By Toussaint Fancher, Sarah Barber, Peggy Helman, Alexis Ross, Ty Williamson, Abby Feldman and Catie Lacovara
Medill Reports
Chicago Newsmakers presents the stories of Chicagoans making a real difference in their community. From West Town to North Lawndale, we traveled all over Chicago to find people making a difference in our communities
Transcript:
Barber:
Today on Medill Newsmakers, we have the story of a coach introducing baseball to a new generation, a club trying to clean up Chicago, and a comedian creating a space for all voices.
Fancher:
Hello and welcome to Medill Newsmakers. I’m Toussaint Fancher.
Barber:
And I’m Sarah Barber. Today, we bring you the story of Chicagoans making a real difference in their communities.
Fancher:
We traveled from North Lawndale to West Town and beyond to find the people who are shaping our city.
Barber:
Our first newsmaker is Melissa Lorraine, co-founder of Theatre Y and “Creator of Life Row,” an upcoming independent film that advocates for reinstating parole in Illinois by showing viewers a unique glimpse into Stateville Correctional Center.
Melissa Lorraine, co-founder of Theatre Y:
Theatre Y had been working with a group of men serving life sentences for the last six years. We’ve got cameras inside. We made a show. We performed it in the prison. We succeeded in filming it, and then the men were interested in filming more. Once we had the clearance to bring the cameras in, a lot more men were interested in trying to share with the outside world a little bit about who they were.
Barber:
But Stateville Correctional Center, where Theatre Y was operating its program, closed by order from a federal judge in September 2024 after 51-year-old Michael Broadway passed away from excessive heat. The men involved in Lorraine’s program were sent to nine different prisons across Illinois.
Lorraine:
I left with a certain amount of footage that was interrupted. We did not complete the project that we had been working on, and so we took that footage and tried to turn it into some kind of documentary about the efforts that we were engaged in until we were interrupted. The men had been working really hard to try to expose the inhumane conditions at Stateville for decades, frankly.
Barber:
In 2023, Stateville had the worst building conditions index rating. Eleven of the facilities’ buildings raised concerns due to their degradation, inoperability, and need for replacement. Housing units had structural deterioration from water erosion. These conditions and more led to Stateville’s closure.
Lorraine:
We’re working to try to get that film distributed as widely as we can. The whole effort is to reeducate the citizens of Illinois because I’ve never had a conversation with anyone who I’ve told that we don’t have parole, and that has already known that fact, not legislators, not anyone. We got rid of parole in 1978 because we discovered that the parole board was racist and was releasing more white people than people of color. And rather than fixing the racism of the parole board, we just decided everyone could serve their full sentences, and nobody knows that, and therefore, the men inside who are serving these life sentences, or de facto life sentences, meaning that they’ll die before they are released. They concluded that the easiest brick to remove from the wall was this brick of ignorance, that was really a brave act on their part. They had to be very, very vulnerable in front of their fellow incarcerated individuals in the hopes of reaching the people on the outside, but in the promise of being imprisoned with these individuals on the inside, if they lost their respect or their sense of dignity in front of these other men. So we have a rough cut of a feature-length film, which is about 90 minutes, 85 minutes long. We’re still trying to trim it down. We’re treating it like sort of the director’s cut, where every man that we worked with is represented inside the film, at least once in the footage. But I think ultimately, as we try to create a sharper and sharper tool, we will trim it further and create probably an hourlong version of the film. We’ve approached a PR firm to try to help us distribute it, and we’re raising money right now, or trying to raise money for that PR firm so that we can send it out to all the festivals and do the more traditional route with the film in the hopes that it gets picked up by something mainstream, and the goal is to get it viewed by as many Illinois voters as possible. The film actually speaks directly to Gov. Pritzker and is asking him to grant the clemencies that are stacked up on his desk. The bill that we’re pushing with this film is written by the men inside. It is a remarkable and very thorough and balanced bill that is simply asking for the reevaluation of an individual after 20 years of time in prison. If we just allowed for some education inside of the carceral system, we would be reducing the criminality of the individuals. That, and time and age, and all the other factors that just make it logical to say this individual has served their time. Now this is just cruel and unusual punishment. Now it’s just an addiction to punishment that we’re seeing enacted by ourselves in our society.
Fancher:
Thanks, Sarah. Baseball is no longer America’s sport, but in Chicago, BASE is an organization dedicated to helping young Black men succeed at the game and go further in life. I spoke with coach and director of baseball operations, Frank Brim, who told me more about the organization.
Frank Brim, coach and director of BASE:
Former baseball player, man. I played from the age of, like, 7 years old, all the way up to 45 years old. You know, high school player, undrafted, but got an opportunity to play, go to spring training with the Pirates, as well as the White Sox back in ’77-’78. Learned so much through that process. Man, getting cut is possibly why I do what I do today.
Fancher:
And kind of just talk to me about BASE. You said trying to keep baseball on the West Side. Just tell me about the challenges of trying to do that.
Brim:
It’s just tougher now. It’s tougher now to because I say, I run into this all the time, bumping the young, young kids. And I mean, 5, 6, 7 years old, (I) say, “Man, have you ever considered playing baseball?” And the mom or father is using close proximity, and he said, “No, I’m a basketball, no, I’m a football player.” And I look at the kid and say, wow, this is amazing. You know that we’ve specialized, you know so much now with our young people, with our kids, that they should try to play everything. That’s just my opinion. I know that the entire world does not share that, but I think that playing every sport, any sport, gives you an opportunity to learn how to win, how to lose, and how to prepare for each individual sport is different, and all those things translate into anything you do in life.
Fancher:
You kind of talked about players back in the day had role models to go off of, Jackie Robinson and all these guys, Dave Parker and all these historic baseball players. How do we get back to that point, because we have such little representation in the MLB?
Brim:
What can I do on this level? I could tell you early information is so important, so early introduction to baseball is so important. I try to get kids at kindergarten. I try to get them as early as I can, because I know how our kids, the mindset of our children today, if he gravitates towards basketball, is because he’s made a couple of threes in the dirt or his dad played basketball. So kids usually do what is introduced to them by somebody that they love, and usually it’s a father or mother. And mothers are not introducing boys to baseball like our dads did in my generation, because that’s the game that they played. I think that in order for us to do anything, we gotta start over. And I think, and I’m not talking about anybody in particular, I have a great deal of respect for all the brothers in that are still coaching in this game, but I think that we as men want to win.
Fancher:
Can you just talk about those kids and how they got there, and their importance to BASE?
Brim:
I think most of most of the kids that we have, either we started them out playing this game, or these were the kids that could not make the travel teams. You just weren’t good enough to make the travel teams, according to the assessment of the coaches and of those particular organizations. I really believe this. I really believe that the best players should play against the best players. I believe that. But I also believe that we got to concern ourselves with the rest of the players, and because it does something to a young man’s psyche when all of a sudden you can’t play with your friends anymore. So we wanted to create an environment where our young people could come in and work, work on those weaknesses.
Fancher:
Coming up after the break, you’ll meet two newsmakers trying to make their communities even more beautiful.
Barber:
Stay tuned
Commercial Break
Barber:
Hello and welcome back to Medill Newsmakers. Our next newsmaker is an up-and-coming makeup artist making a name for herself in Chicago. Our Ty Williamson sat down with her to learn more about her growing career. Ty, what can you tell us about her?
Williamson:
Thanks, Sarah. Twenty-eight-year-old Chicago native Raven Jenkins is making Chicagoans feel special with the intimate art form: makeup, turning faces into canvases for their special day.
Williamson:
Raven “thee MUA” is in her rookie year, and she’s taking Chicago by storm from every occasion. Whether it’s your birthday or you’re a part of the “BeyHive,” she can help you with all your glam needs.
Raven “Thee MUA” Jenkins, Chicago makeup artist:
I started doing makeup because I was a dancer. I actually struggled with having people who could do my makeup well and match my skin tone, like people would do my makeup with all different type of products. The real start for me was we did (a) show that was like thriller-themed or something, and we had to do a haunted house, and there was like, special effects people doing makeup. I loved that, so I just kept kind of playing in like that little range of like, scary monster things. And then somehow I ended up in glam. And I just was like, OK, I like doing it on myself. I’m too shy to tell anybody that I actually do makeup.
Williamson:
As Raven transitioned from her love of dance to her passion for makeup, she found herself following the beat of her own drum, landing her at MAC Cosmetics
Jenkins:
During me kind of transitioning ideas, I realized I was getting more excited to do makeup than I was to do the shows. (I) started really practicing in the pandemic, because we were all sitting down. And then something sparked, and I just kind of continued from there. This year, I’m actually a full-time makeup artist. It’s been my first year full-time makeup artist. My clients are either high-profile or they’re just, like, spur-of-the-moment clients, or they just come and walk up and see me.
Williamson:
Raven not only was a performer but a dance teacher. Her love for dancing and passion for glam inspired her to advocate for middle school and college students to embrace the skin that they’re in.
Jenkins:
Low-key working on partnering with some schools to do makeup classes with kids, because I love my babies. I really miss my kids. I miss them so much and representation to little Black girls. I’m working to partner with some schools to bring makeup to them, because it doesn’t just promote looking good and like those kind of things, it also boosts creativity and confidence and showing kids they’re more than just regular careers. There’s other things that people can do. There’s other ways for kids to flourish, and I want to be a part of that. I always draw heart on my name, so it’s like drawing on my face.
Williamson:
While she continues to make her mark, she got to stamp her name on her first celebrity glam clientele: singer Tink’s backup dancers for her Winter Fest Tour.
Jenkins:
(I got that) other opportunity because I am friends with her actual makeup artist. We became friends because she started shopping at MAC, and she hired me to be one of the makeup artists for her dancers for the tour. And of course, I was like, yes. I was like, “Girl, I think I’m on the schedule at work, but I can make it happen.” Great learning experience. It was a great time. To the world for me to show me that I could literally be out there doing that kind of thing. And it was, it was amazing. I loved it.
Fancher:
Thanks, Ty. Our next Medill Newsmaker is also trying to beautify Chicago, but through picking up garbage. Our Abby Feldman sat down with the co-founder of an organization aimed at cleaning up Chicago, one piece of trash at a time.
Feldman:
Thanks, Toussaint. Chicago’s litter problem isn’t just an eyesore; it’s a public issue. One grassroots group is trying to tackle it head-on. I sat down with Katherine Tellock, co-founder of Cleanup Club Chicago, to talk about her work and bigger environmental questions.
Katherine Tellock, co-founder of Cleanup Club Chicago:
We are a volunteer group tackling Chicago’s litter pollution through group cleanups, individual challenges and generally promoting waste reduction. We have about 800 members now across the city of Chicago. We run events from about March to November these days. And to date, we have collected about 37,000 pounds of trash
Feldman:
And when was Clean Up Club Chicago founded?
Tellock:
In the summer of the pandemic, some of us were not working and were unable to really go anywhere. I was picking up trash around my neighborhood as part of Friends of the Chicago River’s summer challenge, and I just started noticing how much there was, and I didn’t want to stop. So I posted about it in a social media group to see if I could get some people to help me. And it kind of just grew from there.
Feldman:
And how frequently do these cleanups happen, and how many volunteers typically show up?
Tellock:
We’re averaging probably about 30 people per cleanup these days. We clean up a variety of areas. (We do) river and beach cleanups, but we also do, you know, up streets, a lot of dumping grounds next to railway areas. And so we’re just, we’re very diverse in the types of spaces we pick up and the parts of the cities we cover.
Feldman:
Can you give me a sense of what you’re collecting and how it’s tracked?
Tellock:
We go by bag count, because weight is too difficult to measure at every single event. We typically go by a standard unit of, like, a kitchen-sized bag, which is about 13 gallons. So some of the cleanups we do have weighing. For example, like river trash is always going to weigh more because it’s like waterlogged.
Feldman:
Some people, some critics, they might argue that these cleanup initiatives, while they’re well-meaning, they might not address the root cause of pollution in cities. How would you respond to that? And what do you think the root cause is, and do you think you’re addressing it with these cleanups?
Tellock:
I think that the cleanups are a great way to educate people on the problem, not just about the event. We are also trying to reduce waste at the source. We are strong supporters of the Styrofoam foodware ban. We are also supporting the plastic bag ban for the state of Illinois. Plastic bags are probably one of the most common things we find. We are also doing data collection and starting to put together recommendations for wards in terms of public trash bin provisions.
Feldman:
Yeah, tell me a little more about those interactions you’ve had with city officials. What do those conversations kind of look like?
Tellock:
We have a strong relationship with Streets and Sanitation because we work with them to pick up our trash bags after our cleanup. So I would like to build on that relationship by talking to them more about public waste bins. In some areas, they’ve removed public trash bins because of people putting their own household waste into there. Maybe the solution is that you need more frequent pickup or something like that.
Feldman:
Yeah, so kind of just lastly, we’re just gonna look ahead real quick. What do you think needs to change in Chicago? Whether that’s the people in Chicago, some of the ordinances, maybe the government to reduce the need for cleanup efforts like yours? Or do you think this will always be an issue?
Tellock:
You know, if every neighborhood with a main street had at least one waste bin on every block, and they were regularly emptied a couple times a week, that that would help.
Fancher:
Thanks, Abby. Coming up after the break, we will introduce you to two newsmakers trying to carve out a new path.
Barber:
Stay tuned.
Commercial Break
Barber:
Hello and welcome back to Medill Newsmakers. Our next newsmaker took an unconventional path to find his purpose. Our Alexis Ross sat down with the owner of the Strugglebeard Bakery. Alexis, what can you tell us about him?
Ross:
Thanks, Sarah. After leaving military life behind, one Chicago veteran found an unexpected path to purpose and built something sweet in the process. Here’s his story.
Quinton McNair, owner of the Strugglebeard Bakery:
So in 2019, retired from the military, first thing I wanted to do is grow my beard out. So here we are, like, you know, five, six years, almost six years later, this is all I got. So that was struggle number one. I came home to what I thought was going to be summertime Chicago, which was, in turn, the pandemic. So diagnosed with PTSD, bit of depression. I was having a hard time with that transition from a purposeful military life to figuring out what I was going to do next. So I was spending a lot of time at home by myself with intrusive thoughts. Somebody posted a cookie recipe — oh that’s struggle number two and three. Somebody posted a cookie recipe, and I was like, “Ooh, I think I can do that.” I made my first attempt, and it turns out I couldn’t do that. The cookies were trash. So that was struggle number four. I don’t like to fail at things, so I kept trying and kept trying. So I kept trying that cookie, and I switched to different kinds of cookies, and I started making my own recipes. And I was making cakes, cupcakes. Every week I was trying my hand at making something different. And in that process, I found peace. It was very, very therapeutic, one to be creating something after being in the military for so long, where we’re taught to win in combat and to destroy things. It felt good to create things. It also felt good to share those things with other people. So I was getting a double dose of therapy from the creation of those. So I would post it on social media because that was our only ticket to the outside world. And as a joke and a nod to how I got there, I would hashtag everything: #strugglebeardbakery.
So when it was time for me to retire, and I decided to come back to Chicago, it was to be the adult that I needed while I was growing up. So it’s extremely important for me to actually give back to the community, so that young gentlemen or young ladies that were in a situation that I was in can now see me as an example of the other way out. The baking is one of the most artful and delicate things that you can do, and it brings me peace. So it’s extremely important for me to put that message out there to align with as many businesses that I can that are also doing good to align with other Black brands. So not only can I elevate that brand, I can probably bleed some of that community service onto them and create this network of dope Black business owners who are doing things not just to make money, but to be a part of the community, to give back to their communities.
I grew up poor, and I’m a girl dad, and I used to buy my daughter’s feminine hygiene products. So I can only imagine how it is to be a young lady who can’t afford that stuff and is embarrassed to ask about it. So we got a feminine hygiene station in the bathroom, where they can come and grab as many as they want or what they want. So stuff like that is important to me to be that small, little light in somebody’s day, because I’ve had some dark days. So it’s important for me to be that light for other people, especially our youth in this area.
The bakery is more than just a place to go get sweets. I want it to be a place where you can go and (do) dope things in the community, from karaoke to Mother’s Day events and stuff like that. Bakery that a great owner who always looked out for us and try to be positive for us. And to do things for us that we couldn’t get other places. That’s the kind of legacy I want Strugglebeard Bakery to be not just the bomb cookies or the great brownies and stuff, but “Hey, this was a great place to make me feel good, for me to go, for me to be influenced, for me to see something positive.”
Ross:
If anyone is struggling with mental health, help is available 24/7 by calling 988.
Fancher:
Thanks, Alexis. Our Peggy Helman sat down with our next Medill Newsmaker, a Chicago comedian who was determined to create a more inclusive comedic scene here in Chicago.
Helman:
Thanks, Toussaint. Chicago’s comedy scene has long been a launching pad for big talent, but for too long, not everyone has had a fair shot at the mic. That’s now changing thanks to people like Mike Abdelsayed. He’s the artistic director of Chicago’s Comedy Clubhouse, and he’s helping shake up the city’s comedy culture. I sat down with Mike to learn more about why making space for all voices is no laughing matter.
Helman:
Hi, Mike, thank you so much for speaking with me today. Could you introduce yourself for us, please?
Mike Abdelsayed, artistic director of One Group Mind:
My name is Mike Abdelsayed. I’m the current artistic director of One Group Mind. One Group Mind is a developing comedian’s union. They run the Titanic Players, which operates at Northwestern University, and the Comedy Clubhouse, which operates in Chicago.
Helman:
Can you talk to me a bit about why you started the Comedy Clubhouse?
Abdelsayed:
So in high school, I did an audition for a musical. And during the audition, and when I was done, I got a standing ovation from everybody in the room. And the director pulled me aside afterwards and said, “You know, I think you both, we both know you had the best audition, but the role is a British role.” And so she couldn’t give it to me because I didn’t look British. Later, I found out British was a quite diverse group of people. I think Britain, it sounds like India, too, for God’s sakes, but so I entered college sort of with this mentality. I kind of thought she was helping me sort of to know what to go for and what not to. And I did something like 23 auditions, and I didn’t get called back for any of them, and I didn’t think I would. They’re like, check off and all that. So I’m thinking in my head that, like, hey, you don’t look the part. So there’s not a lot of opportunities for people of color. And if you don’t know how to make your own, you won’t survive. And so I found myself … Even this building itself is a testament, if you heard during the George Floyd, movement, Second City was called out for the way that they treated their people of color. I was there for a large portion of that. And so, yeah, I think they saw me as a very specific role in the industry. I did not. And so I had to create this place if I wanted to keep doing anything at all.
Helman:
How does the Comedy Clubhouse fill the void of there not being safe spaces for voices of color in the comedy scene here in Chicago?
Abdelsayed:
We have an “I Got Your Back Fund,” which covers the membership of anyone that’s coming from a disadvantaged background. But I’ll admit that there’s just so much I can do. A lot of it has to do with who you’re performing with, and this industry is still dominated by Caucasian males, and you could be the singular voice in a group of 10, and saying all the truth in the world in a comedy scenario just might be the butt of a joke if you don’t have enough numbers. And so I think we still have a long way to go to make it a safe space.
Barber:
Thank you, Peggy, and thank you for watching Medill Newsmakers.
Fancher;
We hope you were inspired by fellow Chicagoans making meaningful change in our city.
Barber:
Have a great day.
Fancher:
Goodbye
Toussaint Fancher, Sarah Barber and Alexis Ross are graduate students at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, specializing in sports media.
Peggy Helman and Catherine Lacovara are graduate students at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, specializing in Video and Broadcast.
Ty Williamson is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, specializing in Investigative Journalism.