Matthew Rillie sat at the desk leading into the SDI lounge with a stack of papers in hand. They then swiftly gathered a small group of students, leading them to the CTA Red Line before exiting at the Belmont stop. Students circled Rillie, while quickly flipping through their Northalsted History Walk packets.
“I forget sometimes because I’ve lived here for so long that Chicago is such a hub of history,” Rillie said, “and one of the biggest hubs of LGBTQ resources in America, but particularly the Midwest.”
Rillie serves as coordinator for student support and engagement at the SDI office, creating events that aim to offer peer connection for Columbia College students. On Tuesday Oct. 1, Rillie led an off-campus event in the Northalsted Chicago neighborhood. The peer support walk began at Unabridged Bookstore, a premier LGBTQ+ literature hub with an award winning children’s section.
“I like all the shops. I got a sticker book,” said first-year marketing major Klauss Bautista. “I’m from the suburbs, first time in the neighborhood.”
Rillie continued to lead students along North Broadway, pausing in between stores to point out some of their favorites. The second stop of the tour was at a corner adjacent to the Center on Halsted, a comprehensive community center dedicated to securing the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people of Chicago. The center offers supplementary care such as free hepatitis C and HIV testing, workshops for LGBTQ+ students in the classroom, family planning materials and free recreational programs.
Students briefly stopped at a pillar adjacent to the center which marked the start of a tour of the Legacy Walk.
“Every pillar is a part of a project called ‘Legacy Project,’” Rillie said. “Over 40 years ago, historians really started to realize a lot of LGBTQ activists, resources, people were from Chicago.”
The Legacy Walk is a dynamic outdoor LGBTQ+ history exhibit in the Lakeview neighborhood with a series of bronze biographical memorials dedicated to the lives of LGBTQ+ figures throughout history. Students were given the option to engage in a self-guided tour of the Legacy Walk contributions while keeping pace through a map that Rillie provided.
“I’m doing a project for our big Chicago neighborhood class and I chose Boystown,” said Lexie Cramer, a first-year theatre tech and design major. “I thought it’d be good to come here and learn more about it and hopefully use some of the information in my project.”
The Northalsted tour concluded by highlighting a piece from the #WalkWithPride Art Tour. Rillie gathered students around the “Wings of Pride” mural at Halsted and Roscoe and spoke briefly about using art to beautify outdoor spaces. Rillie discussed the push for more public art across Chicago following the loss of traditional gathering spaces such as bars and coffee shops due to COVID-19.
Rillie, who oversees the peer support program, emphasized the value of communal experiences and events to foster a sense of belonging amongst Columbia students.
“We say a lot that Chicago is our campus, I think I take that with our goal in SDI very seriously,” Rillie said. “I intentionally plan a lot of these trips so people can experience Chicago in a way that’s beyond just the South Loop.”
Copy edited by Trinity Balboa
Resumen en Español:
Para un evento de conexiones, estudiantes visitaron el barrio de Northalsted para celebrar el mes de historia de la comunidad LGBTQ+. La excursión fue creada por la oficina de Diversidad e Inclusión Estudiantil. El grupo fue a varios lugares en la comunidad, como el Center On Halsted, un centro comunitario con propósito de proveer servicios de salud. Este evento, como muchos otros, es ofrecido en Columbia para expandir el conocimiento de la ciudad y fortalecer la comunidad estudiantil.
Resumen en Español por Uriel Reyes
Resumen en Español copia editada por Doreen Abril Albuerne-Rodriguez
