It’s All Good

Watch the local news and it’s easy to despair about the state of things in Chicago these days. But for all those well-documented troubles, there’s still plenty to love about this town — especially the ordinary people who make our city great. Spotlighting those Chicagoans is the mission of It’s All Good, a Block Club Chicago podcast hosted by Jon Hansen. Each episode profiles a person or organization doing something extraordinary: a Lane Tech student who doubles as an elite chess player, the mother who took on a preschool’s racist hair policy, the barber for the Chicago Bulls, a South Side double dutch club for adults. My favorite is the show’s 14th installment, which tells the story of a South Shore man who lost a prized football championship ring — and then, by the kindness of strangers and something like divine intervention, recovered it 25 years later. Yes, it will make you cry. But trust me: It’s all good.