In the city with the greatest number of theological schools in America, the neighborhood with the biggest fraction of these is Hyde Park. Besides the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, it is home to five of the eleven members of the Association of Chicago Theological Seminary (ACTS), a consortium of seminaries whose students can cross-register and share academic resources. Within ACTS, the Hyde Park Cluster of Theological Schools forms an even closer community, fostering collaboration and dialogue among its six member schools. Hyde Park may be dominated by the UofC in terms of educational institutions, but its theological seminaries deserve just as much renown.

In the coming years, though, the neighborhood’s high concentration of seminaries will drop, as two of them move a few blocks south to the community of Woodlawn. The Meadville Lombard Theological School plans to move to 62nd Street and Ellis Avenue in 2011, and the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) will relocate to 60th Street and Dorchester Avenue in 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

“We can’t turn down the music. Let the Beatles speak for us. Anything they have to say, we have to say.” These are the words of the founding fathers of Go-Go Town, a contemporary loft venue at 3117 S. Morgan Street. Read the rest of this entry »

As a musician-turned-painter, Robert “Baabe” Irving III is in famous, if not necessarily good, company. A foray into the visual arts seems to be the cool thing for past-their-prime rockers and strummers to do nowadays—Bob Dylan just had his first public exhibition of prints and sketches, Lou Reed’s second photography book was published not so long ago, and even Paul McCartney is contributing to the art market with a collection of lithographs. Talent among these men spans the spectrum, but Irving’s work falls nicely in the middle, as displayed by his show “Generations of Jazz Dreamscapes” at the eta Creative Arts Foundation. Read the rest of this entry »

Celebrities are consumer goods. Reading gossip in the press or on trashy blogs and fantasizing over new babies, new outfits, juicy breakups, and emotional breakdowns is a form of escapism. The allure is obvious: celebrities embody some of our culture’s dominant desires—for wealth, status, beauty, exposure, mobility, access, and glamorous lifestyles. Like all consumer goods, celebs are manufactured. An entire celebrity industry populated by advertisers, event planners, paparazzi swarms, and a slice of the media dutifully fabricates images of these people and of the worlds they inhabit, images framed to appease and reinforce these desires. But what happens to a person in the media spotlight? What happens to an inner life or a family life constantly bombarded by the glare of the cameras and the public? Read the rest of this entry »

The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) is like one of those half-forgotten, yet deeply comforting places found in dreams: walking along a Bronzeville city street, you suddenly find yourself at an old, worn Edwardian house that seems to tower over the surrounding buildings. Opening the door of the distinctive little castle, you come upon a large gallery of shiny oak parquet. With luck, there may be a crowd of locals gossiping inside the main gallery, and perhaps even a man at the piano playing “When the Saints Come Marching In,” with an impromptu chorus. In short, this gallery is quite warming, memorable, and intimate. Read the rest of this entry »

Save the kale flaxseed tofu stew for another night. Instead, head for Maxwell Street Depot and ask for extra onion garnish on that cheeseburger or polish sausage to fill your veggie quota. The organic-obsessed or calorie-conscious would be wise to venture to Depot only after numerous glasses of sulfite-free wine. They’ll have company: come twilight, after Bridgeport bars close and Sox games end, gaggles of tipsy friends gravitate like zombies towards Depot. And if your beef concerns “local” food, take comfort in Depot’s offering of polish sausages, fresh from Cicero Avenue. Read the rest of this entry »

No matter how cold it gets outside, the lecture room on Rosenwald’s fourth floor exudes warmth. Sofas lean against wood-paneled walls, and the light is always soft and welcoming. Outside, the hallway is lit by halogen, and the bright white walls always seem strange and austere. Before his reading last Thursday, poet August Kleinzahler paced the bright hallway, while his audience—mostly students and faculty in the University of Chicago English Department, who chattered about their current work, or lack thereof—waited for him to begin. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago’s first elevated train went into operation in 1892, and since then the system has been constantly shifting. Today, few remember how it looked at its peak, before the formation of the CTA in 1947 out of the privately owned Chicago Rapid Transit Company and Chicago Surface Lines. Since the consolidation, the CTA’s rail network has declined from a high of 227 stations to only 144. Today, however, the tide is turning the other way: although the CTA’s economic difficulties led to the recently announced fare hike, capital projects, like new facilities, stations, and tracks, are often eligible for millions of dollars in funds from the federal government. With Olympic hopes on the horizon, environmental concerns and volatile gas prices driving people out of their cars, and the city once again seeing positive population growth, now is a good time to take a look at a few ways our transit system might expand in the near future. Read the rest of this entry »