When the drag queen known as Hermajestie the Hung reached her breaking point, she transformed into the Joker, becoming the scourge of patriarchy, homophobic lawmakers, and anti-transgender bigots everywhere. 

“She’s that queen that’s just had enough,” Hermajestie told the Texas Observer. 

In reality, “The Queen vs. Texas”—a new short film recently screened at South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in Austin— isn’t exactly a supervillain origin story, but it does depict the transformation Raemonn James, better known as “Hermajestie” undergoes as she applies her drag makeup to become a queered-up version of that mischievous comic book character. 

She’s dressed up for a performance of Vanguard, the drag troupe she led from 2020 until she left the state in 2023, in the wake of a flood of anti-LGBTQ+ laws passed by the Texas legislature. In a way, the 15-minute film also depicts James’ Joker-like political transformation, as the former Texas resident realizes how unbearable and unlivable the cultural landscape has become for her, her son, and her partner.  

“The seriousness of not taking anything seriously that is so iconic about the Joker character, that energy resonates with me,” James told us. “Why are we taking these bozos seriously? These politicians, [these] criminals … Why are we taking them seriously? Why are we playing their games? … the character seems to have a very good understanding that the real joke is reality.” 

(The Texas Observer profiled James and the Vanguard drag troupe in the September/October 2023 issue of our magazine.)

Director Emil Lozada with Raemonn James/Hermajestie the Hung. Courtesy of Emil Lozada

“The Queen vs. Texas” had its origins when director Emil Lozada, who most often creates short films about the environment, became a fan of the weekly drag performances. One night, he and his wife brought along his father and sister, visiting from his birthplace in England.

“Rae actually picked on us because we were sitting up front,” Lozada recalled with a laugh. “She was drilling us with questions, but I think we passed the test!”

That good-natured heckling helped convince him that there was something special about James which he wanted to capture in a documentary. In all, he would spend about five months following James in 2023, documenting several drag performances and following her to three protests against anti-drag bills in the Lege. At one point, James wears a jacket emblazoned with the words “Fuck Patriarchy” as she chants in the capitol and marches through the streets of downtown Austin.

“Violence runs our society and fear of violence, fear of being violated, fear of being stripped away from your family and thrown into forced labor (jail or prison)—we it is what it is,” she said. “Just because it’s become normal to us doesn’t mean that we should not be outraged.”

We’re also given an intimate glimpse into the home life James shares with her partner and their son—the family that James ultimately moved out of Texas in order to protect, even though it meant the end of the Vanguard drag troupe (other drag queens now manage a weekly performance night instead).  

“Whenever legislators are writing laws about how they think drag queens should not be around children, it completely ignores the very real fact that some drag queens have children,” James said. “It showcases how stupid they are but also, I guess it showcases how little they know. People who are trying to ban drag shows have never been to a drag show.”

During our interview, Lozada and James both agreed it took months of building trust before she’d allow him to film these very personal scenes of their day-to-day life, which show heartwarming but prosaic scenes of the family relaxing together on a playground, or James’ son playing backstage.

“Just because you’re a very handsome white man with a sexy accent and a camera doesn’t mean that I’m just gonna let you in my bedroom,” James quipped.”He definitely had to earn his way.”

After SXSW, Lozada plans to circulate the film to other festivals in the hopes of ultimately finding a home for it on a streaming service. In an email sent after we spoke, Lozada told me he hopes the film inspires people to support nonprofits that fight against anti-LGBTQ+ laws, but also to support their local drag shows too.

“Having spent time behind the scenes and witnessed the immense amount of effort poured into each performance, my love and appreciation for this art form has greatly deepened,” Lozada wrote. “Performance art serves as a pivotal medium for conveying messages of love, justice, and activism, with these performers playing a crucial role in shaping a world where everyone is celebrated for being their authentic selves.”

James added, “In all of my artistic endeavors I aim to inform, empower and emancipate. This 15 minute documentary short film presents the passions, problems and power of a local queer community determined to make every space a safe space to exist freely.”

My father was a surgeon, recognized by the state of Michigan for 50 years of service to the profession. My brother is a Mayo-trained neurosurgeon. They both dedicated their lives to healing.

In 1991, my mother was dying of lung cancer. Near the end, she was receiving hospice treatment at home. Despite the care and compassion of hospice, a death from cancer is often excruciating. Cancer cells attack and destroy vital organs, making them unable to function. For my mother, who had a big presence and loved to talk and laugh, her lung capacity was disappearing and she could barely speak, even at a whisper.

I remember Dad standing by her bed and watching her struggle as she whispered, “I can’t breathe.” He turned away and said to me, “Better she should go out into traffic and get hit by a car.”

She wanted to die. He wanted her to be able to die. But she lingered in agony for days as the cancer took away one part of her, then another and another.

My father left the practice of medicine in despair after her death. He couldn’t heal her — and he couldn’t help end her life when she was ready.

Last year my husband, Dr. Leigh Lawton, died of multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. When life as he knew it was clearly over, he spent 16 days in torment because in Minnesota, unlike in 10 other states, Washington, D.C., and in 11 countries around the world, it is illegal to provide medical aid in dying.

My husband’s final request was to ask me to support Minnesota’s End-of-Life Options Act, or Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). This bill would enable adults in Minnesota who are medically determined to be mentally competent and terminally ill, with less than six months to live, to self-administer medication and die peacefully in their sleep. The option is not available to those who are disabled who don’t meet the other criteria or who cannot make this decision for themselves.

The proposed Minnesota legislation has safeguards for patients and medical professionals and very specific punishments, including felony charges and up to 25 years’ imprisonment, for those who abuse this practice through coercion, manipulation, or harm. Medical professionals also may choose not to prescribe end-of-life medications and may refer patients to other physicians.

We can choose to have “Do not resuscitate” orders on our medical directives and to empower our loved ones to withdraw life support when further intervention will be futile. We can even end beloved animals’ lives when their situations become intolerable. Medical aid in dying is available to 74 million people in the U.S. and to 300 million people worldwide — but not to people in Minnesota.

Nearly all of the patients choosing Medical Aid in Dying have had cancer, like my mother and my husband, or ALS. Cumulative longitudinal data from the U.S. jurisdictions where medical aid in dying is available show that not a single criminal or civil charge has ever been filed on any substantiated case of abuse or coercion. Not one.

I have already testified for this bill twice this year at committee hearings in the Minnesota House of Representatives. The bill has passed in three House committees but on strictly partisan votes. Since when is death red or blue?

There has been no action in the Senate.

This is the second year of Minnesota’s legislative biennium, meaning that if the bill doesn’t pass this year, it starts over, at zero, in 2025. It has languished at the Capitol since 2015.

Sen. Erin Murphy is the majority leader of the Senate, and she is also one of the authors of this bill. Sen. Melissa Wiklund chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee where the bill must be heard.  Please, senators – don’t put this off again and again and again. Legislators tell me that they’ve received more letters and calls urging support on this issue than on any other single bill.

Sen. Murphy office number is 651-296-5931. Sen. Wiklund’s office number is 651-297-8061. Senate File 1813 must be heard in the Senate by a March 22 deadline or it will be another year before it can be considered.

How we die matters.

Ellen J. Kennedy of Edina is executive director of World Without Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

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Any performance review of Ryan Poles’ first two years as Chicago Bears general manager has to be stamped with a big, red “Incomplete.”

As Poles said at the Bears end-of-season news conference earlier this month, his rebuild of the Bears, who finished 7-10 last season, is “just not there yet.” Some of the team’s young players still are developing. Poles still has some roster holes to fill and depth to build. And he has major decisions ahead that will affect the trajectory of the franchise.

The most crucial decision, of course, is whether Poles will select a quarterback with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFLdraft, stick with three-year starter Justin Fields at the position — or do both.

As Poles works to make such choices in a critical third offseason, here’s a look at 10 of the biggest decisions he has made since the Bears hired him exactly two years ago Thursday.

1. Trading the 2023 No. 1 draft pick.

When Poles traded the No. 1 draft pick to the Carolina Panthers last March, he described himself as “over the moon” to add not only first-round picks in 2023 and 2024 and second-round picks in 2023 and 2025 but also wide receiver DJ Moore.

Poles has to be somewhere well beyond the moon now given the way the trade has played out, perhaps most notably getting the No. 1 pick this year courtesy of the Panthers’ 2-15 finish.

Moore’s 1,364 receiving yards on 96 catches in 2023 ranked fourth all time among Bears single-season leaders. And rookie right tackle Darnell Wright and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, the players acquired from the 2023 draft picks, turned in promising rookie seasons. (The Bears drafted Stevenson with the help of a second trade.)

One potential criticism of the trade, however, is that Poles decided to give Fields at least one more year as the Bears starter rather than taking a quarterback prospect such as C.J. Stroud, who was selected at No. 2.

Given Stroud’s success in helping the Houston Texans to the divisional round of the playoffs as a rookie, Poles was asked this month if he felt like his team made a misevaluation.

“You have to take in what’s best for your team,” Poles said. “So when you look at that situation and how it ended up playing out, to have DJ, to have Darnell, to have Stevenson, to have the first overall (pick) and to have the second(-round pick) next year, I feel like that’s the best for our organization.”

Now Poles has the opportunity to build up the return of the trade even more depending on what he does with the 2024 No. 1 pick — setting up what could be a pivotal moment in team history on April 25.

2. Hiring Matt Eberflus — and retaining him.

Two days after the Bears hired Poles as GM on Jan. 25, 2022, Poles landed on Eberflus as his head coach from a group of finalists that included Dan Quinn and Jim Caldwell.

Poles said at the introductory news conference that he was so confident in Eberflus, a longtime defensive coach and coordinator but first-time head coach, that “the moment he walked through the room I knew he was the guy, especially when he started going through his plan.”

Poles has continued to offer support for Eberflus despite the coach’s 10-24 record — including 2-10 in the NFC North — over two seasons. And Poles did so again this month when he affirmed that Eberflus would return for a third season. He cited Eberflus’ leadership and stability through a turbulent season that included a 2-7 start, defensive coordinator Alan Williams’ abrupt exit and frequent quarterback speculation as reasons he wanted to retain the coach in 2024.

“When you go through hard times and he can keep everyone together, to me that’s like the critical piece,” Poles said. “In a big market like this, you have to be strong. … So the stability was a big piece of it. The detail that he coaches with. Taking some of the mistakes from the game, bringing them to practice and making sure that we’re doing things the right way, I saw a lot of progress in that. There’s a reason why we went from three to seven wins. … If it’s not for him, I really don’t think that’s the case. I think it starts to crumble, everyone starts to do their own thing.”

Poles and Eberflus have shown a willingness to move on from other coaches. The Bears fired running backs coach David Walker midseason for what Poles said was not meeting team standards of conduct. And they fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and four other assistants this month.

But Poles tethered the Bears’ future success to Eberflus, whose defense at least made visible strides by the end of the season.

Taking that track of consistency eliminated the possibility of Poles hiring certain top offensive coaching candidates whose eyes are on becoming a head coach instead of an OC, but Poles seemed convicted in the decision. Eberflus hired new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, the former Seattle Seahawks OC and play caller, to guide whichever quarterback helms the Bears next year.

3. Trading for defensive end Montez Sweat.

On locker clean-out day at Halas Hall, Sweat called it a “cool stat” to be the first player in NFL history to lead two teams in sacks in one season. He had 6 1/2 sacks with the Washington Commanders and then six with the Bears after Poles acquired him for a 2024 second-round draft pick.

“But really when I look at that, I feel like I left a lot of meat on the bone,” Sweat said. “So I’m going to analyze that over the offseason and come back ready to go.”

Sweat already got off to a pretty good start with the Bears as one of the driving forces in the late-season defensive turnaround. He had 14 quarterback hits and 21 pressures, according to Pro Football Reference, and became what Poles called “a multiplier.”

“He helped that entire defense,” Poles said. “When you add players like that, all of a sudden you could see everyone had a little more swagger to them. I think it affected the back end. You saw interceptions go up. You saw us win more games. The “Tez Effect” there. Really proud of that one. Great human being too.”

Poles took a risk in trading for Sweat before having an agreement on a contract extension. But the Bears signed Sweat to a four-year, $98 million contract four days after the trade, and the early returns are good — though Sweat still has a long way to go to make the contract worth it.

4. Trading away edge rusher Khalil Mack.

Poles certainly started his Bears career with a bold move — trading the team’s best player.

Poles’ trade of Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers in March 2022 set the tone for a multiyear rebuild. The Bears gained needed draft picks, which they turned into second-round safety Jaquan Brisker, seventh-round safety Elijah Hicks and seventh-round punter Trenton Gill. And they freed up some salary cap space.

“I would understand why some people would be upset,” Poles said after the trade. “It’s not easy for us to do either but again that’s kind of the name of the game. That is my job is to do what I think is best for the organization for now and the future.”

Of course, the Bears still could use a player like Mack, who at age 32 had a career-high 17 sacks, 21 tackles for a loss, five forced fumbles and 10 passes defended. He has been named a Pro Bowler twice in two seasons with the Chargers.

5. Drafting right tackle Darnell Wright over defensive tackle Jalen Carter.

Carter was considered by many analysts to be the most talented defensive player in the 2023 draft, but his buildup to the draft was turbulent.

During the NFL scouting combine, news broke that Carter was involved in a crash that killed a Georgia teammate and staffer. Carter, who was driving a different car than the one that crashed, later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of racing and reckless driving. Amid that turmoil, Carter also struggled to get through his pro day workout in Georgia.

When Carter was available at No. 9 for Poles to select in April, the Bears GM instead traded back one spot, allowing the Philadelphia Eagles to take Carter and earning the Bears a 2024 fourth-round pick. The Bears then nabbed their first-round choice at No. 10: Wright.

Carter and Wright both were named to the Pro Football Writers of America’s all-rookie team this week. Carter had six sacks, nine quarterback hits, eight tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and a fumble return touchdown for the Eagles. Wright started all 17 games for the Bears at right tackle.

Poles said this month that he feels really good about the move and raved about Wright’s potential.

“Darnell did an outstanding job,” Poles said. “He continues to work on his technique. Once he closes the technique gap and the consistency of using the right techniques versus the right players … There’s a Rolodex that you’ve got to build out in terms of the pass rushers that you go against, because they all have different stuff. So once he starts putting that together, you’re going to see a really good player.

“He’s out there right now as a rookie just using his natural ability. In a lot of games, that was good enough, but there were some games and some reps where it wasn’t good enough, and he’s got to continue to get better. And I know he’s going to put the time in. But he’s made of the right stuff. He’s tough. He’s strong.”

6. Trading linebacker Roquan Smith and defensive end Robert Quinn.

In a season and a half since Poles traded Smith to the Baltimore Ravens for second- and fifth-round draft picks, Smith has twice been named an All-Pro and has helped the Ravens to the AFC championship game this season.

Poles said at the time of the November 2022 trade that he and Smith couldn’t find common ground on a contract extension. The Ravens gave Smith a five-year, $100 million deal.

“The reality of it is that you have to ask yourself a question: Are we ever going to find that middle ground?” Poles said then. “It felt like it was highly unlikely. So then are you able to then take the opportunity to enhance your roster now? Or are you OK with the chance that he walks away and we can’t use some of that to enhance our roster? And that’s what it came down to and I felt like we had to move forward at that time.”

Poles turned the draft picks received in the trade into defensive tackle Gervon Dexter and linebacker Noah Sewell, and Poles spoke highly this month of Dexter’s development in his rookie year. But it’s fair to wonder on the outside why the Bears couldn’t make it work with Smith.

The trade of Quinn to the Eagles hasn’t left as many questions, even though Quinn had 18 1/2 sacks with the Bears in 2021. Quinn didn’t play this season after he was charged with hit-and-run and assault in August in South Carolina, ESPN reported. The Bears used the fourth-round pick on wide receiver Tyler Scott, who had a bit of a bumpy rookie season.

7. Signing linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards.

The flip side to the Smith trade is the Bears signed two linebackers in the offseason who found their groove together as the season went on and became key team leaders too.

The Bears signed Edmunds to a four-year, $72 million contract and Edwards to a three-year, $19.5 million contract, which now looks like a steal given his play in 2023.

Both players had the type of ball production the Bears wanted to see from Smith. Edmunds received the Bears Ballhawk Award for 2023 after totaling four interceptions, including a pick-six, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Edwards added three interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

“You can kind of see it from when they got here just how competitive they are,” linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi said last month. “It’s been pretty consistent throughout the whole season, just their love and passion to play the game, and it carries over to Sunday. How they prepare really affects how they play on Sunday, and the way they prepare is unbelievable. It kind of rubs off on the rest of the group, and it’s been such a positive impact not just for the play on the field but the guys around them as well.”

8. Signing tight end Cole Kmet to an extension.

Poles’ first extension for a player the Bears drafted came in July when Kmet signed a four-year, $50 million deal. Kmet said at the time he wanted to prove the Bears right, and then he put together his best season in four years, totaling 73 catches for 719 yards and six touchdowns.

“We’ve seen Cole get better and better ever since we’ve been here,” Poles said after the extension. “We’re excited for him. He embodies everything we look for in a Bear: hard work, dedication, how he handles himself in the locker room. He’s a true professional.”

Kmet’s extension, however, was sandwiched by two the Bears couldn’t get done, the aforementioned Smith negotiations and talks with cornerback Jaylon Johnson. The Johnson talks broke down at the 2023 trade deadline, resulting in Johnson requesting a trade that didn’t materialize. But Poles said last month that he is confident the Bears can work something out this offseason with the cornerback.

9. Using three second-round picks on the secondary.

Among the major focuses of Poles’ first two offseasons has been rebuilding the Bears secondary.

Poles used second-round picks in 2022 to draft cornerback Kyler Gordon and Brisker, then used another second-round pick to draft Stevenson in 2023. Poles also added fifth-round cornerback Terell Smith last spring.

The result has been a promising young group anchored by more veteran players in Johnson and safety Eddie Jackson, both of whom Poles must make decisions about this offseason.

At nickel, Gordon took a big leap from his rookie year to his second season, and Brisker also continued his development. Stevenson and Smith dealt with growing pains but also flashed enough potential to get the Bears excited about the group under cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke.

If Johnson is back and the players stay healthy, it could be a strength in 2024.

“You’ve got to give all the credit to those guys. The work they put in is incredible,” Poles said on the team’s pregame radio show in December. “I look out my window even after practice, for 20-30 minutes after, and those guys are still working on ball skills to be able to finish and get interceptions to the little footwork, nuances of the position and the different coverages. They put a lot of work in and they’re reaping the benefits.”

Of course, making those moves to build the secondary has come at the expense of depth at other positions, and the Bears notably still need help on the offensive line and at wide receiver.

10. Trading for Chase Claypool — and then trading him away.

Poles offered an interesting nugget of information while thanking the leadership of Chairman George McCaskey and President and CEO Kevin Warren earlier this month.

Poles said he was reflecting on a trade midseason that went poorly, entering it into a decision log where he discusses what he can do better.

“We met on that, and they both supported me in terms of saying, ‘Keep shooting your shot, man. If you put your log together, you’re hitting those boxes that it feels right, and it’s going to help our team, keep shooting your shot,’ ” Poles said. “For a decision-maker to have that type of support is incredible.”

Poles didn’t say whether the trade he was bummed about was the November 2022 acquisition of Claypool, but that was among the biggest errors of Poles’ short tenure thus far. He traded a second-round pick for Claypool, who then managed just 18 catches for 191 yards and a touchdown in 10 games with the Bears. The team benched Claypool in October for poor performance on and off the field and then traded him to the Miami Dolphins for a 2025 sixth-round pick.

Poles, however, continued to shoot his shot. Twenty-five days after parting with Claypool, Poles acquired Sweat, and the Bears defense began its turnaround, which in turn helped make a case for Eberflus to retain his job.

Another web of decisions lies ahead in 2024.

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When Chicago was selecting sites for a new casino in 2022, we endorsed the bid that would have landed the giant entertainment center on the plot of land known as The 78, the name being a concise riff on Chicago having 77 official neighborhoods.

Why? For starters, The 78, which is bordered by Roosevelt Road to the north, Clark Street to the east, 16th Street to the south, and the South Branch of the Chicago River to the west, is an enviable, shovel-ready site for development.

Its selection for the casino would not have, ahem, displaced anybody and at considerable expense. It offered river frontage, leading us to envision lovely waterfront bars and restaurants that would not attract the free-and-clear objections and lawsuits that applies to lakefront projects and that could, in essence, extend the trajectory of Chicago’s successful River Walk to the North. There is room to breathe within this 62 acres of former railroad land, now owned by developer Related Midwest, and The 78 is supremely well served by existing modes of public transportation. That would be especially the case once the long-planned new CTA station is built at 15th Street.

All of those arguments would apply just as well to a development that included a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox.

But that wasn’t the most important reason why we were, and are, so enthusiastic about The 78.

Right now, it’s a barren barrier, a dead zone undermining the potentially symbiotic relationship between Chicago’s Loop and the South Side.

If The 78 were developed, and done right, it could relink the South Loop with Chinatown and Bronzeville and could radiate economic development out from the business district to the south, filling the kind of hole that the West Loop entertainment district has plugged to the west and that the Gold Coast residential neighborhood long has provided to the North. Get rid of that no man’s land and just maybe the huge success of Millennium Park, another railroad-related project, from two decades ago could be emulated in a section of the city with a greater need.

The 78 is a huge, fallow asset and, given how well suited it is to entertainment, a casino or (better yet) a new sports stadium is what it needs. For a sense of what this could look like, all you have to do is look at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, with its lively eateries and relationship to a reignited downtown, or to the huge pedestrian area around Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas or, of course, at Wrigleyville.

Guaranteed Rate Field is, frankly, unloved and unlovely. It’s too harsh, isolated, steep, hemmed in and fan-unfriendly. The neighborhood often has been resistant when it comes to developing the surrounding parking lots into fan amenities. Despite its relative youth, it’s a relic of a time when the stadium still was just the stadium. Now, as we well know, sports teams don’t so much hope to spark development as to control (and ideally own) what goes on down the street, where fans stay, eat and play.

Unlike the NFL, which plays few games a year, Major League Baseball plays all summer long with scores of home games each season. Office workers could walk to the new stadium from the Loop, potentially a carrot when it comes to getting workers back downtown.

We understand, as tourism officials well know, that the Cubs and the Sox are very different propositions when it comes to economic development. The Cubs attract huge numbers of out-of-town fans who stay in hotels and cite Cubs games as the anchoring reason for their weekend visit. The Sox fan base is primarily local, spinning off far less secondary spending. But that does not have to remain the case. The site where the games are played is a big factor.

We’ve long been on record believing the days of handing over taxpayer funds to hugely profitable sports franchise owners should be over. We’ve said many times that the Chicago Bears, still playing the long game of chicken or persuasion or whatever, should pay for their own stadium, being a private business planning to operate in a private facility.

We feel that same way about the White Sox, although that view doesn’t preclude city and state governments from working with the team (or with the Bears, for that matter, if they’re serious about staying in Chicago) to make any move as hospitable and supportive as possible. It’s not unreasonable to chip in on infrastructure and the public areas, especially if the site also is going to include housing, parks and the like. Even Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, whose ward long has been home to the White Sox, has said she is impressed with the plan.

No doubt tax increment financing will be needed, which some would call a form of public financing. Philosophically, in terms of insisting on private investment, the devil is in the details there — TIF money can go to public improvements that arguably a private developer might otherwise shell out for. We note the current mayor’s queasiness on TIFs, given the city’s cash-strapped situation. He ought to make an exception here if the public and private interests are properly aligned. And we don’t see a big problem with basically transferring the existing 2% hotel tax to this project, since that already is dedicated to a similar use.

The fate of Guaranteed Rate Field has to be part of this discussion, of course, and it’s unlikely that site would satisfy the Bears, for most of the same reasons that the White Sox don’t want to stay, even if there were a new stadium. But an empty concrete shell by the side of the Dan Ryan Expressway would not be acceptable. Part of the package should include redevelopment plans: housing, sports facilities for the community, a stadium for the Chicago Fire if they are interested, playing fields and other benefits appropriate for a facility built with public money and owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

All of those debates are to come. But of all the sports shenanigans we’ve written about these last few years, the idea of the White Sox at The 78 is far better than most. We cannot overemphasize the strategic importance of that connective tissue from an economic development point of view.

The 78 could make the Sox, South Loop, Bronzeville and Chinatown big winners, and that’s without having to stuff a slot machine or throw a pair of dice.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

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