From Dropout to Director: MIT Media Lab’s Joi Ito on Interest-Driven Learning
Joi Ito often hears the same question: How did a two-time college dropout become the director of MIT’s Media Lab, one of the coolest jobs in media? By jumping from […]
A Three-Part Suite with Philip Glass at the Chicago Humanities Festival
When Philip Glass sat down at the piano bench at the Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, he began playing “Metamorphosis II.” His repetitive yet meditative playing placed the audience under his […]
Filmmaker Michel Gondry Discusses His New Movie Microbe & Gasoline
It is all about finding something magical in life, says filmmaker Michel Gondry, when asked to sum up what his films share in common. Gondry, indeed referred to as a […]
An Interview with Jessa Crispin, the Bookslut
Jessa Crispin, world traveler and occasional Chicago resident recently shuttered her website Bookslut, a review and interview publication that’s been running hot since 2002 (full disclosure: I wrote for Bookslut […]
Interview with Elizabeth Gomez: Retired Derby Queen, Storyteller and Comedian
On the morning of April 24, a Gmail notification appeared on my phone: “One new message from Juanna Rumbel.” Juanna Rumbel is the derby name of writer, storyteller, and stand-up comedian, […]
An Interview with Adam Morgan, founder of Chicago Review of Books
I recently had the opportunity to talk to book critic, author, and fellow Gapers Block alumnus, Adam Morgan, about his newly launched site, Chicago Review of Books. As a lit-loving […]
Poetry fest unleashes the political imaginations of Chicago’s youth
A select group of high school-aged Chicago lyricists will take the stage at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy., Saturday for the finals of the 2016 Louder Than […]
Beyond the Book Club: Chicago Authored Spotlights Local Lit
He has a book club. She has a book club. Here a book club, there a book club, everywhere a book club! This is only a slight exaggeration, as Chicago […]
Poignant Performances and Safe Spaces at Sappho’s Salon
On a cold Tuesday night, 30 to 40 people crowd the back of Women and Children First in Andersonville. As people continue to arrive, extra chairs miraculously appear, pushed up against […]
Poet Phillip B. Williams Reads at Poetry Foundation, City Lit Books
Humboldt Park native Phillip B. Williams returns to Chicago this week for two readings in promotion of Thief in the Interior, his latest collection of poetry out this month by […]