In a new book, The Tylenol Mafia, author Scott Bartz says he knows why the “Tylenol murders” continue to confound investigators
Author Archives: Joy Bergmann
Posted inNews & Politics
Seduced
He drew them in with his good looks and charm. He involved them in betrayal, robbery, and murder. He left them doing time.
Posted inNews & Politics
Cable Box
Format Three La-Z-Boy pundits swilling beer and displaying their dirty socks assess music and cinema. In any given half-hour episode, pickin’ may refer to selectin’ fine VCR fodder, riffin’ rhapsodically on an acoustic guitar, or whiskin’ away dingleberries tendin’ to accumulate on sofa-huggin’ homeboys’ bums. Target Demographic Ennui-ridden males, ages 17 to 41, living among […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Hardest Working Santa in Show Business
When there’s a job to do, he does it well.
Posted inArts & Culture
Group Efforts: I’m OK, you’re OK, even if we’re not OK
A poster listing the “10 Warning Signs of ‘Normality’” hangs in Katherine Hodges’s Ukrainian Village kitchen. It cautions that such qualities as being obedient, boring, and gullible may be psychiatric problems like “adjustment prone,” “hyper-inactivity,” and “naivete disorder.” “I don’t like seeing emotions and behaviors as illnesses,” says the 24-year-old Columbia College student. “Your emotions […]
Posted inNews & Politics
A Bitter Pill
Someone killed seven people by putting cyanide in tylenol capsules. When James Lewis was caught for writing an extortion letter, prosecutors appeared to stop looking for the killer. Almost 20 years later no one has been convicted of the murders.
Posted inArts & Culture
Reel Life: bending the rules of sexual politics
Filmmakers Ben Berkowitz and Ben Redgrave have a message for Chicago artists of every stripe: Buckle down and get to work. Second-class hang-ups may pervade Second City attitudes, but they don’t accomplish a damn thing. “Chicago can’t be thought of as a handicap. This ‘coast’ shit is ridiculous geographical snobbery,” says Redgrave. “If anything, being […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Cable Box
Format Multimedia variety show, with an emphasis on variety. Depending on the episode, viewers might see repetitive skits performed by hand puppets, an immigrant offering snack cakes, or sad-faced young men walking in circles. Performers play experimental music akin to a yak birthing and tell excited yarns about Providence, Rhode Island. Nothing on UnBalanced Load […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Ladies’ Rooms
By Joy Bergmann Susan Leinwohl leapt at the chance to run away from her dour Denver women’s college with a dashing graduate student from Northwestern she’d met on the Colorado ski slopes. Whisked away to Chicago at 19, she looked forward to happy adventures in the big city. But three months into the courtship, her […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Down on the Farm
Iowa’s attempt to lure me back only remind me why I left in the first place.
Posted inNews & Politics
Cable Box
Format Sixty minutes of “nonstop action” produced by the avuncular Bill Wildt, 56, president of the nonprofit Motorsports Advancement Crusade. Footage of racing and of customized cars, trucks, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and motorboats enhanced by the Lovely Ladies of Motorsports. The ladies wear pink leotards, bow ties, feather headdresses, and white pumps to all events. They’re […]
Posted inArts & Culture
On Exhibit: ambassadors of the insect world
A group of boys jockeys for position around the open display of delicate chrysalises. One kid bullies forward and extends his index finger to a fallen, newly emerged butterfly. As it rights itself on his flesh he says, “It’s a painted lady,” and rests it on a leaf. His pals nod, impressed. “Butterflies bring out […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Cable Box
Format Half hour of sketch comedy by the Cirque du Squirrel ensemble under the direction of auteur Dale Chapman. Program promotes yucks through “dick jokes and infantile bathroom humor.” Target Demographic Men, 25 to 39, who rhapsodize about their first viewing of Porky’s—-and the women who love them. Thematic Concerns Celebrating the prophetic powers of […]