All I knew of my boyfriend’s Mennonite relatives was that they liked baking bland bread and sending it to him. That is, before I spent Thanksgiving with them at their home in the suburbs of a town in Iowa. 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 »

It’s the third Thursday of the month at Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy facility in the southwest Chicago suburbs, and that means it’s open mic night. By the time the first band goes on at 5:30, the Exchange Club on the ground floor of Building 617 is filled with the hubbub of conversation, and the parking lot outside is packed. Employees crowd the bar, socialize on couches, and play pool as the Sloppy Joes start off the night with “Roadhouse Blues.” Two out of three of the band members could probably pass for rock stars, particularly long-haired guitarist Mark Clark. As a matter of fact, Clark moonlights in an ’80s heavy metal cover band called Lockdown alongside drummer Eric Zoellner. Both are technicians at Argonne; by day Clark works with radioactive materials, while Zoellner operates an X-ray beam line at the Advanced Photon Source. 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 »

Between the struggling economy, the threat of global warming, and the growing desire to know exactly what goes into our food, it’s a good time to get back to basics. Last spring, Hyde Park resident Pam Birnie began turning her backyard into a highly productive vegetable garden. With no real experience at gardening, Birnie and her husband Rori cut out large swaths of the lawn, filling in topsoil mounds to plant a number of different vegetables. They grew everything from asparagus to zucchini, including eggplants, lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall they reaped the benefits with meals of heirloom tomatoes and a variety of peppers. “There is nothing as tasty as vegetables still warm from the sun,” Birnie says.

After reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, and Steven L. Hopp, Birnie was astounded by the dirty secrets of our food production and transportation. With some vegetables hailing from as far away as New Zealand and Chile, the amount of energy used to transport most foods from farm to market is shocking. Read the rest of this entry »

The game of squash generally evokes images of the cucumber-sandwich-eating East Coast elite. But on any given weekday afternoon, a group of fifty inner-city public school children gather to swing their racquets on the courts of the University of Chicago’s Henry Crown Field House. Read the rest of this entry »

“We’re having a sit-in, yo!”

The statement wasn’t exactly necessary. Judging by the excess of signs with slogans like “Worker Power” and “We Demand a Fair Contract,” it was immediately obvious that some sort of protest was taking place. But in lieu of angry fist-raising, the fifteen or so students gathered on the floor of the University of Chicago’s Bartlett Hall lobby lounged around, singing songs of solidarity to the tune of “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” and playing board games. In their defense, it wasn’t any old board game: it was “Power Grid,” a German game with the objective of powering the most U.S. power plants. Even in recreation, these students aim to help society. Read the rest of this entry »

On November 4, a small group of Hyde Parkers voted the 5th Ward’s 39th precinct dry, effectively canceling plans to replace the decrepit Doctors Hospital with Hyde Park’s first real hotel. Fortunately, a host of alternative lodging options exist around the neighborhood. Why stay at the boring old Ramada at 49th and Lake Shore when you can relax in the comfort of someone else’s home, in an old-fashioned bed & breakfast? Read the rest of this entry »