Pressure on egg farmers intensifies as grocers, restaurants pledge cage-free
By Alison Martin Cage-free could be the way to be. For grocery chains and fast-food giants, it’s the wave of the future as more and more companies pledge to sell and use only cage-free eggs. Last week, Kroger Co. – the largest supermarket chain in the country – announced 100 percent of its eggs sold […]
Harper Lee (1926-2016): between classic and controversy
By Frances Van de Vel While she seldom spoke in public, her printed words have left a lasting impact. With the passing of Harper Lee on Feb. 19, American literary history has lost one of its 20th century pioneers and the author of the timeless classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Nelle Harper Lee was born […]
Family Dinner Breaks Bread to Build Community
By Anna Boisseau One hundred and fifty mainly strangers gathered for Saturday night’s sold out “Family Dinner” at STK, a River North restaurant. The dinner, a biannual event in Chicago and 30 other cities worldwide, hopes to build community among African American professionals through sharing a meal together. “We want them to feel like they’re […]
Pro-choice activists take to the streets as Supreme Court hears major abortion case
By Enrica Nicoli Aldini After the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia and the ensuing warfare in the Senate over his successor, an understaffed Supreme Court met Wednesday to hear a challenge to a Texas law that would shut down all but 10 abortion clinics in the state, with likely reverberations at the national level. […]
Sharing Syrian stories: local high schoolers interview refugees with StoryCorps
By Jay Bouchard When her college campus was bombed in 2011, Salam Abdulrazzak wanted to remain in Syria and protest the Assad regime’s unwarranted cruelty. But at her parents insistence, she reluctantly left in January 2012 and sought refuge in the United States. She thought her stay was temporary, but after more than four years […]
Resettled refugees face challenges in U.S. education system
By Marisa Endicott With the Syrian refugee crisis intensifying in Europe and debate stateside over the deportations of Central American asylum seekers, it is easy to get wrapped up in the ideological and political rhetoric instead of getting to know the day-to-day experiences and obstacles resettled refugees face. Access to education is a main hurdle. […]
“Collective Voices, Shared Journeys”: Art that pays homage to survivors of gender violence
By Jenny G. Zhang Malala Yousafzai. Benazir Bhutto. Gloria Gaynor. These women of color – activists, leaders, cultural icons – stand in sharp relief against the sky-blue background of the collage. Pasted together, their edges overlapping, the figures pay homage to survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence, political violence, deportation, incarceration and hate crimes. “They […]
For Englewood seniors, the struggle is real but so are the friendships
by Rebekah Frumkin and Carlos D. Williamson For Roger Shannon, finding an affordable place to live was never a problem. His job as a social worker allowed him to live modestly but comfortably. When he first moved into senior citizen community housing 12 years ago, he continued to work, and paid for rent and food […]
Artists reflect on living next to Cook County Jail
By Misha Euceph Artists from the Prison and Neighborhood Project (PNAP) are holding listen and response sessions to get feedback on a series of interviews with inmates from Cook County Jail and West Side residents who live next to the 96-acre property. “It’s important to come up with a counter narrative against such a brutal […]
Janie’s Farm Organics takes family farming to next generation
By Alison Martin It’s lunchtime. After a chilly March morning of planting in the downstate Iroquois County field, Harold Wilken sets the table. His wife, high school teacher Sandy Wilken, serves bowls of her black bean chowder to the farm’s employees – son Ross Wilken, nephew Tim Vaske, bookkeeper Gerry Lunt, farm owner Ryan Wolfe and […]