Around this time of the year you’ll begin to hear the phrase “the giving season.” It’s the moment when donation-dependent organizations ramp up their campaigns in the hopes of being included in the gifting air that comes in on a wind of mailers, calls, and fundraisers. For the Nonprofit Issue, we thought it would be […]
Author Archives: Taryn Allen
Posted inFeature
The Reader’s 2023 Holiday Gift Guide
1 Chicago stepping lessons from award-winning south sider Shaun Ballentine of Effortless Stepping. —Salem Collo-Julin Open group lessons Wednesdays at 7 PM, Effortless Stepping Studio, 1850 E. 79th. $20 per person, 21+ only. For private lesson rates or information about having Ballentine do a stepping class at your event, message through Instagram or Facebook. 2 […]
Posted inMusic
The Reader’s guide to World Music Festival Chicago 2023
In July, I attended a community meeting at the Broadway Armory in Edgewater about the city’s plan to turn the Park District facility into a temporary shelter for asylum seekers. A group of protesters, angry that much of the armory’s programming would be relocated or otherwise disrupted, carried bright yellow signs reading “Don’t Displace Us.” […]
Posted inFilm
Review: Bottoms
Just gather your nonsqueamish WLW friends and go see Bottoms immediately.
Posted inNews & Politics
Trans elders are revolutionaries
The following five profiles feature trans and genderqueer elders in Chicago as they reflect on identity and joy this Pride Month.
Posted inStaff notes
Little treat season
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 […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Best ‘don’t go here, go there instead’ Chicago food TikToks
The first time my girlfriend sent me a TikTok from @plateswithp, she said, “I don’t know why, but I trust everything she says.” I, too, became an immediate fan. Paige Serena started making food and lifestyle content on TikTok in 2022. Born in Chicago and raised in Milwaukee, she fell in love with Chicago’s food […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best midnight screening of an iconic early-2000s movie
On a cold November night, as the clock struck midnight and the movie theater lights dimmed, the audience broke into raucous, hooting-and-hollering applause, and I knew that movie-going etiquette was out the window. Sipping Mystery Machine Margaritas—the Music Box’s featured cocktail for the occasion—longtime fans of 2002’s cult classic Scooby-Doo watched with giddy anticipation as […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Best new condiment obsession
Chili crisp is a versatile, addicting, savory, and utterly delicious chunky sauce that understandably became a hit culinary trend in 2022. It’s most commonly made with a base of crushed red peppers and neutral oil and then loaded with an assortment of added spices and fried garlic or shallot for crunch. Once I heard of […]
Posted inSports & Recreation
Best workout for unathletic queers
Indoor rock climbing has seen a huge surge in popularity in the last few years. It’s everywhere in places like California and Colorado, where white, wealthy, outdoorsy, granola people reign supreme, but it’s gaining popularity here in Chicago, too, especially after its appearance in the (delayed) 2020 Summer Olympics and because of its year-round accessibility […]
Posted inSports & Recreation
Best DIY mobile skate park
Last July I wrote a Reader cover story, “Welcome to the skate park,” about OnWord, “a local skate crew that welcomes skaters of all ages and all abilities, prioritizing women, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people, and anyone else who identifies as LGBTQ+.” As a queer beginner skater, I fit their target demographic, but even as […]
Posted inAgenda
Beyond the Nutcracker, Holiday Detour film series, and more
Ballet 5:8 presents Beyond the Nutcracker, a take on Tchaikovsky with a twist: there’s no Clara, but instead we meet Emma, a young girl growing up in the shadow of WWII. Artistic director Julianna Rubio Slager’s choreography gets away from some of the problematic imagery in the Chinese dance by using the motif of the […]
Posted inAgenda
‘Ground Floor,’ movie trivia, and more
Since 2010, the Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell) has hosted “Ground Floor,” a biennial exhibition featuring work by “Chicago’s most promising emerging talent.” The show is assembled by an esteemed panel of judges including curators, educators, and artists, and it features work from artists who’ve graduated from one of Chicago’s five MFA programs […]
Posted inAgenda
Lucia walking, Manasseh at MCA, Secret History of Chicago Music in person
Join Andersonville residents and celebrate the holidays the Swedish way, with St. Lucia and the Lucia Procession. Lucia girls, in white robes and candle crowns, were crowned at noon at the temporary Nordic House in the Wrigley building downtown. This afternoon a procession walks up Clark Street in Andersonville (starting at the Swedish American Museum, […]
Posted inAgenda
St. Lucia, go-go dancing, and Long Hair Don’t Care
Editor’s note Mon 12/12/22: the St. Lucia events previously posted below are scheduled for Tuesday 12/13/22. The Reader regrets our error. Join Andersonville residents and celebrate the holidays the Swedish way, with St. Lucia and the Lucia Procession. Lucia girls, in white robes and candle crowns, will be crowned at noon at the temporary Nordic […]