I have a secret, neither dark nor deep. Never have I ever smoked pot. You kids still call it pot, right? Marijuana is pejorative. Grass, Mary Jane, and reefer seem dated, evoking […]
How Do You Smoke a Weed?—Graphic Novel Review
Certain American States Has Captivating Writing Wrapped In Ennui—Book Review
Certain American States is peculiar. Catherine Lacey’s first short story collection has a similar feel to her last published book, the understated satire The Answers. With a subtle flair for corporate criticism […]
Da Sacred and Profane: The Best of Royko: The Tribune Years—Review
I met my good friend, Flats Slobnik—tuck pointer, softball shortstop, and professional Chicago everyman—at our favorite watering hole, Brzbchynski’s Tavern on Pulaski and Lower Wacker Drive. Karol Brzbchynski, a 300-pound ex-steelworker who […]
Review: The Boys of Fairytown: Sodomites, Female Impersonators, Third-Sexers, Pansies, Queers, and Sex Morons in Chicago’s First Century
Do you know: The first gay rights advocacy group in the United States was formed in Chicago in 1924? There was a legally recognized same-sex marriage in Chicago in 1923? That Cab […]
Review: Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out Offers Well-Reported Story of Goose Island’s Rise and Sale
Until very recently, I rode the Green Line to work every day. Occasionally, I would notice the billboards at a stop on the West Side were experiencing an advertising blitz, where one […]
Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers: Review by Carr Harkrader
When you hear a particularly eerie or scary story as a child, your consciousness is muddled, but your senses are heightened: you hear every creak and you wonder about every shadow on […]
Review: Happy Campers Are All Alike
Journalists love looking for America, and Dave Hoekstra—WGN radio host and author of The Camper Book: A Celebration of a Moveable American Dream—is as smitten as the rest. For the past two […]
Craving Mu Shu Pork? Secrets to Delicious Recipes Revealed in Chinese Soul Food
Eating at my favorite Chinese restaurant always leaves me with a craving to create those delectable dishes myself. I’ve played around with stir-fries and sticky rice over the years—to varying levels of […]
Interview: Third Coast Talks Secret Chicago with Jessica Mlinaric
From the moment I saw the bright pink cover of Secret Chicago by Jessica Mlinaric I was excited. Visions of the kinds of things I loved to see so much on WTTW’s “Wild […]
Fooditor 99 Perfect for Hungry Chicago Stomachs and Adventurous Spirits
Michael Gebert doesn’t write about food. He writes about the people behind it as the editor-in-chief and main contributor of Fooditor, a tribute to those starry-eyed entrepreneurs who smile through oil splashes […]
Review: Lock & Load: Armed Fiction, Guns and the American Imagination
Guest reviewer June Skinner Sawyers is a writer and editor; she has published many books on music and travel, including works on Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen. She is the proprietor of […]
Commune With the City’s Dead In New Book About Chicago Cemeteries, Chicago Eternal
Cemeteries remind us this is a city of change in multiple ways. Not just the impermanence and fragility of life, but in the ways the landscape of the city shifts with growth. […]
