A piercing wind from the north whipped down darkened Dearborn Street, turning noses and fingers to icy lumps and testing the resolve of pedestrians on the opening night of Goodman Theatre’s 46th annual production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol last weekend.   As if current events weren’t already enough to chill the holiday spirit! Dreadful, […]

The post Lights, music, Scrooge, and Shostakovich appeared first on Chicago Reader.

When then-Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan McDonald in 2014, the fallout prompted then-Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation of the police department’s use of force. That investigation, the results of which were released in 2017, found “CPD officers engage in a pattern […]

The post Make police pay for their misconduct appeared first on Chicago Reader.

OK, here we go: I’m writing an op-ed to defend rats. Not a popular stance, I am aware.  In my practice as an artist concerned with climate change and biodiversity loss, I suggest that we must move beyond human supremacy if we are to come back into alignment with a world pushed dangerously out of […]

The post Rats have empathy for strangers, but do we? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Years ago, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which is the business end of the CSO, was undergoing one of its periodic contract negotiating face-offs with its unionized musicians, someone close to the musicians told me something surprising: the administration wouldn’t really mind a strike. If the orchestra doesn’t play, they save money. It’s better […]

The post Navigating a rocky arts and culture recovery appeared first on Chicago Reader.

When my editor, Salem, asked if I’d write a column on rats in Chicago, I said, “Hell, yes!” I immediately created a top-three list of Danny Solis, John Christopher, and William O’Neal. Then I realized—wait! Salem meant rats of the four-legged variety. Which, by the way, I could write a book about, having encountered one, […]

The post Chicago rats appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s common knowledge in the book business that a well-publicized ban can lead to a short-term spike in sales. Take Art Spiegelman’s two-volume graphic novel Maus for example, which tells the story of his parents’ experience in the Holocaust, as told to him much later by his father. After it was banned by a Tennessee […]

The post <i>Maus</i> in wartime appeared first on Chicago Reader.

When I was around five years old, my mother and I were standing on Canal Street near what is now called the Ogilvie Transportation Center. I had my back to the street, eyes on my mom. There was a rumbling under the ground and I remember watching the aglet from my shoelace shake a little. […]

The post Editor’s note: rats! appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Last week, the Tony Award-winning play The Lehman Trilogy opened in a TimeLine Theatre/Broadway in Chicago coproduction at Broadway Playhouse. The play is based on the novel Qualcosa sui Lehman by Stefano Massini, first published in Italy in 2016 and in an English translation by Richard Dixon in 2020. If you’ve never read the bookyou […]

The post Something about <i>The Lehman Trilogy</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In late August, the Chicago Sun-Times calculated that more than 13,000 immigrants had arrived in Chicago since August 2022, when Texas governor Greg Abbott started his busing scheme. While our city is navigating the care and feeding of all our people, and not always getting it perfect, we’ve received an influx of even more people […]

The post Editor’s note: we need each other appeared first on Chicago Reader.

If you were a Bloomie’s Chicago customer at the River North store, you won’t be hugely surprised when you walk into Bally’s new pop-up casino in the 111-year-old Medinah Temple. Bloomingdale’s saved this massive Moorish Revival architectural fantasy (at 600 N. Wabash) from demolition when it opened a store there in 2003, restoring the dome-topped […]

The post High-wire act appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism (RICJ), which publishes the Chicago Reader, has launched the second cohort of the Racial Justice Writers’ Room. Six early- to mid-career journalists will work for eight weeks on racial-justice related reporting projects under coordinator Judith McCray. The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and […]

The post [UPDATED] RICJ Racial Justice Writers’ Room Launches Cohort 2 appeared first on Chicago Reader.

My throat was slit. It was back in the dark ages of the 20th century, but if you take a close look at me you can still see the scar—a fine line running along the base of my neck, from ear to ear.  It’s the necklace I can’t take off, the trail of a scalpel. […]

The post The butterfly in your throat appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Thanks to Reader reader Anthony Gargiulo Jr., who read this story about Chicago connections to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer film and pointed out via Twitter another one: former Loyola University (and Northwestern University) chemistry professor Ward V. Evans. Evans was the surprise dissenting vote on the three-man panel that recommended permanent suspension of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s […]

The post <i>Oppenheimer</i>‘s Loyola connection appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Content note: This column contains mention of hazing and sexual assault. Northwestern University (NU) may not win many, or any, football games this season. But, man, when it comes to cynical acts of duplicity and deceit, they may already be the champs. Oh, where to start with the football hazing scandal that gets more scandalous […]

The post NU’s Streisand effect appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism (RICJ), publishers of the Chicago Reader, will launch its second cohort program for writers interested in and/or working on stories directly addressing racial justice issues in the first of two three-month sessions. This cohort will be limited to six (6) participants and will last eight weeks.  Applications will be […]

The post RICJ Racial Justice Writers’ Room Cohort 2 applications now open appeared first on Chicago Reader.

At my elementary school, a lifetime ago, duck and cover was as integral to our routine as recess. An alarm would signal the drill, and we first-through-sixth graders would drop whatever we were doing and scramble into a crouch under our wooden desks. The prescribed position was head down—one arm curled around your noggin, the […]

The post A well-timed <i>Oppenheimer</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Editor’s note: Robert Mier (1924-1995) was a professor of urban planning and public administration at University of Illinois Chicago and a leading expert on urban economic issues. Mier founded the University of Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development in 1978. During Mayor Harold Washington’s first term, Mier became the City of Chicago’s director of economic […]

The post Lessons from Harold and Rob appeared first on Chicago Reader.

What’s the Chicago connection to the events depicted in Christopher Nolan’s explosive, confusing, and acclaimed Oppenheimer film? Here’s what I learned from University of Chicago professor emeritus and astrophysicist Don Lamb. We spoke last week, before the film opened.   J. Robert Oppenheimer led the World War II effort known as the Manhattan Project, but the […]

The post The Chicago Project appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I think about acceptance a lot.  When I was a young twentysomething, I heard a lot about “acceptance” versus “tolerance.” That it wasn’t enough to merely put up with queer people. We were striving for something more, something solid. But these days even tolerance feels like a high bar to meet.  I have been writing […]

The post Seeking queer acceptance appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In a case of perfect timing, the MAGA six handed down their decision annihilating affirmative action in the name of “meritocracy” as another local municipality offered the Bears a handout they, the Bears, didn’t need, deserve, or earn. Proving, again, that meritocracy doesn’t exist in the real world—only in the fantasies of MAGA Supreme Court […]

The post The Delmarie plan for the Bears’s new stadium appeared first on Chicago Reader.

On July 4, 2023, the hottest day on earth, residents of Highland Park gathered in front of their city hall to remember the victims of the massacre that took place there a year earlier. There was music, a moment of silence, and Mayor Nancy Rotering spoke of the damage done by a single gun in […]

The post What we talk about when we talk about guns appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day's stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls.

The post Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show appeared first on Chicago Reader.

On June 14, Daniel Penny was indicted for second-degree manslaughter for choking Jordan Neely to death on a New York subway in May. According to witnesses, Neely, a 30-year-old homeless Black man, was shouting that he didn’t have food or water, but also wasn’t threatening other passengers, when Penny, a 24-year-old white man, grabbed him […]

The post Jordan Neely’s killing demands we all confront racism appeared first on Chicago Reader.

We’re coming up on the three-year anniversary of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s stealth eviction of Christopher Columbus from Grant Park. Under the cover of darkness—and for his own good, she said—the larger-than-life explorer/looter was separated from his 20-foot pedestal and hustled off to storage where he’d no longer offend the protesters seeking to topple him for […]

The post Monumental endeavor appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In the aftermath of presiding over his first City Council meeting, Mayor Brandon Johnson gave himself the highest grade possible. “If you’re keeping score, I believe it was 41 alderpersons voted for it,” Johnson told reporters. “I would consider that an ‘A’ grade. I mean—I don’t know what a brother’s gotta do to get a […]

The post High grades appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The best way to make a TikTok name for yourself is by making constant, short, pithy videos about the same subject, including your possibly controversial opinions (but not, like, in a Mein Kampf way, just in a “Finally! Someone said it, and they said it well!” kind of tone that travels well in social sharing), […]

The post Pride is our reality appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In July 2020, Amy Dodson posted a diversity statement on the Facebook page for the public library system in Douglas County, Nevada, of which she was director. Like many other statements posted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, it denounced “all acts of violence, racism, and disregard for human rights,” and also said, “We […]

The post Freedom to read appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Here’s a question: How many elements can you strip from an iconic building before it loses its identity? Could you pull the clocks off State Street’s flagship Marshall Field Building? Slice the big Tiffany dome from the Chicago Cultural Center? Cut the X braces from the Hancock? How about tearing the Trump sign off Trump […]

The post <i>Starship Chicago II</i> has landed appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Quick—name Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first chief of staff! You probably can’t—unless your name is Mick Dumke. I mention Mick (a Block Club Chicago editor and my former writing partner here at the Reader) because he actually knew the answer when I asked him about it the other day. Then he sort of apologized, apparently a […]

The post Lemming city. appeared first on Chicago Reader.

There’s a nicely curated selection of Art Shay’s photography up through May 27 at Gallery Victor. It includes a lot of familiar images—Marlon Brando kissing his dog, Hugh Hefner with typewriter and playmates in his bedroom office, and, of course, Simone de Beauvoir’s bare bum. Iconic photos of entertainers, athletes, and politicians share the wall […]

The post The father, the son, and the archivist appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In my household, we’re currently celebrating “little treat” season. It occurs every year just as Chicago is shaking off the winter weather; on days when it’s extra sunny or unseasonably warm, my partner and I allow ourselves to go out and get a little treat. Now, “little treat” can mean anything from a shared iced […]

The post Little treat season appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Chicago Opera Theater is trying out a new opera at the Athenaeum next week. Titled The Cook-Off, it’s about a televised contest in which three young chefs face off over the same meal. The exotic dish they’ll be cooking? Mac and cheese—the mainstay of American tables during the Great Depression. It’s an apt choice at […]

The post Food, glorious food! appeared first on Chicago Reader.

At the risk of making you think I’m weirder than you may already think I am . . . Sometimes when walking alone late at night, I talk to friends and family who have died. Been doing it for a couple of years now. Going back to the pandemic when the streets were so deserted […]

The post Karen’s plan appeared first on Chicago Reader.

A welcoming committee armed with signs and slogans gathered outside Northeastern Illinois University’s iconic El Centro building last Thursday, an hour before the university Board of Trustees was scheduled to meet there. “UNIVERSITIES ARE NOT BUSINESSES,” one sign read. “How much money have you spent hiring outside people to fire our own?” asked another. Buoyed […]

The post At NEIU: a painful lesson in mission creep appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Listening to one of the candidates for mayor in Chicago’s upcoming runoff, you’d think that more police is the answer to everything that ails the city.  But how we police Chicago is more important than how many police Chicago has.  Paul Vallas wants to make a dramatic increase in the number of cops employed by […]

The post Promising more police: not a solution to Chicago’s problems appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I have a personal tradition each vernal equinox of posting on social media some recorded version of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.” (This year I opted for Sarah Vaughan.) But the truth is, it’s hard to feel hung up when I look over this week’s spring theater and arts preview issue. (Feeling […]

The post The city in bloom appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Never mind those icy patches on the sidewalk: spring is here, bringing with it our seasonal theater and arts preview issue. Accordingly, while the global banking system teeters, Xi and Vlad (nukes in their back pockets) rendezvous, and Trump seems poised to take the first-ever presidential perp walk, the issue I’m stewing about is this: […]

The post Spring awakening appeared first on Chicago Reader.

As one of the old guys still standing from the Daley days of yore, I suppose it’s up to me to tell the rest of you a thing or two about Paul Vallas, the man Chicago seems eager to elect as its mayor. Back in the 90s, Vallas was Mayor Daley’s hand-picked boss of the […]

The post Mr. Self-Promotion appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I was a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times in 1980, when St. Pete got the idea of turning itself into Salvador Dalíwood. Not everyone was on board: on the one hand, there were grumbles about Dalí’s apparent tolerance for fascism (including a cozy long-term relationship with Franco), and on the other, sneering art-world objections […]

The post Hello, Dalí appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I realize we’re in the silly season of the mayoral race, as candidates bombard us with propaganda we know we shouldn’t believe. But the recent commercial in which Alderperson Tom Tunney praises mayoral candidate Paul Vallas for being on the front lines in the fights for LGBTQ+ and abortion rights is particularly misleading even by […]

The post The Tunney-Vallas Alliance appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Back in our country’s less enlightened days that have, of course, long since passed (ha, ha, ha), there was a concept in boxing called the “great white hope.” That was a white boxer (any white boxer) who was viewed as the defender of the race’s wounded pride and honor when he fought a Black boxer […]

The post The Vallas surge appeared first on Chicago Reader.

There’s a quiet poeticness to cover subject Diana Solís’ work. The Mexico-born photographer prefers for her stills to do the talking, and doesn’t fuss about whatever recognition her pieces might garner. Being fixated on her work leaves little room for, as she puts it, adding too much crema to her tacos. Learning more about the […]

The post Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In late August  2018, I was with my father at the hospital, where he was recovering from open-heart surgery, when I received a call from a representative of the Chicago News Guild asking if I’d like to buy the Chicago Reader from its parent newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times. The Guild represents the Reader’s editorial union, […]

The post Publisher’s note appeared first on Chicago Reader.

John Mossman has a scary new movie, but he’s not just trying to scare us. Good Guy With a Gun (not to be confused with a 2020 short with the same title) is a feature-length drama/thriller slated for a regional premiere February 27 as part of the Midwest Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film […]

The post Good guy with a gun appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The mayoral candidates need to remember that hope is political.

The post Mayoral debate was a poor night for Chicago appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism (RICJ), which publishes the Chicago Reader, has launched the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room Cohort. Eight early- to mid-career journalists will work for 12 weeks on racial-justice related reporting projects under coordinator Judith McCray. The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room […]

The post RICJ Racial Justice Writers’ Room Launches appeared first on Chicago Reader.

One of the more revealing scenes in City So Real—Steve James’s insightful documentary about Chicago politics, takes place in a Gold Coast penthouse. It’s 2019. And James, chronicling the last mayoral election, is filming a dinner party hosted by Christie Hefner. They’re talking politics and one of the guests—Norman Bobins, a retired banker—opines that no […]

The post Chaos theory appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism, which operates the 51-year-old newspaper, Chicago Reader, has announced recent staff hires, including two in leadership. Alia Graham (she/her) has joined as director of people and culture, a new position at RICJ. Graham brings a host of expertise to the role; she has an extensive background in diversity and […]

The post Chicago Reader welcomes four new staff members appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Solitary confinement is brutal torture. I have experienced it firsthand.

The post <strong>Torture by any other name</strong> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

As January inches to a close, it’s a good time to take stock of what this year has been like thus far, and where we stand on those pesky New Year’s resolutions we promised we’d actually stick to this time around. Remember those? Well, smart indoor rowing machine, meet the storage unit; promise to drop […]

The post Resolute appeared first on Chicago Reader.

No industry has been more of a closed and creaky old white boys club than classical music. Things are grudgingly changing now that the Western canon appears to be on its deathbed, but, according to research by the League of American Orchestras, “Women conductors are still rare, especially in the high-status position of music director.” […]

The post Who’s getting tarred? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

With roughly seven weeks to go until round one of the mayoral election, here’s what we know so far from the latest polls. If the election were held today, the winner would be . . . Karen Lewis! OK, I’ll get to that. But, first, a word or two about a recent “poll.”  It was […]

The post The early days appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Update: 01/12/2023In an email today seeking to “clarify misinformation posted on the museum’s website,” Chicago Park District Director of Communications Michele Lemons said this: “The Chicago Park District did not approve construction on a 5,000 square foot facility nor did the District approve a structure of any size.” Juanita Irizarry delivered a gut punch of […]

The post No walk in the park appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s that time of the season where I measure a year’s worth of political progress by comparing steps forwards and steps back, in the hope that overall we’ve made progress. I could fill this issue with many examples of elections, budgets, and spending plans from 2022. But I’ll settle on a few items. Starting with […]

The post Baby steps appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Our recent anniversary UnGala was an affair to remember for myriad reasons. For starters, it brought out Chicago’s finest in droves to the Museum of Contemporary Art for a night of intimate performances, revelry, and reflection, Reader-style.  The night also summoned Reader brass, new and old, including cofounder Bob McCamant, longtime executive editor Michael Lenehan, […]

The post Break a leg, kid! appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s time to truly act on criminal justice reform.

The post <strong>To act justly, to love mercy</strong> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The best we can say about 2022? It’s been transitional. If we’re lucky, the shift will be to something better. In the meantime, the war in Ukraine drags on. Predictably, unconscionably, we’ve become inured to it. Inflation rages at a pace new to most of us. The experts pushing and pulling the levers on the […]

The post Fusion and firearms appeared first on Chicago Reader.

As my mother used to tell me, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Wonderful words of wisdom that she herself rarely practiced, though often preached. So I was tempted not to write a word about 14th Ward alderperson Ed Burke, who decided not to run for reelection after over 50 […]

The post Good riddance appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Peter Friederici has a history in these pages. In 1987, the Chicago native—then a recent Northwestern University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature and no clear path to a career—got hired as a Reader editorial assistant. He spent two years in that job, working under editors Michael Lenehan and Alison True. Now an […]

The post Hey, it’s getting warm in here! appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The who’s who of local journalism gathered recently at the Newberry Library for the 83rd annual Chicago Journalists Association awards. As the organization’s first in-person ceremony since the pandemic took its grip, a buoyant feeling was in the air (aided perhaps by an open bar), as Chicago journalists rocked their finest duds (props to Sun-Times […]

The post Editor’s note: I remember appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Proposed legislation changing the Act would disproportionately impact Black and Brown people.

The post Op-Ed: Keep the Pretrial Fairness Act as-is appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for nonprofit theater, is about to release its latest annual report on the fiscal health of the field, Theatre Facts 2021. (Yes, it’s almost 2023, but this stuff takes time to collect.) The news is not great. The report, which compares results over a five-year period, tracks the startling […]

The post Long COVID for the arts appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Without education or job training, what hope do people in prison have for rehabilitation?

The post Hard lessons appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In the midterm, communities voiced overwhelming support for public mental health centers and crisis responses that don’t involve police.

The post Op-Ed: <strong>Referendum results show Chicago wants treatment, not trauma</strong> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Poor Darren Bailey. The Chicago City Wire, the so-called newspaper intended to scare people like me into voting for him, arrived on Election Day, a week after I’d already voted early for someone else. Blame it on the U.S. Postal Service, Senator Bailey. In fact, I was paging through the City Wire while the results […]

The post The Florida strategy appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The post Just the facts appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It was a connect-the-dots moment in Chicago as the following news stories recently broke in rapid succession. Chicago Public School enrollment fell again. It’s now down more than 115,000 students over the last 20 years. There are homeless camps in many parks and under viaducts, including Touhy Park on the far north side. That’s where […]

The post It worked! appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Chicago Reader is pleased to announce some new hires in our editorial and marketing departments. Kerry Cardoza (she/her) is the Reader’s newest culture editor, and her focus will be on art, architecture, books, literary arts, and other related cultural topics. She is a Chicago-based journalist who often writes about art, culture, labor, and power. […]

The post Chicago Reader announces new hires appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Nonmonogamous dads, swapping holes, and more answers to your burning questions

The post A threesome is probably safer than a shower appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Is death life’s greatest mystery? Or would we just like it to be? (Therefore, ghosts, devils, heaven, hell, organized religion, and Halloween candy.) Those are not among the five major questions that serve as an organizing mechanism for the Field Museum’s expansive new exhibit, “Death: Life’s Greatest Mystery,” however much they hang in the air. […]

The post You will die. Then what? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

People in prison perform essential work, but the 13th Amendment prevents them from being treated with dignity.

The post Legal slavery appeared first on Chicago Reader.

On slamming headaches and “left behind” sperm cells

The post Can an orgasm kill me? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

“Good things come to those who wait,” the adage goes. Back in the summer of 2009, I found myself in Chicago as an alternative journalism fellow at Medill, and I quickly fell in love with the city, its people, culture, and greasy spoons (if I close my eyes and concentrate hard enough, I can still […]

The post The road ahead appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Some who have submissive desires and traumatic sexual histories find BDSM therapeutic.

The post Why would a survivor of sexual trauma want D/s kink? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

When Michael Fanone, the former Trump supporter and D.C. cop who nearly died at the hands of the January 6 mob at the U.S. Capitol, comes to the Chicago Humanities Festival next week to join We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism author Andy Campbell […]

The post From domestic terrorism to the voting booth appeared first on Chicago Reader.

A new consent decree is a victory against CPD abuse years in the making.

The post Op-Ed: The right (to a) call appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Over the past few weeks, it’s becoming obvious that not all of MAGA actually believes the poison they’ve been peddling. Not that it makes that poison any less toxic, or harder to clean up.  Plenty of examples—with new ones popping up every day as we get closer to the midterms—but let’s start with a case […]

The post MAGA flip-flops appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Some guys just see me as their gay Black fantasy come to life.

The post Should I just enjoy the attention while I’m young? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

She might just be annoyed.

The post My wife slut-shames me when I ask to hook up with someone else appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Harsh penalties for gun crimes don’t make communities safer.

The post Shooting ourselves in the foot appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Move over, Grandpa. You think ageism is your cause? Last week, Created Equal, an Ohio-based organization opposed to ending unwanted pregnancies came to town, making stops at the city’s largest college campuses. At Northwestern, they set up shop on Sheridan Road, displaying enlarged images of dismembered fetal parts and passing out leaflets announcing that “Abortion […]

The post Anti-abortion activists float a new argument: ageism appeared first on Chicago Reader.

We’ve reached an “I told you so” moment, dear readers, where I get to say . . . I told you so! It was roughly one year ago that I predicted the Bears would probably call upon the good citizens of Arlington Heights to fork over a TIF handout to build their new football stadium […]

The post Just like we told you appeared first on Chicago Reader.

An untouchable butt, NPR during sex, and more quickies

The post The ass ceiling appeared first on Chicago Reader.

A relationship defined by sketchy behavior, gaslighting, and snooping

The post Do straight guys send each other dick pics? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

These preview issues always remind me that things are happening in our city. … creating this jam-packed issue, which teases film screenings, book releases, art exhibitions, and more, I’m in no hurry to hunker down indoors and wait for winter—Chicago is calling.

The post A fall edition appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Starting Sunday, for three consecutive nights, WTTW will air a new six-hour Ken Burns documentary series, The U.S. and the Holocaust. Burns and his filmmaking partners, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, based the series on a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibit curated by Chicago-area native and current Newberry Library president, Daniel Greene. From 2014 […]

The post The U.S. and the Holocaust appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Content warning: This column contains a reference to sexual violence. As I write, it’s Labor Day—traditionally, the start of the election season. That means “normal” people start to sorta pay attention to what’s going on in politics, as opposed to political junkies, like myself, who never stop paying attention. As such, it’s my pleasure to […]

The post The choice is yours, voters appeared first on Chicago Reader.

We’re close to the end of “Volume 51” in a few issues. Yes, that means that we have survived nearly 51 years of publication, a feat that perhaps no one imagined might happen when we first started in 1971.  For someone like me, a native Chicagoan who is themselves headed to just shy of 50 […]

The post Close to the end of ’Vol. 51’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

A small-town teacher just wants someone to go down on her.

The post School me once appeared first on Chicago Reader.

While he’s hosting your birthday party and playing with your testicles, he is not your boyfriend.

The post You can’t smother romantic feelings appeared first on Chicago Reader.

As the years roll by, mayors and aldermen come and go but the great Tax Increment Financing scam stays forever. Oh, TIFs, TIFs, TIFs. Haven’t written about them in awhile. But they’re always on my mind, to paraphrase the great Willie Nelson. They’re particularly on my mind as I follow the falsehoods advanced by both […]

The post Hocus-pocus appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Am I being jerked around?

The post My wife thinks I’m using memes to look at porn appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Hemorrhoids, cock rings, and more quickies

The post Hike the beaten path, don’t get off on it appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Last Sunday, stuffed with antibiotics, numbed by painkillers, and facing a date with an oral surgeon the next morning, I made my way to the International Museum of Surgical Science for an artist’s talk by James R. Wilke. It’s not the best way to visit this unique repository for the medical devices of yesteryear, but […]

The post Pox Americana appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Stripping the right to abortion harms incarcerated women.

The post On demand, without apology appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Windpipes are quite vulnerable to injury.

The post Really though, how risky is choking play? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

With each passing day, I get more anxious about the Democratic strategy of promoting MAGA candidates like Darren Bailey in Republican primaries. Oh, I understand the logic—it’s an attempt to make sure they’re facing an opponent the polls show is easier to beat. In this case, internal Democratic polls apparently showed Bailey, an extremist, was […]

The post State of anxiety appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Many words describe letting your partner have sex with other people.

The post What does it mean to be a cuckquean? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I wouldn’t remember this incident except for that it’s on film, one that my brothers have watched repeatedly, the punch growing stronger, more violent in their mind.

The post A note on this week’s cover story appeared first on Chicago Reader.

For over twenty years, my centrist friends have been giving me grief for presidential losses the Democrats have suffered. For example . . . Gore’s defeat in 2000, allegedly caused by lefties voting for Ralph Nader. Or Hillary Clinton’s in 2016, allegedly caused by lefties not voting at all. The centrist message to me went […]

The post MAGA enablers appeared first on Chicago Reader.