The Warehouse That Dreams Built You know that feeling when you stumble into a space and immediately understand you’re somewhere special? That’s what happened the first time I walked into The Foundry last spring. Tucked behind a nondescript door on Maple Street, this converted metalworking shop has become the beating heart of our city’s experimental …
When Organizing Went Aesthetic (2020-2022) Remember when your feed suddenly filled with pastel infographics about mutual aid? Between March 2020 and late 2022, community organizing got a major makeover. The Instagram organizer popped up everywhere: part activist, part content creator, all carefully curated enthusiasm. These weren’t your traditional clipboard-wielding volunteers. They had Canva Pro subscriptions …
The Instagram Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About Let me start with something that might make you uncomfortable: most of us are terrible at actually supporting local artists, even when we think we’re doing great. I watched this play out last month at Maya Chen’s ceramics studio opening. The place was packed, everyone posting stories …
When Did We Stop Belonging Somewhere? I’m sitting in what used to be my favorite dive bar, watching a woman take seventeen photos of her artisanal grilled cheese before taking a single bite. The bartender, who I’ve known for three years, just asked if I wanted to “curate my drinking experience” with their new cocktail …
The Night Everything Clicked You know that feeling when you walk into a party and immediately sense something electric in the air? That’s exactly what happened at the third annual Riverside Arts Walk last Saturday night. I’ve covered dozens of these community art events over the years, and most follow the same predictable rhythm. Polite …
The Workshop Explosion Started Three Months Ago In January, there were maybe two pottery studios offering weekend classes in our neighborhood. Today I counted seven different ceramics workshops within a twelve-block radius, plus four jewelry-making studios, three woodworking spaces, and something called a “fiber arts collective” that just opened where the old dry cleaner used …
The Mural That Broke My Heart Last week I watched a crew install the most gorgeous 40-foot mural on the side of what used to be Martinez Grocery. The artist, whose wheat-paste work I’ve been following since she started hitting walls in the warehouse district three years ago, finally got her big commissioned piece. Bright …
The Woman Behind the Magic You probably never heard Maria Santos’ name in the papers, but if you lived anywhere near Pilsen in the last fifteen years, you felt her impact. She was the kind of community organizer who showed up before the meetings started to make sure there was decent coffee, who remembered your …
Before the Microphone You know that feeling when you’re watching someone right before they change everything? I got that exact sensation three months ago, standing in the back of the Riverside Community Center while Carmen Reyes adjusted the microphone for what would become the most important town hall our neighborhood has seen in decades. The …
When Green Spaces Become Gated Communities I’ve been watching the community garden movement bloom across our city for the past five years, and honestly? It’s complicated in ways nobody wants to talk about. Sure, the Instagram posts are gorgeous. Rows of heirloom tomatoes catching golden hour light, kids discovering where carrots come from, neighbors sharing …