“Chris” is 37 years old; he’s a high school English teacher, a husband, and a father. And last month, he added one more accomplishment to this already rather impressive list: zine maker. Granted, on first glimpse it might not seem like an achievement worth meriting—after all, the idea that “anyone can make a zine” is widespread, and is in fact often touted by zine makers and their fans as one of its most appealing features. But if anyone can make a zine, it nevertheless takes dedication and effort to meticulously craft the self-made booklets and shop them around to distribution centers—especially when you live in the southern pseudo-suburbs of Beverly, far from the zine haven of Quimby’s and other North Side hipster haunts, as in Chris’s case. And even that says nothing of the intellectual and emotional hand-wringing that often goes into creating such zines in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicagoland commuters know what it means to be “on the go.” With help from a little melody and a pair of headphones, the traditional stopping and starting of the daily commute on the CTA becomes a mobile stage onto which passengers saunter on and off to the beat, a sort of mechanical ballet. Of course, the transit system was never intended to appeal to the performance enthusiast, but it was enough to inspire one of Chicago Cable Access television’s “Chic-A-Go-Go”’s many dances, “The El Train,” in which “on the go” becomes “on the go-go” with a little help from some guest performers, a stage, and, most importantly, a group of youthful backup dancers. Read the rest of this entry »