The 312 - January 2012

01/31/12

Chicago: Less Segregated, Still Really Segregated

Harvard sociologist Edward Glaeser, author of "The Triumph of the City," notes another civic triumph: declining segregation nationwide. But one city's triumph is another's failure.

Posted at 5:22 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/31/12

Chicago's Warm Winter Weather and Global Warming

Does global warming have anything to do with the fact that Chicago might break a January record for high temperatures today? Yes, probably, and probably not. It depends on what you're asking, and whom.

Posted at 1:32 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/30/12

Saul Alinsky, Satanist, and Mitt Romney's Radical Protest Past

Is the community organizer's name intoned by Newt Gingrich to exploit anti-Semitism? No, just anti-Satanism, something we can all get behind. It's just the latest smoke from the embers of the culture wars.

Posted at 5:12 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (4)

01/30/12

A Very Important Graph About Illinois's Budget Crisis

The state continues to labor under budget deficits, debt service, and unpaid bills extending far off into the future. And the drivers of those debts are increasingly difficult to rein in.

Posted at 1:13 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/27/12

Why Are There So Many Gang Members in Chicago?

Out of all major U.S. cities, only Los Angeles compares to Chicago in the number of gang members—and Chicago may well have more than the nation's second-largest city. It has considerably more than New York. What went wrong, and what can be done to address it?

Posted at 5:59 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/26/12

'Adbusters' Puts Out the Call for Occupy Chicago at the G8/NATO Summits, But How Many People Will Protest?

The magazine that fomented the Occupy movement in the first place expects 50,000 strong in Chicago this May. But neither G8 nor NATO is the sexy, controversial target that Wall Street and the WTO have been. Will the summits, and the protests, underwhelm?

Posted at 3:48 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/26/12

The Paths of Chicago Twitterers

A map of Chicago using geotagged tweets shows the corridors of travel from one point to another, based on who's tweeting from where. It mostly looks like you'd expect, with one mystery.

Posted at 11:25 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/25/12

Childhood Obesity and the New School Lunches

The USDA released new school-lunch guidelines today, which define how much tomato paste on a slice of pizza is equivalent to a vegetable, and doesn't restrict potatoes... though the National Potato Council is still concerned that their prize product is considered a "second-class" vegetable.

Posted at 5:26 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/25/12

Studs Terkel and Other Greats Reading Nelson Algren

A find from the Terkel archives: the radio legend reading "How the Devil Came Down Division Street" and "Chicago: City on the Make" from a tribute to his friend.

Posted at 12:58 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/25/12

Barack Obama, Bipartisanship, and the State of the Union as Campaign Speech

After a long two years of trying to court the center with frustrated attempts at centrist bipartisanship, the White House tries a stump speech for the SOTU. The trick to the center? It's not a "center."

Posted at 12:35 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/25/12

Science Confirms What We Know About the CTA and Twitter

Twitter users: they're just like us! And Chicago twitter users react to public trans just like everyone everywhere does, complaining when something goes wrong and tolerating the rest.

Posted at 9:36 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/24/12

This Week in Chicago Architecture

Dirk Lohan on his grandfather's houses; Thomas Heatherwick at IIT; the plans for Navy Pier go on display; and more.

Posted at 5:32 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/24/12

Saul Alinsky Goes Viral Again

Newt Gingrich's constant flogging of the Alinsky name has brought the legendary organizer back into the zeitgeist again. But it's a clumsy attempt to tar Obama, not least because the Tea Party has found much more interesting uses of Alinsky's legacy.

Posted at 3:28 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/24/12

Today in Chicago Numbers

Chicago's high hit-and-run rate, considerably higher than the national average; how the city's most expensive restaurants rank; how our expensive El repairs rank; and more.

Posted at 12:03 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/23/12

A Terrible Night for Kenny Williams's Son Gets More Disturbing

Did concussions play a role in Kyle Williams's rough night in the NFC championship game? He's had a history of them, and his opponents knew the young wide receiver was vulnerable.

Posted at 6:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/23/12

NATO/G8: How a Crowd Becomes a Riot and How to Prevent It

The shadow of 1968 continues to loom over Chicago, particularly with the twin summits coming later this year. Had the city been more flexible with protesters then, it might not have turned into a fiasco.

Posted at 3:36 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/20/12

RIP Etta James, Genius of Chicago Crossover Soul

The Los Angeles native marked a major turn for Chicago's Chess Records, bringing the city's blues-jazz-pop crossover sound to the biggest audience it had ever reached.

Posted at 4:31 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/20/12

Today in Chicago Maps

The new ward map versus the old; tracking where the snow plows are now... and where they've been; how maps saved a cartographer's life; a lament for LineDrive; and more.

Posted at 2:25 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/20/12

Jacques Straub's Cocktails of Old Chicago

The Calumet Club Cocktail, Burnt Brandy with Peach, the Reviver Flip, and more, from the son of a Swiss distiller and wine steward of the Blackstone Hotel.

Posted at 1:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/20/12

Good Reads on Chicago Politics

New TIFs proposed, including a venture-capital twist on the old fund; the making of an alderman; the head of The Woodlawn Organization; and much more.

Posted at 10:20 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/19/12

The New Chicago Ward Map Passes

Chicago gets sliced and diced again, especially the Second Ward, where Alderman Fioretti is a "remamp victim of Euclidean geometry as much as politics."

Posted at 6:06 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/19/12

The Chicago G8/NATO Summits and the 'Neglected Right of Assembly'

In advance of this spring's summits, the city moves to close holes in its regulation of public protest. The process hasn't always been so fine-tuned, one legal scholar argues: the intensive regulation of assembly arose in the second half of the nation's history.

Posted at 4:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/18/12

Mitt Romney's 'Authenticity' 'Problem'

Is Mitt Romney "authentic"? Does it hurt him? Does it even matter? Perhaps the authenticity problem lies not with Mitt, but with his culture, and ours.

Posted at 6:43 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/18/12

401(k) Borrowing and a Friday the 13th Fed Talk

An upcoming report from Aon Hewitt identifies recent growth in Americans borrowing from their own retirement accounts, and the Chicago Fed president cools talk of a strengthening economy.

Posted at 3:53 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/17/12

Chicago Slums and the Long Shadow of Lead Paint

The U.S. homicide rate hit a 50-year low last year and violent crime hit a 40-year low in 2010, despite the terrible economy. Lead abatement may offer a substantial explanation—and a challenge to utilitarian theories of crime.

Posted at 6:56 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/17/12

Chicago's Hillbilly Problem During the Great Migration

In the postwar years, the mass migration of Southerners to Chicago caused substantial cultural tensions in the city—and of great official concern were the Appalachians who settled in Uptown and their "primitive jungle tactics."

Posted at 2:54 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/16/12

Martin Luther King in Chicago: Somebody Nobody Sent

The man who is recognized every year with a national holiday is a secular saint, but it wasn't always so. In Chicago, King battled not only a wily mayor but an unfriendly press and decades of history... but not a history that was well known.

Posted at 7:42 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/16/12

Sara Levine on 'Treasure Island!!!'

The author and School of the Art Institute of Chicago professor discusses her debut novel, about a pet-rental-shop employee whose life is changed by Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure classic.

Posted at 3:31 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/16/12

Long Reads for a Gray Monday

If you happen to be off today and not leaving the house, here are some good reads on funeral directors, Michael Jordan's high school coach, and Shel Silverstein's personal archive.

Posted at 1:25 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/13/12

Annals of Rush Street: The Viagra Triangle Used to Be a Lot Different

After Cyrus McCormick and other prominent Chicagoans moved out, Rush Street became Deadfall Lane. Now the home of the Viagra Triangle is a blend of the old and the new.

Posted at 4:33 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/13/12

Mitt Romney and the Public Problem of Private Equity

Increasingly, "private equity" means public money buying public infrastructure—and you'll probably remember a good example literally from the streets of Chicago. In some ways, the vulture capitalists are ourselves.

Posted at 1:38 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/12/12

Mitt Romney, Private Equity, and the Politics of Debt

A look at private equity versus job creation and destruction; the role of debt in Mitt's career and the 2012 election; and how I could have saved him a bundle by telling him about the uncanny valley.

Posted at 4:50 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/12/12

Political Shorts: Michelle Obama and Campaign Financing

Michelle Obama makes news in the biggest dog-bites-man story of the new year, and her husband returns home for a whirlwind fundraising trip.

Posted at 9:30 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/11/12

Librarians and Other Chicago Government Departmental Salaries

As aldermen Ed Burke and Brendan Reilly propose that CPL employees forego a scheduled raise to keep the libraries open six days a week, here's a look at public library salaries in context.

Posted at 2:34 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (6)

01/11/12

This Week in Building Demolition and Other Urban Development

The Brand Brewing building, the "To Be Demolished" photo project, a Charles M. Palmer building on South Michigan, and more news from the streets.

Posted at 12:22 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/10/12

Some Advice to Mayor Emanuel From a Cab Driver

The mayor, and the public, want safer streets. Cab drivers want higher fares. Can we come to a solution by the time the NATO and G8 summits come to Chicago?

Posted at 4:12 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/10/12

Unemployment, Wage Stagnation, and the Balance-Sheet Recession

Research by a University of Chicago economist makes a connection between household debt and unemployment, an important piece in the puzzle of the Great Recession.

Posted at 1:11 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/10/12

The 1934 World's Fair in Technicolor

The Columbian Exposition's slept-on sequel disappeared as quickly as it arrived (except for the tribute to fascism), depriving the city of a more colorful alternate architectural history.

Posted at 10:28 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/09/12

Bill Daley's Rough Term as White House Chief of Staff Is Over

A year after taking the job—and a couple months after being semi-demoted from the day-to-day tasks of the job—the youngest Daley brother steps down from Rahm Emanuel's old job.

Posted at 3:50 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/09/12

The Five Most Important* Chicagoans You've Never Heard Of**

From Chicago's Mr. Tornado to the muse of cognitive dissonance: the five most interesting (to me) people I wrote about in 2011.

Posted at 2:13 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/06/12

In Praise of the Junco

The little slate-colored birds are one of the great pleasures of snowy winter days by the window—and as game theorists, fine examples of Pareto-optimal efficiency.

Posted at 6:47 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/06/12

Politics: Actually, Just a Game of Telephone

"White" vs. "what" vs. "wet" and "black" vs. "blargh": linguistic traps for candidates to avoid. But sometimes a letter will accuse you of bias against Canadians, and only Woodward and Bernstein can save you there.

Posted at 4:47 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/06/12

Why Chicago's Winter Is So Warm Right Now (Probably)

One possible explanation for why it's in the mid-50s in Chicago today: space weather! Scientists are looking into the possibility that sunny weather on the sun creates warm winters in these parts.

Posted at 3:52 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/06/12

26 Hours in Milwaukee

From Buckley's Restaurant and Bar, to the Soup House, to Gauguin, to Cleopatra: a go-to getaway in the most underrated city in the United States.

Posted at 3:28 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/05/12

A Look at Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's "Tracing Mississippi"

A Chickasaw Nation composer (and Northwestern graduate) creates a new-music concerto about the Trail of Tears and his family's ancestral lands.

Posted at 6:12 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/05/12

Red Grooms, the Perfect Artist for the Entertaining New Miami Marlins

The Marlins got some big Chicago names this offseason: Ozzie Guillen, Carlos Zambrano, and Mark Buehrle. But the loudest and splashiest is a legendary Art Institute dropout.

Posted at 2:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/05/12

Carlos Zambrano for Chris Volstad: What's the Deal?

The Cubs do what they have to do in getting rid of Carlos Zambrano, though it comes at a high cost. In exchange, they get a hard-luck young starter—perhaps the unluckiest in all of baseball.

Posted at 12:18 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/04/12

Chicago's Parking Meter Debacle: Back in the News

Los Angeles is about to find out there's no such thing as free parking, as it embarks on a radical, rate-raising meter scheme. But unlike Chicago, they're keeping their meters.

Posted at 4:17 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/04/12

The Iowa Caucuses: Cold, Flat, and Crowded

Winners, losers, and drawers from last night's caucuses, which have already claimed one candidate while leaving far more questions than answers.

Posted at 12:57 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/03/12

Catholic Charities vs. Single-Sex Couples In the Age of Privatization

The split between the State of Illinois and Catholic Charities over same-sex adoption is indicative of a larger conflict between church and state in the era of government privatization, and part of one of the most interesting stories of 2011.

Posted at 5:37 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

	01/31/12 Chicago: Less Segregated, Still Really Segregated Harvard sociologist Edward Glaeser, author of "The Triumph of the City," notes another civic triumph: declining segregation nationwide. But one city's triumph is another's failure. Posted at 5:22 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/31/12 Chicago's Warm Winter Weather and Global Warming Does global warming have anything to do with the fact that Chicago might break a January record for high temperatures today? Yes, probably, and probably not. It depends on what you're asking, and whom. Posted at 1:32 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/30/12 Saul Alinsky, Satanist, and Mitt Romney's Radical Protest Past Is the community organizer's name intoned by Newt Gingrich to exploit anti-Semitism? No, just anti-Satanism, something we can all get behind. It's just the latest smoke from the embers of the culture wars. Posted at 5:12 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (4)
	01/30/12 A Very Important Graph About Illinois's Budget Crisis The state continues to labor under budget deficits, debt service, and unpaid bills extending far off into the future. And the drivers of those debts are increasingly difficult to rein in. Posted at 1:13 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/27/12 Why Are There So Many Gang Members in Chicago? Out of all major U.S. cities, only Los Angeles compares to Chicago in the number of gang members—and Chicago may well have more than the nation's second-largest city. It has considerably more than New York. What went wrong, and what can be done to address it? Posted at 5:59 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/26/12 'Adbusters' Puts Out the Call for Occupy Chicago at the G8/NATO Summits, But How Many People Will Protest? The magazine that fomented the Occupy movement in the first place expects 50,000 strong in Chicago this May. But neither G8 nor NATO is the sexy, controversial target that Wall Street and the WTO have been. Will the summits, and the protests, underwhelm? Posted at 3:48 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	01/26/12 The Paths of Chicago Twitterers A map of Chicago using geotagged tweets shows the corridors of travel from one point to another, based on who's tweeting from where. It mostly looks like you'd expect, with one mystery. Posted at 11:25 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/25/12 Childhood Obesity and the New School Lunches The USDA released new school-lunch guidelines today, which define how much tomato paste on a slice of pizza is equivalent to a vegetable, and doesn't restrict potatoes... though the National Potato Council is still concerned that their prize product is considered a "second-class" vegetable. Posted at 5:26 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/25/12 Studs Terkel and Other Greats Reading Nelson Algren A find from the Terkel archives: the radio legend reading "How the Devil Came Down Division Street" and "Chicago: City on the Make" from a tribute to his friend. Posted at 12:58 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/25/12 Barack Obama, Bipartisanship, and the State of the Union as Campaign Speech After a long two years of trying to court the center with frustrated attempts at centrist bipartisanship, the White House tries a stump speech for the SOTU. The trick to the center? It's not a "center." Posted at 12:35 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/25/12 Science Confirms What We Know About the CTA and Twitter Twitter users: they're just like us! And Chicago twitter users react to public trans just like everyone everywhere does, complaining when something goes wrong and tolerating the rest. Posted at 9:36 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/24/12 This Week in Chicago Architecture Dirk Lohan on his grandfather's houses; Thomas Heatherwick at IIT; the plans for Navy Pier go on display; and more. Posted at 5:32 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/24/12 Saul Alinsky Goes Viral Again Newt Gingrich's constant flogging of the Alinsky name has brought the legendary organizer back into the zeitgeist again. But it's a clumsy attempt to tar Obama, not least because the Tea Party has found much more interesting uses of Alinsky's legacy. Posted at 3:28 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/24/12 Today in Chicago Numbers Chicago's high hit-and-run rate, considerably higher than the national average; how the city's most expensive restaurants rank; how our expensive El repairs rank; and more. Posted at 12:03 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/23/12 A Terrible Night for Kenny Williams's Son Gets More Disturbing Did concussions play a role in Kyle Williams's rough night in the NFC championship game? He's had a history of them, and his opponents knew the young wide receiver was vulnerable. Posted at 6:40 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/23/12 NATO/G8: How a Crowd Becomes a Riot and How to Prevent It The shadow of 1968 continues to loom over Chicago, particularly with the twin summits coming later this year. Had the city been more flexible with protesters then, it might not have turned into a fiasco. Posted at 3:36 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/20/12 RIP Etta James, Genius of Chicago Crossover Soul The Los Angeles native marked a major turn for Chicago's Chess Records, bringing the city's blues-jazz-pop crossover sound to the biggest audience it had ever reached. Posted at 4:31 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/20/12 Today in Chicago Maps The new ward map versus the old; tracking where the snow plows are now... and where they've been; how maps saved a cartographer's life; a lament for LineDrive; and more. Posted at 2:25 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/20/12 Jacques Straub's Cocktails of Old Chicago The Calumet Club Cocktail, Burnt Brandy with Peach, the Reviver Flip, and more, from the son of a Swiss distiller and wine steward of the Blackstone Hotel. Posted at 1:40 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/20/12 Good Reads on Chicago Politics New TIFs proposed, including a venture-capital twist on the old fund; the making of an alderman; the head of The Woodlawn Organization; and much more. Posted at 10:20 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/19/12 The New Chicago Ward Map Passes Chicago gets sliced and diced again, especially the Second Ward, where Alderman Fioretti is a "remamp victim of Euclidean geometry as much as politics." Posted at 6:06 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/19/12 The Chicago G8/NATO Summits and the 'Neglected Right of Assembly' In advance of this spring's summits, the city moves to close holes in its regulation of public protest. The process hasn't always been so fine-tuned, one legal scholar argues: the intensive regulation of assembly arose in the second half of the nation's history. Posted at 4:40 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/18/12 Mitt Romney's 'Authenticity' 'Problem' Is Mitt Romney "authentic"? Does it hurt him? Does it even matter? Perhaps the authenticity problem lies not with Mitt, but with his culture, and ours. Posted at 6:43 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/18/12 401(k) Borrowing and a Friday the 13th Fed Talk An upcoming report from Aon Hewitt identifies recent growth in Americans borrowing from their own retirement accounts, and the Chicago Fed president cools talk of a strengthening economy. Posted at 3:53 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/17/12 Chicago Slums and the Long Shadow of Lead Paint The U.S. homicide rate hit a 50-year low last year and violent crime hit a 40-year low in 2010, despite the terrible economy. Lead abatement may offer a substantial explanation—and a challenge to utilitarian theories of crime. Posted at 6:56 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/17/12 Chicago's Hillbilly Problem During the Great Migration In the postwar years, the mass migration of Southerners to Chicago caused substantial cultural tensions in the city—and of great official concern were the Appalachians who settled in Uptown and their "primitive jungle tactics." Posted at 2:54 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/16/12 Martin Luther King in Chicago: Somebody Nobody Sent The man who is recognized every year with a national holiday is a secular saint, but it wasn't always so. In Chicago, King battled not only a wily mayor but an unfriendly press and decades of history... but not a history that was well known. Posted at 7:42 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/16/12 Sara Levine on 'Treasure Island!!!' The author and School of the Art Institute of Chicago professor discusses her debut novel, about a pet-rental-shop employee whose life is changed by Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure classic. Posted at 3:31 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	01/16/12 Long Reads for a Gray Monday If you happen to be off today and not leaving the house, here are some good reads on funeral directors, Michael Jordan's high school coach, and Shel Silverstein's personal archive. Posted at 1:25 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/13/12 Annals of Rush Street: The Viagra Triangle Used to Be a Lot Different After Cyrus McCormick and other prominent Chicagoans moved out, Rush Street became Deadfall Lane. Now the home of the Viagra Triangle is a blend of the old and the new. Posted at 4:33 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/13/12 Mitt Romney and the Public Problem of Private Equity Increasingly, "private equity" means public money buying public infrastructure—and you'll probably remember a good example literally from the streets of Chicago. In some ways, the vulture capitalists are ourselves. Posted at 1:38 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/12/12 Mitt Romney, Private Equity, and the Politics of Debt A look at private equity versus job creation and destruction; the role of debt in Mitt's career and the 2012 election; and how I could have saved him a bundle by telling him about the uncanny valley. Posted at 4:50 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/12/12 Political Shorts: Michelle Obama and Campaign Financing Michelle Obama makes news in the biggest dog-bites-man story of the new year, and her husband returns home for a whirlwind fundraising trip. Posted at 9:30 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/11/12 Librarians and Other Chicago Government Departmental Salaries As aldermen Ed Burke and Brendan Reilly propose that CPL employees forego a scheduled raise to keep the libraries open six days a week, here's a look at public library salaries in context. Posted at 2:34 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (6)
	01/11/12 This Week in Building Demolition and Other Urban Development The Brand Brewing building, the "To Be Demolished" photo project, a Charles M. Palmer building on South Michigan, and more news from the streets. Posted at 12:22 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/10/12 Some Advice to Mayor Emanuel From a Cab Driver The mayor, and the public, want safer streets. Cab drivers want higher fares. Can we come to a solution by the time the NATO and G8 summits come to Chicago? Posted at 4:12 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/10/12 Unemployment, Wage Stagnation, and the Balance-Sheet Recession Research by a University of Chicago economist makes a connection between household debt and unemployment, an important piece in the puzzle of the Great Recession. Posted at 1:11 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/10/12 The 1934 World's Fair in Technicolor The Columbian Exposition's slept-on sequel disappeared as quickly as it arrived (except for the tribute to fascism), depriving the city of a more colorful alternate architectural history. Posted at 10:28 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/09/12 Bill Daley's Rough Term as White House Chief of Staff Is Over A year after taking the job—and a couple months after being semi-demoted from the day-to-day tasks of the job—the youngest Daley brother steps down from Rahm Emanuel's old job. Posted at 3:50 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/09/12 The Five Most Important* Chicagoans You've Never Heard Of** From Chicago's Mr. Tornado to the muse of cognitive dissonance: the five most interesting (to me) people I wrote about in 2011. Posted at 2:13 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/06/12 In Praise of the Junco The little slate-colored birds are one of the great pleasures of snowy winter days by the window—and as game theorists, fine examples of Pareto-optimal efficiency. Posted at 6:47 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/06/12 Politics: Actually, Just a Game of Telephone "White" vs. "what" vs. "wet" and "black" vs. "blargh": linguistic traps for candidates to avoid. But sometimes a letter will accuse you of bias against Canadians, and only Woodward and Bernstein can save you there. Posted at 4:47 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/06/12 Why Chicago's Winter Is So Warm Right Now (Probably) One possible explanation for why it's in the mid-50s in Chicago today: space weather! Scientists are looking into the possibility that sunny weather on the sun creates warm winters in these parts. Posted at 3:52 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	01/06/12 26 Hours in Milwaukee From Buckley's Restaurant and Bar, to the Soup House, to Gauguin, to Cleopatra: a go-to getaway in the most underrated city in the United States. Posted at 3:28 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/05/12 A Look at Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's "Tracing Mississippi" A Chickasaw Nation composer (and Northwestern graduate) creates a new-music concerto about the Trail of Tears and his family's ancestral lands. Posted at 6:12 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	01/05/12 Red Grooms, the Perfect Artist for the Entertaining New Miami Marlins The Marlins got some big Chicago names this offseason: Ozzie Guillen, Carlos Zambrano, and Mark Buehrle. But the loudest and splashiest is a legendary Art Institute dropout. Posted at 2:40 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/05/12 Carlos Zambrano for Chris Volstad: What's the Deal? The Cubs do what they have to do in getting rid of Carlos Zambrano, though it comes at a high cost. In exchange, they get a hard-luck young starter—perhaps the unluckiest in all of baseball. Posted at 12:18 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/04/12 Chicago's Parking Meter Debacle: Back in the News Los Angeles is about to find out there's no such thing as free parking, as it embarks on a radical, rate-raising meter scheme. But unlike Chicago, they're keeping their meters. Posted at 4:17 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/04/12 The Iowa Caucuses: Cold, Flat, and Crowded Winners, losers, and drawers from last night's caucuses, which have already claimed one candidate while leaving far more questions than answers. Posted at 12:57 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	01/03/12 Catholic Charities vs. Single-Sex Couples In the Age of Privatization The split between the State of Illinois and Catholic Charities over same-sex adoption is indicative of a larger conflict between church and state in the era of government privatization, and part of one of the most interesting stories of 2011. Posted at 5:37 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)

January 2012

01/31/12

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What the editorial staff at Chicago magazine is reading, watching, clicking on, listening to, talking about, and doing—shared here and open for discussion.

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