May Day is a Chicago tradition, one that goes back to 1886. It’s woven into the city’s DNA, part of the bones of the big shoulders that hold up the sprawling 234 […]
Essay: Haymarket Voices Have Echoed in the Streets for 135 Years
Essay: The Sights and Sounds of Baseball, Fans Optional
Some guy on ESPN the other day was complaining again about men who bring a mitt to Major League Baseball games, and I just don’t get it. Maybe that’s because I still […]
Essay: Streaming Theater in the Age of Covid — and Beyond
By guest author W.C. Turck On Sunday, February 21, from 1-3pm CST, Kerri Kendall and Bill Turck will hold a radio roundtable on streaming theater one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Their show, […]
Essay: The Rise (and Fall) of a Charismatic Leader in a Post-Truth Era
Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. Historian Timothy Snyder characterizes our past president and describes his followers vividly in his essay, “The American Abyss: Trump, the Mob and […]
Call It by Its Name: Wednesday Was a Fascist Riot
Wednesday left us in shock. Rioters stormed up the steps, climbed up the walls of the U.S. Capitol, broke windows and battered through doors to get into the building. Then they meandered […]
Essay: Return to Kenowhere
I had no idea when I wrote about Kenosha just a few weeks ago we’d be where we are today. I had no idea I’d be trolling Twitter and see a man […]
Essay: The Road to Kenowhere Leads to Me
By now, if you’re on social media, especially Twitter, you may have noticed that Kenosha is trending on Twitter. In fact, Kenosha made the national news–or rather, an author at Harper’s Magazine […]
Eight Things I Learned From Cooking My Grandma’s Gołąbki
2020 was hard for us even before the pandemic. Save for a working vacation that was fulfilling on a professional level and fun because I got to do it with my husband […]
Essay: Haircuts, Prison, Love and Sheltering in Place
Cathy gave me a haircut today on the back porch. In our 37 years of marriage, that hasn’t happened before, but we’re not leaving the house for haircuts or much anything else, […]
Shelter in Place: Staying Sane and Productive, with Terry Galvan (Part 3)
In 2013-14, I spent nine months in the provincial capital of Latacunga, Ecuador, on a Fulbright grant. Social-cultural norms meant that daily life had a lot in common with today’s “shelter in […]
Shelter in Place: Staying Sane & Productive, with Terry Galvan (Part 2)
A series with contributor Terry Galvan. For FAQs on why I chose this lifestyle, please see part 1. In 2013-14, I spent nine months in the provincial capital of Latacunga, Ecuador on […]
I Voluntarily “Sheltered in Place” for Nine Months. It Went Surprisingly Well. Here Are My Tips
In this series, writer Terry Galvan has volunteered to share their experiences with extended alone time in Ecuador and the things they learned about how to handle isolation. In this installment, they […]
