The Crystal Farm location features monthly workshops for the Humboldt Park community to learn how to harvest.
ChicagoStorytelling’s Lora Swarts and Yanyue Liu wrote this story and produced this audio slideshow about Cob Connection, a Chicago urban farming program, for the hyperlocal site Gapers Block.
Posted in Chicago, Food, News, Streets
Tagged Chad Bliss, Chicago, Cob Connection, Crystal Farm, Drake Farm, farming, Food, Humboldt Park, Megg Mass, organic food, St. Louis Farm, Trump Tower, urban agriculture
Sidewalk view of mural located on the side of San Jose Obrero men’s shelter.
Audio Slideshow: Visit the mission and hear the stories of those staying there.
By Fatimah Salami and Amber Tweedie
After being turned away from several homeless shelters for not fitting their criteria, 20-year-old Alex Samuelson sought out one more place where he hoped to temporarily call home, San Jose Obrero Mission.
San Jose Obrero is a Latino male homeless shelter in East Pilsen that finally gave Alex a place to lay his head and opportunities to rebuild his life.
“Everybody is equal here,” said Samuelson. “We’re all in the same boat. Just because you speak one language or both languages or just because you’re one color it doesn’t matter here. We’re all brothers here.”
San Jose Obrero began as an organization by Friar David Staszak in 1981 as a way to fight homelessness in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
Interactive Map: For locations of San jose Obrero missions in Chicago, visit this map
Father Jim Collins, an associate Jesuit priest at St. Procopius Parish, finds integration of two churches “hard.” (Photo by Ewa Lyczewska)
“It is hard to integrate two churches … and nobody is successful at that in five years,” said Father Jim Collins, an associate Jesuit priest at St. Procopius Parish.
Located in Pilsen, a Lower West Side, Latino-dominated Chicago neighborhood, St. Procopius Parish consists of its title name church and Holy Trinity Croatian. St. Procopius Parish inherited a “dying” Holy Trinity Croatian in 2004, according to Collins.
Podcast: Father Jim discusses church integration issues. The song Lamb of God is featured throughout the podcast, first in English, then Croatian, Spanish, and once again in English.
St. Procopius Parish offers seven Sunday Masses: three at Holy Trinity Croatian and four at St. Procopius. Holy Trinity celebrates Masses in Croatian, English and Spanish while St. Procopius has three in Spanish and one in English.
Audio Slideshow: Chasing the American Dream
By Rima Thompson, Luz Garcia Cubillos and Sally Morrison
Dr. Jorge Partida, psychologist. (photo by Rima Thompson)
These are challenging times for Mexican-American immigrant communities, said Dr. Jorge Partida, psychologist and author of the book “The Promise of the Fifth Sun.” The impact of the economic downturn has devastated some Americans, but even more so in the Latino community.
Hopes of achieving the American dream are dwindling in the reality of immense job loss and home foreclosures, due to the sub-prime lending crisis. Disheartened and defeated by the uncertainty of the future, many have retreated to Mexico. Yet, despite the despair, inspiring stories of hope, resilience and survival are rising from the suffering.
Audio Slideshow: Listen to poetry slam founder Marc Smith and the participants talk about the competition.
By Tessa Fegen, Kellen Winters and Vince Floress
As first-time slam poet Robby Q steps center stage onto the dimly lit arena, it isn’t difficult to notice that he has his reservations.
“I’m nervous big time,” he mutters into the microphone.
But with some quick crowd reassurance, Robby Q proceeds as he looks onto a rather multi-faceted audience who anxiously awaits the delivery of his debut performance. Among them sits Marc Smith, who may just be the biggest critic of them all.
Smith is the founder of the slam poetry movement, which ultimately helped him earn his the nickname, “The Slam Papi.” He runs the popular slam at the Green Mill a jazz club in the North Side Uptown neighborhood, in a three-hour show every Sunday night.
Posted in Art, Chicago, Entertainment, News, Streets
Tagged arts, Chicago, Green Mill, Marc Smith, poetry, poetry slam, Uptown
