Division Street Revisited

This week, we're sharing an episode of the Nieman Storyboard podcast which features Mary Schmich.
Schmich has won the Pulitzer Prize and the Studs Terkel Award for her work as a columnist at the Chicago Tribune. She grew up in Georgia and Arizona as the oldest of eight children, and she graduated from Pomona College and attended journalism school at Stanford. From 1985 until 2021, she worked at the Chicago Tribune, where she was a features writer, a national correspondent and, for 29 years, a columnist. "Over the years, I cultivated three essential mantras, which [were]: Panic is my muse. Deadlines crowd out doubt. It always gets done," Schmich said.  
Get the full show notes and reading list: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/04/24/mary-schmich-podcasts-division-street-revisited/
Show credits
Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova
Nieman Foundation curator: Ann Marie Lipinski
Deputy curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy
Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.
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Some families, no matter how much they struggle, manage to stick together. Blanche Gates, a widowed Kentucky mother of 15, led one such family. In the 1960s, when coal jobs in Kentucky got scarce, Blanche and some of her sons joined a growing diaspora of Appalachians headed to Chicago. There, in a neighborhood nicknamed Hillbilly Heaven, Blanche made sure her children knew her deepest values: Work and family. One of Blanche’s children later returned to Kentucky, where we met some family members who remained in coal mining. Others spread far and wide, still holding on to the values Blanche had held so dear.

Executive Producers: Melissa Harris and Mary Schmich
Writer/Host: Mary Schmich
Producer: Bill Healy
Editors: Cate Cahan and Mark Jacob
Sound Designer/Audio Engineer: Libby Lussenhop
Associate Producer/Dialogue Editor: Chijioke Williams
Music Director/Composer: Chris Walz

For more information, visit divisionstreetrevisited.com.

Leon Beverly came to Chicago as a child, in the first wave of the Great Migration of Black Americans moving up from the South. He established himself in the hog kill department at the Chicago Stockyards and quickly became a leader in the union. Leon was known for fixing problems – for co-workers, neighbors and friends, though he struggled to fix his own. He was also a piano player who believed in the power of music to create hope. Leon’s legacy is strong within his children, including a daughter who serves as a board member of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Executive Producers: Melissa Harris and Mary Schmich
Writer/Host: Mary Schmich
Producer: Bill Healy
Editors: Cate Cahan and Mark Jacob
Sound Designer/Audio Engineer: Libby Lussenhop
Associate Producer/Dialogue Editor: Chijioke Williams
Music Director/Composer: Chris Walz

For more information, visit divisionstreetrevisited.com.

At a time when women’s opportunities were severely limited, Mary Ward Wolkonsky used her wealth and intelligence to make Chicago more cosmopolitan. But the times and the rules of her husbands' corporate jobs limited Mary’s work to volunteer boards, not the boardroom. Those who knew Mary point to her vision and forceful character, and  also to her drive to improve the lives of women everywhere.

Executive Producers: Melissa Harris and Mary Schmich
Writer/Host: Mary Schmich
Producer: Bill Healy
Editors: Cate Cahan and Mark Jacob
Sound Designer/Audio Engineer: Libby Lussenhop
Associate Producer/Dialogue Editor: Chijioke Williams
Music Director/Composer: Chris Walz

For more information, visit divisionstreetrevisited.com.

Ben Bearskin was born on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska, but he didn’t stay there. Instead, he moved to the big, loud, bustling city of Chicago, where he became a leader in his Native American community. Ben worked hard to live deeply in the world of his ancestors and in the modern, fast-paced city. He helped establish the American Indian Center in Chicago, and made sure it was a place that treasured Native culture. Near the end of his life, Ben moved back to the reservation, and eventually all five of his children found their way there too.

Executive Producers: Melissa Harris and Mary Schmich
Writer/Host: Mary Schmich
Producer: Bill Healy
Editors: Cate Cahan and Mark Jacob
Sound Designer/Audio Engineer: Libby Lussenhop
Associate Producer/Dialogue Editor: Chijioke Williams
Music Director/Composer: Chris Walz

For more information, visit divisionstreetrevisited.com.