Samantha Freeman

14 East

How Moms for Liberty Has Changed School Boards and Book Bans

Last year in Yorkville, Illinois, a parent wrote a complaint about one of the books in the school curriculum: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, which focuses on two Black men who’ve been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death by the U.S. incarceration system. After one parental complaint, the Yorkville Community District 115 School Board removed the book from the curriculum, claiming that it was “too controversial.”

What happened in Yorkville is no longer uncommon.

14 East

The Risk Trump Poses to the Free Press

I’m a journalism student who’s spent the past four years memorizing the AP style guide and learning how to operate a massive film camera. I’ve lain in bed late at night writing and rewriting articles to get a story just right. I’ve worked relentlessly to become a better journalist, and I love the work that I do. But as I’m approaching my graduation, a new president will be taking office, and I wonder: Will I have a future in journalism? Since he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump has re...

14 East

‘This is our Vietnam’

The 2024 Democratic National Convention came to a close last week after delegates cast their votes, the Obamas took the mic and Kamala Harris officially accepted the presidential nomination. During those four days, thousands of protesters gathered at Union Park with handmade signs and banners calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a withdrawal of U.S. military aid to Israel. “This is our Vietnam,” said one of the speakers, who kicked off the final march before Harris took the stage at th...

14 East

What Happened Leading up to the Dismantling of DePaul’s Encampment

After weeks of negotiations between the DePaul Divestment Coalition and DePaul administration, the pro-Palestinian encampment was dismantled on Thursday, May 16, at 5:30 a.m. Here’s a timeline of what happened in the week leading up to the police intervention on DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus. Saturday, May 11DePaul declared an “impasse” with the Divestment Coalition after 12 days of negotiations, saying responses to the encampment had “inadvertently created public safety issues that put our commu...

14 East

Migrants waiting for a plan from the City of Chicago

More than a dozen gray and red tents line an open field outside the 12th district police station in Pilsen. Among these makeshift homes, a mattress, a reclining chair and scattered debris look woefully out of place. The informal tent city offers only limited shelter from the elements, and it sprang up over the warm summer months.  Its temporary residents are migrants, most of whom endured strenuous treks to the states from Central and South America. Most of them have never seen snow. Alexander R...

14 East

Thousands attend a Pro-Palestine protest in Chicago’s Loop to condemn U.S. government support for Israel

Thousands of people gathered in Chicago’s Loop on October 21, holding onto their cardboard signs with scrawlings of pro-Palestinian rhetoric. People were listening to try to make out the motivational speeches that were taking place as they waited in anticipation to begin walking down Michigan Avenue. With so many people, the sound of the speakers’ voices disappeared in the wind. This protest is one of many that have taken place after Israel’s government announced a “complete siege” of the Gaza s...

14 East

An artist’s individual exploration through music and the arts

The Music Box is a quaint theater, easily spotted by the red-illuminated sign affront big windows and gold detailing. It was closed this particular Thursday afternoon, but Camryn Lewis had an in.Lewis works at the Music Box – at the concession stand and coordinating movie showings – alongside his artistic endeavors of filmmaking and songwriting. Upon my arrival, he opened the door and immediately greeted me with a hug, already exuding his warm, Southern demeanor.Lewis grew up in Danville, Virgin...

14 East

Writers Guild of America votes to approve contract, ending one of the longest strikes in Hollywood’s history

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a union representing Hollywood writers, approved a contract with studios on Monday that ended the 148-day strike that disrupted the entertainment industry. The union stated that 99% of its members voted to approve the new contract, which will run through May 1, 2026. The Hollywood writers’ strike began on May 2 after negotiations stalled between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The two groups failed to reach a deal f...

14 East

An Artist’s Journey Towards Surrealism

It is a warm Saturday in April that I lean back in an office chair in an artist’s studio. The studio is located in his apartment where the living room would have been, if not lined by blank canvases. Today, I sit across from an incomplete oil painting placed beside a cherry red drawer of paints.The painting is surreal: the faces of three different women diverge from one body, and behind them is a white horse mid-step with sections of blues, creams and maroon to create a vibrant backdrop.The arti...

14 East

A Director’s Perspective

It was a hot summer day in Las Vegas. The sun was beating down and gusts of wind created a haze of desert sand. The camera equipment had been set up but the screens (for lighting) kept blowing over. Dreamer Isioma, the artist, stood dead center, ready to film a long-awaited music video. In the few seconds that the wind subsided, the director managed to shoot the scene. Noah Keckler, a 21-year-old cinematographer, creates music videos for indie artists, including Dreamer Isioma, Ryan Woods, and H...

14 East

The Man Behind the Guitar

It’s 3:30 p.m. on a Saturday in Chicago, and I’m perched on an antique taupe couch surrounded by guitars, piles of records, violins, a black and red piano, and an elaborate stereo system. The space looks as if it hasn’t been touched since the 1970s – probably because it hasn’t.

Guitar repairist Geoff Benge resides in this preserved 1970s apartment. The floor is patterned with turquoise, royal blue and orange circles, and the walls are paneled white and brown. Around the corner there is a glass table with wooden chairs adjacent to a narrow kitchen with overhead cabinets.

14 East

A Snapshot of a Concert Photographer’s Life

“My Converse are my ride-or-die,” said Caroline Reynolds, as she sips on her vanilla latte in the corner of a dimly lit coffee shop. In Chicago’s brisk air, Reynolds wears a red vest over a simple white t-shirt and jeans, and, of course, her signature high-top Converse. Reynolds is a 21-year-old Chicago-based concert photographer. She’s taken photographs of individual concerts, including COIN and Briston Maroney, and has also gone on tour with different bands and artists. When Caroline Reynolds...

14 East

DePaul University to protect diversity, equity and inclusion following the “Dear Colleague” letter

DePaul University announces it will remain committed to its Vincentian values of community, inclusivity and social justice, following the memo released by the U.S. Department of Education two weeks ago, telling schools they must remove “race-based” policies and practices or risk losing federal funding. On Friday, February 14, the acting assistant secretary for the Office for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, sent a letter to schools nationwide, officially giving them a month to eliminate all DEI prac...