AltWeeklies Wire
An Odd Way to Honor Daniel Burnhamnew
The man behind the Plan of Chicago was a doer, a pragmatist, a builder of consensus. The folks behind the architectural component of his centennial tribute must've been thinking of someone else.
Chicago Reader |
Lynn Becker |
07-20-2009 |
History
'Farewell to Dejla' Follows Iraq's Jews Across Borders and Oceansnew
In Farewell to Dejla, Tova Murad Sadka uses the short story to explore the travails of Iraqi Jews, both in their homeland and in dispersion. Though marred by crude ethnic and religious stereotypes, her book offers a sensitive treatment of a community's existential fears and an exquisite probing of the painful and comic aspects of culture clash.
Chicago Reader |
Rayyan Al-Shawaf |
07-07-2009 |
Fiction
The Peculiar Challenges of Archiving Newspapers in the Information Agenew
Newspapers are practicing a journalism that will probably turn out to be as different from tomorrow's as it is from yesterday's. Transitional periods are fascinating as they happen and damned hard later to reconstruct. How complete will the record be of this one?
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
07-07-2009 |
Media
Here Comes the Judge: The Web's Anything-Goes Era Can't Last Forevernew
In short, pretty much anything goes on the internet. But many signs suggest the courts aren't happy with this state of affairs, and web hosts don't expect it to last.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
06-15-2009 |
Media
Elijah Wald Explains How the Uncool Music of Yesteryear Shapes Today's Tunesnew
No one makes music in a vacuum, completely detached from the pop mainstream and his or her potential audience. Wald argues that nobody should be trying to, since how many people music appeals to in its own time is at least as important as how many rock writers it appeals to in 30 years.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
Roberto Benigni Puts His Love for Dante's 'Divine Comedy' Onstagenew
The exuberant and very talkative Italian clown Roberto Benigni's one-man show In Tutto Dante is built around Benigni's passion for Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, and -- though performed mostly in English -- culminates in a reading of a canto in Italian.
Chicago Reader |
Tony Adler |
06-15-2009 |
Theater
The World's War, One Man's Battlenew
In Masaki Kobayashi's ten-hour World War II epic, the first casualty is compassion.
Chicago Reader |
J.R. Jones |
05-18-2009 |
Reviews
There's Nowhere in America Quite Like Detroit Right Nownew
The last few years have been really bad for Detroit. Odd as it may sound, this is why you should visit now. If and when money ever comes in, you can be sure much of its eerie beauty will be lost forever. Meanwhile, it's Beyond Thunderdome.
Chicago Reader |
Jonathan Mahalak |
05-18-2009 |
History
Chicago May Have Leased out Its Parking Meters for a Fraction of Their Worthnew
The Daley administration hid its process for privatizing Chicago's parking meters from the public and the City Council. Now, three months into the deal, new evidence suggests the taxpayers were hosed out of billions of dollars.
Chicago Reader |
Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke |
05-18-2009 |
Policy Issues
'Entrapment': A Never-Before-Published Story by Nelson Algrennew
About 300 pages of an unfinished novel wound up in the Algren archives at Ohio State University, and in edited form they make their first public appearance as "Entrapment," from a new collection of previously unpublished work by Algren edited by Brooke Horvath and Dan Simon for Seven Stories Press.
Chicago Reader |
Nelson Algren |
04-13-2009 |
Original Work
Shot of Malort, Hold the Grimacenew
Six bartenders do their best to redeem Chicago's native wormwood liqueur.
Chicago Reader |
Mike Sula |
04-13-2009 |
Food+Drink
Advertisers Go from Licensing Songs to Releasing Themnew
The synergy of marketing and indie music has evolved so swiftly that selling a tune for use in a commercial or video game seems almost quaint. Marketers aren't just horning in on the territory of record labels' promo departments -- they're starting to act like labels.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
04-13-2009 |
Music
Does 'The Sun' Have Anything to Teach the Miserable Newspaper?new
Sy Safransky, The Sun's founder, editor, and publisher, doesn’t worry about advertising falling off because the Sun carries none. The readers, almost all of them subscribers, pay the freight.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
04-13-2009 |
Media
The Story of Chicago's Parking Meter Lease Dealnew
How Mayor Daley and his crew hid their process from the public, ignored their own rules, railroaded the City Council, and screwed the taxpayers on the parking meter lease deal.
Chicago Reader |
Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke |
04-10-2009 |
Policy Issues
Crowd-Sourced Graphic Design Has the Profession on Edgenew
Widely perceived as the wave of the future, Crowdspring has also been characterized as the design Antichrist, a force that will destroy the profession.
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
02-23-2009 |
Art
