Today marks the birthday of Lucy Lawless. The woman who single-handedly turned the phrase “iconic New Zealand-born actress” from a sly joke into absolute truth, Lawless became famous as warrior […]
Category: Chicago
Q&A with Painting the Gospel author Kymberly Pinder
Kymberly N. Pinder is Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico. Her book Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago explores the […]
Alan Harper’s blues odyssey
Alan Harper left his home in England in 1979 on a pilgrimage to find the blues. His journey led him to Chicago where he worked at a sandwich restaurant and […]
A less than perfect murder
How to get away with the perfect murder is one of those bull session perennials, a topic of unending fascination. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, a pair of University of […]
Excelsior! continued
You night think a skyline would maintain a certain consistency, an unchanging nature that reflected the fact that building a skyscraper is one of humanity’s more complex undertakings. Yet recent newsicles […]
Blues All Day Long awarded by ARSC
Blues All Day Long: The Jimmy Rogers Story by Wayne Everett Goins has been awarded a Certificate of Merit in Historical Research in Blues, Gospel, or R&B in the 2015 […]
Sing in the sunshine
By the grace of the gods and the bulging forearms of Kyle Schwarber, the Cubs have advanced to the National League Championship Series, there to face the New York Mets. […]
Chicago River Bridges wins Society for the History of Technology prize
Patrick McBriarty’s Chicago River Bridges has been selected as the winner of the 2015 Eugene S. Ferguson Prize, awarded biennially by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). The Ferguson […]
Happy National Skyscraper Day
Once rare wonders of the world targeted by giant apes, skyscrapers have become an indelible aspect of the urban experience. Their majesty inspires local pride, their beauty elicits amazement, and […]
Digging out of Corrupt Illinois
Some might say it is just a drop in a very deep and very full bucket but lawmakers in Illinois state government have taken at least one measure to amend […]
The ‘face of Illinois corruption’ gets a new day in court
A federal appeals court has overturned some of former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s convictions On Tuesday, July 21st, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out convictions on five of […]
A familiar face from Corrupt Illinois back in the headlines
It’s Friday, so it must (again) be time for the Illinois Congressional indictment story of the week. The news of June 26, 2015 brings a familiar face back into the ignominious […]