• Bugged!

    Bugged!
    “Straggler!” I said, the insult popping from my lips the instant I spotted the creature. He was parked on a branch—his awkward tank of a body, banded with orange ridges, was supported by six toothpick legs and cloaked in gossamer wings. I couldn’t tell which of his three black and two red eyes might be […]
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  • Tary Coffee House brings ancient preservation techniques from the central Asian steppes to River North

    Tary Coffee House brings ancient preservation techniques from the central Asian steppes to River North
    Last weekend, chef Ratbek Sadvakasov was competing in the Top Chef Challenge at the Vegan Women Summit in Hollywood. He served vivid and carefully composed plates of Impossible Beef meatballs with golden millet, spinach, pumpkin cream, and honey, garnished with steamed broccoli and dried raspberry powder. Sadvakasov is not a vegan. Nor is his restaurant, […]
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  • The power of Ten

    The power of Ten
    What started as a birthday party celebration for the Gift has since become an annual tradition, featuring ten ten-minute plays by a variety of playwrights. Adding to the numerical energy, each play is also rehearsed for ten hours before being performed . . . you guessed it, ten times. In defiance of rising entertainment costs, […]
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  • Green Dreams at DeSalvo’s Pizza

    Green Dreams at DeSalvo’s Pizza
    Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [email protected]. I’ve had my Green Dreams thick—somewhere between Detroit-style and Sicilian, dough pocked with all those focaccia-y bubbles—but let’s be real: this slice […]
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  • Chicago’s arcade evolution

    Chicago’s arcade evolution
    Imagine a typical video game arcade. Filling the aisles, there are probably some classic games like Ms. Pac-Man or Galaga, or maybe newer ones like Mortal Kombat or Need for Speed. The thumping of bumpers and flippers from pinball machines mixes with blips and beeps from video cabinets to create ambient background noise. Maybe the […]
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  • ‘This is deeply rooted in who I am’

    ‘This is deeply rooted in who I am’
    More Palestinians call Cook County home than any other county in the United States. I’ve often thought of the local Palestinian diaspora in the months since Israel launched its military assault on Gaza. I’m a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights and sovereignty and an Israeli citizen through my father, and I oppose the genocide Israel […]
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  • Meet the Author puts the spotlight on a store appearance gone wrong

    Meet the Author puts the spotlight on a store appearance gone wrong
    The in-store author appearance is an awkward neither fish nor fowl contraption. It’s primarily a marketing tool dressed up as a literary event. And unlike larger lectures or panel discussions at events like the Chicago Humanities Festival or Printers Row Lit Fest, where the merchandise is kept outside in the lobby, authors for in-store appearances […]
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  • Orphan black comedy

    Orphan black comedy
    At one point in Hell in a Handbag’s new opus, Poor People! The Parody Musical, the central protagonist, L’il Orphan Arnie (Dakota Hughes), complains, “Nothing makes sense when I try to make sense of it.” Audience members should keep Arnie’s statement in mind when they watch Poor People! In true Handbag fashion, the show begins […]
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  • Murder in the Cathedral has fresh relevance

    Murder in the Cathedral has fresh relevance
    T.S. Eliot conceived of his verse play Murder in the Cathedral in 1935. It was performed at Canterbury Cathedral and in the very room where the murder that provides the inciting incident of the plot—the killing of Archbishop Thomas Becket—took place. In a nod to that original staging, City Lit Theater Company’s new production (the […]
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  • Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 16

    Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 16
    Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 16. May 16, 2024
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  • City kids on the move

    City kids on the move
    Young People’s Theatre of Chicago brings this musical adaptation of the children’s book classic Last Stop on Market Street back to Chicago in a vibrant production that packs soul, substance, and silliness into one hour. Cheryl L. West’s adaptation of Matt de la Peña’s same-titled picture book (illustrated by Christian Robinson) features a score from […]
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  • Goalden Chyld transforms drill music by pushing for peace

    Goalden Chyld transforms drill music by pushing for peace
    More than a decade after it broke out commercially, drill music has arguably become Chicago’s biggest cultural export. This hip-hop subgenre burst into the mainstream in the early 2010s thanks to the likes of Chief Keef, King Louie, and Lil Durk, and it’s now influencing the sound of music as far afield as New York, […]
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  • Gods & Monsters revisits the story behind James Whale’s Frankenstein

    Gods & Monsters revisits the story behind James Whale’s Frankenstein
    It’s been too long since actor/director/writer/singer/dancer/Obama media strategist Paul Oakley Stovall dedicated his prolific talents to Chicago’s theater community. A regular on stages hereabouts through the 1990s and early aughts, the multihyphenate’s career has traveled the globe over the past three decades, encompassing both the worlds of entertainment and high-level politics. With Gods & Monsters, […]
    The post <i>Gods & Monsters</i> revisits th
  • An Educated Guess tells an unexpected story about migrant experiences

    An Educated Guess tells an unexpected story about migrant experiences
    When it comes to portrayals, on the big screen or the stage, of the Latino migrant experience, most stories focus on the journey, on the actual border experience and the abuses many migrants face or on multigenerational stories that begin inevitably at the border and end with the family’s eventual assimilation to this country.  So […]
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  • Bosses beware

    Bosses beware
    As the pandemic first sank its talons into the service industry—closing hotels, restaurants, grocers, and retail stores—service were lauded as “essential workers.” Since then, they’ve been unionizing their workplaces at a speed the U.S. hasn’t seen in more than half a century. Between March 2022 and April 2024, about 290 workers at nine Chicago hotels, […]
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  • The Museum of Science and Industry Officially Gets a New Name After Gift

    The Museum of Science and Industry Officially Gets a New Name After Gift
    The Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park has a new name: the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. 
    The name change was announced back in 2019 when the museum received a $125 million gift from Chicago billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin, the largest single gift in the institution’s history.
    The Griffin MSI will have new logos and exhibits as well. To commemorate the occasion, the museum  will open its doors to allow for free admission to all on Sunday, May 19. 
    Griffin M
  • ‘Age Is Just A Number’: Black Grandmother Becomes Registered Nurse At 69

    ‘Age Is Just A Number’: Black Grandmother Becomes Registered Nurse At 69
    Photo: Facebook
    A Georgia grandmother said “Age is just a number” when it comes to accomplishing her goals.
    According to WDTV, Loretta Mack recently became a registered nurse at 69 years old.
    Mack said she had dreamed all of her life of becoming an RN. The grandmother, who was a certified nurse’s assistant for six years, took a leap of faith after being encouraged by a fellow resource nurse.
    “I said to myself, ‘It would be a great example.’ I love people so I&
  • MR. SONNY KNOWS for May 15, 2024

    MR. SONNY KNOWS for May 15, 2024
    The post MR. SONNY KNOWS for May 15, 2024 appeared first on Chicago Defender.

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