Stories by Erica Gunderson

If you’ve heard “El Burrito Sabanero” one too many times, a local music journalist has some suggestions for adding a little more jingle to your holiday jams.

From the moment Elon Musk took the reins at social media platform Twitter, chaos has seemed to envelop the site. But even on Nov. 17, when the farewell tweets were flying and users feared the site would implode, Black Twitter was still Black Twittering.

At an enrollment event this week, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle welcomed some of the more than 3,000 participants in the Cook County Promise guaranteed income pilot. The participants, who were selected by lottery, are set to receive their first monthly payment of $500 on Dec. 15.

In his book “Latinos in Chicago: Quest for a Political Voice” author Wilfredo Cruz plumbs the history of Chicago’s Latino communities as they carved out a place for themselves in the city’s rough and tumble political climate. 

When it came to making her way in the art world, Tacarra “Spifster” Sutton started out small – like, pinky-nail small. But today, Sutton’s intricate nail art, uniquely designed on the spot for each client, is a big deal.

The ambitious plan included a community center, a technology hub, partnerships to offer free tuition and provisions for contracting with Chatham’s small service businesses.

Through interviews with his grandfather and others who lived through the neighborhood’s rise and fall, filmmaker Steven Walsh shows what he says is the forgotten story of the area in his documentary “Southeast: a City Within a City.”

While issues like a lack of access to consistent health care as well as language and cultural barriers contribute to those numbers, modern prostate cancer care approaches have evolved to make screening and treatment more successful than ever.

Latinos are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last midterm elections. A total of 34.5 million Latinos are eligible to vote, making them a crucial demographic for politicians. Latinos are also increasingly the target for disinformation campaigns. 

During the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848, a group of Irish immigrants deserted the U.S. Army to fight alongside Mexican soldiers. However remarkable the story might be, it’s a chapter of history that’s not especially well known in the U.S.

The annual Black Harvest Film Festival kicks off its 28th year of celebrating Black filmmaking on Nov. 4, with a schedule packed with screenings of independent feature films, screenings of anniversary and restored films, and special events. 

The podcast’s latest season offers the same level of legends’ stories but in a new format. This season, each weekly episode covers the “making” years of a different figure via interviews with three people who had personal or professional relationships with the subject.

The vivid orange and yellow cempasúchiles, known as marigolds in English, frequently adorn Día de los Muertos ofrendas. Native to Mexico, the flowers bloom at this time of year just in time for the holiday.

Three shootings resulted in four people dead and three injured, with the deadliest incident taking place during a street takeover at Archer and Kedzie avenues. In the early hours of Sunday, Oct. 23, more than 100 cars gathered at the intersection to watch a “drifting” event that ended with an exchange of gunfire. 

In many ways, the story of Mayor Harold Washington’s rise to City Hall is distinctly Chicagoan. But the makers of the documentary “Punch 9 for Harold Washington,” say his election had reverberations far beyond the city’s borders.

A building explosion in the Austin community last month left one person dead, several injured and more families without a place to live. Neighboring organization Circle Urban Ministries is planning a concert to raise funds for those families as they work to rebuild.

Pending the outcome of several lawsuits, borrowers can qualify to have up to $10,000 forgiven if their loan is held by the Department of Education, and they make less than $125,000 individually or $250,000 for a family.

Winter is on the way, and with it come respiratory illnesses like cold, flu, and COVID-19. And nationwide, hospitals are seeing an alarming rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Black Americans have historically been the most reliable voting block for the Democratic Party for decades. But in her book, “Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future,” Chicago native and Harvard research director Brandi Collins-Dexter says the picture is much more nuanced.

The tunnel of gory scenes snaking through the northwest side church basement is one of, if not the, longest-running haunted house experiences in Chicago. What began in 1979 with just a few classic horror characters in the St. Pascal’s boiler room has transmogrified into a 15-minute tour of terror run entirely by volunteers in support of the parish school.

Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the program will pay 3,250 residents of Cook County $500 a month for two years. It is the largest publicly-funded guaranteed income pilot in the nation to date.

Community activist Jitu Brown says that we are still seeing the reverberations of the decision to close 50 Chicago schools in 2013.

The stories that can be told on a stage are limited only by the storyteller’s imagination. But just who gets to write those stories and bring them to life on Chicago’s stages is too often limited to a privileged few.

For any parent, child sexual abuse is a tough topic to even think about. But as uncomfortable as it might be, talking about sexual abuse with kids is one way parents can help protect them.

Since she returned home after incarceration 22 years ago, Celia Colon has turned much of her energy to helping other women rebuild their post-prison lives through her nonprofit Giving Others Dreams. But she says having a record has hindered her forward progress.

Ask Isabel Olive, the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who performs as Half Gringa, about her stage name and you’ll get an understanding of where her music comes from, too.