Leaving Our Favorite City

chicago skyline at sunset with lake michigan and part of a sailboat in the foreground

We’ve made plans to leave our favorite city in the world – a place I (Luke) wanted to live for a decade before I moved here, and still my favorite place I’ve ever lived. Ashley and I are doing this by choice, and we know this represents a privilege. We’re moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in…

Op-Ed | We’re Sinking: Parenting a Toddler and a Newborn During the Pandemic

child diving face-first onto floor pillow

Op-ed originally commissioned and published by Sittercity (Link to the original post). See more of Luke's freelance blogging and content creation projects. This time last week, I was fighting (losing) round 127 of the ongoing “Nap or no Nap?” game my three-year-old daughter invented sometime around month three of quarantine. The fun thing about this game:…

Read: The Undocumented Americans

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio My rating: 5 of 5 stars Unrelenting and fearless, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio weaves intimate personal reflection and a participatory journalistic style all her own into a dynamic, nuanced portrait of life as an Undocumented American. Imperfect and raw in exactly the ways I imagine the author wants it…

Engaging students through personalized outreach | Recent Work

three young people jumping in snowy background

The Client and the Problem Bottom Line helps low-income and first-generation students get to and through college. Across four regional sites and in at least as many states, the organization supports over 8,000 students in their pursuit of higher education. Doing personalized advising work at such scale inevitably results in some students who are less…

An Empowering Event : Impact Story

black woman looks into the distance

On a chilly October afternoon, warm house lights and crimson crushed velvet seats welcomed attendees into Victory Gardens Theater on Lincoln Avenue. A set piece of uncertain completeness filled the performance space. Two-stories of weathered paneling, flanked on either side by its exposed frame of two-by-fours. At the edge of the stage: a semicircle of…