I have one opinion to give you in this life, and it is this: those flimsy little paper toilet seat covers in public bathrooms are for fools and cowards and you are wasting my time and yours if you use them.

This is a love letter to the inner city. This is a love letter to a concept of Chicago that is constantly under attack. This is a love letter to the people in the hood who raised me, sustained me, and supported me. I've been trying to write about Chicago violence for a good two months now. The facts are easy to obtain from any major news source, though the way in which those facts…