Darcel Rockett – Page 23

Ellie Mariyo takes videos and photos for her Instagram and TikTok accounts on Dec. 8, 2022, in Oak Park.

Oak Park resident Ellie Mariyo just won $75K to spread her message of body positivity with her brand Big Girl Besties

January 1, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Elizabeth "Ellie" Mariyo has the words "Plus Size Joy" next to her name on her TikTok channel. The words "Big Girls deserve amazing lives" also rest underneath her moniker. With...

Catherine Durkin Robinson, a death doula and owner of Anitya Doula Services, stands outside her Chicago home on Dec. 19, 2022.

Not all doulas deal with births. Some focus their work around death. Here’s how a few are serving Chicagoland residents.

December 26, 2022 at 5:00 a.m.

It's called the Death Cafe. On an overcast December Sunday afternoon at the Oak Park Main Library, a group of people — most over the age of 60 — shared...

"I know what it feels like to go days without eating, and being homeless and sleeping from house to house," said Laquaja Lafayette on Dec. 17, 2022.

Chicago youth ambassadors make sure dozens of struggling families have what they need for holidays

December 24, 2022 at 5:00 a.m.

The smell of popcorn, the promise of a Santa sighting, and bags of free groceries greeted dozens of families who ventured out to West Town Academy on Dec. 17. The...

Petterino's bartender, Terrence Wilson, unloads bags filled with gloves, hats, and towels, on Dec. 21, 2022, for an upcoming Christmas event for his charity, Chicago Life Cares.

Once homeless, Petterino’s bartender devoted to helping others — and this Christmas, the whole restaurant is joining in to feed 500 for free

December 23, 2022 at 11:27 a.m.

Terrence Wilson knows what it's like to not have a home. He made up his mind on a Tuesday five years ago to move to Chicago and, without money for...

$200K grant from NFL to help group focusing on mental health calls on Chicago’s West Side: ‘We really want to put dollars where help is needed.’

December 18, 2022 at 4:04 p.m.

The NFL's social justice arm will help Chicago extend its mental health resources in 2023 thanks to the Inspire Change social justice initiative. The endeavor announced that Chicago's Crisis Assistance...

The actor and producer Isaiah Washington is seen at the Showplace Icon Theatre in Chicago while promoting his latest film and directorial debut "Corsicana" on Dec. 14, 2022.

Isaiah Washington brings us Bass Reeves in ‘Corsicana,’ a film about the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi

December 16, 2022 at 9:37 a.m.

Isaiah Washington has a swagger and a loquaciousness that is unparalleled. While visiting Chicago to promote "Corsicana," a film that he cowrote, produced, starred in and directed, the actor laughed...

Author Natasha Anastasia Tarpley's book "I Love My Hair" in 2018.

Chicagoan Natasha Tarpley brings us another ode to Black love with latest children’s book, ‘Keyana Loves Her Family’

December 15, 2022 at 1:03 p.m.

The holidays can bring out the warm and fuzzies as familial traditions and classics are revisited as touch points to legacy. Published in 1998 and written by Chicagoan Natasha Anastasia...

Morgan Malone, managing director of strategic initiatives at Farpoint Development, hosts happy hour at Bar 10 Doors on Aug. 18, 2022.

Meet Morgan Malone, a 29-year-old engaging Bronzeville with innovation and cultural economic development

December 14, 2022 at 6:26 a.m.

Keeping up with economic development wunderkind Morgan Malone is an exercise in pacing. She's spearheading the Bronzeville Lakefront project for Farpoint Development, which is developing the acreage that Michael Reese...

People tour the art gallery at the expanded Inner-City Muslim Action Network campus in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood as IMAN celebrates its 25th anniversary Dec. 1, 2022.

The nonprofit IMAN turned 25. A new gallery exhibit looks at its successes with an eye toward the future.

December 5, 2022 at 6:00 a.m.

Andre Thomas, aka Taqi Thomas, a former gang leader from the Englewood neighborhood, gets emotional when speaking about the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, or IMAN, an organization that runs social...

‘Lake Song’ audio drama imagines a futuristic Chicago where water is everything, brought to life by cast of 23 Chicagoans

November 30, 2022 at 5:23 p.m.

One would think within the land of Make Believe, anything is possible, even during the pandemic — Make Believe being the Make Believe Association, a 5-year-old Chicago-based storytelling company that...

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