Activism | Features | Police | Politics
Comics Issue 2018 | Features | Nature | Sports
Surfing Through the Sludge
Lake Michigan surfers brave freezing cold—and toxic—waters, while the Surfrider Foundation sues to clean them up
The Fight to Stay
An innovative new housing cooperative may be a solution for residents to combat Pilsen’s gentrification
Between the Three of Us
The Petty sisters meditate on growing up on the South Side
Interviews | Music | Radio
Melkbelly: Living the Yard Sale
The Pilsen-based band on the success of their 2017 release Nothing Valley, touring with The Breeders, and the origins of the name Melkbelly.
Their Body, Their Choice
A new interactive play challenges us to think about teen abortion differently
Bridgeport | Education | Visual Arts
Bridgeport Elementary Schoolers Map Their Neighborhood
Educators with the Hull-House Museum work with Armour students to consider their community
Turning Up the Heat
Two Chicago sauce-makers show their mettle at the city’s first (annual) hot sauce expo
Nature | Stage & Screen | Visual Arts
Sites for Leisure, Sites of Danger
Artists and activists discuss reclaiming parkland as a public space
Sitting With Gwendolyn
A new sculpture will be unveiled to celebrate the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks
Shimer College Leaves the South Side
An uncertain future for the small, strange Great Books school
Growing Neighborhoods
An art exhibit connects local goals and larger climate problems
Activism | Politics | Religion
Bailing Believers Out
Organizers frame cash bond abolition as a Muslim issue
Redlining Remembered
A new memoir wrestles with a familial history of racism and redlining
We Got Power, and We Got Love
The Chicago Torture Justice Center honors the mothers of police torture survivors
Why Won't Chicago Say What It's Offering Amazon?
Transparency activist Freddy Martinez on his lawsuit against City Hall
Features | Food | Politics | Woodlawn
God's Little Acres
First Presbyterian Church has fostered community gardens since the nineteenth century. Its now-former pastor nearly put an end to that.
Agriculture | Features | Food | Politics
A Lot to Lose
After the near-sale of a community garden in West Englewood, questions arise about what it takes for gardens on the South Side to stay afloat.
Stewards For the Land
Some of the farmers behind the city’s newer generation of cooperative farms
A City Built on Sludge
An ambitious book chronicles the early years of the South and West Sides’ sewage systems
A New Home for Home Movies
Digital archive immortalizes film footage of family life on the South Side
The Living Legacy of the Pullman Porters
The Pullman Porter Museum renews its push for a national registry
Interviews | Music | Radio
Know Me More
For artist-abolitionist Ric Wilson, Black art need not be bad or sad
Interviews | Music | Radio
Singing Since She Can Remember
Jazz singer Tracye Eileen on her unusual career path
Remembering the Riots, Fifty Years Later
Artists and activists explore the question of how much Chicago, and the Chicago police, have changed since 1968
Reassessing Fritz Kaegi's Victory
The factors that could impede reform to Cook County’s assessment system
Development | Environment | Far Southeast Side | Politics
Planning Beyond Pollution
After manganese regulations, Southeast Side residents push to reconsider the neighborhood’s manufacturing zoning
Mango and Maki on 26th Street
Japanese-Brazilian cuisine finds an audience in Little Village
A Cuban Food Haven
Grilled steak, seasoned veggies, and some of the best café con leche ever
Education | Features | Politics