What would you put into a time capsule? It’s a question we’ve asked thousands of people across Chicago since 2021 as a way to start a deeper conversation about who they are today and what they hope for the future.
Next year, many of those capsules will be reopened. Inside are drawings, letters and keepsakes created during the pandemic — reflections of grief and fear, but also of resilience and joy. Together, they tell a story of how Chicago lived through a crisis and how we can chart a more hopeful path forward.
That need feels urgent again today. Fear, anger and exhaustion hang in the air. Families are anxious about what’s happening in Washington, D.C., and here at home. Communities are bracing for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. It’s easy to feel the city’s spirit stretched thin.
At Once Upon Our Time Capsule, we help children, families and young adults process what they’re living through using art and storytelling. Whether it’s a student writing a poem about a place she feels safe and happy, grandparents reflecting on the lessons the want to pass down or a newly immigrated family drawing their hopes for a new home, these small acts of reflection help people breathe, feel and connect.
The Franciscan priest Richard Rohr wrote, “Pain that is not transformed is transmitted.” We see that truth across Chicago every day. When pain goes unacknowledged, it becomes anger, division or despair. When people are given the chance to share their stories, pain can begin to shift — slowly — into understanding and kindness for oneself and for others. And that’s where healing starts.
The need for that healing could not be clearer. A recent Pew Research Center study shows only 34% of Americans today say that “most people can be trusted,” signaling a deep crisis in our social fabric. An April Marist poll found 77% of Americans believe the divisions tearing at the country pose a serious threat to the future of democracy.
Together, these numbers reveal a nation not only divided but people struggling to believe in each other. They also show that practices that rebuild connection are not optional; they’re essential.
When Chicago reopens its time capsules in 2026, it will remind us that even through hardship, this city kept creating, connecting and hoping. That spirit — our willingness to see one another, listen and imagine better — is what will carry us through the divisions and fears of today.
Stacey Gillett, co-founder and executive director, Once Upon Our Time Capsule
You’ve got the power to bring your electric bill down
It’s been a tough year for ComEd customers. The price we pay for power — currently 9.689 cents per kilowatt hour — is about 47% higher than it was last October.
As the head of the Citizens Utility Board’s Outreach Department, I’ve spent my summer talking to weary consumers about this painful spike in power prices. I have three important messages for electric customers:
- Beware of alternative supplier rip-offs. Illinois consumers have lost $2 billion over the last decade because of bad deals from alternative electricity suppliers. Rather than going with an alternative supplier, your best bet for cutting your power bills is likely staying with ComEd and practicing energy efficiency.
- You’re paying higher bills because of “capacity.” People are surprised to hear that not only do we pay for electricity we use, but also for power we might use. That’s “capacity”: payments to big power plant operators for having enough reserve power on hand if demand skyrockets. Currently, power-hungry data centers have sent demand — and capacity costs — soaring. ComEd isn’t profiting off this price spike. They pass these electricity costs onto customers with no markup. But those big, mostly fossil-fuel power generators are laughing all the way to the bank.
- Illinois urgently needs new policy to help bring down power prices. Consumers wonder, what can we do? CUB is working to reform poor policy at PJM, the regional power grid operator that runs an auction to determine capacity costs. But the state also has a role, and that’s why we’re working to pass the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act.
The legislation would expand efficiency programs that give us tools to save money, and it would cost-effectively add enough battery storage to the grid to power millions of homes and help reduce energy prices. CUB supports the act because it would lower power bills. An analysis by the Illinois Power Agency found that even under the most conservative estimates, the legislation would cut bills across Illinois. By 2035, savings would range from about $95-$250 a year.
This price spike is painful proof of the price we pay for inaction. We call on electric customers to contact their state legislators and urge them to pass the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act in the fall veto session.
Ivonne Rychwa, outreach director, Citizens Utility Board
More kudos for Koufax
Thanks for reader William Choslovsky’s Sandy Koufax reminder. His not pitching on Yom Kippur lives on for many of us.
I am a civil rights lawyer who grew up in Brooklyn as a super Brooklyn Dodger fan. Even today, 60 years later, I still tell everyone I am invoking the Sandy Koufax rule and do not go to the office, and if possible, I do not appear publicly on Yom Kippur.
Thank you, Sandy, for being a role model.
Norman Siegel, New York City