middle brow | citizen how \ 7 jul 17 /

fire for the future.


we feel like a broken record sometimes, but even our most earnest friends believe we should talk more about how we donate a substantial portion of our profits (sometimes over 50%) to local charities. we'd like to high*light* one of those charities today. ...

our friend pearl dick is an brow-furrowing woman in the best way. when you talk to her, you start to feel something inexplicable, such that your brow begins to furrow at the center. just a touch at first. but then, after 15 minutes or so, after you've nearly cried once or twice, from joy and from sadness, you've got a permanent furrow + smile on your head.

pearl is a co-founder of project fire, which offers therapy and employment to victims of gun violence through glassblowing. read that again. you don't even have to backtrack. here: pearl teaches glassblowing (and other fire arts) to children who have been affected by gun violence. she teaches them to engage with fire in a more constructive way. she knows the name of every child who walks through her door. she teaches them about hard work, and about compensation for such. she spends her whole saturday with them. she refuses ever to give up, no matter how tight funding might get or how seriously a student might be harmed.

we make small donations to her from time to time, as our *project fire* beers are brewed. maybe consider making your own donation from time to time, too.

in the meantime, head down to the firehouse arts studio (the oldest standing firehouse in chicago, converted into a studio for glassblowing and other fire arts like pottery) and take a look at what pearl and her friends at artreach chicago are doing.