Features

City Living
by Judith Neisser and Deborah Newmark
A weekend house in the wild with a sense of history, humor, and Dante’s Inferno. Plus, naturalism comes home in new fall accessories based on sticks and stones and leaf motifs. And the design revolution that’s making modern bathroom more than just a room with a loo

Sweet Home, Chicago
by Gretchen Reynolds
How much is your home worth? A special report on the Chicago residential real estate market: why prices rose during the eighties; why they slumped last year; where they’re heading now. Includes a pull-out map of housing prices and a run-down on hot towns and neighborhoods

Sam Skinner Prepares for Takeoff
by Ann Grimes
A few years ago, not even Dan Rather knew who he was; today, he’s one of Bush’s top troubleshooters. The Secretary of Transportation’s long ride

Act Two
by Anthony Adler
As a youthful wonder, Steppenwolf electrified U.S. theatre. Now in the throes of successful middle age, the company faces a vastly different future.

Field of Dreams
by Bob Daily
Playing games is serious business for Steve Zucker, the sports agent who turned Jim McMahon into the punky-quarterback marketing phenomenon.

Stardust Memories

by Alice Q. Hargrave and Joanne Trestrail
Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle, revisited: still glamorous after all these years

Departments

Letters

Frontlines
Stock news, debuts, and comedy in twos; Scoops du Jour, by Carla Kelson
Art Works
by Henry Hanson
Art to read by, conspiracies, antiques, and Love

Prime Time
Hot dates around town this month

Metro
by Mark Jannot
The Low-Income Housing Trust Fund is Mayor Daley’s big contribution to affordable housing. So why has funding dried up?

Chicago Woman
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
Total Impact: mastering the man-slamming art of self-defense

Movies
by Penelope Mesic
Film-festival fever: around the world in 14 days

Books
by Michael Anania
The public Carl Sandburg and his most uniquely American invention

Theatre
by Anthony Adler
The myopic zealotry of Mother Wove the Morning

Real Estate

by Dennis Rodkin
Buying into historic, affordable Pullman. Plus, recent residential sales

Dining
by Dennis Ray Wheaton
Clever settings and stylish twists put a new spin on surf and turf. Budget Beat, by David Novick

Back Talk
by Henry Hanson
Alan Dixon, Dolly Parton, Ann Gerber, Debra and Steve McMichael, Mies van der Rohe