Chicago's Lathrop Homes: A Reverse Potemkin Village on the River

By Whet Moser

The prewar Lathrop Homes at Damen and Diversey have long been one of the better public-housing developments in the city, and even in a deteriorated state are a good foundation for public or mixed-income housing. Yet despite their well-maintained landscaping, they're almost completely vacant—among many other CHA units in housing limbo. Read more

The Chicago Education Crisis of the 1950s: Too Much Gosh-Darn Fun

By Whet Moser

America sweating its spoiled, stupid youth has a long, rich history in journalism and higher education—none richer than in the postwar years, when our nitwit teens were going to get us all nuked to kingdom come. Read more

The Chicago Pride Parade, 35 Years Ago

By Whet Moser

It took a long time for the Chicago Pride Parade to draw over 800,000 people—before it really took off in the 1980s, the early years of the parade were a modest affair, except for the floats. Read more

How Segregation Is Evolving (And Not Evolving) in the 21st Century

By Whet Moser

Dartmouth geographer Richard Wright talks about how segregation (and the Chicago School-driven understanding of it) is changing, and how it's not. In Chicago, the picture's very different, depending on whether you look at neighborhoods or schools. Read more

Adam Dunn's Historic Strikeout Rate and the Longest Home Run in Baseball History (Allegedly)

By Whet Moser

The slugger has his power stroke back and is hitting home runs at his usual clip, but is also on pace to easily surpass the major-league record for strikeouts. The only White Sox player ever to compare was a fellow power hitter, whose blast out of Comiskey is, rightfully or not, often mentioned as the longest ever hit. Read more

Mayor Emanuel, Republicans, and the Machine

By Whet Moser

Want bipartisanship? Democrats and Republicans fight it out at the national level, but here in Chicago, they've been good frenemies since the first days of Richard J. Daley's reign. Read more

Walter Paepcke, Founder of the Aspen Institute and Chicago Patron of Mid-Century Modernism

By Whet Moser

The second-generation Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke not only ran one of the city's largest companies, he introduced advertising's factory town to modernism and founded the country's most famous big-ideas festival. But he couldn't have done it without his wife, her diplomat brother, and a trio of University of Chicago intellectuals. Read more

Chicago Pot Decriminalization Ordinance Puff-Puff-Passes Over Tokin' Resistance

By Whet Moser

After months of discussion and weeks of debate, Chicago's move to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession sails through City Council with virtually no dissent. Read more

The Geography of Chicago Schools, Homicides, and Poverty

By Whet Moser

A look at how CPS school performance, socioeconomic data—compiled by CPS to help determine selective-school placement—and 2012 homicides are distributed across the city. Read more

Segregation in Chicago and Chicagoland, 1990-2000

By Whet Moser

The Chicago suburbs have grown considerably more diverse over the past couple decades, as maps of census tracts dramatically show. The city proper, however, continues to evolve much more slowly. Read more

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