I get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday to head to my favorite “Pilates on steroids class” in the West Loop. It’s raining. I wonder if the plants need water in the community garden in Englewood. The rain stops. The sun comes out. It’s starting to get hot.
Then I drive down 94-East to Englewood to water the Social Change’s urban garden. I meet a neighbor who offers his hose through the back yard to fill up the rain water barrel. You think you’ve collected so much water from the rain, but it never seems like enough. We talk for a bit and check on the plants. Later, he comes back and offers me water or a Coke as I work.
Out come four bounding kittens—teenagers by now—chasing me between the plants. One tries to grab my toes in my sandals and then tugs at my bag. Soon they’re distracted by butterflies, birds, and all my movement. Too cute. I leave them a little bucket of water just in case.
Next stop is the Englewood farmers’ market. As I walk from my car, a woman waiting for the bus proudly shows off her fresh vegetables to another rider. When I arrive, there are so many shoppers I have to take a number to wait my turn. In the middle of the market, at least thirty seniors are under a tent, caught up in a lively pop-up game of bingo. People are talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company.
I swing by Bronzeville to check in on a friend’s place.
Then I head back to the West Loop to see a friend. We sit on her rooftop among white hydrangeas. A man nearby is reading his book; two younger folks are stretched out on beach chairs baking in the sun. We enjoy cheese, fruit, and good conversation. Eventually I realize how tired I am and head home to tend my own garden before dinner.
The next morning, I head up North to my favorite “Pilates on steroids” class. After class, I stop by a neighborhood grocery store for pita and hummus.
I come home and weed my unruly blackberries and honeysuckles from climbing my neighbor’s fence. Little neighbor arrives home, runs over to pull the wagon and asks a for fresh blackberry for each hand. I take little neighbor back to Mama to ensure that the fruit is washed before eating.
Later, my husband and I take a hike in Caldwell Woods along the river—which looks more like a creek these days, it’s so dry. Then we swing by Costco.
Whether I head West, South, East, or North—all I see around me are Chicago neighbors.
I attended the 2026 NAACP National Convention in Chicago as an observer on behalf of the Bulloch County NAACP. This year, I was struck by how closely history and the present live as neighbors. What was yesterday feels like today.
This Fourth of July, I woke up early in West Rogers Park and headed to Social Change's community garden in Englewood, like I do on most Saturdays in the summer. There were weeds to pull, trees to trim, and a few odds and ends that had accumulated over the past week.
I’m originally from Statesboro, GA and I knew Shannon as a child. We reconnected over FaceBook several years ago in what I like to consider as the internet’s version of the town newspaper.
I get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday to head to my favorite “Pilates on steroids class” in the West Loop. It’s raining. I wonder if the plants need water in the community garden in Englewood. The rain stops. The sun comes out. It’s starting to get hot.
In a world where so much feels like it’s unraveling—our communities, institutions, economy, science, medicine, education, even the very fabric of families—it is easy to lose sight of what matters most. The rising tide of hate and division makes advice even more essential: return to simplicity. Focus on what’s meaningful. Celebrate beauty through small things.
I have been busy with clients and volunteering and tend to write when something important comes my way that I feel I need to share—the monthly intention to write ain’t working. I am ready to share observations about the experience of voting and getting out the vote in the latest election.
Founders of nonprofits, or program builders, share a quality in common with successful artists—they first envision their mission and then build their idea into reality.
As part of my one-on-one “quiet conversation” series, I am going to focus on one theme a month (or at least I’ll try). This month’s theme is about how to put your best foot forward in applying for a new job.
I have been thinking about this blog as I finish my second year in consulting. On a good note, by deepening relationships with my clients and through volunteer work, I have witnessed the brilliant lightening of energy and support around important missions firsthand.
I am asked all the time, “What do you do?” I do lots of different things and it all focuses on driving mission and building relationships.
Life is art and everything around you is designed. Design influences how we see the world in ways we don’t think about seamlessly. But, the Design Museum of Chicago (DMoC) gives you that opportunity to see the art, form and function through a new lens. In many ways, DMoC helps us access public art and think about its societal function in our own lives.
As I began this new era of my career last January as a fundraising consultant, I didn’t know where it would lead, how much I would make or what would exactly feed my passion—but I was lucky enough to be able to keep my options open. I’m probably busier now than when I was working a regular office job, but I’m more satisfied by picking and choosing what projects I get to work on both personally and professionally.
I call art the “last congregation,” by which I mean that it’s a space where we are allowed to spiritually feel without boundaries. I look for artists that create that space and provide emotional engagement. Annie Hex is such an artist. She has intuitively found her voice and helps others find theirs through her words.
As a special note, I conducted this interview in early June 2022. I met Todd Belcore, Executive Director of Social Change, years ago in Chicago while working in legal aid. He has an uncanny ability to connect with people in any community across the country and has a passion for social justice. Social Change is a dynamic nonprofit that works across the country to bring people together, ensures equal rights and builds communities.
Interest-free lending, considered the highest form of Jewish charity, goes back to Biblical times. So it seems only fitting that Leah Greenblum, the Executive Director of the newly established Jewish Free Loan Chicago, sat down to discuss her mission over bagels, cream cheese and lox at my home. Leah and I originally bonded years ago over our love of nonprofits and social justice.
As a serious voice student in high school, one of the most useful skills I learned was to imagine the muscle connection between my voice and my vocal exercises. When I was able to do this, it meant that I could reach a note or practice my chords accordingly.
If not now, when is the premise and how is the question. This idea occurred to me while I was doing the dishes—a gateway to my creative ideas. With 11 years + one week at CARPLS and five years and seven months at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law out of a 25+ year career in fundraising, I am a member of the legal services tribe.
It’s a Sunday morning in the beginning of January and I’m working on year-end tax acknowledgments, which I have the wonderful issue of being overwhelmed with at the moment. Thank goodness. And, then I began thinking what it takes for a visionary to make good on the need they see to fill.
My website is a work in progress, just as my consulting business is. Thanks to my daughter who noticed that the template language was showing in the Blog section. As a result, I decided to write my first blog and solve that issue on the website. I welcome a dialogue and this is my personal opinion. You can reach me at tpietr@yahoo.com.