Barbara Brotman – Page 2

Chicago police Officer Yolanda Brewer, center, participates in a presentation on interactions with police to students at Woodson Elementary School. The program aims to ease distrust of the law enforcement community.

Black Chicago police officers work in schools to defuse distrust

June 16, 2018 at 11:22 a.m.

Students shrieked with laughter as lawyer Carla Kupe-Arion pinched two fingers together and inhaled an imaginary marijuana cigarette. "What are they doing wrong in that car right now?" called out...

Leon Edwards, with crew leader Donald Braboy, both of Safe Haven Landscaping, talk to a reporter during their evening shift along Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. Safe Haven is an organization for the homeless and ex-offenders that contracts with the city to plant and maintain gardens on Michigan Avenue.

Michigan Avenue median landscape crew soaks in praise, gratitude

June 16, 2018 at 11:23 a.m.

A Michigan Avenue stroller may at times be struck by a sense of admiring wonderment. How do those plantings in the medians stay so lush and green, through blazing summers...

Reporting for dreaded jury duty offers peace, chance to get things done

May 23, 2019 at 3:57 a.m.

Looking for a day of peace, quiet and distraction-free productivity? I can't speak highly enough of the place I found it the other day — jury duty. Yes, that important...

Satan and the cinema: Watching ‘The Exorcist’ after decades of looking away

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who love scary movies, and those of us who have never seen "The Exorcist." For 42 years, I have been...

Jesus Guillen wraps his son, Bakunin, 3, in his coat as they stand and watch the high waves Oct. 2 near East Oakwood Boulevard along the Lakefront Trail in Chicago.

Singing the praises of the less-visited south half of Chicago’s lakefront

August 19, 2019 at 12:18 a.m.

The city's North Side-South Side rivalry is always in play, most prominently in the baseball version that this year has been so decisively settled. But in another category, I am...

New book shows life in Chicago, among other places, on $2 a day

June 18, 2019 at 2:29 p.m.

What's $2 to you? A pack of gum? A greeting card, if you buy generic? The loose change in your purse? It's something else in Kathryn Edin and H. Luke...

Lorie Chaiten is the director of the ACLU's Reproductive Rights Project. She aids young women seeking waivers to the parental notification law about abortions. "It is a traumatic experience for them," she says of the hearings.

How young women in Illinois get abortions without parental notification

August 19, 2019 at 12:15 a.m.

Inside the Daley Center, and in courthouses across the state, the cases unfold in careful confidentiality. They are filed anonymously. The petitioner meets with a judge in an empty courtroom...

Allen and Joyce Wehmann walk on the Tau Center's Peace Path on Oct. 2, 2015, on the campus of Marianjoy Hospital in Wheaton. The milelong path is one option for people making personal retreats.

Wheaton Franciscans offer a quiet space for a quick retreat

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

Nancy Morris had me at "Quiet Rooms." She was telling me about the Tau Center, a spirituality ministry of the Wheaton Franciscans where she is marketing specialist. It welcomes people...

Members of the Empowered Fe Fes and employees of Access Living gather for a group picture during the launch party for "Take Charge!" on Aug. 25, 2015, in Chicago.

Group of young women with disabilities produces guide on sexual health

August 18, 2019 at 8:23 p.m.

Stephanie Jackson was nervous as she stepped in front of the room. "This is a very important day for the Fe Fes," she began softly. "This is the first time...

Amanda Williams, an artist and architect, stands in the 5900 block of South Stewart Avenue in Chicago with one of several buildings she and helpers painted in bright colors.

Artist/architect tries to paint a brighter future in Englewood

May 25, 2019 at 12:33 p.m.

Eric Bennett turned his truck onto Eggleston Avenue, pulled up to where Amanda Williams was standing and asked the question that had been perplexing him for weeks: Why had that...

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