Introducing Off the Grid and Alex Kotlowitz

Off the Grid features a local writer who posts about topics of his or her choosing—anything from personal essays to reported pieces. The only requirement is that the stories be about Chicago and its people. Our current writer-in-residence is Celeste Watkins-Hayes, a sociology professor at Northwestern University whose areas of interest include urban poverty, social policy, HIV/AIDS, and issues of race, class, and gender.