Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i Chicago magazine

ELLY FISHMAN HAS A MESSAGE FOR young journalists: You never know where you’ll find a story idea. The former Chicago senior editor, who is now a freelance writer, was at her book club when a woman mentioned that her father-in-law was an expert in repairing Stradivarius violins. “I was like, ‘What did you just say?’” recalls Fishman. Fishman had a particular interest in the story of John Becker (“The Violin Doctor,” page 58). “Growing up, I played viola in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra,” she says. “I spent years coming in and out of the Fine Arts Building and had no idea that John was on the 10th floor doing this work, with some of the world’s finest violinists visiting his shop. It was right under my nose.” The highlight of…

@andrewofchi In October, during Open House Chicago, Andrew Ing, an HR recruiter and a lifelong Chinatown resident, visited 333 N. Michigan Ave. with his Fujifilm X100V camera. “I was able to go to the 26th floor and get that beautiful view [of the Wrigley Building],” says Ing, who made the image black and white to “focus on the details and clock tower.” Ing, who has dabbled in architectural photography for six years, gravitates toward shooting Gothic and art deco designs: “The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower stand out in the city and country.” —JACK McGANN WE ALSO LOVED … @chicagomatt @piotreksenkow NEXT CONTEST Post your best high-resolution shot of tacos on Instagram by January 15. Follow and tag @chicagomag and include #chimagcontest on your story or post to be considered.…

PHILOSOPHER MARTHA Nussbaum has been developing the capabilities approach to human well-being and rights for decades. The theory, which builds on the framework of Indian economist Amartya Sen, argues that it’s society’s duty to nourish our ability to lead fulfilling, healthy lives. In her new book, Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility (out January 3), the University of Chicago law and ethics professor expands that realm to animals. As Nussbaum writes: “Each sentient creature (capable of having a subjective point of view on the world and feeling pain and pleasure) should have the opportunity to flourish in the form of life characteristic for that creature.” Factory farms, zoos, pet breeders — as well as what humans can do to advocate for and protect animals—all fall under Nussbaum’s discerning lens. Q: In…

WHEN ALEXIS J. ROSTON takes the stage as Billie Holiday this month in Mercury Theater Chicago’s production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, she’ll be marking a rare milestone: Her sixth run in the demanding role comes 10 years almost to the day after her initial outing, for which she received a Jeff Award in 2013. “That first time out, I was so scared to do it,” Roston says. Rob Lindley, who directed that Porchlight Music Theatre production, had asked her to audition. “‘Why?’ was my question, because in my mind I sounded nothing like Lady Day,” says Roston. “It was like a sheer testament of how much a friend trusts your gift — that you don’t even see it, but they thought I could do it.” The play…

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE LYONS DEN CAME in late summer 2003. I had just turned 24 and, as a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, was looking for a job in Chicago. But with a communications degree and no real employable skills or life experience to speak of, the only offers I received were from a suburban Chevy dealership managed by my friend’s dad and a shady pyramid scheme masquerading as an advertising company. I went with the “advertising company” since I didn’t know anything about cars. Or pyramid schemes. After my interview, where the only question I was asked was whether I considered myself a leader or a follower (I said a leader, thank you very much), I rushed down the Kennedy Expressway to the Irving Park exit,…

◼ I grew up loving basketball more than anything. A big part of my formative experience was playing on my high school team, which was overwhelmingly Black players. The neighborhood I lived in was rightfully considered quite redneck, so I felt like I lived in two different worlds. I think that tension pushed me toward a heightened awareness of race for a white kid. But it wasn’t until I made No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson that I fully understood that a deeper motivation for my wanting to do Hoop Dreams was because, for all my experiences with Black players as teammates, I really didn’t know these guys that well. I had little sense of their home lives and aspirations. Hoop Dreams became a way to understand something deeper…

FORMER SUN-TIMES PICTURE EDITOR Richard Cahan and his collaborator, Michael Williams, have long admired street photographer Jay King. The duo even published some of his shots in their 2017 book Chicago: Classic Photographs. So they were thrilled when King reached out to say he’d returned to the darkroom to print never-before-seen images that dated back more than half a century. Meeting with him at the Evanston Public Library, they were awed by not only the pictures (“The Lost Photos of Jay King,” page 68) but also his memory. “I was surprised how much Jay remembered of every shot that he took,” Cahan says. “This is his diary, in some ways.” —JACK McGANN PRETTY PLATES There’s a lot more to food photography than, well, the food. Jeff Marini, who shot “Our 30…

1 The SAFE-T Act, which Darren Bailey made an issue in the governor’s race, goes into effect Jan. 1. It ends cash bail and bans police from using chokeholds and military weaponry. 2 When state reps are sworn in Jan. 11, Democrats will have a superdupermajority in the House: 78 of 118 seats—more than they ever held under former speaker Michael Madigan, and more evidence Illinois has become a one-party state. 3 Cubs Convention is back, coming to the Sheraton Grand Chicago Jan. 13–15, after two years of COVID cancellations. South Siders will have to wait till next year, though: SoxFest has been called off for the third straight winter. 4 Politics never ends in Chicago. Early voting for the Feb. 28 municipal elections starts in late January–two and a half…

ALL-ACCESS ALDERMEN City Council meetings are open to the public, but what are those 50 ward bosses doing when not voting on zoning changes? Go behind the scenes with closedcircuit footage of them approving block parties, smiling at picnics, and shaking down Burger Kings. Subscription includes a monthly waived parking ticket. LIVEPASS With multiple cameras at each Chicago Skyway tollbooth, viewers can toggle between frustrated drivers calling the I-Pass 800 number and frantically waving their transponders, and those laying on their horns at them. Subscription includes historical footage of vehicles crashing through gates. CHICAGO+ You’ve seen the drama of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D., but get ready for a new selection of heart-pounding intensity with Chicago Department of Water Management and Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation. Subscription includes…

>1 FULL-LENGTH LAUGHS At the venerable comedy showcase Stand Up Stand Up, see local comics moving beyond the “tight five” to honing headliner-length sets. The weekly Wednesday night show recently relocated to the Den Theatre. Ongoing. thedentheatre.com >2 CASSETTE THE SCENE Mixtape, comic illusionist Harrison Lampert’s new show at the Chicago Magic Lounge, promises a mix of closeup magic, improv, and ’90s-kid nostalgia. Jan. 4–Mar. 29. chicagomagiclounge.com >3 ARTISTIC LINEAGE In a 1999 Chicago Tribune obituary for Lawrence Steger, who died that year of AIDS at 37, writer Achy Obejas called him “one of the most important, and most influential, performance artists in Chicago.” A new group show at UIC’s Gallery 400, Reckless Rolodex, asks 15 rising Chicago artists to create works in response to Steger’s oeuvre. Jan. 13–Mar. 18.…

HERE’S A GET-RICH-QUICK SCHEME WE should all get behind on Lunar New Year: dumplings. “People say the more you eat during New Year time, the more money you will make next year,” says Jesse Li of the Chinatown dumpling authority Qing Xiang Yuan. Li credits the tasty little pockets’ auspiciousness to their shape, said to resemble ancient gold ingots. Try your luck this Lunar New Year (January 22) with Li’s version, which features a juicy, gingerperfumed pork filling and a time-saving assist from frozen wrappers (available at most grocery stores). Whether or not you make bank, a plate heaped with these golden beauties is a very rich thing indeed. —CATE HUGUELET QING XIANG YUAN’S PORK DUMPLINGS Makes About 60 dumplings Active time 40 minutes Total time 1 hour 1 lb. ground…

Dark Chocolate and Pecan Banana Bread at Mindy’s Bakery For banana bread to make any bestof list, it’s got to be next level. Leave it to Mindy Segal. Her cakey offering comes in thick slabs, each swirled with a wide ribbon of bittersweet fudge and finished with pecanstudded streusel. $5. 1623 N. Milwaukee Ave., Bucktown — C.B. YAKI BEEF GYOZA AT MONSTER RAMEN Chef-owner Katie Dong makes some of the juiciest fried dumplings in town at her new ramen joint. Each one of these ground-beef-stuffed delights takes a trip to the griddle and comes out perfectly crisped. The filling, which also includes ginger, garlic, and cabbage, delivers an explosion of flavors and textures. $7.95. 3435 W. Fullerton Ave., Logan Square —T.R. CHICKEN DIAVOLA AT CODA DI VOLPE When you find a…

MUEZE BAWANY, WHO IS RUNNING FOR ALDERMAN OF THE 50TH WARD, IS A HIGH school teacher, a son of Pakistani immigrants, and a Muslim who keeps a prayer rug in his campaign office, a converted used-car showroom on Western Avenue. If he succeeds in his campaign to unseat Alderman Debra Silverstein, though, it may not be because of any of those qualities, but because he has the support of the Chicago chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Every Sunday, in a tactic borrowed from the machine, a dozen socialists from around the city knock on doors in West Ridge for Bawany. In 2019, six democratic socialists were elected to the City Council, tying Chicago with New York City for the largest such municipal caucus in the nation. This year, in…

URL stylepluscurves.com ◼ What it is A blog advising plus-size women on where to shop and how to put stylish looks together ◼ Who is behind it Amber McCulloch, a Logan Square marketing consultant and model ◼ Why she started it “We have a tiny fraction of the options” other shoppers have, McCulloch says. She began blogging in 2009 after seeing women react to her wardrobe. “I had cars screech to a halt when I walked down the sidewalk: ‘Where did you get that skirt?’” ◼ Popular post 2017’s “5 Style Rules for Plus Size Wedding Guests” ◼ Pro tip McCulloch finds good options at Eloquii, Target, and Anthropologie. ◼ Underlying message “You’re told to wear black, to wear clothes that minimize how you look. It’s an attempt to look smaller…

CORDERO ZUCKERMAN — better known as Denali, the stage name he uses as a drag artist—has a long and varied fitness history. He earned a third-degree black belt in tae kwon do as a kid, then left his home in Fairbanks, Alaska, at 14 to pursue figure-skating dreams in Salt Lake City. There, he learned how to backflip on ice from Jozef “Jumpin’ Joe” Sabovcik, an Olympic medalist who helped him launch a pro career. Zuckerman began doing drag in his mid-20s (he has been a regular at Berlin since moving to Chicago five years ago), which he saw as a natural progression: “Drag is ice skating—so sparkly, dancy, athletic, and over the top.” He even incorporated drag into his figure skating, which led to him being cast in RuPaul’s Drag…

WHILE OUT-OF-TOWN PIZZA STYLES — NAMELY, THOSE HAILING FROM DETROIT, ROME, NEW YORK, AND SICILY — HAVE gotten all the love locally in recent years, it’s time for tavern style to regain the spotlight. Chicago’s favorite homegrown contribution (sorry, deep dish) is seeing a resurgence, with artisan and cheffy pies leading the comeback. These are four of our favorites. PIZZA FRIED CHICKEN ICE CREAM 960 W. 31st St., Bridgeport The take Classic South Side pizzas with a Sicilian soul The skinny Back in 2018, Cecily and Billy Federighi—with help from neighbor Brad Shorten — started making Sicilian and Neapolitan pizzas in their Ukrainian Village apartment. They baked so many they gave some away on Instagram. Things really clicked in 2020 when Cecily embraced her South Side roots and they started making…

◼ Call it an exercise in sole-idarity. Noted Chicago-born shoe designer Brian Atwood has joined forces with his younger brother Zak Rodriguez to create limited-edition women’s footwear. The brand’s name, Il Fratellino (Il Frat for short), is Italian for “little brother” — a college nickname Brian’s friends gave Zak. The duo wants wearers to have fun in these shoes. “Every pair is designed to have incredible energy and made for a big night out,” says Zak, who still lives here. The shoes are dreamed up by the brothers, handcrafted in Porto, Portugal, and sold only online. The first collection, priced from $250 to $490, dropped last spring. When new styles arrive each season, you have to snag them fast before they’re gone. Currently up for grabs: silk mules with custom-dyed…

Opened in September by William Dlugokienski, a former Northwestern University event planner, this small Andersonville storefront (5135 N. Clark St.) boasts plants galore and an array of locally handcrafted containers. Three of our favorite collections: BRIAN BULLOCK’S SKYLINE TRIBUTES The ceramic artist presents the Chicago horizon in abstract form with these boxy vases. DARA SCHUMAN’S GEOMETRIC VESSELS It was love at first high-school art class for this creator, who plays with glazing techniques and geometry. FABIEL CAMPOS’S RECLAIMED CREATIONS Sourcing wood from fallen maple and walnut trees, Campos sculpts his wares using antique chisels.…