Dear Cinnamon is our monthly column based on the idea that all of life’s questions can be answered by art, because, after all, art is the spice of life. To […]

Chicago’s Modern Mayors, edited by Dick Simpson and Betty O’Shaughnessy, covers a 40-year period during which Chicago, its people, and its region went through great changes under a succession of […]

At an early point in the story, one of the central characters, Connachtach, is left to contemplate the question “What does God want of me?” It’s a deep question, and […]

No matter how busy they were creating the universe, some gods always found time to lay down the law on what their worshippers should eat. Diets and deities have a […]

Near the end of Saturday at this year’s Printers Row Lit Fest, an 80-year-old Italian painter from the North Shore told me she’s going to have a huge party if […]

I first encountered Chicago author Kathleen Rooney years ago at The Neo-Futurists’ funky New Year’s Eve bash, where her collective Poems While You Wait was delightfully typing up custom poetry […]

In late 1972, Ed Marciniak, a perennial social critic and justice activist, became president of the Institute of Urban Life, a small program affiliated with Loyola University Chicago. He had just […]

Most readers are familiar with the more prestigious annual book prizes out there, among them the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the PEN America Literary Awards. A new […]

Young adulthood is a creative propellant for comics. Halfway between childhood and middle age, it’s a period rich in discovery, risk, embarrassment, and bliss. All powered by infuriatingly perfect health, […]

Author Clément Petitjean asserts early on in his new book, Occupation: Organizer, that the role of a “community organizer” is multifaceted and warrants a comprehensive reassessment. While the general public […]

Dick Simpson is one of those rare political scientists who has also been a politician. He knows how the sausage is made, even if there is much he doesn’t like about […]

It’s Spring Break time, which means while some are heading to balmier locales for drinking contests and poolside tanning, there’s a different contingent of nerds and pop culture fans headed […]