Category: Blog

Reflections on the Asian American Community in Illinois

Over the last two decades, the Asian American community in Illinois has doubled in size to close to 700,000 residents.  In just the past decade, over 200,000 Asian Americans have moved to our state, and while 40% of them have settled in Cook County, that means that 60% of them are living, working and raising their families… Read more »

Why I like NFL Training Camp, but Love Camp Wellstone

NFL Preseason is in full effect and e-mails from friends are now circulating about playing some pick-up football to celebrate the coming season. As a former mediocre high school football player, I must confess that I hate playing pick-up football games. Sure, the camaraderie is fun with friends, but pick-up football misses the core elements… Read more »

What do Mixed Martial Arts and Voting Rights have in common?

For those of you living in a cave the last few years, one of the fastest growing sports in America is Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). This combat sport is most well-known by its largest promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which is the undisputed “big leagues.” This past Saturday, Chan Sung Jung (aka “Korean Zombie”)… Read more »

What defines you?

What defines you?  (my dreams; my passion; my music; my past and present; my future; my experiences.)  — Impact Fellows, writing about Kinetic. This summer, five of our Impact Fellows began the work of building an infrastructure for a high school youth program at two local community-based organizations (CBOs), based on our Kinetic program.  While… Read more »

Flooded Basements and Naturalization

A guest post from a 2013 Impact Fellow Thursday night my tita’s (aunt’s) basement flooded due to the neighbors kid leaving the garden hose on.  Intentional or unintentional is unclear, but that is besides the point. While helping my tita salvage items from the basement, I found a bag that had my late lolo’s (grandpa’s)… Read more »