Last week, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) named UIP author Penny Parsons Bluegrass Print/Media Person of the Year. A tireless music journalist, Parsons also published Foggy Mountain Troubadour: The […]
Karmageddon II
Tonight, the world once again courts apocalypse, as the Chicago Cubs put on their best woolens to embark on the long, untrod road to the World Series. Winners of over […]
Throwbacklist Thursday: Boogie Woogie Kugel Boy
Today marks National Noodle Day, an observance that simultaneously celebrates a food most beloved of preschoolers and college students while making you wonder if this national day trend has gone too […]
WPAQ interview with Penny Parsons on bluegrass icon Curly Seckler
Penny Parsons’ acclaimed biography of bluegrass legend Curly Seckler keeps earning plaudits and getting attention. Recently, Penny sat down at WPAQ in Mt. Airy, North Carolina to discuss Mr. Seckler […]
200 Years of Illinois: Mies van der Rohe in the House
On October 7, 2004, the National Register of Historic Places added the Farnsworth House, located near Plano, to its list of significant locales. Beautiful, yet a challenge to human habitation, […]
200 Years of Illinois: Moses in No Man’s Land
On October 4, 1923, Charlton Heston floated down Lake Michigan in a reed basket and bumped ashore at No Man’s Land, Illinois. A proverbial land of milk and honey—well, booze and […]
Sweet potatoes for a sweet year
Today marks Rosh Hashanah of the year 5777 and if you want to be Jewish for a day, you should eat. Because you look tired. Your cheeks look sunken. Are […]
Release Party: A Century of Transnationalism
Immigrant transnationalism reminded scholars that migrants, in leaving home for a new life abroad, inevitably tie place of origin and destination together, scholars of transnationalism have also insisted that today’s […]
200 Years of Illinois: Lead Is Galena and Galena Is Lead
On September 30, 1822, the federal government gave the first lease to mine lead in the Galena region to Richard M. Johnson. They also provided armed soldiers as guards to […]
Banning books
Last year Slate ran an article that, in that annoying Slate way, made it clear: the battle is won. We no longer have to fear book banning. It is a rare phenomenon, […]
Return of the Word Warrior
This past Sunday, Washington, D.C. radio station WAMU-FM went into the vaults to find a classic 1949 radio documentary on Ida B. Wells. Part of the classic Destination Freedom series, the […]
Throwbacklist Thursday: I Learned Law at the Movies
Courtroom dramas and filmed jury rooms have left an indelible impression on Americans. That impression? The law is so straightforward you can wrap up any case in a maximum of […]