The Project

“My mother was from Kansas and my father from Kenya, that’s why I have a funny accent.”

– Barack Obama stump speech, 2004

Chicago is one of the great American cities with a series of diverse communities, a proud sense of culture, a smile on its face and a political system as intoxicating as it is infamous. It is a city somewhere between Kansas and Kenya that helped form a political leader with its unique blend of people, politics, problems and promise. Though Chicago is the crucible in which Barack Obama’s career was born he not Chicago; he is not what holds it to the map.

The story of the city has, until recently, received very little attention. Granted, elections are not about the city where candidates are from, but the candidates themselves. But the city of Chicago has unique perspective making it the perfect host for this moment in our nation. And on a single say in November, Chicago’s history will change forever by the tally of votes cast outside of its own politics control and the future of its most famous resident will be determined.

Somewhere Between Kansas and Kenya is a web-based documentation of Chicago in the final three days leading up to the General Election on November 4, 2008. It will take “snapshot” of the city at this specific time in its history by visiting its neighborhoods and communities. The project will utilize open source online tools such as Google maps, Twitter, and Flickr and widely accessible communications tools, such as cell phones, to document the story in this specific window of time.