Kamy Smelser

ChicagoTalks Oct. 16 2022 CPS Teacher Strike

Additional Work

Featured Articles

Explore the various stories I've reported on across a variety of publications below. 

ChicagoTalks •

‘I just want it to be a safe haven’: Once Upon A Playhouse provides play center for children coming out of the pandemic – ChicagoTalks

Growing up, Brittany Harris and her brother would gather chairs together and throw a sheet over them, immediately turning the configuration into a what they considered a “choo-choo” train in the middle of their mom’s dining room.

“I think there’s just something so magical about children still being able to utilize imagination, and you know, having their creative space just run and still enjoy the essence of being a child,” Harris said.

This was not the first time Harris allowed her imagination
Echo Mag. via •

Uptown commune Jesus People USA turns 50 and faces dwindling membership

Editor’s note: This article is from the Communication Department’s award-winning Echo magazine.

When Tom Crozier, a man with unapologetically long, curly hair, sits in the garden room of the Jesus People USA commune, the light radiating through the window behind him creates a glowing silhouette around his head. It’s a fitting image, considering he’s telling the story of the religious community he’s called home for 29 years.

A 10-story apartment complex in the Chicago Uptown neighborhood with a
Echo Mag. via •

How magician Paige Thompson flirts with ‘death’ in her illusionary stage performances

Editor’s note: This article is from the Communication Department’s award-winning Echo magazine.

Magician and illusionist Paige Thompson dangles upside down while squirming her way out of a straitjacket. She has 60 seconds to escape before sharp metal jaws clamp down on her entire body.

Thompson has one goal in mind — to put you on the edge of your seat.

“This is not an illusion. Real danger is involved,” she says, sporting ripped black tights and magenta hair, as she introduces her act to an
Echo Mag. via •

Masters of a ping pong speakeasy square off in an eclectic basement court

Editor’s note: This article is from the Communication Department’s award-winning Echo magazine.

A black, unmarked door sits next to an Anytime Fitness, with no hint of what lies behind it. To enter, visitors must make a phone call to ping pong coach Ardy Taveerasert, who will then open the door to an entryway that leads to his table tennis club, ChiSlam.

The corridor echoes with the sound of ping pong balls popping to and from players. In a room at the bottom of a set of dimly-lit stairs, club
Frank XI •

From Picture Frame, To 8 Inch Screen — Frank XI

The first time John Bohlin, a Columbia fine art graduate student, came to Chicago, he was enthralled by a virtual reality art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibit only required you to sit and put on a pair of headphones to experience another reality.

“The work itself didn’t exist physically, only its mode of presentation,” he says. “And now we don’t even need a headset to experience augmented realities, just a phone, just a screen really.”

Artists were once completely reliant on hoping a gallery would pick up their art for it to be shared with any audience. This has shifted with the obvious rise in social media consumption. While this provides an easy way to share art with a broader audience, this leaves artists with the question of how innovative or admired their art can be as it will primarily be seen through the quick consumption on a smartphone screen.
Frank Magazine XI •

LGBTQ+ Christianity — Frank XI

I was baptized as a Lutheran on Saint Patrick’s Day in 2002. Laughter from my entire family filled the little church as I splashed around in the bowl of holy water the pastor was trying to pour on my head. No one expected me to come out 18 years later.

For a lot of my childhood, religion was a pretty important part of my life. I turned to prayer and the Bible a lot. When I started to realize that I liked girls, I hyper-focused on the Bible verses that condemned all homosexuals. It felt like a p
ChicagoTalks •

A conversation with: A Toda Voz Radio Host, Samantha Ante – ChicagoTalks

At the age of 16, Samantha Ante convinced her mother that they should move from their economically and relationally toxic environment in Mexico and move to Chicago. Captivated by the arts and culture found in the states, she was excited that her mother had finally agreed to go. Years down the road she found herself at the age of 25, acting as a one-woman show by producing and hosting for Hispanic radio station, A Toda Voz, in Chicago.

Have you always lived around Chicago?

I moved from Mexico t
Buttons To Bones •

FROM THE GARAGE OF A PUNK BAND

The backstory of how one pin-back button collector started a button business

Christen Carter (pictured on right) and Joel Carter (pictured on left) work together to make and display their pin buttons since Busy Beavers’ start in 1995. Photography by and courtesy of Christen Carter.

It all started with a Snoopy and Woodstock button. Christen Carter used her babysitting money as a 12-year-old to pursue an obsession that would turn into a collection with more than 25,000 pin buttons.

“I adored t
Magazine Writing Class •

Stuck in a hula hoop: How children's ballet schools reopened their doors for in-person classes

“Can you blow up your bubble for me?” Misha Woodward asks her two-year-old ballet students. “That's our special bubble; we don't want to pop our friends' bubbles. We've got to keep them extra safe.”

These ballet students dressed in their poofy tutus, perfect ballerina buns and face masks sit criss-crossed on their pink polka-dot taped to the floor that’s designed to keep them six feet from other students.

Ms. Misha, as her ballerinas call her, sits on the opposite side of the lavender and bubblegum pink colored room as she directs her students to stretch out as they prepare an imaginary pizza.
ChicagoTalks •

Christkindlmarket goes virtual, keeping holiday spirit alive – ChicagoTalks

When Zack Alper found out that the Christkindlmarket had canceled it’s in-person experience and moved to a virtual platform due to the pandemic, he was disappointed but hopeful for the good that would be brought out of it since he had just joined the Christkindlmarket family.

“After hearing such great things about Christkindlemarket, I finally visited last year and knew it would be a great opportunity for my small business,” said Alper, the founder of Dr. Silkman’s, a lotion and beard product b
College Newspaper Workshop Class •

'We're surviving:' How parents of children with special needs adjusted to the initial shutdown

Chicago parent Ali Goodman was able to deftly juggle career and family responsibilities until the coronavirus outbreak thrust her into a situation requiring all of her attention and energy.

“We’re surviving,” said Goodman, mother of six-year-old Jackson who was diagnosed with autism at age three and two-year-old Jordan. “How are we more tired now than we were before? They require more brain power to keep them entertained all day.”

Goodman is one of a number of Chicago parents who were turned into homeschool teachers of their children with special needs by the pandemic. Tackling challenges such as adjusting to a new routine and juggling being a mom, remote working, now homeschool teacher and personal therapist.
Gateway Journalism Review •

Travel website for parents pivots amidst coronavirus uncertainty

It’s hard to imagine planning a family vacation in the midst of a global pandemic and lockdown. The US State Department has advised Americans abroad to return. Disney parks have shuttered. Governments have ordered schools and playgrounds to close and citizens to remain inside their homes.


In the midst of all of that uncertainty, a Chicago-based family vacation website is working to stay relevant when no one can travel.


This had been a banner year for TravelingMom before the travel world s
ChicagoTalks •

A conversation with: Share Our Spare Executive Director Anne Assenmacher – ChicagoTalks

Share Our Spare is striving to donate one million diapers to Chicago’s families living in poverty within the next three years. Behind this goal is Executive Director Anne Assenmacher who has been working with Share Our Spare to provide living essentials to children living under the poverty line. In 2010, she left her career in the corporate world and felt led to pursue a different path to impact the lives of children and families living in poverty.

Assenmacher talks about her involvement with t
ChicagoTalks Oct. 16 2022 CPS Teacher Strike
ChicagoTalks •

City prepares for first school strike in seven years – ChicagoTalks

Constantina Davis wants her daughter to go to high school on Thursday. The 35-year-old mom who lives on the west side of Chicago supports higher salaries for teachers but not a school strike that will force her daughter to stay home.

“I don’t think they should strike,” said Davis, who works at the Art Institute of Chicago. “I feel sad for those who have younger children and don’t have a babysitter.”

The Chicago Public School district canceled classes and after school activities on Thursday in
ChicagoTalks •

2019 Chicago Marathon runs beyond the race with charity – ChicagoTalks

Spectators clanged cowbells and waved inspirational signs along the streets of Chicago to cheer on not only loved ones, but also charity team members, who faced the 2019 Chicago Marathon Sunday.

Along the side of State Street, marathon spectator and PAWS Chicago volunteer, Jessica Boi waved a bright, neon sign as runners representing the PAWS Chicago charity team sped by.

“This is my second year at the Chicago Marathon,” Boi said, though she has volunteered at PAWS for six years. “Though I was