Litter Caterpillars

  • Forest Preserve Chicago: A Guide to Wild Escapes

    Forest Preserve Chicago: A Guide to Wild Escapes

    The first time I ducked into a forest preserve outside Chicago, I still had grit from the Kennedy on my shoes and a bad week sitting in my chest. I thought I was going to a park. I ended up in a place that felt half feral, half forgiving. More Than Just Trees I came…

  • 7 Ways to Find a Friendship Center Chicago in 2026

    7 Ways to Find a Friendship Center Chicago in 2026

    I remember staring at a jar of blueberry jam in my fridge that had followed me for years. It was expired, sticky on the lid, and somehow heavier than a dumbbell in my mind. A bag of nuts sat beside it from my brief, failed era of trying to become a person who meal-prepped and…

  • Your Guide to Greene Valley Forest Preserve

    Your Guide to Greene Valley Forest Preserve

    I once bent down for a crushed soda can at Greene Valley and felt my whole week change shape. The wind moved through the grass, my bag crackled, and for one clean second my mind stopped arguing with itself. That’s why I keep coming back to greene valley forest preserve. You go there thinking you…

  • 10 Community Service Ideas for College Students

    10 Community Service Ideas for College Students

    My mess was my life, so I started cleaning up someone else’s. I used to have trouble cleaning my own stuff. As my apartment got worse, my life got worse with it. The old blueberry jam from a trip to Michigan. The bag of nuts from a failed health kick. Every piece of trash had…

  • 12th Street Beach: A Complete Chicago Guide (2026)

    12th Street Beach: A Complete Chicago Guide (2026)

    I once stood at 12th street beach with a trash bag in one hand and a knot in my chest. The sand was cleaner than my apartment, and somehow picking up a stranger's bottle cap felt easier than throwing away my own old junk at home. Discovering 12th Street Beach Through New Eyes I didn't…

  • Winding Creek Park: A Guide for Chicago Adventurers

    Winding Creek Park: A Guide for Chicago Adventurers

    I remember standing at the edge of Winding Creek Park with a trash bag in one hand and a brain full of noise. The pond looked calm. I wasn’t. Years ago, when my own room felt impossible to clean, I learned a strange truth outside: picking up one bottle from the grass felt easier than…

  • 7 Places to Donate Cardboard Boxes in Chicago

    7 Places to Donate Cardboard Boxes in Chicago

    The move is over, but the test now is sitting by the wall in a lopsided stack of cardboard. A neighbor of mine in Chicago once kept hers for so long that her toddler started using the biggest box as a reading chair. Funny for a week. Depressing by month two. I know that feeling.…

  • MrBeast Ocean Cleanup: Your Guide to Local Action

    MrBeast Ocean Cleanup: Your Guide to Local Action

    I once stared at a jar of old jam in my fridge like it was a boulder. Then I walked outside, picked up one crushed bottle on the sidewalk, and felt lighter than I had in months. That’s why the mrbeast ocean cleanup story hits me so hard. A giant mess can freeze you. One…

  • Humboldt Park in Chicago: Culture, Green Spaces & More

    Humboldt Park in Chicago: Culture, Green Spaces & More

    I once stood in Humboldt Park with a trash bag in one hand and a mind full of static, and I remember thinking that the path in front of me looked a lot like my apartment floor. Leaves, cups, bottle caps, wrappers. Nothing dramatic. Just enough scattered mess to make a person feel tired before…

  • CSA Chicago IL: Our Top 7 Farm Picks for 2026

    CSA Chicago IL: Our Top 7 Farm Picks for 2026

    One Friday night, I stood in the produce aisle holding a wet bag of spinach that already looked tired. I’d had a week that scraped me raw, and there I was under grocery store lights, choosing between vegetables shipped from who knows where and still leaving with food that felt dead before I cooked it.…

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