![](https://i0.wp.com/nwvu.org/admin/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/chicago_trib_article_12_2013_fi.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1)
When Xatavia Hughes, the granddaughter of a military man, went to serve in Iraq, she was prepared to prove herself to the male soldiers. A month after returning, Hughes found herself in an improbable spot: living in a dorm room at the Pacific Garden Mission, the sprawling homeless shelter on the city's West Side, shielding her two sons from addicts and criminals.
Read more [...]