The Magazine

Praise for Donald Lee! I just learned Donald died & I’m heartbroken. He was my StreetWise person and I was privileged to know him. He was a kind human being with a big heart, great smile and always personable. Through our conversations at Star...

When 75-year-old Forest Park resident Maurice Costello returned from Vietnam in 1968, he tried to cope with his memories of the horrors of combat by suppressing them.   “I was trying to put the war out of my head completely, to pretend I never wen...

Homelessness through the eyes of a 5th grader is the basis for “Earth to Kenzie,” a new opera for 2nd through 7th graders co-produced by Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle Opera. In addition to a monthlong Opera in the Neighborhoods tour, the 45-m...

For nearly 80 years, the Joker has kept his backstory a mystery. Since the character’s first appearance in Batman #1 in the spring of 1940, comic book readers have known the Joker as an ordinary man with a penchant for robbery. That first comic bo...

My name is Holly Smith, and the first time I started selling StreetWise I was in my early 30s and pregnant with my kid. I wrote poetry back then and StreetWise published it in the magazine. After that, I started meeting people and doing my spoken...