Jason Schumer
Boasting four tall towers, each topped by an American flag and flanked by well-groomed flower beds, the South Shore Cultural Center drips of stateliness. Inside there is no less pomp and circumstance—cascading chandeliers, embossed ceilings, detailed early-twentieth century wallpaper, and floor-to-ceiling windows give the space a palatial quality.
Sonia Chou
The Mindful Indulgences chocolate truffles flavor list—balsamic beet, cayenne cashew, curry coconut—doesn’t read like a typical dessert menu. Nicole Davis, who designs and makes the chocolates, wants to “infuse real food into sweets.” Since her South Shore company’s March inception, Davis has been incorporating nutrient-dense spices and natural flavorings into almost all of her organic, vegan, gluten-free, and soy-free truffles.
We were all involved in social movements when we were younger, and now as we’re getting older we’re seeing a new social issue and are forming a new movement.” Continue reading
PLANT CHICAGO, NFP/RACHEL SWENIE. Mayor Rahm Emanuel tours the growing system at The Plant, an urban agriculture organization in Back of the Yards.
We believe that if you have a whole system problem, only a whole system solution can transform it,” announced Naomi Davis, founder and president of the grassroots community development organization Blacks in Green, to an auditorium full of Chicago Humanities Festival patrons on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading
JEANNE LIEBERMAN. A temporary shelter at 71st and East End.
At the northwest corner of the intersection between 71st Street and East End Avenue stands a wooden structure, a shack—something less akin to a building than an overgrown wooden crate marked with a modernist interpretation of tribal designs. The walls are cobbled together from boards, some newly painted pastel yellow, others black, with mahogany and aged pine planks filling in the gaps. The roof falls about four inches short of covering the whole floor on the southern side, leaving something to be desired for anyone who might come to the shack looking for protection from the elements. But as one neighborhood resident put it, “sometimes you just need a place to cry,” and as a personal refuge and a social catalyst the shack may appear oddly placed, but it is well equipped. Continue reading