Q&A: Artist, educator, activist Sarah Ross on her passion for social justice and her fight for incarcerated people
By Yue Li Medill Reports In 2006, Sarah Ross, then a part-time art history teacher at a central Illinois prison, learned more about segregation and imprisonment firsthand through her interactions with her students. “I had read things like, ‘The prisons are full of Black and brown people.’ It was so racist and so prejudiced,” Ross […]
WATCH: Chicago This Week — Episode 3
Text by Damita Menezes Medill Reports On the latest episode of “Chicago This Week,” Medill reporters cover the huge crowd of Chicago teens causing damage and destruction downtown, the shooting in Evanston, the NBA playoffs starting and more. This episode will air on Chicago Access Network Television (CAN-TV) Channel 21 on Friday, April 21. “Chicago […]
Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center gets $1 million during awareness month
By Damita Menezes Medill Reports The Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center (ChicagoCAC), a nonprofit organization that provides mental health and investigative services to child abuse victims, will receive $1 million in congressionally directed spending for building renovation. “Child abuse is a chronic public health issue. Year after year, hundreds of thousands of children across the country […]
WATCH: Looking Out, Looking In: Meet cytologist-turned-artist Catherine Keebler
By Cindy Wang Medill Reports Former cytologist Catherine Keebler became an art student at The Art Institute of Chicago after her retirement, but her creative journey never ceases because of her perseverance and ongoing curiosity for life at the age of 93. TRANSCRIPT: [Catherine walks to the elevator at her retirement apartment at the Clare] […]
WATCH: Somos Venezolanos
By Damita Menezes and Brenda Ordonez Medill Reports More than 7 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015. As of 2021, there are 179,203 Venezuelans living in Argentina as part of the refugee crisis, according to Chequeado – a news organization in Argentina. More often than not, Venezuelan migrants arriving in Argentina cannot work […]
Q&A: Tattoo artist Amanda How discusses changing artistic mediums from film to flesh
By Jordyn Bradley Medill Reports Though Amanda Carlson has only been tattooing for a year and a half, her career as an artist started long before she picked up a tattoo gun. Professionally, she goes by Amanda How because, in her words, her middle name is “catchier” than her last name. How worked as a […]
Transportation is main source of air pollution affecting children in Pilsen, health experts and activists say
By Diana Giambona Medill Reports Children play on the swings, go down the slides, spin on the small merry-go-rounds and play ball at Harrison Park in Pilsen. It seems like a perfect day for outdoor games, but the air they breathe has pollution levels among the highest in Chicago, according to a 2020 air quality […]
WATCH: Chicago This Week — Episode 2
Text by Damita Menezes Medill Reports On the latest episode of “Chicago This Week,” Medill reporters cover the deaths of two firefighters, the Democratic National Convention coming to Chicago, Portillo’s celebrating 60 years and more. This episode will air on Chicago Access Network Television (CAN-TV) Channel 21 on Friday, April 14. “Chicago This Week” is […]
Meet Abigail Carbajal, the woman behind Pilsen’s famed Carnitas Uruapan
By Carolina Baldin Medill Reports Editor’s note: All quotes by Abigail Carbajal were translated from Spanish by the reporter. Last fall, Abigail “Abi” Carbajal attended the premiere of the third season of Netflix’s “Taco Chronicles,” which featured her family’s restaurant, Carnitas Uruapan. Her appearance in the show was limited to one picture without captions, but […]
‘Crying, dying, marching’: How media inaccurately represents queer South Africans, and what can be done to combat this
By Jordyn Bradley Medill Reports Roché Kester has a daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, drink her coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, do it all again the next day. It’s nothing unique or special, but it’s what she does. As a queer South African, Kester said she wishes stories […]