Long story obviously, but a friend of mine once got kidnapped by the Marxist revolutionary group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), and subsequently lived with them in the Amazon rain forest for a year against his wishes. Of course, life in the jungle took some adjusting to, but it was really only after he […]
Category: Staff notes
Posted inColumns & Opinion
A note from the editor
So many big changes have taken place at the Reader in recent years, from minor masthead shifts to several handovers in ownership. We have new print facilities. (Do you like the new cover stock?) We made new T-shirts. Few changes are likely to be as impactful, however, as the one we’re about to make: the […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
A note from the editor
The sharpest political mind in southeastern Michigan belongs to a 15-year-old girl named Sadia. She’s not old enough to vote, nor is she a citizen—and neither are her parents. Plus she’s superbusy. She’s got school, and then because, birth order-wise, she sits somewhere in the middle of a gaggle of kids, some of whom have […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
A note from the editor
The best thing about diversifying a newsroom staff is that the range of relevant events, histories, vocabularies, and concerns increases exponentially. There’s just so much more news! The worst thing, however, is that the concerns that arise become harder to view from a distance. Unionization efforts, property tax assessment discrepancies, sexual harassment, and antiblack violence […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
A note from the editor
It just feels like whiplash most days, doesn’t it? We’ve barely wrapped our heads around how Brett Kavanaugh’s moving soliloquy on drinkin’ won him a seat on the Supreme Court and then Elizabeth Warren takes a seat at the table for President Trump’s weird new birtherism game. It’s sunny and frigid and autumn in Chicago, […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
A note from the editor
There’s never been a more important moment for alternative newsweeklies in America. Nor have they ever been so difficult to pull together. There’s no funding, little support. The very notion of unfake news has been degraded in recent years—it’s downright reviled by the White House. Daily newspapers are shrinking as they struggle to keep themselves […]