Chicago Reader: News & Commentary

Letters & Comments, November 19, 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

"Prediction: Public Radio is gone in Chicago. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but GONE GONE GONE nevertheless." Radio's Future Re: "Chicago Public Radio—an internal report on its new Strategic Plan," posted by Michael Miner, November 9 I've written and read so many of these things (strategic plans) that I can tell you this is the work of an agency hired by the top exec to prove the point that Akio Morita (former SONY CEO) made decades ago: American business has become the province of the analyst and the consultant. This plan is so "bleah" as to be…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

WBEZ Staffers Want to Talk Turkey

mail@chicagoreader.com (Michael Miner) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

And they think their boss, Torey Malatia, is focusing on the trimmings. by Michael Miner No one minds a leader dialed in to the future so long as that person also shares a wavelength with the here and now. At Chicago Public Radio there are staffers who feel they speak on one frequency and president Torey Malatia responds on another. For the past year and a half, Malatia, with input from the staff, has been fashioning a new strategic plan for CPR, whose two components are WBEZ and the rowdy radio/Web hybrid Vocalo. Vocalo, which…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Transparency in Action

mail@chicagoreader.com (Ben Joravsky) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

How a bill intended to expand the state Freedom of Information Act was bastardized to expand the mayor�s shadow budget by Ben Joravsky In his November 11 op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, Mayor Daley once again assured us he's doing everything he can to protect us from a tax hike in these tough times. "Because people are struggling, I decided against increasing taxes of any kind," Daley wrote. Apparently, as hard as I've tried to explain it—and I've tried really, really hard—Mayor Daley just can't grasp how this property tax thing works, particularly in relation to tax increment financing, his favorite economic development…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Is a Soundstage a Sound Investment?

mail@chicagoreader.com (Deanna Isaacs) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Word was that construction had already started on a new film studio at the Ryerson steel plant on the west side. But the deal is still in the discussion stage, and Cornell University professor Susan Christopherson suggests it may not be a boon for Chicago if it goes through. by Deanna Isaacs It's been a few years since the Ryerson steel plant on the west side has really hummed, but there's been a Hollywood buzz around it since New Line Cinema's A Nightmare on Elm Street set up shop there for two months last summer. And early this month came the intoxicating word that the mammoth, mostly empty factory campus was being purchased by investors and would become a film studio by January. And why not? The century-old Ryerson spread—nine buildings on…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

A �Lost Boy� Finds His Calling

mail@chicagoreader.com (Ed M. Koziarski) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Brutally driven from Sudan as a child, Garang Mayuol is bringing clean water to the suffering villagers back home. A new documentary chronicles his journey. by Ed M. Koziarski Garang Mayuol was in the cow pasture with his father when the shooting started. He was five years old, living in Lang, a tiny rural community in southern Sudan. It was 1987, four years into the second Sudanese civil war. The Arab Muslim majority government in Khartoum was cracking down on the mostly black Christian and animist separatists in the south, and government-backed militias descended on Lang with devastating force. Mayuol and his father fled on foot. "My dad said,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

A Kink in the Campaign

mail@chicagoreader.com (Hunter Clauss) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

If his challenge to Deb Mell's nominating petition succeeds, state rep candidate Joe Laiacona just might run unopposed in the Democratic primary. But can a leather master actually win in the general election? by Hunter Clauss Most people who signed Joe Laiacona's petition to run for state representative of the 40th District probably had no idea they were supporting a historic campaign. That's because Laiacona didn't tell them. One evening in August I followed the 62-year-old as he hoofed it down Sacramento between Irving Park and Addison. Wearing a short-sleeve plaid shirt tucked into jeans, he said almost exactly the same thing to anyone who'd open the door: "Hi, I'm Joe Laiacona. I'm running for state…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Joe Laiacona's Challenge to Deb Mell's Petition

mail@chicagoreader.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

The full document]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Savage Love: November 19, 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com (Dan Savage) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Sleeping with her with your wife's permission? Meh, where's the ego boost in that? by Dan Savage Q I'm a happily married, happily nonmonogamous male. We are not wild swinger types. For us it's more about the fact that monogamy doesn't work than about nailing everything that walks by. Anyway, I've encountered an odd situation a few times now—and again last night—where I'll be flirting with a potential fling and she knows I'm married and she's very interested. But when she finds out my marriage is nonmonogamous, she suddenly backs out. Case in point, a coworker: we've…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Her War

mail@chicagoreader.com (Deanna Isaacs) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

After suspended prof Zafra Lerman charges discrimination, Columbia College pulls funding from her Middle East peace conference. by Deanna Isaacs Columbia College professor Zafra Lerman has weathered some stormy relationships in her 33 years at the school. She lost the chairmanship of the science department—which she founded—in the late 1980s, after a significant faction in the department rebelled against her. And three years ago Columbia brass ordered a midnight raid on her lab at the college's Institute of Science Education and Science Communication. The break-in led to the firing of a member of Lerman's staff, who allegedly used a lab…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue

mail@chicagoreader.com (Mike Sula) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Rare pigs, vexing cheese, heirloom grains, black pepper gelato, farming for the city, and the best new restaurants of 2009 by Mike Sula The five major food groups provided the loose organizing principle for our annual food issue. It's an elementary concept, and maybe even corny, but also pleasingly broad, leaving room for a wide range of stories on developments in Chicago's culinary scene that reflect the larger culinary culture. Mike Sula's piece on a local effort to raise rare Mangalitsa pigs spotlights the growing farm-to-table movement and ongoing interest in local, artisanal, and sustainable agriculture, as does Lisa Shames's piece on Wisconsin's…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue: Meet the Mangalitsas

mail@chicagoreader.com (Mike Sula) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Local chefs invest in a rare breed of pig said to be the Wagyu of the pork world. by Mike Sula One early morning last month, a dozen Chicago chefs crowded into Stan Schutte's kitchen, listening to the stocky, buzz-cut farmer talk about the owls, hawks, and coyotes that harass his animals. "Coyotes I'm not so friendly to," he said. "I will kill a coyote. They're not so bad this time of year, but once it gets cold they'll start coming in closer and closer, and that's when they start to get a little bit greedy." Schutte said he didn't so…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue: Ambassador of Pepe Nero

mail@chicagoreader.com (Anne Ford) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

A gelato-smitten entrepreneur brings the unconventional Paciugo chain to Chicago. by Anne Ford One chilly Wisconsin evening in 2007, business consultant Ani Poddar walked into the Madison outpost of the Texas-based gelateria chain Paciugo with his wife and spotted a flavor called pepe nero—black pepper and olive oil. Poddar, who'd emigrated from India in 1998 to study manufacturing systems and industrial engineering at the University of Wisconsin, was a man who took his sweets very seriously, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It didn't help that "I had had a bit…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue: My Mozzarella

mail@chicagoreader.com (Julia Thiel) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Fast, easy, inexpensive, and delicious to make at home? I beg to differ. by Julia Thiel "I don't think it's going to work," I finally admitted to my friend Emily as I tried for the dozenth time to stir the mess of milk solids in the bowl together into cheese. It was supposed to be easy: several sources had assured me that nothing could be faster and simpler, or produce more delicious results, than making fresh mozzarella. Of course, a couple Web sites I'd come across had warned that making mozzarella was an advanced project that,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue: City Farm

mail@chicagoreader.com (Lisa Shames) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

From a Chicago couple, a Wisconsin organic farm that understands its urban customers by Lisa Shames Bob Borchardt's family goes way back with food. His great-grandparents owned a store that sold produce, meat, and dry goods in Pilsen in the 30s and 40s, and his grandparents ran a restaurant and bar where his grandmother made hearty midday dinners of braised meats and spaetzle for the truckers coming in and out of the nearby South Water Market. In the 90s Bob took over his father's company, which serviced restaurants with specialized tasks like maintaining professional stove hoods.…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue: From Amaranth to Job's Tears

mail@chicagoreader.com (Anne Spiselman) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

On local menus: creative preparations of rare and unusual grains by Anne Spiselman Amaranth, barley, farro, quinoa, and other ancient grains are making a comeback these days, finding favor with chefs who appreciate their earthy flavors, chewy textures, nutritional benefits, and novelty value. On the local scene, chefs are dreaming up new preparations, seeking out rare varieties, and even helping to resurrect grains that have become almost extinct. Brian Enyart, chef de cuisine at Topolobampo (445 N. Clark, 312-661-1434, rickbayless.com/restaurants/topolobampo.html), says amaranth was widely used in Mexico until the conquistadors virtually eradicated it,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Food Issue: The Best New Restaurants of 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com (Mike Sula) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

From Browntrout to Zebda by Mike Sula I hate the casual arrogance implied by those two words—the best—particularly when they're applied to the infinite universe of food, but really when they're applied to anything at all. You could spend a lifetime reading, listening, watching, eating, and chances are you still wouldn't have read, heard, seen, or eaten nearly enough to know what's "the best." And in a year when the relentless tide of new restaurant openings barely slows despite the crappy economy, it only becomes more improbable…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Savage Love: November 12, 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com (Dan Savage) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Chastity belts, sexless marriage, and more by Dan Savage Q I'm a 30-year-old woman, married for five years to a man eight years my senior. Lately I've become more aware that I'm turned on by the idea of bondage, specifically men locked up in chastity devices. I'm ashamed of myself because it seems, well, pretty perverse and disturbed. My husband is a pretty dominant alpha-type male. I'm a relatively dominant personality, but I'm a bit submissive around him in order to keep the peace, as he will not tolerate…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Letters & Comments: November 12, 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

"You are the specialized bureaucracy in this helter-skelter pluralist society of opinion." Playing It Safe Re: "The Active Transportation Alliance Does an About-Face on the Parking Meter Deal," posted by Mick Dumke, November 9 Looking forward to reading in that second report about ATA's position on the removal of individual parking meters, which provide secure places to lock bikes. I haven't seen any new racks going up on the sidewalks to replace the junked meters. Chicago Rider Formerly Employee Owned Re: "Tribune Company Ending Pretense Its Employees Own It," posted by Michael…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Active Transportation Alliance Does an About-Face on the Parking Meter Deal

mail@chicagoreader.com (Mick Dumke) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:52:00 -0600

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Five months ago the city’s largest bicycling and transit advocacy group released a report ripping the Daley administration for entering into the parking meter privatization agreement. Yet Monday night the Active Transportation Alliance inducted Mayor Daley into its “hall of fame,” and the group will soon release a new version of the report—screened beforehand by city officials—that will recant many of the criticisms it made in June.

"We made some key mistakes in how we analyzed the agreement" the first time, says Rob Sadowsky, the group’s executive director. "But it gave us an opportunity to step back and have a dialogue with the city."

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October Surprise

mail@chicagoreader.com (Ben Joravsky) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Mayor Daley says he�s not raising property taxes. But he is. Here�s how. by Ben Joravsky The bad news arrived in the mail the other day: my property taxes went up. Again. Between this second installment of my 2008 tax bill and the one I received in March I'm on the hook for almost $7,000 in property taxes this year, about $850 more than I paid for 2007. Over the last five years the annual tax bill on my north side home has gone up 101 percent. Just so you know, my income hasn't kept pace.…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Savage Love: November 5, 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com (Dan Savage) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Waiting for someone to invent the Circuit from Logan's Run; wondering if it's smart to sleep around before marriage, and more by Dan Savage QI'm a 20-year-old girl, and I've been dating my boyfriend, who's 23, for two years. From the get-go he's known that I'm bi, and like most straight guys, he's happy to be with a girl who likes girls. The thing is, I'm too shy to go out and hit on a girl. Getting a man was the easy part; getting a girl who's willing to fuck around not only with me but also with my boyfriend is a daunting task.…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

A Round of Really!?! With Mayor Daley

mail@chicagoreader.com (Mick Dumke) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

We have some follow-up questions to the questions other outlets have been asking him about our stories. by Mick Dumke Since he proposed his budget for 2010, Mayor Daley has been busy with reporters' questions and increasingly louder calls for reform of the city's tax increment financing program. The TIF program is complicated—but no one is going to understand it any better by listening to Daley talk about it. In his comments after a tree-planting event on the southwest side this weekend and during a wide-ranging interview with Chicago Public Radio that aired November 1, the mayor played fast and…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Fall Books Special: The Night Fred Hampton Died

mail@chicagoreader.com (Jeffrey Haas) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

An excerpt of a new book on the Black Panther leader's death and its aftermath by People's Law Office cofounder Jeffrey Haas by Jeffrey Haas The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther JEFFREY HAAS (Lawrence Hill) Maybe we all have points at which our consciousness changes and we cannot return to our former path. For many political activists, that dividing line occurred in the late 1960s. We were fed up with a system that thrived on war, racism, and patriarchy. We were young people who at first hadn't understood why the United States was waging war…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Letters & Comments, November 5, 2009

mail@chicagoreader.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

In addition to being a great talent, Ryan was a courageous man of admirable integrity, a "fighting liberal" unbowed by HUAC or any threats to his career. Fire in the Hole Re: The Actor's Letter: A reminiscence from film noir icon Robert Ryan, newly unearthed by his daughter, sheds light on his Chicago childhood—and his family's connection to a tragic chapter in the city's history," by J.R. Jones, October 29 I was delighted and very surprised to see one of my all-time favorite movie actors, Robert Ryan, on the cover of this week's Reader. In addition to being a great talent, Ryan was a courageous man of…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Fall Books Special: The Gritty City

mail@chicagoreader.com (Reader staff) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

New books about old murders, queer underworlds, race wars, and more by Reader staff Features The Night Fred Hampton Died An excerpt of a new book on the Black Panther leader's death and its aftermath by People's Law Office cofounder Jeffrey Haas My Dad Did It Steve Hodel, the retired LA cop who pinned the Black Dahlia murder on his pop, believes he was also Chicago's Lipstick Killer. By Mike Lenehan A Queer Eye, an Open Mind A new anthology, and a new appreciation, for local gay writer Jon-Henri Damski By Michael Miner Chicago's…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]