Ever since I finished watching Netflix’s Making a Murderer last month, I’ve been devouring everything that offers more information, theories and facts on this horrible crime and the figures at the heart of it all: Steven Avery, his nephew Brendan Dassey and murder victim Teresa Halbach. Like Serial Podcast Season 1 and The Jinx (See our blogs…
Guest Blog: Karen Chan on Giving and Donating: Be Smart with Your Support
Karen Chan is a financial educator and speaker. She partners with Illinois libraries to provide programs that help patrons make wiser decisions with their money. Her workshops cover high-stakes decisions such as investing in a 401(k), deciding when to take Social Security benefits and choosing a financial adviser. Karen has been educating the public about…
#TBT: 50th Anniversary of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds
I was a Beach Boys fan from a young age, but it took me a while to appreciate Pet Sounds. Once I connected to the album, however, it became one of my all-time favorites. Although it was met with a lukewarm reception from American critics and audiences, it’s considered one of the most important, influential and…
STEM on Stage: Backstage Books for Kids
If performing is the only thing that comes to mind when you think of the theatre, think again! Aspects of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) are a huge part of what makes theatre come alive, from the engineering required to build the sets to the technology required to run the lighting and even to…
Decoding Shakespeare: A Guide for Teens
Even though studying Shakespeare is often a source of grumbling among teens, I have a secret for you - Shakespeare is hilarious! Shakespeare wrote for the common people, not for the rich folks we associate with his work today. His plays are full of dirty jokes and epic slams that will have you rolling on the…
That’s Not My Western
America loves a simple western. Maybe we'll cheer for a hero, or maybe we'll be gutsy revisionists and cheer for an antihero. Whatever the case, we get to have a grand old time watching strangers shoot each other. There are books out there, however, which take the American West and make it the mystery that called…
The Black National Anthem and the Multitalented Men Who Wrote It
James Weldon Johnson is often called the Renaissance Man of the Harlem Renaissance—with good reason. The author of the novel The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man, he was also a respected poet, newspaper columnist, diplomat and the first black leader of the NAACP. But he is perhaps best known for writing the lyrics to the stirring…
South Water Street Market: Center for Produce Trade
The fruit and vegetable trade in Chicago may not have been lauded in poems—Carl Sandburg called Chicago the "hog-butcher for the world" not the "pumpkin-supplier." But the produce trade of the South Water Street Market was, and still is, an important center of agricultural trade and commerce. According to a history of The South Water…
An Honest Tale Speeds Best: Shakespeare’s Influence in Recent Media
Shakespeare’s timeless stories are a frequent inspiration, even centuries after they were first written. (or borrowed or adapted, depending on who you ask!) For example, the slogan for Game of Thrones, “Winter is Coming”, is similar to the first line in Richard III, “Now is the winter of our discontent”. As we prepare for our discussion and…
Road to Character Reading List
David Brooks' latest book, The Road to Character, talks about virtue in the era of what he calls "The Big Me." There are resume virtues that are good for finding a job or advancing in the world, and there are eulogy virtues, like kindness, faithfulness, self-control, and so on. Brooks holds that without the eulogy virtues…
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