In the back of my mind, I thought someone would surely write about the inestimable Margaret Anderson: editor, bohemian extraordinaire, and LGBTQ+ icon. Some day. And now someone has, Adam […]
I drove down Cuyler Avenue the other day, and, as usual, I was reminded of Kiki Cuyler who played outfield for the Cubs from 1928 through 1935 during a 19-year […]
Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham lived parallel lives. Both were born in the East and came to Chicago in their youth. Both were poor students and relatively aimless until they […]
In the mid-1960s, Anne Keegan wore white gloves to apply for a job as a reporter at City News Bureau of Chicago. She recalled riding the elevator to the wire […]
Karen Lewis was a teacher, labor leader, and president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)—among many other things. Reading through I Didn’t Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education […]
More than 30 years ago, two hundred trees—cottonwoods, mainly, with some horse chestnuts and hackberries—were cut down behind Lane Technical High School, and only arborist Robert Wulkowicz was there to […]
One of the many joys of reading Carla Bruni and Phil Thompson’s Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture is the way the book dazzles the reader with […]
When it comes to history, including religious history, Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, writes that it’s important to attempt “a real engagement with the strangeness of the past.” […]
Based on its bright, attractive cover of the lakeshore skyline, Walking Chicago’s Coast looks like one of those ain’t-Chicago-great booster books written to promote the city as a world-class metropolis […]
How does an old Chicago building survive? Public outcry and organized protest have saved a few, yes, but it usually comes down to owners and occupants continuing to give a […]
“There are many ways to do the work in this moment,” Women & Children First Co-Owner Lynn Mooney said by way of introducing prolific novelist and poet Margaret Atwood at […]
I don’t think I’m the only Chicagoan who finds it strangely exhilarating to realize that, over the past 60 or so years, I might have ridden in the same el […]