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The Chicago Reader

Feature Slideshow (Home)

Zoom over to these online classes

Zoom over to these online classes

So you can stop hearing “Yeah, no, you’re still on mute” once and for all

By Salem Collo-Julin

Top Stories (Home)

Arts & Culture

Video
When online drama is good for kids

Virtual classes and activities keep the theater bug alive for young artists.

By Kerry Reid
Music

Video
The Ashby Ostermann Alliance have a second album after 37 years

One of the hardest-gigging groups in the city’s early-80s jazz-fusion scene reunited in 2016.

By Steve Krakow
Columns & Opinion

Breathing while Black

Seeking safety isn’t so easy if you’re battling COVID-19 while Black.

By Derrick Clifton

Theatre Y hosts a virtual birthday celebration

By Ariel Parrella-Aureli | 04.00 PM
The Reader's stay-at-home chronicles: day 32

By Reader staff | 03.50 PM
Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show

By Ben Joravsky | 01.00 PM
41
Polyamory during a pandemic

By S. Nicole Lane | 12.30 PM
Benny, the Bulls fan

By Ben Joravsky | 11.00 AM

This Issue

‘The city is dead, are we next?’
What staying at home means for people who stay on the streets.
By Lloyd DeGrane

Homeless during a pandemic
Chicagoans without shelter face the tough choice between the streets and shared air.
By Maya Dukmasova

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Best of Chicago

Best of Chicago 2019

Videos

Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show

[Livestream] Mobilize: ‘Power of our Pride’ discussion

[Livestream] Mobilize: ‘Power of our Pride’ discussion

Sheila Rashid makes possibilities you can wear

Sheila Rashid makes possibilities you can wear

More Videos »

From the Archive

Music

Listen Locally

The best Chicago releases--new and archival--of 2005

By Bob Mehr | 12.22.05
Music

Heroin Hell

After five years lost in the wilds of addiction, Chamber Strings front man Kevin Junior tries to pick up where he left off.

By Bob Mehr | 01.18.07

More From the Archive »

Search the Archive

Popular Stories

News

A viral budget grab

Does the mayor’s COVID-19 executive order put her on light footing?

By Dave Glowacz | 04.20.20
Identity & Culture

Breathing while Black

Seeking safety isn’t so easy if you’re battling COVID-19 while Black.

By Derrick Clifton | 04.21.20
Music Feature

Video
The saga of Punkin’ Donuts 18

How a doughnut-shop parking lot became a confluence of Chicago youth subcultures—and what killed it off

By Leor Galil | 04.08.20
Bleader

Former Chicago gossip columnist Liz Crokin is now a star among far-right conspiracy theorists 13

The Chicago-area native dished tabloid-style gossip here for almost a decade. Now she's a leader in a fringe right-wing online community spreading a bizarre political conspiracy theory.

By Ryan Smith | 04.06.18
Stay at Home

The Reader's stay-at-home chronicles: day 31

What we're reading, watching, listening to, etc., to pass the time.

By Reader staff | 04.20.20

Bleader

Potheads rejoice: Illinois lawmakers move to legalize recreational weed 199

The proposed law would make it legal for adults to possess, purchase, and grow weed and would regulate and tax the drug statewide.

By Lee V. Gaines | 03.22.17
Politics

The Real Estate King of the Chicago City Council 51

Brand-new 26th Ward alderman Roberto Maldonado owns more properties than any other council rep—including ten in his own ward. That's a lot of potential conflicts of interest.

By Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke | 08.19.09
Music Feature

Video
Did John Prine die for Donald Trump’s sins? 49

The cruelty, ignorance, and incompetence of the federal pandemic response have cost the life of a beloved singer-songwriter who stood against all those things.

By Mark Guarino | 04.08.20
The Ben Joravsky Show

Video
Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show 41

The Ben Joravsky Show is streamed Tuesdays through Fridays between 1 and 3 PM and airs live on the Chicago Reader and Sun-Times websites. It is also released as a podcast each afternoon after the live show.

By Ben Joravsky | 04.21.20
Feature

The grass gap 39

People all over Chicago smoke pot—but almost everyone busted for it is black

By Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky | 07.07.11