Nara Schoenberg

Justin Pierce sits at his desk as he works at EY offices in Chicago on May 30, 2019.

‘We don’t care about the eye contact.’ Autistic people thrive in Chicago tech jobs after years of underemployment

June 12, 2019 at 9:58 a.m.

Justin Pierce fought long and hard for a seat in this gleaming downtown office building. Pierce, who has Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, laid out the numbers: 328...

She was Oprah’s top exec. The Waukegan native on quitting her job at age 56 after an unlikely path to success.

June 5, 2019 at 10:59 a.m.

After she "majored in socializing" at the University of Iowa, Sheri Salata worked as a typist, a toy store manager and a 7-Eleven supervisor. At age 27, she seemed to...

President Ronald Reagan, from left, President Barack Obama and musician Paul McCartney all have used the OK hand gesture.

OK sign is under siege: How the squeaky-clean hand gesture was twisted by trolls and acquired racist undertones

June 2, 2019 at 6:47 p.m.

Barack Obama has done it. So have Oprah Winfrey, Ronald Reagan, Malcolm of "Malcolm in the Middle" and Beyoncé. But flashing the OK hand signal, in which the thumb and...

Saeda Sulieman, 18, of Oak Lawn, a freshman at Moraine Valley Community College, started wearing a hijab in seventh grade.

Prejudice and progress: Local women with hijabs talk about what it’s like to wear the Muslim headscarf in Chicago

January 27, 2020 at 3:14 p.m.

Wrapped tightly around her head, with no softly draping fabric to distract her during meetings at her tech startup, Dilara Sayeed's hijab is American in more ways than one. Her...

Birds of Chicagoland: Spring migration brings birds that are scarlet, lemon yellow and sky blue, as well as snowy pelicans and fluffy baby cranes

May 21, 2019 at 7:10 p.m.

On a good spring bird-watching day in Chicago, you can see more than 100 species: bright red scarlet tanagers, lemon-yellow warblers, sky-blue indigo buntings, snow-white pelicans. The feathered stars of...

Only 11 Americans are known to have received a 3rd double-lung transplant; Elburn’s Cassie Stanley, 34, is preparing for the rare surgery

May 20, 2019 at 6:46 p.m.

After her second double-lung transplant in 2012, Cassie Stanley was able to travel to Miami, Mexico and Las Vegas, root for her beloved Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, work as...

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‘We don’t care about the eye contact.’ Autistic people thrive in Chicago tech jobs after years of underemployment

She was Oprah’s top exec. The Waukegan native on quitting her job at age 56 after an unlikely path to success.

OK sign is under siege: How the squeaky-clean hand gesture was twisted by trolls and acquired racist undertones

Prejudice and progress: Local women with hijabs talk about what it’s like to wear the Muslim headscarf in Chicago

Birds of Chicagoland: Spring migration brings birds that are scarlet, lemon yellow and sky blue, as well as snowy pelicans and fluffy baby cranes

Only 11 Americans are known to have received a 3rd double-lung transplant; Elburn’s Cassie Stanley, 34, is preparing for the rare surgery

‘Game of Thrones’ baby names are upon us, but one reigns supreme

Like Lollapalooza ‘but all drag queens’: Chicago gets a drag festival of its own

Move over, D.C. — Chicago will have its own cherry blossom season this year

Proposed law would require Illinois children to start school by age 5, threatening kindergarten redshirting