Live with Five: Vietfive owner shares struggles, journey to establishing West Loop coffee shop
By Chloe Xu and Ying Julia Jing Medill Reports In the upscale West Loop neighborhood stands Vietfive, a Vietnamese coffee shop owned by Tuan Huynh, who is widely respected as a leader in the Chicago Asian American community. However, he also has a complicated personal and family history. When he first arrived in the United […]
Chicago Foundation for Women President Felicia Davis wants to embrace the ‘others’
By Prerana Sannappanavar Medill Reports Felicia Davis, 53, sits at home in Chicago, wearing her glasses, which are a rare sight in her many TV appearances about her work as a social impact executive. During a Zoom chat earlier this year, she references two significant experiences that molded her understanding of equity and inequity. While […]
Newest crafting craze rug tufting isn’t so tough
By Julia O’Leary and Abby Bustin Medill Reports Rug tufting is the newest crafting craze taking over social media. #Rugtok on TikTok has garnered millions of views. It’s the hottest DIY (do it yourself) project – and you really can do it yourself! With the help of Keaton Wade from Tuft-A-Rug, Illinois’s first rug-tufting workshop, […]
Pranita Nair brings South Asian performing arts, culture, folklore to the West
By Prerana Sannappanavar Medill Reports Pranita Nair, director of Chicago’s Mandala South Asian Performing Arts organization, first came to the United States in 1985. She had been married to an Indian man who had made a life for himself in the U.S. and was accompanying him as his dependent. This was the story of many […]
Payamédicos: Healing with laughter in Buenos Aires
By Chloe Xu and Sijing Yang Medill Reports In the heart of Buenos Aires, the Hospital Posadas becomes a canvas of vibrant colors, harmonious melodies and infectious laughter, breaking through the silence of a February night. Amid this scene, a program known as Payamédicos — a combination of “clown” and “doctor” in Spanish — is revolutionizing […]
Ex-boxing champions inspire youth through training, guiding them away from past errors
By Jason Beeferman, Qi Zhao and Rika Kojima Medill Reports A former heavyweight champion, Fres Oquendo, and an Olympic bronze medalist, Nate Jones, have joined forces to teach boxing to teenagers and kids in Melrose Park, Ill. Boxing provided a safe haven during their troubled past as teenagers. Their mission is to teach disciplines keeping […]
Women boxers in Puerto Rico strive to break the barrier in the male-dominated sports arena
By Rika Kojima Medill Reports Boxing is one of the most popular sports in Puerto Rico. For some, it is not merely a sport but also a way of life. Puerto Rico has the highest number of world champions per capita in the world. There are also prominent female boxers. This video portrays some of […]
Beyond the pandemic: How to set up an ideal work-from-home space
By Yue Li Medill Reports “It’s just temporary. …” Sure. As of June, 66% of Americans worked remotely, at least part time, while 68% would prefer to be fully remote, according to recruiting site Zippia. “Working from home actually works,” said Mohamad Awada, the lead author of a 2021 research study on productivity during the […]
Looking back at Mark Buehrle’s perfect game 14 years later
By Jonah Dayton Medill Reports Scott Reifert had just ignored the president. Mark Buehrle was sitting in the White Sox media room, answering questions from reporters just minutes after throwing the 18th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, when Reifert got the call. “(White Sox owner) Jerry Reinsdorf was standing to the right of […]
Argentine tattoo artist helps women embrace their scars
By Ryan Hayes-Owens and Drake Wilson Medill Reports BUENO AIRES — Diego Staropoli is best known as a celebrity tattoo artist. But after losing his mother, aunt and grandmother to breast cancer, Staropoli began providing free tattoos to women who had mastectomies. What began as tattoos to replace scarred areolas has since expanded to help […]