The TRiiBE, aka Chicago’s premier Black digital news platform dedicated to changing the narrative of Black Chicago, had a running start in 2017 and has not slowed down since. The TRiiBE was founded by Morgan Elise Johnson, who made the Forbes 30 Under 30 media list in 2019, and Tiffany Walden, selected in Poynter’s 2018 […]
Author Archives: DMB (Debbie-Marie Brown)
Posted inCannabis
Best ‘private’ space to smoke a blunt outdoors
I like to lay out a blanket in a city park and smoke a fat Backwood under the sun just as much as the next guy. I don’t like the low hum of anxiety I feel when I’m smacked and alone around too many people who aren’t smoking too. Once I’m properly high, if I […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best open mike run by a homegrown creative company
In summer 2021, I was a just-graduated Northwestern student, and Speak Your Peace was the first open mike I attended as a newly Chicago-based musician looking for Black community, shared artistic experiences, and the opportunity to whip out my guitar for a three-minute slot in front of my peers. I couldn’t know it then, but […]
Posted inMusic & Nightlife
Best citywide display of talent at a monthly underground hip-hop show
If you were to walk into Cafe Mustache during Skoli Moly Donut Shop, you’d have no clue you were on the Logan Square strip of Milwaukee Avenue on the northwest side. That’s because DJ Skoli, government name Ryan Roberts, curates variegated, seamless lineups of up to ten singers, rappers, and DJs from across the city […]
Posted inCannabis
Best method for a seasoned pothead to consume weed that isn’t smoking it
All right, just stay with me on this one. Before you read ahead because the thought of using a blow torch to get high on a Tuesday afternoon seems off-putting, remember that we are in 2023, and there are now a variety of electronic dab rigs that heat up on their own. They’re also safer […]
Posted inMusic & Nightlife
Best multihyphenate burlesque dancer, emcee, and event curator for Black femmes
I can’t remember where exactly I was introduced to nightlife icon Lynzo the Heartthrob, because they frequent so many places where it might’ve happened. Raised in Hyde Park, Lynzo is a self-taught and constantly booked drag artist, burlesque performer, and exotic dancer; an event curator; a queer and trans plus-size stylist; an activist for sex […]
Posted inFeature
Brandon Johnson speaks with Black LGBTQ+ leaders
The day mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson descended upon Lighthouse Church of Chicago UCC was reminiscent of any other political season meet and greet between a hopeful candidate and an inquisitive community of faith. Except it wasn’t the same because Lighthouse is the only predominantly African American and LGBTQ+ -inclusive congregation in the city. The church, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Queer Chicago union workers celebrate Trans Day of Visibility with solidarity
Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) is an annual celebration of the lives and contributions of trans people, created in 2010 to draw attention to the community’s successes and also draw attention to the discrimination, violence, and other systemic challenges that trans communities face. This year, local unions with engaged and active trans members are throwing […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Organizing the night workers
About 15 workers from Berlin Nightclub stood outside the 40-year-old Lakeview venue on March 11. They were a few dozen feet from the Belmont Red Line station, in a gaggle, below a steady downpour of flurrying snow that wouldn’t stick. Because of the weather, the streets and buildings all had a thin, wet film. The […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The news in Gary
Capital B is a fresh Black local-national nonprofit news organization on the scene. It turned one year old this year, and it recently brought its mission of partnering with communities to create a high-quality news and information experience for Black folks to Gary, Indiana. Gary is a rust-belt news desert that notoriously has lost 61 […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Superheroes that look like me
The story of Chicago’s own Black Child Book Fair, a traveling event that promotes literacy for Black kids across the country, starts with Chicagoan and author Darryl Harvey releasing his incipient children’s book in 2010, I Can Do Anything. It features a Black child on the cover and is the first in his Sunflower series, […]
Posted inChicagoans of Note
Caroline Patton, founder of the Chicago Weekly Show Calendar
Caroline Patton is the faceless giant behind the Chicago Weekly Show Calendar, an Instagram account and weekly email newsletter that tries to detail all the concerts happening in the city at a range of venues. Launched in August 2021, the account has nearly 6,000 followers, and weekly posts average around 350 likes. Patton graduated with […]
Posted inFeature
The Gage Park Latinx Council nurtures community and identity
The queer, DACA-led southwest-side group addresses community needs around food, health and public space.
Posted inFilm
The Music Box cancels Actors, but the discourse continues
The Music Box Theatre found itself at the center of controversy in the local LGBTQ+ film space when it planned a February 2 screening of Actors by Betsey Brown.
Posted inCity Life
Your guide to outside
Thirteen of Chicago’s new queer and/or BIPOC recurring events