Between Cabrini and Love Jones: The Common Ground between Two Worlds

Common once said, “My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones.”
That line has always hit home for me.

This episode is about what it means to grow up between struggle and success — to carry both stories inside you and figure out how to honor them both.

My parents worked at the United States Postal Service. They were solid, steady people who built their lives around reliability. But when they divorced, everything shifted. Our plans fell apart, and so did our sense of safety. My mom went from holding things together to fighting for survival, raising us in neighborhoods that tested her every day.

We ended up in the hood, not because of bad choices but because life rerouted us. Still, my mom refused to let that be the end of the story. She crafted a master plan to get us out and keep us out — no matter how many times we got evicted. Every time we packed up, she’d find another place to land. The zip codes changed, but her determination didn’t.

That’s where I started to understand the quiet power of dual consciousness.
 I was living a suburban reality we could barely afford, surrounded by people who never had to think about survival. But I also carried the wisdom of those who did. I could hear both sides of the story, read both rooms, and move through both worlds without losing myself.

Cabrini–Green represented everything my mom was trying to save us from — systemic limits and daily struggle. Love Jones represented everything she believed we could become — creative, confident, and fully realized.

Somewhere between those two worlds is where I grew up.
 That space in between became my education.

Now, as a father, I’m raising kids who live on the other side of that dream. They don’t know what it feels like to watch the lights get cut off or move overnight. Their normal is the stability I once prayed for.

That’s a blessing, but it comes with a challenge.
 How do I teach them the value of struggle without recreating it?
 How do I help them develop gratitude when they’ve only known comfort?

This episode is about that tension — the beauty and the burden of being the bridge.

Because the truth is, being between worlds doesn’t mean you’re confused.
 It means you’re fluent.

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