Posted inFiction

Sue

Sue is the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered. She is forty-two feet long and thirteen feet tall. Her skull weighs six hundred pounds. She weighed nine tons, when she was alive. She was discovered by Sue Hendrikson, for whom she is named.

Posted inFiction

Callie

I asked my six-year-old cousin for her autograph today. She didn’t know what an autograph was. “Your name,” I said. “I want you to write your name.” I handed her my pen. “What for?” she said, and then, “Okay.”

Posted inEnglewood, Politics, Roseland

Uncertain Future for Breast Cancer Screenings

his April, for the third year in a row, Illinois legislators voted to cut the budget of the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP)—a state-run initiative that aims to provide free preventative care and cancer treatments to uninsured Illinois women—by nearly $296,000. It was a major blow for an already-lean budget. Although Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently stepped in […]

Posted inBlurbs, Pilsen

Life and Death

n the late afternoon on November 1st, Dvorak Park looks bleak. A boy walks briskly across the playground and quickly disappears out of sight, but otherwise the Pilsen park is empty. Inside its East Gym, however, volunteers are carefully applying paint to kids’ faces. With white paint as a base, the end product resembles a […]

Posted inPolitics, Transportation

Back on Track

A Chicago newcomer—one unfamiliar with the Dan Ryan Red Line’s history of slowness or with its recent reconstructions—might have taken a ride from the 95th/Dan Ryan station to Chinatown on October 20 and concluded that nothing was out of the ordinary. An experienced rider, however, would have noted that the trip took them only twenty minutes, which, according to the […]

Posted inBlurbs, Pilsen

Gourd is the Word

Halloween music, the unmistakable chatter of children, and the smell of fresh quesadillas and cinnamon tea quickly color the quiet Saturday morning walk down West Cullerton Street. This is no ordinary Saturday in Pilsen: it’s the annual Pumpkin Patch at Dvorak Park, a tradition that draws families and community members from all over the neighborhood […]

Posted inHyde Park, Lit

The Bookseller

“Jack is the soul of the bookstore. Many others have contributed to the growth and success of the store, but Jack has made it what it is.” Now, after forty-three years as general manager of the Seminary Co-Op, Jack Cella has retired. Few people can say they remember the Co-Op without him—not even Katy O’Brien-Weintraub, […]