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. My mom said nothing, picked me up, and sat me on top of a Chicago Tribune newspaper box.
Seconds later, a large mass of what looked like sewer rats (in my five-year-old mind there were many but it’s possible there were just two or three big ones) ran up onto the sidewalk from inside the sewer grate and passed us. One seemed to scurry across my mom’s shoe. My mom says I said my first swear word that day (but I’m sure it was earlier, we are an expressive bunch).
We all have rat stories and if you haven’t dealt with your share of sometimes scary, sometimes unwanted rodents—do you really live in a city? This issue was produced with October’s rush of urban fauna gathering treats to store in their nests and hopefully make it through the winter, but also produced with an eye on the flurry of heavy and terrible news in the world.
We examine all kinds of rats here: the literal Rattus norvegicus that one might find tromping through one’s compost pile, people who “rat” on others for a possible lesser prison sentence, and the politicized and racist atmospheres that can lead to politicians and others dehumanizing people by comparing them to rodents. We hope you find some solace and points of conversation; let us know what you think.
We made it to Volume 53 with this issue! Here’s the state of things: Supreme Court justices (at least one particular gas bag) don’t seem to understand the role of the free press. The American populace is constantly sold the idea that several corporate entities provide media that streams into products that they enticed us to buy and this means that we all have “the world at our fingertips” (unless, of course, you’re looking for a diversity and randomness of information and opinions that skirts the algorithms). We here at the mighty Chicago Reader are proud to be in our 53rd year, but we don’t do this to stand alone. Support locally produced, community-based, nonprofit, and people-powered media. Every time you pick up our paper or go to our website, seek out another local Chicago news source at the same time. We want endless newspapers, for each block of our city, countless podcasts, homemade television shows, low-powered and high-powered radio stations, consistent communication, free and available to all. More voices. More readers.
