The sun won’t rise for a few more hours, but Michael Leider Sr. knows that if he’s not up by 4 AM, he’s already late. He puts his crops into the wagon and starts his day. “He was the second son,” Mark Leider, his great-grandson, a fourth-generation Luxembourger and current owner of Leider Greenhouses, explains. “First son got the farm. Second son got a suitcase, a hundred bucks, and a ticket to America....
This story was originally published by City Bureau on October 16, 2020. What are the different parts of the budget? The best way to understand special revenue funds is to look more closely at certain taxes. Fees collected from vehicle stickers, impoundment, or towing are another source of the city’s revenue. With vehicle stickers costing around $90, the city sought to earn $129 million in revenue this year from that tax alone....
Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.
Last week’s Supreme Court decision to strike down a Texas abortion law reverberated across the nation as a major victory for pro-choice activists. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the court declared unconstitutional a Texas law that would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and abortion clinics to meet the safety standards of outpatient surgical centers. A majority of justices found in their ruling that neither of those requirements actually protect women’s health....
As hard as this is for me to admit, I’ve been turning to Republicans to help me get through the horrors of Trump. Like the one that depicts Trump as a doddering old man. Or the fellow-traveler one, spoken in Russian, linking Trump to Putin, Lenin, and Stalin. As they say on their website: “Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain. However, the priority for all patriotic Americans must be a shared fidelity to the Constitution and a commitment to defeat those candidates who have abandoned their constitutional oaths, regardless of party....
The history of improbably successful and long-lasting 70s prog band Nektar is a complicated one. The story starts in 1968, when four British lads—guitarist-singer Roye Albrighton, keyboardist-vocalist Allan Freeman, bassist-singer-Mellotron player Derek Moore, and drummer Ron Howden—met at the Star Club in Hamburg (where another group of British lads, the Beatles, famously cut their teeth). They’d been playing in different bands in Germany since 1965, and they bonded over their mutual love of the Fab Four and the new avant-garde directions rock music was taking....
Sudden fame has brought on more money and more complications for Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. The Reader had scheduled an interview with the spiky-haired video-game phenom three weeks ago, but that got postponed until last weekend’s event in Chicago. Q. What’s the biggest downside to all of your newfound attention? A. I feel like I can’t mess up at all. I don’t mind that because I don’t mess up often, but sometimes people can twist something that isn’t bad and make it bad....
Rosario Zavala Chicagoans is a first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. This week’s Chicagoan is Jenni Prokopy, person living with chronic illnesses and founder of ChronicBabe.com. “I had a family member who recommended an out-of-state specialist, and that doctor gave me a bunch of treatments that made me much, much worse. She started me on three medications at the same time, and I had a horrible reaction....
Scott Olson/Getty Images Will it be the Blackstone Tower now? Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • How Whole Foods has fared in Detroit? —Mick Dumke • About the computer-aggregated “optimal U.S. roadtrip” that visits all 50 states but somehow skips Chicago? (Bastards!) —Aimee Levitt
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Man fights back after getting stabbed on Loop bridge Sunday evening A man assaulted at knifepoint on the Washington Street Bridge late Sunday evening managed to subdue his assailant until police arrived. Authorities arrested the attacker, who’d tried to rob the 49-year-old victim before stabbing him twice in the stomach. [ABC 7 Chicago]
Q: I’m a middle-aged man dating a younger guy. He wanted to be a “boy” to a Dom top daddy, and I was happy to oblige. The sex is amazing, and we click as people, too. Then a couple days ago, he told me he wanted to explore small penis humiliation (SPH). I was taken aback—not by the request, but because his penis is NOT small! It’s not huge, but it’s at least average....
Elizabeth Restaurant Aaron Martinez, the new chef de cuisine at Elizabeth From its foraging-based approach to cuisine to the owls that decorate its nooks and crannies, few restaurants have reflected their chef-owner’s personality and outlook more completely than Iliana Regan’s Michelin-starred Elizabeth in Lincoln Square. Named after Regan’s late sister, the restaurant is intended to be like a tea party in the woods (as Regan told the Reader before the opening)....
We’ll never know what might have been for any of us had 2020 turned out a little less soul crushing. But it feels extra bittersweet to imagine the possibilities for Chicago duo Drama, who released their debut album, Dance Without Me (Ghostly International), just before lockdown. Since joining forces in 2014, vocalist Via Rosa and producer Na’el have captured Chicago’s hearts. The sleek, controlled fusions of R&B, dance, and pop on their first release, the 2016 EP Gallows, sounded less like the work of newcomers than like a long-established group looking back on their journey—especially given the reflective quality of Rosa’s teardrop voice....
After allegations of sexual misconduct against Ex Fest founder Matthew Payne swept through the Chicago comedy community this week, Payne announced Friday afternoon that he had decided to cancel the festival. As I wrote in this week’s Reader cover story, Ex Fest had been conceived as an alternative to Stage 773’s SketchFest for performers who didn’t want to work with Brian Posen, its former executive producer who had been accused of harassment by multiple women....
Last week I wrote about the new mixtape from White Gzus, Stackin’ N Mackin’ Vol. 2; I didn’t go into detail about a collection of references that caught my ear, or more specifically, a reference to indie label Closed Sessions on “Still Sippin’.” I’m not sure what made my ears perk up on this particular line—it’s in a song that’s got plenty of shout-outs, and the mention isn’t a first for Closed Sessions....
While observing eviction court proceedings last year, I witnessed a landlord and tenant who both spoke Spanish in the process of negotiating in front of Judge Alison Conlon. A court interpreter stood between them, translating what each said to the other for a patiently attentive Conlon. It seemed that the parties were coming to an agreement, with the landlord leaning toward letting the tenant stay in her apartment a little longer before moving out....
Veteran underground Chicago rapper Dan Weiss (aka Verbal Kent) sculpts his syllables to display their contours or even give them jagged edges, but at the same time his flow lends his words a wiggle like Jell-O. He’s found a great partnership with D.C. production duo the Other Guys, who understand how to augment the swing in his performances. On their first collaborative full-length, Blade of the Short Cut (Hipnott), the Other Guys provide Weiss with understated, soul-inflected samples that befit his transparently soul-baring verses....
I know it’s bad form to say anything positive about President Donald Trump. But his decision to call off a planned air strike against Iran last month should be applauded. While I don’t endorse chaotic thinking about foreign policy, it is worth recalling what normal-thinking foreign policy looks like. Past wars in the Mideast were professionally sold to the American people with massive propaganda campaigns run through the press. Normal presidents first dehumanize the enemy, then ignore civilian casualties....
Christian Petersen/Getty Images Say it ain’t so, Thibs. Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • Bernard-Henri Levy on the backlash against the P.E.N. American Center for honoring Charlie Hebdo? —Tony Adler
I biked from McKinley Park to Humboldt Park last Friday to deliver a package to someone. A 30-minute ride up to the northwest side would be good to exercise my winter legs, although the 85-degree temperature was testing my ability to do so with ease. What I saw along the way—and what I’ve seen between the groups of folks at protests—were bright hues, large lettering, artwork, figures, and political statements adorning buildings, windows, and public spaces....
