Layla Brown-Clark

Heart-to-Heart With Linda Sol

Linda Sol didn’t plan on being a rapper. The twenty-six-year-old Humboldt Park native had always liked to sing, but in her early years, she turned to writing poetry and playing the guitar instead. As she started to find her voice, though, those lines began to rhyme—and in time, those rhymes became raps.

In high school, Sol found her footing in poetry slams and music programs such as Louder Than a Bomb, where she developed her craft around the city under different mentors and emcees. By the t...

Who Cares for the Caregivers?

Holding safe spaces for Black women to process their trauma is imperative, especially for those women suffering from violence in their communities. Free Root Operation, a violence prevention initiative based in Bronzeville, offers therapy and other means of healing trauma while introducing the aspect of sisterhood to the healing process.

Homecourt Collective Aims to Build Community, One Cup at a Time

If you drop into Miyagi Records on East Garfield Boulevard, you’ll be greeted by rows of record crates. Tucked in the back, you’ll find Homecourt Collective, a pop-up coffee shop that opened at Miyagi this past January. As Miyagi’s current coffee residents, co-founders Melissa Del Carmen and Alex Myung brought Homecourt Collective to Washington Park as a means to share the goodness coffee has given them with the world.

Having day jobs as a filmmaker and mental health therapist, respectively,...

Chicago Sun-Times • September 6 2024

Popular brands like Baggu say strong shopper demand has them setting up shop in Chicago

Small groups of shoppers stroll through the Gold Coast on a recent sunny and warm Friday afternoon, popping in and out of the high-end shops on North Rush Street. Among the shoppers are 17-year-olds Ariel Brown and Katherine Peck, friends who traveled from the Milwaukee area to Glossier’s Chicago location.Known for its makeup and skincare, Glossier’s store at 932 N. Rush St. has been attracting shoppers near and far since it opened in April 2023. Though the two are casual users of the brand, the...

Girl K sheds the indie rock band persona for decidedly pop road

Katherine Patino is out of breath and full of adrenaline when she comes off stage after her set at Wicker Park Fest on a late July evening.She’s just performed songs off her upcoming release, aptly named “My Future,” a collection of wistful vocals, ambient beats and melodic guitar. Her energetic and playful performance channels her Disney pop princess idols Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, whom she grew up listening to.And while she dances across the stage like she owns it before the night’s headli...

DJ Mo Mami Is Transforming the Scene with Inclusivity, Activism and a Global Sound

DJing is more than playing music for a crowd longing to dance and let loose; it is also about creating inclusive spaces and reading the crowd. Ashley De La Torre, who DJs under the moniker Mo Mami, has been spinning records professionally since 2019. The Pilsen resident first debuted after curating and throwing parties with Babes Only, a woman-owned not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring, empowering, and educating women and is known for hosting workshops and parties throughout the ci...

Washington state rolls back some of its sweeping police reforms

SEATTLE – Roger Goodman called the summer of 2020 apocalyptic.
The economy had cratered. COVID-19 ran rampant. Forest fires choked the West.
“Everything wrong was happening at the same time,” the Washington state lawmaker said.
Then came a flashpoint: The deaths of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minnesota pushed protesters across the country into the streets, demanding justice and police reforms. Major protests in Seattle continued for weeks.
Goodman knew the Legislature needed t...