Welcome Message

Another Summer of Pure Joy

by Editor & Publisher MATT MCCARTHY

Summer in the city is where it’s at, dear readers. People who aren’t from here will never know. Every season has its charms, no doubt. But summer is magic. It’s blue skies and backyard BBQs, block parties and neighborhood festivals, beer gardens and alfresco dining, ballparks and bike rides along the Lakefront. After months of being punished by darkness and weather, the sun is out and it’s a beautiful day in Chicago. 

A collective sigh of relief runs through the city. 

And then it’s three months of pure joy.

Yeah, there are still a million problems. It’s the summer of wildfires, explosive diarrhea salad, salmonella eggs, $5 gasoline, wars in Iran, Gaza, and Ukraine. Only rich people can afford health care and groceries. And we’re in the midst of a slow-motion constitutional crisis trainwreck.      

But the Cubs and the Sox are both still in contention in the dog days of August. Could this be the year? Subway series? 

Speaking of miracles and pure joy, this summer’s Messenger (better late than never!) marks our fifth issue overall, and our second summer out on the streets. With the 21 talented artists and writers featured in this issue, we’ve published the work of more than 100 people—about 95% of whom are your neighbors, local to Chicago, Milwaukee Avenue’s finest. Some are seasoned veterans of the arts. For others, it’s the first time they’ve been published. Each contributor is sharing something special that only they could have created and that tells us something important about who they are and how they see the world. 

And we’re all better for it. 

When I began work on the very first issue of the Milwaukee Avenue Messenger near the end of the spring of 2025, my idea was to encourage empathy, compassion, and community engagement through the arts. I believed then, and I still believe, that reading a writer’s work or contemplating an artist’s painting or a photographer’s images, allows you to see the world from their point of view. And that’s an excellent start toward empathy, compassion, and community engagement. 

I also believe that offering a physical print edition of our journal is increasingly important in a world run by algorithms, where doing something online often becomes a substitute for doing something in real life. We’re building something real with the Messenger. We’re leaving behind an artifact of our community in our community. A legacy. 

It’s undeniable. 

In that first issue, I wrote: 

I believe working with people in the community to produce art for and about our community has value. It brings people together. These stories, poems, and pieces of art will live in the community, in the physical print edition of the Milwaukee Avenue Messenger that gets distributed along Milwaukee Avenue, and they’ll live forever online as a way of documenting the artists and community and highlighting the vitality of these neighborhoods.

Since that debut issue last summer, we’ve sold hundreds of physical print copies of our journal to people up and down Milwaukee Avenue and across city. We’ve had thousands of visitors to our website. And we’ve had the opportunity to meet so many of you, live and in person, at events we’ve hosted or participated in around town. 

And that’s been a pure joy.

All these people we’ve met this past year, kindred spirits who attended our readings or stopped by our table or booth at events to ask questions or offer support, they’re people who care passionately about the arts and about their community. They crave connection and meaning­, just like we do. And they believe we can all aspire to something more in life than money or influence. 

We can aspire to something beautiful. 

We can share it with the people in our community. 

And we can all experience a little bit of that pure joy.