CTA Archives - Chicago Reader

a look at Chicago skyscrapers downtown, camera angle is pointing up and dark clouds and fog are visible in the gray sky. A tree from Grant Park is also in the shot, facing the Motorola building

Baby steps

by Ben Joravsky December 23, 2022December 23, 2022

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 […]

an illustration by Megan Kirby of people on a bus looking out the window, each with a word bubble that reads out collectively Look Out More Windows

Inkling

Let us stare out the windows

by Megan Kirby December 16, 2022December 16, 2022

Last month, I had the misfortune of catching the Lunchables bus. Have you seen it yet? The windows and doors are obscured by a full-wrap ad that creates the illusion of a stack of crackers, meat, and cheese moving horizontally along the street. I boarded the Lunchables bus and found my window blocked by a […]

close up view of a person hand lettering calligraphy

Agenda

Calligraphy, puppets, and protest

by Micco Caporale and Kerry Reid December 3, 2022December 3, 2022

Whether you’re a calligraphy explorer or a hand-lettering veteran, check out the Newberry (60 W. Walton) today. They’ll be joined by the Chicago Calligraphy Collective for a Calligraphy Fair. From 10 AM-noon, they’ll have a breadth of demonstrations and hands-on how to’s that cover everything from gothic lettering and creative caps to arabic calligraphy and […]

Agenda

Black Transport Project, Commuters Take Action, and more

by Micco Caporale and Salem Collo-Julin September 26, 2022September 26, 2022

Bikes aren’t cheap—but neither is public transit! If you or someone you know is a Black trans person in Chicago looking for a free bike, sign up for one through the Black Transport Project. BTP begins reviewing applications October 1 and will be supplying bikes on a rolling basis. When your name is drawn, you […]

On Politics

Hocus-pocus

by Ben Joravsky August 26, 2022August 26, 2022

As the years roll by, mayors and aldermen come and go but the great Tax Increment Financing scam stays forever. Oh, TIFs, TIFs, TIFs. Haven’t written about them in awhile. But they’re always on my mind, to paraphrase the great Willie Nelson. They’re particularly on my mind as I follow the falsehoods advanced by both […]

Agenda

Las Comadres, tenants rights, Call Me Elizabeth, and more

by Micco Caporale and Kerry Reid August 19, 2022August 19, 2022

Wanna learn more about community groups organizing around issues like tenants rights and the cop academy? The Humboldt Park Housing Project (HPHP), a group fighting for affordable housing for low-income residents, is holding a teach-in at their headquarters (1629 N. Washtenaw). HPHP has been living in vacant public housing since January and is currently fighting […]

News

Motherfuckin’ back and forth

by Katie Prout April 13, 2022April 13, 2022

Four Chicagoans describe what it’s like to seek shelter on the CTA.

A view from the inside of a Chicago Transit Authority red line subway car, looking out the window at the Addison stop

Best of Chicago

Best reason to dare riding the CTA in the middle of a pandemic

by Katie Prout March 3, 2022March 18, 2022

When my boyfriend and I moved to Edgewater in June 2020, I had quiet weird feelings about becoming yet another white, north side Chicagoan, but the move brought me to the Red Line—and the Red Line brought me back to the world. Ten months later, I put on my mask, walked to the Thorndale stop, […]

News & Politics

Lukewarm welcome

by Katie Prout March 2, 2022March 3, 2022

The warming areas don’t just exist to warm you up—housed within DFSS community service centers, they’re also access points from which Chicagoans can be connected to other services that have the potential to change their lives. When the warming areas are closed, or difficult to access, so are those opportunities.

drawing of Megan Kirby with glasses sitting with Santa Claus

City Life

Waving at Santa from a rat-infested train tunnel

by Megan Kirby December 30, 2021December 30, 2021

My secret Chicago talent is that I always catch the Chicago Transit Authority’s Holiday Train. All over the city, the train finds me. Commuting home from work. Meeting my friends at a dive bar. On my way to a show. If the ride occurs between Thanksgiving and Christmas, chances are I’m going to pull up […]