Traditional Polish dishes are crossing food boundaries by popping up on Belgian, Italian and American restaurant menus across the Windy City. By Magdalena Slapik Chicago’s Polish community — more than 933,000 strong — is one of the largest outside of…
Blog Archives
Pierogi: The new pizza?
Posted in Europe, The Breakdown Tagged with: flo and santos, leopold, lokal restaurant, pierogi, poland
The politics of Persian poetry
Iranian poetry gives a voice to the hushed. By Alma Bahman The United States’ relationship with Iran centers on politics and nuclear weapons. But one Chicago group is trying to change that by showcasing the Middle Eastern country’s art across…
Running the ‘L’
By Yu Le Adham Fisher of Leiceister, England has traveled to 15 cities, including London, New York and Paris in many attempts to break the record time for visiting all of the stations in a city’s public transit system. Fisher,…
Posted in North America, The Breakdown
Paint the town Thai
Albany Park gets a makeover. By Alexia Severson Songkran, the Thai New Year celebrated in mid-April, is also known as “The Water Festival” because participants toss H2O all over one another — a tradition that stems from Thailand’s scorching spring…
Homegrown education fund helps students in Jamaica hit the books
A nonprofit offers scholarships and aims to bring people together. By Zack Aldrich Every day Daphne Lopez, an 81-year-old registered nurse in Evanston, bridges the divide between her Jamaican and American identities. Lopez, who has lived in Chicago for 44…
Posted in Africa, Global Spotlight, North America Tagged with: Chicago, CROSO, education, Jamaica, scholarships
Cultural traditions of breastfeeding get a modern spin
Indian-Americans feel comfortable with the traditional nursing practice and aren’t afraid to talk about it publically. By Antonietta Colasanto Time magazine’s May 2012 cover, showing Jamie Lynne Grumet nursing her 3-year-old son, caused a controversy surrounding American reluctance for breastfeeding…
A Holocaust survivor responds to “In the Garden of Beasts”
A Wilmette resident reflects on his empathy toward the ‘innocent’ Chicago family in Hitler’s Berlin who might have stood up against the Nazis. By Gulnaz Saiyed For the past two decades, Holocaust survivor Walter Reed, 88, a retired PR consultant…
Posted in Europe, The Breakdown
World food prices plateau and aren’t going down, experts say
What do you get when you combine global warming with biofuels and more than 6 billion humans? High food prices. By Gulnaz Saiyed Heshima Kenya – a Chicago nonprofit that provides shelter, education and resources for unaccompanied refugee girls and…
Posted in Africa, The Breakdown
Girl power through a global lens
Experts and activists discuss whether girls really hold the power when it comes to education. By Ashlei Williams Khady Ndiaye, a Senegalese girl with cocoa skin and a broad smile, was 11 before she ever attended school. In 1998, Amy…
Faced with Defense of Marriage Act, mixed-nation gay married couples want a half-solution
Immigration sponsorship is not a federal benefit available to LGBT Americans with foreign spouses. But activists say a temporary policy would ‘mean the world.’ By JR Tungol Last April, Illinois residents Sveta and Andi Apodaca, partners for the past 11…
Posted in North America, The Breakdown Tagged with: benefits, federal, gay marriage, gay rights, immigration
