David E. Thigpen is Vice President for Policy and Research at the Chicago Urban League and principal author of the League’s 2008 economic “Futures” study. He is a former staff correspondent for Time Magazine. From 1993 to 2000 he was a New York-based writer for the magazine, covering popular music and the arts. He has also written widely on politics, sports and the worldwide significance of Cuban music. His work has also appeared in The New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine, and he is a frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune Literary Review. Thigpen holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.S. from Columbia University. He lives in Hyde Park with his wife, Veronica, and their daughter, August.