Neighborhood
Polish Nights
Kids are always looking to the weekend to have a good time. That holds true on the South Side of Chicago as it holds true halfway across the world in Poland. Yet while the law restricts under-agers from having too good of time in the States, Poland allows a bit more leniency. A typical... »
Breakdown
The communal dining room and kitchen at Northwest Mental Health Center has long been a fixture of programming at the clinic. Rosa Torres, who has worked as a clinical therapist at Northwest for 21 years, recalls how busy the kitchen used to be. Many of the clinic’s Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Support (PSR) programs were... »
In with the new
January is never an easy time. Resolutions made in earnest at the start of the New Year quickly slip away. The realities of daily life reassert themselves and life falls back into its old, familiar patterns. One week into this new year, Aspire, a nonprofit helping individuals with disabilities, and Amigas Latinas, a group... »
Emerge and See
Imagine the shockwaves that would ensue if a slave ship docked at the feet of the Statue of Liberty in present times. Renaissance man Daniel Beaty’s dynamic one-man play “Emergency!,” which landed at the DuSable Museum for two performances this past weekend, attempts to capture that hypothetical moment. Standing alone on a stage set... »
Game, Set, Match
Bibiana Suárez’s latest exhibit—an installation piece that combines the voluptuous rear-end of Jennifer Lopez, three glittery cowboys, vintage maps, and hand-painted signage—is an exhibit that attempts to speak for the growing sentiment of latinidad. The notion of a pan-ethnic solidarity amongst people of all Latin American origin became pertinent to Suárez in 2000, when... »
Garden Fresh
The Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments in Bronzeville are a sorry sight. At one time, this building was among the city’s largest housing projects. It was built in 1929 by Julius Rosenwald, owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company, at the request of Rosenwald’s friend, Booker T. Washington. Stretching west from Michigan to Wabash and north... »
A Timely Conversation
Norma van der Meulen says that she is getting old, that she can’t quite remember as well as she used to. She is modest, seated in front of a pot of tea in her Hyde Park apartment. Her eyes come alive behind her glasses. Opera comes from WFMT in the background. A small-town Ohio... »
New Beginnings for Woodlawn
If it were up to Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church, Chicago would be filled with “contemporary, credible, and creative” neighborhood centers. These spaces would offer everything from job placement services and drug rehabilitation assistance, to green technology labs and Panera Bread franchises. They would be hubs of activity, located at the heart... »
