Looking for a subject to pull her out of the “women’s fiction” ghetto, Sara Gruen immersed herself in the world of performing animals and sideshow freaks.
Author Archives: Susannah Felts
A Biker Bar Transformed, Banh Mi in West Town, and Where Spain Meets Mexico
Kuma’s Korner and other notable openings
Professor Boom-Chicka-Boom
Rachel Shteir’s new history of the striptease took 15 years to write, but it couldn’t have been published at a better time.
Bringing the Pit to the Stage
Atalee Judy’s choreography is as hard-core as her past.
In Business
It’s a Small Hood After All: Worlds collide over lattes and laptops at a new Ukrainian Village cafe.
Cold Comforts
Chocolate (and Vanilla and Black Walnut and Saffron Honey) City: A guide to local ice cream, gelato, and more
We Don’t Wanna Grow Up
Kids don’t like ’em, but Rotofugi’s toys look great at your workstation.
Punk Planet’s Expanding Orbit
The mega-zine teams up with Akashic Books and novelist Joe Meno to take back book publishing.
Punk Planet’s Expanding Orbit
The mega-zine teams up with Akashic Books and novelist Joe Meno to take back book publishing.
Slam Chance
Teen poets gear up for this weekend’s Louder Than a Bomb competition.
Adam Voith
When Adam Voith sat down to start his second book, the first bit he wrote was a comedy routine called “The Diet,” wherein Ernie Baxter, a wannabe stand-up comedian, details his insatiable appetite for calorie-and-carb-laden value meals and bucketfuls of Dr Pepper. This is a diet Voith knows all too well. “He’s got a lot […]
Fringe Benefits: goo-goo-ga-joob, Mr. Robinson
For Michele Mahoney, spring 2001 was “a really festive time.” A filmmaker and film professor originally from Saint Louis, she was playing with several ideas for future projects, including one about a scientist who sees jackalopes flying into Chicago. (“I like mythical creatures,” she says, “and I have a whole postcard collection of jackalopes.”) She’d […]
In Performance: Love Chaos takes all types
One night in 1999, Dan Miles got together with several friends from his high school years in Oak Park for a session of improvised music and performance at Weeds. He dubbed the gathering “Love Chaos,” and while a few of the musicians were startled when performance artist Katherine Chronis stripped and took the stage wearing […]