When filmmaker Richard Chisolm got a phone call from longtime friend and producer Sheila Kinkade, he didn’t expect it to lead to one of his most formative projects. Sheila had read one news about Tony Geraci, a bold new hire arriving in Baltimore to overhaul their city’s deeply flawed school lunch system. Her words: “This sounds like a really good film.”
And it was.
In When We Cycle, Arne Gielen and Gertjan Hulster take us into the great unknown—a future where bicycles reframe society’s relationship to speed, space, and community. The film is far more than a documentary. It’s an exploration of possibilities: What if our cities were redesigned with the cyclist at heart? Do fast, efficient rides win all the privileges, or is there room for a more inclusive, reflective scenario? With insights from various experts and everyday cyclists, the film challenges us to imagine urban futures that are sustainable, connective, and alive with possibility.
By a set of lucky circumstances, I have gotten to know a person named Marcy Newman who lives in Bangalore--the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, in south India. Marcy lives with her husband in what she referred to as an eco-community, and I wanted to know more, so despite the time zone difference (when it’s 8:30 am in Chicago, it’s 8:00 pm in Bangalore), we arranged a time to talk.
In collaboration with One Earth Collective, the Austin Eats’ Verses & Vittles Lyrical Slam aimed to promote healthy eating and advance food justice in Chicago’s West Side neighborhoods. This year’s event featured a screening of They’re Trying to Kill Us, a documentary about the intentional inaccessibility to healthy food options in predominantly black and brown neighborhoods. The poetry slam was a chance for attendees to share their responses to themes in the film, as well as personal observations of food injustice and associated health crises in Chicago.
My path crossed with that of Chef Max Musto in early October, during the wonderful Austin Eats event at the Bethel New Life Mildred Wiley Wellness Center in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, and I wanted to know more about him. And, in a way, I also crossed paths with Chef Qia C at the same event (or at least my palate did; I tasted her food!), so I reached out to both of them to learn more about these two Chicagoland nourishing nourishers, and here they are. First, Max. Then, Qia.
