by Katarzyna Olcon, Global Connect Blogger

CHICAGO – It is that time of the year again when thousands of people gather in the Landmark Century Centre Cinema and Instituto Cervantes, and approximately 200 people from the Latin American film industry, arrive in Chicago for the Chicago Latino Film Festival.

by Sabina Ahmed Bangash, Global Connect Blogger, Chicago 

By Katarzyna Olcon, Global Connect Chicago Blogger

CHICAGO, USA – Rogers Park is among Chicago’s most diverse neighborhoods. The streets are filled with people dressed in colorful, traditional clothing.

In a modestly furnished one-bedroom apartment here many of the neighborhood’s residents gather. They speak English with foreign accents and often interchange words for those in their native languages.

by Lola Olley, Global Connect Chicago Blogger

Chicago native, Cara Harshman is part Internet darling. Part blogger. Part inspiration.

by Tara Weinberg, Global Connect Chicago Blogger

Chicago, USA – Fatimata Traore, 37, had only been in Chicago for a few months when she received an urgent call from her aunt, a hair braider.

By Guadalupe Ivonne Candellada-Cortes

I met Sherry on a freezing Sunday morning December at the Azteca Mall in Chicago as volunteers for Centro Avance, a local organization, gathered for a wheelchair and equipment drive.

by Sabina Ahmed Bangash

Sticking out in a crowd is something Sadaf Syed, 37, is used to.

Syed is a Pakistani American, a Muslim, a photojournalist and a mother of two. Living in Illinois since 1998, Syed covers her head and says she understands how it feels when Muslim women are misunderstood and misrepresented. And she says it happens in the media every day.

By Anam el-Jabali

My worse fears are coming true.

Two months ago, my husband Mohammad fell off our neighbor's roof while doing a simple favor.

We are beginning to accept the reality of the fall. And it was a serious fall.

When it happened, I didn't have time to think, worry or cry. But I knew immediately, in my heart, that he would not be going back to work that Monday or for many weeks to come.

by Izabela Gluszak

Nearly 180,000 Polish immigrants live in Chicago, according to the 2007 US Census American Community Survey, a new organization is striving to keep immigrants here aware of their rights.

In the basement of the St. Ferdinand Church on Chicago’s west side, over a hundred chairs begin to fill up as the Poles upstairs at mass begin to come down the stairs.

by Tara Weinberg

Almaz Yigizaw's Ethiopian Diamond restaurant is a hub of activity. Walking into this Roger’s Park establishment on Chicago’s north side, there is a strong smell of roasting coffee, paintings of Ethiopia all over the walls and a hum of chatter from the crowded tables. As a couple wanders into the restaurant, Yigizaw greets them in Amharic, Ethiopia’s most widely spoken language, and leads them to one of the few free tables in the huge room.