Posted inStaff notes

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

There’s a quiet poeticness to cover subject Diana Solís’ work. The Mexico-born photographer prefers for her stills to do the talking, and doesn’t fuss about whatever recognition her pieces might garner. Being fixated on her work leaves little room for, as she puts it, adding too much crema to her tacos. Learning more about the […]

Posted inStaff notes

Publisher’s note

In late August  2018, I was with my father at the hospital, where he was recovering from open-heart surgery, when I received a call from a representative of the Chicago News Guild asking if I’d like to buy the Chicago Reader from its parent newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times. The Guild represents the Reader’s editorial union, […]

Posted inOn Culture

Good guy with a gun

John Mossman has a scary new movie, but he’s not just trying to scare us. Good Guy With a Gun (not to be confused with a 2020 short with the same title) is a feature-length drama/thriller slated for a regional premiere February 27 as part of the Midwest Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film […]

Posted inPress releases

RICJ Racial Justice Writers’ Room Launches

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism (RICJ), which publishes the Chicago Reader, has launched the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room Cohort. Eight early- to mid-career journalists will work for 12 weeks on racial-justice related reporting projects under coordinator Judith McCray. The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room […]

Posted inOn Politics

Chaos theory

One of the more revealing scenes in City So Real—Steve James’s insightful documentary about Chicago politics, takes place in a Gold Coast penthouse. It’s 2019. And James, chronicling the last mayoral election, is filming a dinner party hosted by Christie Hefner. They’re talking politics and one of the guests—Norman Bobins, a retired banker—opines that no […]

Posted inStaff notes

Resolute

As January inches to a close, it’s a good time to take stock of what this year has been like thus far, and where we stand on those pesky New Year’s resolutions we promised we’d actually stick to this time around. Remember those? Well, smart indoor rowing machine, meet the storage unit; promise to drop […]

Posted inOn Culture

Who’s getting tarred?

No industry has been more of a closed and creaky old white boys club than classical music. Things are grudgingly changing now that the Western canon appears to be on its deathbed, but, according to research by the League of American Orchestras, “Women conductors are still rare, especially in the high-status position of music director.” […]

Posted inOn Politics

The early days

With roughly seven weeks to go until round one of the mayoral election, here’s what we know so far from the latest polls. If the election were held today, the winner would be . . . Karen Lewis! OK, I’ll get to that. But, first, a word or two about a recent “poll.”  It was […]

Posted inOn Culture

No walk in the park

Update: 01/12/2023In an email today seeking to “clarify misinformation posted on the museum’s website,” Chicago Park District Director of Communications Michele Lemons said this: “The Chicago Park District did not approve construction on a 5,000 square foot facility nor did the District approve a structure of any size.” Juanita Irizarry delivered a gut punch of […]

Posted inOn Politics

Baby steps

It’s that time of the season where I measure a year’s worth of political progress by comparing steps forwards and steps back, in the hope that overall we’ve made progress. I could fill this issue with many examples of elections, budgets, and spending plans from 2022. But I’ll settle on a few items. Starting with […]

Posted inStaff notes

Break a leg, kid!

Our recent anniversary UnGala was an affair to remember for myriad reasons. For starters, it brought out Chicago’s finest in droves to the Museum of Contemporary Art for a night of intimate performances, revelry, and reflection, Reader-style.  The night also summoned Reader brass, new and old, including cofounder Bob McCamant, longtime executive editor Michael Lenehan, […]