Let's say you want to be a progressive person and do good things in the world, but you're not committed to some single issue that you find all motivating, and you're not an ambitious politician. What do you do? Let's say you go to law school and you've even worked in D.C. but don't just want to spend your life as a lowly paid staffer on the Hill. Well, you could go somewhere, somewhere important, somewhere where you might fit in, and get involved in local politics. This first person account is a great read about what it means to be an active citizen - - not a politician or a full-time activist. Geoghegan went to Chicago. He practiced law, he was involved in local politics. Like your average mobile educated urban person, he tried to find community, and wondered where he belonged and how to make his city a better place. A treat to read because of his keen eye for the ordinary details, and for putting the person into ordinary politics. Instead of a dry analysis, or technical details, or ideology or simplistic or complex policy, Geoghegan gives us a warm personal story that captures our quest to do, to belong, to play some role in our political life, as an amateur, a good citizen, a member of the community.