The short version: this matters more than the headline suggests. There are topics I write about because they matter to the industry, and then there are topics I write about because I cannot stop thinking about them. This falls into the...
When the Lights Stay On Forever Murphy’s closed on a Tuesday. Not with fanfare or a final weekend blowout, but with a handwritten sign taped to the door between the lunch rush and happy hour. “Thank you for 23 years.” That...
The Woman Who Maps Dreams Maria Santos doesn’t look like your typical revolutionary. She’s standing outside Café Luna on 24th Street, checking her phone while balancing a stack of fluorescent flyers and what appears to be homemade empanadas wrapped in foil....
When Everyone Discovered Their Own Block March 2020 hit and suddenly your Instagram feed exploded with photos of local murals people had walked past for years without noticing. Remember that? The whole “I never knew this existed three blocks from my...
The Setup Nobody Saw Coming You know that feeling when you walk into a room and immediately sense something’s about to happen? That was the Blackfriars Theatre in January 2019. Three years of operating in the red. A board ready to...
The Final Friday Mercury Room closed its doors for the last time on a Friday night in November, and honestly, I’m still processing it. Not because I’m sentimental about dive bars – though Mercury was never really a dive, just dressed...
The Mourning After Walked past Rosa’s Kitchen yesterday morning and saw the paper taped inside the window. “Thank you for 12 wonderful years.” The chairs were already stacked on tables like some kind of restaurant graveyard. Maria wasn’t there to wave...
The Last Meeting at Rosario’s The chairs are stacked against the wall now, and the community bulletin board that once buzzed with meeting notices and mutual aid requests sits empty. Rosario’s Community Center closed its doors last month after thirty-seven years,...
The Emperor’s New Clothes Are Actually Just Empty Seats Last Thursday I sat in the Riverside Community Theater watching what was supposed to be a sold-out performance of “Our Town.” There were maybe thirty people scattered across 200 seats. The actors...
The Instagram Garden Problem Walk through any trendy neighborhood and you’ll spot them: pristine raised beds arranged in perfect rows, painted signs with whimsical fonts announcing “Tomato Tuesday” or “Herb Haven.” These community gardens look like they stepped out of a...
