“It’s been a long time…I shouldn’t have left you, without a dope beat to step to…”
Since I launched The Brown Line in July 2025 and sent only five issues, over 400 people have subscribed to this newsletter — entirely via word of mouth — and I’m truly grateful for every single reader of these words that I painstakingly string together (without the help of AI, btw!).
But it’s been too long!
This comeback issue has four parts:
Missed connections: Scenes from when The Brown Line was quiet
Service update: What I’ve been up to
Know before you ride: Answers to some FAQs
Next stops: An express ride into Summertime Chi
🚆 Missed Connections: Scenes From When The Brown Line Was Quiet
I won’t pretend the city paused while I did. The Brown Line has been quiet since September, but Chicago’s Global South diasporas have stayed in motion. Our communities have been responding to genocide, imperialism, displacement, surveillance, immigration raids, and crises here and in our homelands — not only through protest, but through gatherings around art exhibits, poetry readings, food, film screenings, farming, concerts, markets, movement, workshops, fundraisers, teach-ins, and community care. Here are a few of my favorite recent stops:
🇵🇸🎨 Amid what major human rights organizations call genocide in Gaza and Israel’s ongoing illegal military occupation of Palestinian land, Palestinians in Chicago are processing their trauma and resisting eradication through powerful works of art. At an inspiring gathering with fellow creatives, Linda Abdullah shared her meticulous research into historical maps and how she stitched concrete (!) onto canvas to depict Israeli settlements replacing Palestinian villages. I’m in awe of how much labor it takes to make erasure visible — and how much love it takes to keep creating anyway. Linda even figured out how to make concrete tiles move, to show the ground shifting beneath her people’s feet.
💃🏃♂️ But Chicago’s Palestinians aren’t standing alone. Latinxs for Palestine teamed up with the Chicago Palestine Film Fest to bring the legendary El-Funoun dabke troupe from the West Bank all the way to Pilsen’s 18th Street Casa de Cultura to teach a joyful dance workshop. The solidarity kept moving through a group run led by the Chicago Muslim Run Club that ended with treats at the aptly-named Anticonquista Cafe.
🥬📦 As ICE raids spread fear across the city, Chef Manny Mendoza turned up the heat on his popular weekly Pueblo Market for mutual aid and sanctuary for undocumented vendors in Pilsen. Manny launched Pueblo Eats, a rapid-response initiative to deliver fresh local produce to people who risked arrest if they left home.
☕💙 And along with Casa de Frutos and CUSP, the Pueblo continues to provide for vulnerable neighbors in the food-insecure area of North Lawndale through Farmdega, a food pantry at Starling by Duo. More than just the home of Black-owned Monday Coffee, the iconic blue Starling building has grown beyond a third place: a “fourth place” for community, an intentional “space for liberation.”
🇮🇷🎶 People shaped by displacement know that such spaces can and must be created anywhere, and Iranian-led Biya Biya Productions has been on a construction spree of cultural resistance and SWANA community building: organizing musical celebrations of Yalda and Nowruz, drum circles, and bellydance workshops to release trauma stored in the hips.
🌍📚 Chicago’s African diaspora has its own living cultural archive in Okrika, thoughtfully curating accessible ways of engaging with and preserving African storytelling heritage through cozy reading/listening rooms, film screenings, art objects, and much more. These gatherings feed both my mind and my soul, and I wish for every diaspora to have such nourishment!
🌼🎨 There are plenty of South Asian events and spaces in Chicago, but few are as warm and lovingly adorned as Mehal House in Humboldt Park, the art studio of my dear friend Eliza Karaza. Every function there feels like walking into a maximalist auntie’s home: Persian rugs, floor-pillow seating perfect for playing Carrom and debating geopolitics over chai and samosas, lanterns and candles, Indian thikri mirrors, hand-painted Arabic calligraphy vases, marigolds, and rose petals scattered everywhere. You’ll leave inspired to create — and if you need guidance, Eliza hosts art classes, too. (Fun fact: Eliza is the one friend who finally got sick of me spamming her with event invites and told me to start this newsletter!)
🇸🇩🧘🏽♀️ Because Sudanese Chicagoans are too few to carry grief alone, my friends Zaineb Alkalby, an Iraqi American somatic coach, and Shirley Montoya, a Peruvian American holistic wellness studio owner, co-hosted a Solidarity Circle for Sudan. The soundbath, meditation, and East African tea ceremony — which raised funds for doctors working in Sudan — was one of the most moving acts of cross-diaspora kinship I witnessed all year.
☪️🌱 That kind of caretaking travels across Muslim Chicago’s many diasporas, where international grief often becomes local solidarity. From Beirut to Bronzeville, the community is planting trees with the Chicago Muslims Green Team, feeding unhoused neighbors with Chi-Care, and fighting to save SNAP benefits through a free block party in Englewood with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. Eid Mubarak to all!
By now, I hope you see that The Brown Line isn’t just a list of things to do. It’s a way of connecting creative, socially conscious people across a segregated city, elevating what’s underground, documenting the artists, organizers, healers, and neighbors preserving culture, creating refuge, and building community — often with little mainstream coverage or institutional support. These are the stories that kept pointing me back to the purpose of The Brown Line.
🚆Service update: What I’ve been up to
Meanwhile, I never stopped thinking about The Brown Line. I did, however, pause writing to spend three months training my mind and body for my first-ever boxing match in January! I put my body on the line for charity through Strength in the City Foundation, supporting wellness programs for Black and brown folks on the South and West sides of Chicago (pretty Brown Line-coded, tbh).
Stepping into the ring in front of hundreds of people already felt like a win — but actually winning was a pretty great way to start 2026! Turns out I have enough grit to overcome and achieve almost anything, and I'm addicted to the discipline of training mode — I want to keep fighting, in every sense, inside and outside the ring.
I’m reminding myself of that as I ride the momentum of that win in other parts of my life. Through Northwestern University's Local News Accelerator and Project C, I've been getting mentorship and support to develop The Brown Line's editorial vision, audience strategy, and long-term sustainability — without losing the community-rooted spirit that made me start it in the first place. I'm also grateful to Meet Your Neighbor for a small business grant that helped fuel this momentum.
I can’t grow without hiring — specifically a brand designer and someone to make IG and TikTok videos (the bane of my existence!). So please follow @TheBrownLineChi on both platforms, and send your portfolio to [email protected] if you'd like to be part of our growth!
Finally, I recently received a scholarship for 200-hour yoga teacher training with the brilliant nonprofit Latina Sweat Project, whose mission is to diversify wellness and make it accessible to all people. It’s a big time and energy commitment, but something I’m genuinely passionate about. After I’m certified in August, I’m excited to add my own stops to The Brown Line route.
Thank you for believing in me and sticking with me through all sidequests! I promise I’ll always work my hardest to make you proud.
🚆Know before you ride: Answers to some FAQs
For more on my editorial values and coverage criteria, see my Standards & Ethics page.
What is The Brown Line?
The Brown Line is Chicago’s weekly go-to guide for arts, culture, and community events rooted in Global South perspectives. It’s curated to elevate underground events, artists, and organizations, and aims to build both a cultural archive and connections for socially conscious, diasporic creatives. The Brown Line is cutting through redlining’s legacy to highlight intersectionality and build solidarity across communities. The newsletter is just the first stop. Coming down the line: social videos reviewing art and events, “Passenger of the Week” spotlights, and special events hosted by The Brown Line.
Does “Brown” mean it’s only for Brown (South Asian/Latino/Arab) people?
Not at all! The name is a playful nod to the CTA and a reference to all POC (People of Conscience/Cuteness). Allies who show up with curiosity and humility are absolutely welcome aboard!
What does “Global South” mean?
“Global South” refers broadly to regions and peoples shaped by imperialism, migration, and unequal global power — including Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Southwest Asia and North Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Indigenous communities around the world.
But it’s less about a map and more about a lens: whose heritage stories, gatherings, foodways, art, grief, joy, and resistance get ignored or treated as secondary in mainstream coverage.
Is The Brown Line free?
For now, yes — I want The Brown Line to stay as accessible as possible. A publication for communities often priced out of everything shouldn't price them out too. The dream is to make The Brown Line sustainable through aligned sponsorships, grants, and optional paid extras — not by putting every good stop behind a turnstile. Any future sponsorships or partnerships will be clearly labeled and won’t determine what I cover.
How often and when will The Brown Line arrive in my inbox?
This comeback issue is pulling in midweek — but going forward, catch me arriving in your inbox every Sunday so you can plan your week. I’m committed to keeping this train running on time!
How do I submit an event?
Email me at [email protected] with the details: date, time, location, ticket info, access notes, promo image if you have one, and a short description. Submitting doesn’t guarantee inclusion, but I do read everything!
How can I support The Brown Line?
Please subscribe to the weekly newsletter — as of this issue, thebrownline.co is live and fully public, so please also tell your friends to get on board!
Follow @TheBrownLineChi on IG and TikTok for daily updates.
Email me feedback, tips, sponsorships, or collab opportunities.
Alright, enough platform announcements. Let’s ride!
🚆Next stops: An express ride into Summertime Chi (Fri. May 29 - Sun. May 31)
Fri. May 29: In honor of my birthday, support your neighborhood cultural center! 🥳
🎨🌱 Yollocalli fundraiser party: While some city officials respond to “teen takeovers” on the South and West sides by pushing curfews or penalties for parents, Yollocalli, the National Museum of Mexican Art’s free youth programming initiative, believes that young people need investment, not containment. Pull up to Co-Prosperity for good times, kind people, and a model that actually works to help teens thrive.
🪩💃🏽 Sentido x SRBCC Bugalú night fundraiser: Sentido, the DJ party series bringing young folks to beloved Latino spots across the city, is popping up at the historic Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center to take over its monthly Barrio Bugalú salsa night. (The bugalú sound was born from Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Black Americans partying together in the '60s.) Don’t miss a chance to dance inside a “living archive” of Afro-Latino joy and its cultural home for half a century.
🏛️🤝 Community heritage preservation: If dancing for cultural preservation isn’t for you tonight, you can join artists and archivists at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art to discuss other strategies focused on collective responsibility. Or this could be your pregame move before walking down the street to Co-Prosperity for the Yollocalli party!
Sat. May 30
🇵🇸⚽🇱🇧 Kuffiyeh Cup: Chicago Palestinian organizations are hosting their third soccer tourney and picnic fundraiser, this time for mutual aid in Lebanon. If you didn’t sign up to play, you’re still welcome to picnic and cheer from the sidelines.
🧵🖼️ Cross-cultural textile art exhibit closing: Normally I avoid recommending the same place twice in one issue, but I don’t want you to miss the last day of the Heritage Museum of Asian Art’s “Stitching Stories: Interwoven,” a collaboration between Asian and African American textile artists reflecting on memory, identity, storytelling, and more.
🇵🇭🎞️ Filipino film, food, and fundraiser: My much-cooler birthday twin, Sarah Conway, is also celebrating the first birthday of Cinemanita, the monthly community cinema club she co-founded at the Chicago Art Department, with a screening of “Manila in the Claws of Light,” a 1975 Filipino classic about migration, labor exploitation, and surviving under the Marcos regime. Come early for fantastic food and to hear diaspora organizers connect the past shown in the film to the recent Philippine military’s killing of 19 people on Negros Island, known as the “Negros 19.”
🀄🫖 Multilingual mahjong and mochi: What do mahjong tiles clattering in five Asian languages with a community vinyl playlist in the background sound like? Come find out, stuff yourself with mochi, and make friends at this AAPI month social hosted by Int’l Cafe (not an actual cafe, but a language exchange club) at Haibayô (actual cafe and community space) in Argyle.
🪩🌙 Shake ass in Arabic (or Persian, or Turkish, etc.): Touring SWANA dance party Laylit pulls into Sleeping Village for a late-night stop of shaabi, dabke, mahraganat fused with dancehall, techno, hip-hop, and a crowd that doesn’t have to translate itself for anyone. Featuring our local DJ friends Saint Susu and A. Parssi.
Sun. May 31
🇱🇰🥥 Sri Lankan sips: Nangi’s Cafe, Chicago’s first Sri Lankan coffee cart, is run by a fellow Gemini who also apparently loves blessing everyone this season. What can I say, we’re a generous sign! Catch her pop-up at Chromatic Studio with a mouthwatering menu of coconut crepes stuffed with jaggery, pani pol coconut matcha, jackfruit refreshers, and Ceylon black tea lemonade — then stay for creative coworking, affordable headshots, and free infused drinks.
📸✨ Free community portraits: Photographer Mercedes Zapata is known for her lush portraits of iconic Chicago poets and artists like Jamila Woods and José Olivarez. Now, she’s turning that same tender eye toward the community, offering free portraits at her Pilsen studio for anyone who wants their joy documented. Bring your graduation outfit, your dog, or anyone you love; snacks and reproductive health resources from Plan C Pills included. Let the record show you smiling!
🎤🎟️ Abby Govindan is “Pushing 30” + ticket giveaway! The Indian American comedian’s newest standup hour about the horrors of getting older feels personally targeted to every immigrant kid, eldest daughter, overthinker, and Gemini spiraling into a new decade. Go laugh at time, family, ambition, and the very rude fact that we all keep aging. Abby is actually a good friend and has generously given me two tickets to give away to one Brown Line reader — forward this issue or share the IG post on your story, then DM or email me a screenshot by 9 a.m. Sun. May 31 to enter. I’ll pick one winner at random.
That’s it for this express ride! If The Brown Line has helped you find one new artist, organizer, cafe, dance floor, or friend — please send it to someone who should be riding with us, too.
We are so back, baby. See you Sunday!
With gratitude,
G 🚃🤎✊🏾