Things still aren’t fully ok in the world and with Chicago tightening their rules more and more with travel restrictions, a stay-at-home advisory, and rolling back to tier 3 mitigations; […]
Chicago Protests: A Joyful Revolution by Vashon Jordan Jr. Self-published Joy is being free to say: “Look at me! Listen to me!” Joy is being free to join with others […]
Part 1 of Two Parts. Carl Smith’s Chicago’s Great Fire, published in August by Atlantic Monthly Press, is an important book of Chicago history, and a rousing crackerjack work that’s […]
It’s not uncommon for promising short films to be developed into feature-length productions, the extended runtime giving the filmmaker the chance to really explore the narrative that began in the […]
Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City by Carl Smith Atlantic Monthly Press Devastation is devastation, whether brought about by fire or pandemic. The Great […]
Update: Since this review was published in September 2020, Pacfica Quartet’s Contemporary Voices CD won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Congratulations to Pacifica Quartet and everyone […]
Taught by Women: Poems as Resistance Language, New and Selected by Haki R. Madhubuti Third World Press One of my favorite poems in Haki R. Madhubuti’s new, career-spanning collection Taught […]
As part of its Out Back Summer Sessions, the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts will be hosting the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber String Quartet and Music of the Baroque […]
In 1917, as the world was at war and facing a once-in-a-century pandemic, a story emerged out of a rural town in Portugal that would have the faithful calling for […]
Before the Amazon Original Chemical Hearts, a cliché-ridden, mostly flat teen drama about first loves and growing up, filmmaker Richard Tanne made the lovely and underrated Southside With You, a […]
When it comes to Russian horror films, I don’t exactly have a deep expertise. Thankfully, such a viewing history isn’t required to get a thrill out of Sputnik, the latest […]
Sometimes, having its heart in the right place is enough to make a good movie just a little bit more endearing. Case in point: the new World War II-era drama […]