Ten weeks ago, Bina Mangattukattil didn’t think of herself as a writer. But the clinical social worker and West Ridge resident had a story: Growing up in Chicago in a traditional South Indian Catholic family, she converted to Islam after grad school, but she didn’t tell her parents until she was pregnant with her daughter. Now, her play “A Beautiful Path” is part of the first-ever West Ridge Story Festival, which highlights 11 original ten-minute plays written by immigrants, refugees, and longtime residents.

Rylan Wilder, the 15-year-old musician severely wounded last month in a high-profile shooting, is out of the hospital and on the road to recovery, according to his parents.

Two seniors from Jones College Prep and Taft High School received a public honor and a surprise gift for their community efforts in supporting student athletes sidelined during The Illinois High School Association state playoffs while the Chicago Teachers Union was in effect.

LOGAN SQUARE — Seeing the neighborhood’s continued influx of newcomers and pricey food options, longtime Logan Square resident Ghaleb Masoud wanted to offer neighbors a more affordable yet authentic place to grab a bite. Masoud, who has lived in the area for 30 years and runs the Plaza Food corner store at 3011 W. Armitage Ave., opened his family-run Yaba’s Middle Eastern Grill last week in the back of the grocery store.

In the wake of tragedy, the local music community is stepping up to support one of their own, an innocent victim of gun violence. Local bands Mock Nine, Friko and Neptune's Core will play a benefit show at Martyr’s, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave. Nov. 30, originally a show that 15-year-old Rylan Wilder’s band Monarchy Over Monday was supposed to play as well.

LOGAN SQUARE — The neighborhood’s only gelato shop has permanently closed after more than a decade in the area. Heavenly Gelato and Ice Cream Cafe, 2662 N. Sawyer Ave., closed up shop just before Halloween and neighborhood restaurant/bar owner Esam Hani will take over the space, he confirmed.

When Richard Costes moved to Chicago in 2007, he hoped to start his own theater company with college friends. But as a deaf actor and playwright, he had a difficult time finding employment. Costes bounced around other cities seeking work, then moved back to Chicago in 2014 after securing a finance job. Now, he performs with companies like Victory Gardens, Chicago Shakespeare, Porchlight Music Theatre, and Red Tape Theatre.

At the intersection of Armitage and Kedzie Avenues, just behind The Moonlighter and across from Giant, is a colorful mushroom garden. It spreads along the wall next to Idealty/Blnk Haus and catches the eyes of any passersby wanting to take in the scenery.

What the history of current events podcasts can tell us about what’s coming next.

Over 500 students, parents and community members rallied together at the Logan Square monument to show support for the thousands of CPS teachers on strike for a fourth day.

Oct. 19 marks the first-ever National Period Day and in Chicago, women and supporters of increased accessibility to menstrual products gathered at Federal Plaza to rally against period poverty and stigma.

James “The Oil Man.” Arthur, the 72-year-old self-taught hip-hop producer. Midge, owner of a popular black hair salon. Chicago police officer Stephen Boyd, who works in the Englewood gang unit as a side hustle — but is also an actor and comedian. These are the people who make up Chicago’s South Side. Their stories come alive in a new podcast by WBEZ and Comedy Central called South Side Stories, created and hosted by Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, the duo behind Comedy Central’s hit TV show “South Side.”

As the 100th anniversary of Chicago’s 1919 race riot approached, WBEZ reporter Natalie Y. Moore wanted to commemorate the occasion through the medium she knows best: radio. But instead of the sober reporting you’d see from traditional media outlets, Moore wrote an audio play recreating the events as they would have been heard and experienced. To do that, she teamed up with the Make-Believe Association, a local storytelling organization that creates socially-driven audio dramas.

Chicago is in the throes of change on every corner. Politically, we have a more progressive body that is hopefully moving in a more desired direction; deindustrialization and gentrification are jolting forces hitting both North, West and South Side communities; displacement and business turnover is common, creating massive neighborhood change.

Chicago has been named the top U.S. big city to visit for the third year in a row by Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards. The awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry.

CHICAGO — Parents know the drill: get grilled about the sex of your child during pregnancy, and expect an onslaught of pink or blue everything at the shower depending on the answer. Though gender stereotypes are decidedly less relevant in 2019, the kids clothing world remains hyper-gendered — and local fashion designer and mom Melissa Serpico Kamhout is out to change that.

CHICAGO — E-scooter safety has been an issue since scooters first rolled out in the city’s test pilot zones, but one local scooter company is trying to combat unsafe riding with new technology.

Harold Washington Library’s Cindy Pritzker Auditorium was a full house at the opening screening of a new local series focusing on injustices in the criminal justice system. On Sept. 12, The Marshall Project released 15 video testimonies of Chicago voices affected by the justice system, “We Are Witnesses: Chicago,” is the latest installment of the nonprofit news organization’s award-winning short film series “We Are Witnesses” which explores the nature of crime, punishment and forgiveness.

Thousands of hats perched on wooden sticks line a soccer field, stopping passersby, athletes, community members and coaches in Joliet to take in the scene. The 2,400 hats were donated from 2,400 student high school students from 72 Chicago-area schools who delivered one winter hat and $1 each to bring attention to the same amount of murders during a high school career in four years, from 2016 to 2019.

A new report by the Jane Addams Senior Caucus and Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) looked into the Chicago Housing Authorities’ Language Access Services for CHA residents and applicants and found grim results.