I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, went to undergraduate school in Evanston, and have been living in Chicago for most of my adult life. I don't know who any of you are, where you are on the globe, any of that. All I know is what the mainstream media is showing the masses about what goes on where I live vs. how things really are. The media doesn't tell you how we manage day to day or how it affects our psychological well-being. Simply put, Chicagoans have now gone completely bonkers. All we seem to do is hurt each other. Between the protesting and the gun violence and the drugs on the west side, it amazes me that anyone can find any peace of mind at all anywhere. There's just so much ugliness everywhere you turn, it consumes you.

So I say to myself: On a scale of zero to Nature Valley granola bar, how much is my city falling apart?