squirreled away in hollowed books in her office. It was willed to my mom, who she passed away last year about now. My thoughts would bump into her […]
Food Wizard
“Just a minute Lord! Before you serve that fish, let me dress it up with a sprig of these!” the bearded boy suggested as he plucked wild herbs from this bush. “Anything else, Mikey?” “Be sure to hone your knife before you cut those loaves. You don’t want to cut your finger.” And that’s how Jesus ended up feeding five thousand instead of […]
Catch of the Day
While most wills leave loved ones big estates, bank accounts or cars, I was left something bigger than I could ever imagine. A seven foot marlin. Julie and eyed the eighty four inch fish, reeled in by my four foot eleven Aunt and bequeathed to me. It was hanging over her king size bed, the blue wash board […]
A New Door
Today, I entered a new door. I moved into Jesus People USA, aka Hippies for Jesus. It’s community style living where the residents serve the poor and homeless in Uptown, Chicago, of which I am one of them. It’s where I’ll be staying until whatever door opens next. Julie Andrews, the housing director, let me into my new home. Make […]
Breaking Bad
If you’re in urban ministry, you know someone who is hooked on: Methcathinone, better known as Crank. Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, better known as Ecstasy. Or oxymetazoline hydrochloride, better known as Afrin. You’re kidding? People are addicted to nose spray? Nasal decongestants aren’t hip enough for their own TV series, but let me tell you,they are just as addictive. And you’re not alone if […]