Features

10 Keys for Creating Top High Schools
by Dennis Rodkin
There’s no easy recipe for educational success, but our panel of experts has come up with a list sure to help any school cook up the best possible instructional plan.

Charting a School’s Course
by Dennis Rodkin with Felicia Morton
An 11-page statistical snapshot – from class size to teacher salaries to test scores – revealing which Chicago-area high schools are making the grade

The Stars of Madison County
by Bob Daily
Winterset, Iowa, hasn’t been the same since that best-selling novel of love, lust, and longing came out. And when Clint and Meryl showed up to shoot the movie, more pilgrims poured in to cross that legendary bridge.

The Pothole Mayor
by Greg Hinz
His take-charge old man was known as the Boss; Richard M. Daley, a down-to-earth detail man, is affectionately called “the little guy.” Does he have what it takes to get the city ready for the next century? Does he want to be another mayor for life?

Anybody’s Guest
by Ted Allen
Jerry Berliant rarely misses a high-profile shindig – never mind that he hasn’t been invited. He has partied with Bob Hope, O.J. and Nicole, Donald and Ivana. There’s hardly a press agent, socialite, or politician in Chicago who doesn’t know him. Then again, there’s not one who does.

Departments

Letters

Frontlines
Grading the columnists; rescuing lost murals; playing the music field; and more

The Goods
by Leah Eskin
Map out some domestic adventures – the decorative art of cartography.

Metro
by Greg Hinz
Gentrification heads west; bar owners PAC some punch

Modern Times
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
Lawyer Arnold B. Kanter gets a laugh out of his own profession.

Stage & Screen
by Penelope Mesic
Who knows what evil lurks behind the well-manicured surfaces of suburbia?

Lunch with Henry
by Henry Hanson
Paleontologist Paul Sereno pieces together the big picture with old dinosaur bones.

Recollections
by Lois Weisberg

The city’s head of cultural affairs recalls the pleasures of growing up Jewish on the West Side.

Prime Time

Hot dates around town this month

Dining
by Dennis Ray Wheaton
Big, bigger, and massive are the only choices at two Rush Street hot spots: reservations and huge appetites recommended.

Budget Beat
by Anne Spiselman
Zodiac signs and ginkgo trees lead the way to adventurous meals in Chinatown Square.

Back Talk
by Henry Hanson
John Guare, Red Grooms, Lynn Turner, King Gustav, Lisa Gengler, Jim Wood