4/29 Pitch Email

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Sam Stecklow

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Apr 29, 2020, 3:50:31 PM4/29/20
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Hello Weekly

I am taking over pitch email duties from Sam Joyce, who is stepping down as managing editor but will continue to serve as our nature editor.

We are currently in the process of changing how we send you pitches, so I'm not linking to the full pitch doc in this email, as it is becoming obsolete. To pick u a pitch, or ask questions about it, please respond to me in this email thread, to sam.st...@southsideweekly.com. If you're interested in writing for us, but are not moved by any of these pitches, respond to me in this email thread, and we can figure out what to assign you.

For the first time, we are also labeling pitches to show how complicated we are anticipating them being, to give you a better idea of whether you are a good fit for the pitch. Again, if you have questions about this, please just reach out to me. If you are a writer that's newer to us, unless you come with a lot of relevant experience, we are probably not going to assign a high-difficulty pitch to you, though of course please reach out if you have questions about this.

COVID Pitches

We are currently able to offer payment of between $100-$200 for COVID-related stories, depending on the amount of reporting going in. If you have questions about this, please respond to me.

  • University Responses to COVID [medium difficulty]:
    • UChicago just said that all classes will be online for the rest of the school year and that students can’t stay on campus unless they apply. Summarize the current state of things at all South Side universities, and look at how students are caring for each other there and at any other universities that are going to distance learning (e.g. at UofC there’s a community resource list going around—can reach out to UofC student orgs that are promoting it; collection of food/moving boxes etc for students who have to move out of campus housing). It could also be interesting to include information about what the transition to online classes looks like for professors, how they’re learning about how to do that, etc. This story should not only include information about the UofC.
  • How Churches are Coping with COVID-19 [medium difficulty]:
    • This would, ideally, not just be another story about the struggles of holding services via Facebook Live. There’s an interesting and underexplored angle about the financial impact of a pandemic on churches — with all the stories about restaurants and other businesses, churches seem to be under-discussed, but Easter is the largest donation day for a lot of churches, and missing it could have serious financial impacts. Notably, churches are eligible for the small business loan program included in the most recent stimulus bill, though it’s unclear how quickly that program is actually working. This story should explore how churches have been impacted (with an eye toward the financial), and how that’s impacted their programming (especially their food banks). This should include coverage of churches of geographical and denominational diversity (perhaps you could even include a Jewish or Muslim house of worship).
  • Rising Positive Tests on the Southwest Side [high difficulty]:
    • Esperanza Health Centers, a health center system serving primarily low-income residents of the Southwest Side—which is also one of the only medical facilities in the area offering testing to anyone exhibiting symptoms—is reporting a 55% increase in positive COVID tests over the last two weeks. This piece should work to answer the very simple question: why? This piece should use this data point and access to Esperanza as an in to discussing specific issues around COVID-19 with regard to access to testing in "health deserts" and identifying barriers to testing for Latinx and undocumented people on the Southwest Side, and the writer should identify experts from both Esperanza and outside of it to comment on what the issues facing this particular community are.
  • Imagining Radical Futures during COVID [medium-high difficulty]
    • With our dystopian present, it seems like more and more folks are seriously considering the possibility of new radical futures. But of course, some people have been envisioning new futures for years! This radio and/or print piece interviews folks who have already been thinking about new futures and working towards them. This piece is more about process (how have these folks gone about envisioning radical new futures) moreso than the what—although what they’re envisioning is still important! We are also interested in hearing how the current pandemic has (or hasn’t) changed the way they go about this work. Is there more energy in the air to actually make these changes now that much is imploding? Before publishing, we’ll put a social media call out asking people to call in or message us with what radical futures they’re envisioning and include these in the piece.

Non-COVID Pitches

If you're tired of thinking about the coronavirus 24/7 and looking for something meaningful to work on that can take your mind off of it, there are plenty of South Side stories that need reporting that have less to nothing to do with the virus. Unfortunately, at this time, we are not able to offer payment for these stories.

  • Louder Than a Bomb Goes Virtual [low difficulty]:
    • Young Chicago Authors is finishing its annual youth poetry festival, Louder Than a Bomb!, online, as virtual arrangements have been made to continue the 20th annual edition. The final round of the city-wide poetry slam competition will happen next week. YCA has also moved many of their free weekly programs online with most of them occurring on the same day and at the same time that they occurred before the quarantine. This piece could explain what LTAB is, the context of the festival before it was shut down due to COVID-19, and what that would look like with it now being online. Maybe reaching out to YCA and the Tournament Director, Britteney Kapri, for their comments.
  • Preserving History Through Pandemic [medium difficulty]:
    • Like so many other institutions, the National Public Housing Museum—which was set to move into a historical former public housing site in Little Italy next year—is adjusting to unprecedented times. While NPHM has always adapted to various locations to host events throughout the last 10 years, events like NPHM’s “Out of the Archives” listening series are shifting to Facebook Live. Look into what it has been like for NPHM to execute their vision of preserving history when history is being made every day by the COVID-19 pandemic. Does shifting an event like “Out of the Archives” to Facebook Live still reach organizers’ intended audience? What kind of challenges surface when the majority of programming can only be consumed by an audience able to access content remotely? How is the museum using its archives during the pandemic? It could also be worth looking into how their knowledge of housing in the city informs their understanding of issues posed and exacerbated by the pandemic.
  • 826Chi Brings Youth Literacy Online [low difficulty]
    • Youth literacy group 826Chi (our previous coverage) is celebrating its young authors online this year, bringing its Publications Fest online with two online events in May. This would be a relatively straightforward look at how 826 is adapting its programming due to COVID, as well as coverage of the work of the students, potentially speaking to one or more of them.
  • Report on Artistic Inequity in Chicago [low difficulty]
    • A new report from local sustainable arts organization Enrich Chicago lays out what the inequalities in Chicago's art scene for artists of color are. Cover the findings, discuss with the organization and potentially get commentary from representatives of South/West Side groups who are affected by the inequality laid out in the report.
  • Park Development in Pullman [medium difficulty]:
    • The National Park Service just awarded a $6 million contract to develop a visitors center in Pullman, which is expected to be completed by 2021. Restoration is ongoing on buildings throughout the neighborhood, but the completion of the visitors center is projected to be a spark that will eventually draw 300,000 visitors annually to the neighborhood. Talk to Teri Gage, the park’s new superintendent, as well as someone from Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a private firm that has dumped tens of millions into developing a new Walmart, food hall, and sports facility in the neighborhood — when the tourists start really coming, what will Pullman look like? And finally—how will COVID affect this?
  • What's the Future of Hales Franciscan High School? [high difficulty]
    • Hales Franciscan High School is a long-struggling all-boys Catholic high school in Washington Park, a few blocks away from Dyett High School. Its owner, the Archdiocese of Chicago, recently put up half of its campus, largely consisting of a football field, up for sale, at what is reportedly a too-high selling price for the area. This is just the latest in increasingly desperate attempts to raise money to keep the school open since at least 2007, when Michael Jordan donated $5 million to a fundraising campaign. The school is known for being the only historically Black Catholic high school for boys in the state, and one of only a few in the nation, and has at different points attracted local celebrity; until 2017, Melody Spann Cooper, the president of WVON, was chair of its board—and during better times, its then-President, Tim King, was characterized by Oprah as an "angel" because of the school's 100% college admittance rate during his time. King would go on to found the all-boys charter network Urban Prep Academies.

      Other attempts to keep the school going include a brief coed period, which ended after four years with admittance from school leaders it didn't work. The period coincided with a police and DCFS investigation into nude photos being distributed amongst the student body, as well as a DCFS investigation into a female student alleging sexual assault. Two teachers sued the school after they claimed they were fired in retaliation for reporting the allegations, and that the principal had worked to silence them. After the coed period ended, the school closed for the 2016-17 school year without much notice, infuriating parents and alumni, leading some to call for Cooper's resignation from the board—the school had promised it would stay open, despite not meeting a $300,000 fundraising drive.

      The school reopened with a STEM focus, again all-boys, with a new principal, who is a cofounder of the Betty Shabazz International Charter School and is known for being a school voucher advocate. But it continued to face issues; as of the 2017-18 school year, it had 9 students. The building is now being rented out to the Bronzeville Academy Charter School (fka Bronzeville Lighthouse), which has faced its own issues. (Now that it's vacant due to COVID, its alumni association is offering it up for use by the city.) There hasn't been an in-depth look at what went wrong with the school from any outlet, and nothing in-depth on anything about it since the Reader published a long story on King's time as president. There's a lot of recent and older history here, and students and parents generally are interested in talking about their school experiences, good or bad. This is just waiting for a writer interested in diving deep into one school to take it on.
  • Music Review: Makaya McCraven's We're New Again [low difficulty]
    • Chicago-based “beat scientist” McCraven, whose work with Bridgeport indie label International Anthem we’ve covered before, is releasing a new album, which is a reworking of Gil Scott-Heron’s I’m New Here! This could take the form of a traditional review, an interview with the artist, or some combination.
  • Profile of Sweet Potato Patch [low difficulty]
    • Last year Stacey Minor launched Sweet Potato Patch, a "technology-based" food start-up based in Roseland that delivers cooked meals and fresh produce from Black farmers to customers on the South Side. It sounds like the company has gotten more funding and expanded its customer base as a result of COVID-19, and is now providing free meals to hundreds of South Side seniors. There's been some coverage already, but there's room for us to do a deeper profile of the company, and go into what it was like for Minor to create a tech start-up in Roseland, focusing especially on what the process for securing funding was like. Did she get any help from Chicago venture capital companies? What are the company's plans for being sustainable in the future, if it moves away from grant funding? Also dig a little into the tech side of the company, and whether there are any challenges with logistics delivering from farms to customers.
  • Murals Under Threat [high difficulty]
    • "The City of Chicago’s mural registry—where artists, organizations, and property owners can fill out a form to officially register their mural with the city—is notoriously incomplete, and weighted heavily toward the north side, with many well known South Side murals not represented. This can have catastrophic consequences when an unregistered mural is painted over by the city (who can simply point to the registry and claim ignorance) and it more generally privileges the registered murals in terms of maintenance, etc. Everyone seems to know there’s a problem, but no one seems able to take steps to fix it. Why?

      The writer should work with a data editor to analyze the data available on the registry, and then talk with city officials and artists about how the program is supposed to work, its shortcomings, and some reasons why the program is only spottily used. Is it a question of outreach and education? Is it something else? Ideally we would pair this with a photo essay of south side murals that are not on the registry, which may make this a better candidate for spring or summer, when photo opportunities will be better. [Sun-Times mural coverage]
  • Review of SLAYSIAN art show [low difficulty]
    • SLAYSIAN is an art exhibition curated by Chicago artist Jenny Lam, featuring Asian American artists of all mediums in Chicago and across the Midwest. The exhibition was originally supposed to take place at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, but COVID-19 has moved it online. This article would be a review, incorporating interviews with Lam and one or two of the featured artists. What was the motivation to have an exhibition showcasing only Asian American artists? Can art be a way to deal with increased anti-Asian sentiment?
  • Checking in on Shrine of Christ the King [medium difficulty]
    • After the Shrine of Christ the King church in Woodlawn was devastated by a fire in 2015, there was some doubt over whether the church would survive — the Archdiocese actually filed for permits to demolish the remaining structure. The church was saved, in part, by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, an apostolic society notable for their use of the Tridentine Mass. The ICKSP has rented space in the building since 2008, but took over ownership from the Archdiocese in 2016. While there's been plenty of coverage on the architectural restoration of the building, this story should explore how the social structures have changed — what does it mean for churchgoers for the church ownership to change? How has it altered the worship experience and the church community?
  • Chicago's Reparations Efforts [high difficulty]
    • A handful of prominent Black politicians and activists are pushing for local reparations conversations and ordinances. Chicago has a rich history here—there’s the Burge reparations project and Chicago City Council was one of the first legislative bodies to pass an ordinance around this, in 2000—and it seems like momentum is picking up. 6th Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer, head of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations, has held hearings and has a bill to create a commission to study the issue, and former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson has been pushing that bill as well. West Side state rep and former mayoral candidate La Shawn Ford has also recently been pushing the legislature on this. Profile all of these efforts (and others not discussed in this pitch), attend public hearings on the topic, interview those involved, and tell us exactly where these efforts are going—especially w/r/t COVID.
  • Funky New Buildings and their Impact [medium difficulty]
    • Trianon Lofts in Woodlawn and Kleo Art Residences in Washington Park are two recently-finished Lego-looking new developments that I’m curious about. Both were developed or worked on by groups dedicated to affordable housing (POAH for Trianon Lofts and Imagine Group for Kleo) -- but marketing a new building as a “loft” or “art residence” screams gentrification to some. Also, the main developer for Kleo Art Residences is Northbrook-based Brinshore Development, which was was sued last year for discriminatory renting practices and has another huge South Side development in the works ,“4400 Grove” in Bronzeville. Look into these buildings: Who is targeted, who’s moving in, what tenant population do/did the developers imagine, how do the neighbors feel?
  • What is Happening at Chicago State University? [high difficulty]
    • We’ve received tips that there is something afoot at CSU—longtime faculty who are integral to the workings of the campus have been leaving (or being pushed out?). This comes after a new president (the third in recent years) with no academic experience was appointed by the Board of Trustees. What’s actually going on? Talk to students, student groups, faculty, board members—whoever will talk to us.
  • Last Four (or Two) Miles of the Burnham Plan [high difficulty]
    • Back in 2009, a series of celebrations surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Burnham Plan included a bold, ambitious proposal from Friends of the Parks. Dubbed the “Last Four Miles” project, this plan aimed to complete Burnham’s vision of a lakefront that “belongs to the people” by acquiring the last four miles of lakefront in private hands and developing them into public space. Two of those miles are along the south lakefront, between 71st and 75th and between 79th and 95th (including the old US Steel site).

      And that was that: the plan was done, and nothing happened. Part of the problem is the dredged material disposal facility north of Calumet Park. This story should focus on a broader overview of what’s happened since 2009— the Park District has designated parts of the lakefront along the USX site as parkland, but not all of it, and not all of it’s developed. What’s in store for Steelworkers Park and Park No. 566? What about the Army Corps facility just south of Steelworkers? Has there been any progress on the gap between 71st and 75th?
  • Related to above pitch: Industrial Development on the Southeast Side [high difficulty]
  • South Side and Suburbs Underground Railroad Memorial Effort [low difficulty]
    • South Side and Calumet region activist Tom Shepherd is working on a project that would bring to light the history of the South Side and suburbs in the Underground Railroad, and would establish physical markers in various sites, including at Altgeld Gardens. Talk to Shepherd—this could be a profile of the effort or a q&a—on what that history is, the goals of his work on it, and anything else that comes up.
  • Impacts of the South Side on TV [low difficulty]
    • The past few years have seen a flurry of TV shows focused on the South Side, with shows like Showtime’s The Chi, Comedy Central’s South Side, and the upcoming AMC series 61st Street all set on the South Side. We’re not necessarily uninterested in a conventional review of these shows, but we are looking for someone with an interesting perspective on it, such as a South Sider who does acting or comedy. How do these high-profile productions intersect more grassroots work being done in the neighborhood? Do they have a creative or economic impact?
  • Abandoned UIC Skyspace [medium difficulty]
    • "Renowned light artist James Turrell made one of his skyspaces at UIC that opened in 2006. His work inspired Drake’s Hotline Bling and one of his skyspaces is featured in Kanye’s new IMAX experience. At the corner of Halsted and Roosevelt, its one of the few, if not the only, skyspaces entirely open to the public. This story covering it’s opening lays out its novelty and importance pretty well. It is now abandoned and in disrepair (as seen here in google reviews), with only half the lights maybe functioning. What happened? Why isn’t it being repaired? Is there no funding for it? Are there any plans to fix it or take it down?
  • Book Coverage [low-medium difficulty], which can take the form of a straight review, a more considered NYRB-style essay, an author interview, or some combination of the above. If you are interested in covering a book, we will obtain a media copy, ideally digital, that you can utilize—youa re not responsible for getting it yourself, unless you already have a copy. Books we are interested in covering include:
--
Sam Stecklow
Managing Editor
South Side Weekly

Chicago Weekend Explorers

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Jul 16, 2020, 4:58:15 PM7/16/20
to South Side Weekly
Hi Sam,

I would like to take on the Sweet Potato Patch profile. I have been interested in Urban Gardening for some time, especially small scale black farmers and entrepreneurs on the South Side. I have seen some half-hearted attempts at urban farming and community education around sustainable gardening flounder, and I would approach this from the angles mentioned in your description, and also how Sweet Potato Patch had managed to escape some of the pitfalls that have sunk other South Side farming initiatives. Thanks!


On Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 2:50:31 PM UTC-5, sam.stecklow wrote:
Hello Weekly

I am taking over pitch email duties from Sam Joyce, who is stepping down as managing editor but will continue to serve as our nature editor.

We are currently in the process of changing how we send you pitches, so I'm not linking to the full pitch doc in this email, as it is becoming obsolete. To pick u a pitch, or ask questions about it, please respond to me in this email thread, to sam.stecklow@southsideweekly.com. If you're interested in writing for us, but are not moved by any of these pitches, respond to me in this email thread, and we can figure out what to assign you.
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