Column: A high schooler gives voice to the StreetWise world

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

'StreetWise,' the man shouts at the snazzy corner of Michigan Avenue and Walton Street as people pass him by, 'StreetWise, here.' But of course there is shopping to do, lunch with friends, all sorts of other chores and engagements. … Hurry, hurry, hurry.
has long been the excuse most people have used not to buy a copy from the people who sell it for a living. The publication has been around since 1992, a means by which people could earn money by selling what was then a newspaper. In March that year, I was told, 'It gives people a hand up and not just a handout,' by its first editor, Kathleen 'Casey' Covganka, before the first issue hit the streets that September.
Ever since, few have taken the time to discover anything about StreetWise salespeople, the vendors. Some don't have the time to exchange even a glance, making the vendors among the city's most faceless citizens.
That's not true of 17-year-old Anthony Mateos, who lives in Evanston and has just completed his junior year at Evanston Township High School. He has compiled and published a terrific book titled 'Who We Are: Stories From the Chicago StreetWise Community.' An oral history, it contains first-name-only interviews with many vendors and a few staff members, such as editor-in-chief Suzanne, who says. 'I don't want (vendors) to just be pitied and take money, and people say, 'Oh, isn't that special? Isn't that sweet?' That's patronizing for all of us. I want them to take the magazine, read the magazine, and consider the things that StreetWise is talking about, which are marginalized people and the question, 'How do we make Chicago better?''
Says one vendor named Lonnie, 'It's a great opportunity to get out there and talk to people, not only just to sell StreetWise. To let people know at the end of the day you're not by yourself and that's going to be okay. But you have to keep going, and you have to keep working hard. You have to take it to another level, knowing it's going to be a better day. Them better days outweigh a not-good day. I make the best of every day.'
Here's Jimmie, who has been a vendor for nearly 20 years, saying, 'StreetWise picked me up when I was a mess. Once I got with StreetWise, it changed my life. It put hope in front of me.'
There are similar sentiments and uplifting stories expressed throughout.
For the $14.50 cost of the 67-page book (available at self-publisher lulu.com, with profits going to StreetWise), you'll get many similar sentiments and uplifting stories. And perhaps, as Mateos writes in his brief introduction, you might 'go beyond the pages. Next time you see a vendor selling StreetWise, buy a magazine and talk with them. If you cannot buy a magazine, offer them a smile or a wave. The kindness matters.'
Mateos was inspired to this project by his mother, Elizabeth Schaefer, who is a professor and director of communications and marketing studies for National Louis University. Nearly a decade ago, he accompanied her when she was working on gathering interviews that became her book 'Women Are With You: An Oral History Book About Domestically Abusive Relationships.' She also helped navigate the self-publishing world, for which she has written and published a number of books.
I have written about her before and, in the small world department, also about her mom, Trish Schaefer, who I met decades ago, when she was sitting behind a piano playing and singing at a number of clubs on the local scene. I wrote that 'she was one of the bright lights on the local club scene, juggling her singing career with acting, appearing in commercials, films and a TV show called 'Lady Blue'.' She gave up show business to raise two daughters, one of whom was Elizabeth.
It's a creative family but Anthony, as empowered as he is by his first published book, is not dreaming of future bestseller lists. Raised as the only child of his single mom, he is an independent thinker, an honors student and member of the ETHS rowing team.
The book, he says, 'Makes me proud and happy.'
StreetWise has changed much since its founding. It's no longer a newspaper but a magazine, published once a week and sold by some 150 vendors. It has operated since 2020 in collaboration with YMCA Metropolitan Chicago and thus has been able to expand its services to vendors. They pay $1.15 for each copy and then sell them for $3. No one is getting rich. But the vendors, all of whom wear badges and have undergone training, can also avail themselves of such benefits as food, clothing and the assistance of social workers.
Mateos tells me that most of the vendors 'were very receptive to talking to me, to sharing their lives.' He says that many of his friends and a few of his teachers were surprised by the book. He so far raised about $1,000.
He is spending the summer on the Northwestern University campus, taking classes in one of his current interests, neuroscience. Northwestern is among the universities and colleges he will be applying to in a few months and any one of them will be lucky to have him.