Features

Comics Issue 2019 | Features | Food

Church Business

Sanctuary Cafe was supposed to be a much-needed space for the marginalized, but it lasted just two years. What went wrong?

by 1 week ago 1 Comment

Katie Hill

When K. was offered a position as artist-in-residence and curator at Sanctuary Cafe, a coffee shop located inside of University Church, she was thrilled. It was the summer of 2018. K.—an artist and a parishioner at the Hyde Park church, who requested to be identified by her first initial so that her artworks would not be associated with this story—found herself in an Uber Pool with Martin McKinney and Ellen Lose, both managers at Sanctuary and fellow parishioners at the church. They recognized her from the congregation, and as they got to chatting about K.’s art, she realized they all shared a common vision: art not for art’s sake, but for the public good. 

Development | Features | Woodlawn

On the Corner

At the intersection of 63rd & Cottage Grove, developers are shaping Woodlawn’s future by curating its past

by 4 months ago 2 Comments

Davon Clark

With the Obama Presidential Center proposed for Jackson Park, the University of Chicago’s continuing development along 61st Street, and a myriad of other projects large and small, residents are asking: what will Woodlawn become? This is the third article in a series investigating the past, present, and future of the neighborhood. Read the first here, and the second here.

Elections | Features | Pilsen

The Ward Organizations

Burning and building bridges in the race for alderman in the 25th Ward

by and 5 months ago 1 Comment

L-R: Alex Acevedo, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Troy Hernandez, Hilario Dominguez, Aida Flores (Katie Hill)

Six months ago, 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis’s grip on power was starting to feel a little shaky. After serving in City Council for twenty-two years, aligning himself closely with Mayor Richard M. Daley and then Rahm Emanuel, criticism of Solis was reaching a fever pitch. While longterm ward residents faced increased property taxes and skyrocketing rates of displacement, Solis greenlit new developments marketed toward young white professionals. Community organizations were fueling a swell of anti-gentrification activism, with Solis cast as the central, money-grubbing villain. And candidates were lining up to run against him in 2019, with five challengers ending up on the ballot.

Features | History | Parks | South Shore

A Palace for the People

South Shore residents continue a long fight to make the South Shore Cultural Center a space for community arts

by 5 months ago 7 Comments

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.

Development | Features | History

The Fight to Remain

A new affordable housing complex at 63rd and Cottage Grove has Woodlawn’s low-income residents wondering about their place in the neighborhood

by 6 months ago 2 Comments

Woodlawn Station, one of Preservation of Affordable Housing’s new buildings at the corner of 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Daley’s, the city’s oldest restaurant, is set to move into the development from its current location across the street. (Jason Schumer)

With the Obama Presidential Center proposed for Jackson Park, the University of Chicago’s continuing development along 61st Street, and a myriad of other projects large and small, residents are asking: what will Woodlawn become? This is the second article in a series investigating the past, present, and future of the neighborhood. Read the first here.

Development | Features | History | Politics | Woodlawn

Where Are You Going, Woodlawn?

At a community celebration, residents and visitors consider the neighborhood’s next chapter

by 9 months ago 3 Comments

Ireashia Bennett, Ellen Hao

With the Obama Presidential Center proposed for Jackson Park, the University of Chicago’s continuing development along 61st Street, and a myriad of other projects large and small, residents are asking: what will Woodlawn become? This is the first article in a series investigating the past, present, and future of the neighborhood.

Activism | Features | Police | Politics

The Fight Over Chicago’s Largest Private Police Force

Organizers return to challenging the University of Chicago Police Department's practices—this time with a more radical agenda

by 1 year ago 1 Comment

#CareNotCops organizers march to the occupation site (milo bosh)

On the night of April 3, an officer of the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) shot a student in the grips of a mental health crisis. Charles Thomas, who had been wielding a metal pole and smashing windows, and who the officer identified as undergoing a mental health crisis before shooting him in the shoulder, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville to receive treatment. Over the following two weeks, he was charged with eight felonies, including assaulting a police officer.

Education | Features

Shimer College Leaves the South Side

An uncertain future for the small, strange Great Books school

by 1 year ago 1 Comment

Lizzie Smith

Three students—an apprentice violin-maker, a veteran, and an aspiring novelist—sit around a sparse but cozy room in a college residence hall in west suburban Naperville. The eclectic trio makes up about one-tenth of the student body of what is now called the Shimer Great Books School, a program of North Central College and the latest iteration of a storied 165-year-old Illinois institution. Just this past September, campus building Seybert Hall became Shimer’s central administrative locale after the school was acquired by North Central. Prior to that, it independently operated as its own accredited institution for about a decade while renting space on the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Bronzeville campus.