I’ve begun posting articles at HubPages. I started it as an experiment in ways to earn more freelance income, but I find myself posting essays from the past that I never quite knew what to do with. Check it out if you like. There are many articles besides mine that you may find interesting.

On a Thursday night in February, at one a.m., the streets around LaSalle and Hubbard look far different than they did when I first started volunteering.

Tonight, among the few vehicles passing by, there are at least three cabs for every car, plenty of parking spaces, and only four people on the street.

Three of them are young black men: one in a new Gap jacket and Nikes sitting on the steps of the furniture store; another leaning against the corner of the darkened Starbucks building, gold chains catching the streetlight beams; and a third walking slowly, hands in his pockets, looking up at every car that passes.

The fourth man is a john cruising by, trying to decide which youth to pick tonight.

via Chicago Street Stories.