• Win a $50 gift card to Chopping Block

    Win a $50 gift card to Chopping Block
    Give a little, Get a lotCelebrate with us by winning something for you! There’s only FOUR DAYS left of our 50-day giveaway—ends November 19.
    Become a Member
    Today’s Prize:Enter today and win a $50 gift card to Chopping Block virtual cooking classes! Feed your appetite for learning with The Chopping Block.
    Enter to win today!The best part about 50 Days of Reader Giving is anyone can enter! There is no purchase or donation necessary. All members of the Chicago Reader’s Rea
  • Help the Illinois Dream Fund provide scholarships to local students by playing the $200,000! Bingo Tripler!

    Help the Illinois Dream Fund provide scholarships to local students by playing the $200,000! Bingo Tripler!
    For nearly two decades, the Illinois Lottery has been a pioneer in creating specialty lottery tickets dedicated to raising awareness and funding for specific causes that impact our local communities. In January 2024, the organization introduced their joint specialty ticket, the $200,000! Bingo Tripler Instant Ticket which will provide a portion of its funds to […]
    The post Help the Illinois Dream Fund provide scholarships to local students by playing the $200,000! Bingo Tripler! appeared
  • Jon-Carlo Manzo, indie tastemaker

    Jon-Carlo Manzo, indie tastemaker
    Jon-Carlo Manzo grew up in Shorewood, an exurb just west of Joliet, but his tastes are thoroughly informed by Chicago. Since graduating from New York University in 2021, he’s entrenched himself in the Windy City’s indie-rock scene. In fall 2020, he began interning for indie label Fire Talk Records, which works with many Chicago acts—some […]
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  • Pizza Dom throws dough on the patio at the next Monday Night Foodball

    Pizza Dom throws dough on the patio at the next Monday Night Foodball
    Dom Vallone got his first job making pizza at a Little Caesars in Wood Dale, Illinois. He didn’t last long. “I absolutely tossed dough against management’s wishes and dropped them on the floor many times,” he says. “Dough on the floor is ‘dough’ lost, so, naturally, I was fired.” Or maybe not. His memory’s fuzzy. […]
    The post Pizza Dom throws dough on the patio at the next Monday Night Foodball appeared first on Chicago Reader.
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  • Suicides Are Up Among Black Youths. Is Anyone Paying Attention?

    Suicides Are Up Among Black Youths. Is Anyone Paying Attention?
    Researchers studying suicide haven’t included enough Black people, but one study points the finger at a familiar cause for a rising rate among Black youths: racism.
    By Jennifer Porter Gore
    This article was originally published on Word In Black.
    Data on Black teen suicide confirm that the kids are not alright, and the research shows that not enough has been done to understand or confront the problem.
    Although suicide has become a leading cause of death for young Black people in the U.S
  • Black Uber Driver Shot Dead by Man Who Was Tricked By Scammers: Police

    Black Uber Driver Shot Dead by Man Who Was Tricked By Scammers: Police
    Photo: Facebook
    An Uber driver in Ohio was shot and killed by an elderly man who believed she was scamming him, according to authorities.
    Uber driver Loletha Hall, 61, was allegedly shot dead by 81-year-old William Brock on March 25 after she arrived at his home in South Charleston, Ohio, per PEOPLE.
    Brock reported the shooting to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, telling authorities that “a male on the phone threatened him and his family.” When Hall arrived at his home, Brock
  • The Support Group to Be Honored by the Chicago Cubs on Jackie Robinson Night

    The Support Group to Be Honored by the Chicago Cubs on Jackie Robinson Night
    The Support Group Will Bring More Than 200 Students and Their Family Members From 10 Different Chicago Public Schools to Experience the Legacy of Jackie Robinson during the Cubs-Marlins Game on April 18.
    The Support Group, a Chicago-based nonprofit that creates opportunities for youth from Chicago’s underserved communities, announced that it will be honored by the Chicago Cubs as part of the club’s Jackie Robinson Night, Thursday, April 18.As the first African American to play in Maj
  • Mina Loy has finally arrived 

    Mina Loy has finally arrived 
    Who was Mina Loy? You might know her as a poet and essayist, whose work, although difficult and seemingly without parentage, was admired by contemporaries such as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Gertrude Stein. If you are a student of Dadaism you will have seen her name alongside those of her rowdy friends Marcel […]
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  • Invasion of privacy

    Invasion of privacy
    Content note: This story includes mentions of sexual assault and sexual harm. Many subjects in this story use pseudonyms to protect their privacy. The first appearance of each is denoted by an asterisk. Michael Johnston had a perfect life. A nearly 9,000-square-foot mansion in Roscoe Village. A wife and two beautiful children. A handful of […]
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  • This Week In Black History April 17-23, 2024

    This Week In Black History April 17-23, 2024
    APRIL 171872—Activist and fiery journalist William Monroe Trotter is born on this day in Boston, Mass. A close friend of W.E.B. Du Bois, Trotter was one of the most militant Black leaders of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He helped found the Niagara Movement, which led to the estab­lishment of the NAACP but then refused to join, claiming the group was too moderate and elitist. He was also a leading opponent of the accommodating policies of Booker T. Washington. Trotter’s primary
  • ‘Reading saved me’

    ‘Reading saved me’
    “I suppose it is easy to dismiss a young woman for forming and shaping her identity under the influence of books, of reading—and yet. That was what I had and it was everything.” Suzanne Scanlon is the poet laureate of young, artistically inclined women who feel too much and search for meaning in books. Decades […]
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  • The Reader’s Guide to Record Store Day 2024

    The Reader’s Guide to Record Store Day 2024
    This Record Store Day, which arrives on Saturday, April 20, Republic Records is doing its best to make sure you can buy a newly pressed record by Vermont singer-songwriter Noah Kahan. Republic (part of Universal Music Group) has pressed 15,000 copies of Kahan’s second album, 2021’s I Was / I Am, which is not the LP […]
    The post The <i>Reader</i>’s Guide to Record Store Day 2024 appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  • March on the DNC plans Chicago’s ‘largest mobilization for Palestine’

    March on the DNC plans Chicago’s ‘largest mobilization for Palestine’
    “From the river to see, Palestine will be free!” “The people united will never be defeated!” “Fight back!” Boisterous chants fill the basement of Teamster City on April 13, where hundreds of people from more than a dozen states have assembled to plan a massive mobilization when Chicago takes the national stage later this summer. […]
    The post March on the DNC plans Chicago’s ‘largest mobilization for Palestine’ appeared first on Chicag
  • Ano Bank$ is a cornerstone for his people

    Ano Bank$ is a cornerstone for his people
    The barbershop has long been a cornerstone institution for Black and Brown communities. It serves folks looking for fresh cuts, of course, but it’s ultimately a place where people gather and exchange information. This information can be as trivial as sports banter or as profound as the wisdom born of experience that older barbers give […]
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  • Demented bordello

    Demented bordello
    My first visit to Trap Door Theatre did not disappoint, from the hidden alley entrance to the immediate sense of time travel and disorientation upon entry. For the last show of its 30th anniversary season, the company is bringing back Nana by Olwen Wymark, first staged in 2002. Resident choreographer Miguel Long codirects with managing […]
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  • Time travel, Babes With Blades style

    Time travel, Babes With Blades style
    What is better than a time travel play? Not much. A rare species in itself, it can only be improved upon by something equally awesome—like centering women, impeccable stage combat, and a rock-solid plot that accounts for the bootstrap paradox. This is exactly what the Babes With Blades world premiere of The S Paradox pulled […]
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  • Mazurkas of memory

    Mazurkas of memory
    Hershey Felder first played Frédéric Chopin at the now-closed Royal George Theatre in 2005—one of several solo shows about great composers that Felder has created over the years (he’s also played George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, and Beethoven, among others). Now Writers Theatre has brought Felder’s Monsieur Chopin (directed by Joel Zwick) back in […]
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  • Children will listen

    Children will listen
    It’s tempting to start a review of Beyond the Garden Gate with a comment like, “The fairy tales I grew up with were never like this.” But let’s face it: The fairy tales we grew up with at least started out as something like this. Impostors Theatre Company’s expert, if occasionally disturbing, new production (written […]
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  • Hat trick

    Hat trick
    Forgetting a hookup’s name? Bad. Forgetting your spouse’s name? So bad it requires Old Testament intervention.   Hetchman (Scott Danielson) is on a mission to find his lost partner (Daria Harper) and favorite accessory in Lauren Yee’s 100-minute, one-act, modern fable dramedy. After a young woman (Taylor B. Hill) moves to a new home in the […]
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  • Spies like us

    Spies like us
    Written and directed by Grant Batdorff, this satire of spy thrillers for Two Chairs Theatre at the Annoyance begins with a bang: a wry, spot-on parody of those bombastic title sequences popular in the 60s in shows like Mission: Impossible and mocked in the 90s in the Austin Powers movies. Sadly, nothing in the subsequent […]
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  • Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 14

    Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 14
    Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 14. April 18, 2024
    The post Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 14 appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  • Black Maternity Health Week: Resources & Organizations To Check Out

    Black Maternity Health Week: Resources & Organizations To Check Out
    Photo: PeopleImages / iStock / Getty Images
    It’s been one year since President Joe Biden officially proclaimed April 11 through April 17 as Black Maternal Health Week. The seven-day observance shines a light on Black mothers who struggle with pregnancy or maternity-related complications due to various obstacles and dangers. The Centers for Disease Control says Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Healthcare access and quality, under
  • Artists Against Apartheid organizers balance joy and Palestinian resistance

    Artists Against Apartheid organizers balance joy and Palestinian resistance
    A cross between an art market, block party, and political rally, Artists Against Apartheid brings together Palestinian and Arab artists from around Chicago to recharge, build community, and raise funds for those in occupied Palestine.  Artists Against ApartheidSun 4/21 2-8 PM, Alhambra Palace Chicago, 1240 W. Randolph, $5-10 suggested donationinstagram.com/falasteen.favorites “This is a time for […]
    The post Artists Against Apartheid organizers balance joy and Palestinian resi
  • Auditorium Theatre Unveils Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s Highly Anticipated Return, April 17-21

    Auditorium Theatre Unveils Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s Highly Anticipated Return, April 17-21
    Members of the Company in Alvin Ailey’s For ‘Bird’ – With Love. Photo by Dario Calmese
    World renowned ambassadors of Dance and Culture, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to its Chicago home – the landmark Auditorium Theatre at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive – for its 55th engagement here, with six dynamic performances, April 17-21, 2024. 
    Celebrating its 65th Anniversary season in 2023-24, the company will perform three distinct programs certain to
  • The Carr Report: Choosing your life mate…The most important decision you’ll ever make!

    The Carr Report: Choosing your life mate…The most  important decision you’ll ever make!
    Investing in yourself is the best in­vestment you’ll ever make. When you focus on becoming the best version of yourself, you’ll strive to continual­ly learn more, earn more, save more, exercise more, eat healthier, and do things that you love and enjoy.
    When you’re seeking a romantic companion, you want to find a person who will enhance the quality of your life. Someone who will encourage you to be the best version of yourself as you do the same for them. No one en­
  • MR. SONNY KNOWS for Apr 17

    MR. SONNY KNOWS for Apr 17
    The post MR. SONNY KNOWS for Apr 17 appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  • Rainbow Push CEO Rev. Haynes III Resigns After 3 Months On The Job

    Rainbow Push CEO Rev. Haynes III Resigns After 3 Months On The Job
    Three months after being formally appointed as CEO of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH, Pastor Frederick Haynes III has resigned. 
    Haynes, 63, confirmed to The Associated Press that he submitted his resignation letter, citing personal reflection and a need to step down amid ongoing challenges. He expressed gratitude to Rev. Jackson for the opportunity but did not delve into specifics about his decision.
    “After a time of prayer and consultation, I felt it was best to step down a
  • Media Burn hosts a historic symposium

    In an age in which distinctions between broadcast and streaming or video and digital are increasingly meaningless, it can be easy to forget just how revolutionary the technology of video was when it was introduced.   Prior to the availability of cameras like the Sony Portapak in the late 1960s, capturing moving images was the […]
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  • Nurse T Honors National Nurses Week with Second Annual Future Nurses Program on May 4 in Detroit for Kids 5-15

    Teberah “Nurse T” Alexander also announces the launch of the Future Nurses Scholarship for minority students
    Teberah Alexander, RN, BSN, also known as “Nurse T,” announced today that the second annual Nurses Program for children 5-14 years of age is open for registration. The event will take place on Saturday May 4 from 1-5 pm at Renaissance High School (6566 W. Outer Dr. Detroit, MI 48235) as part of National Nurses Week.
    The free program gives children a hands-on view o
  • Motel Breakfast celebrate a diverse but cohesive post-lockdown album

    Motel Breakfast celebrate a diverse but cohesive post-lockdown album
    Motel Breakfast front man Jimmy Drenovsky founded the indie-rock five-piece in 2017, while at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He’d met most of his bandmates—guitarist Mick O’Donnell, keyboardist Conor Brennan, and drummer Jesse Nasadowski—growing up in Chicago’s south suburbs. When the band got together, though, O’Donnell and bassist Drue deVente were at the University of Wisconsin […]
    The post Motel Breakfast celebrate a diverse but cohesive post-l

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