As one of the regular hosts of The Moth here in Chicago (the incomparable Brian Babylon being the other), I like to open the show with a Ken Nordine-inspired piece of word jazz that sets up the theme for the night. All of the stories are required to utilize the theme in the telling so I like to try and cover a multitude of angles tellers can approach.
7 ways the Blackhawks can steal the momentum tonight
Jun. 19, 2013
On social media, Blackhawks fans make it sound like the Stanley Cup is a lost cause. After losing 2-0 on Monday, tonight they play Game 4 in Boston with the Bruins up 2 games to 1 in the Finals.While fans are in a state of panic, Hawks players remain confident in Boston since they believe they can rebound and stay in this playoff series for the long haul.
What do the Blackhawks have to do to even up the series?
- Power outage. With scoring at a premium it would nice if they could solve their huge problem with the power play. They are 0-11 in this series and the Bruins have scored twice with the man advantage. Not that they can magically make it right (since it has been wrong all season), but at least get some shots in.
- Win a face off. The Hawks lost 40 of 56 chances overall in Monday’s game. Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was nearly perfect handling that chore on Monday. Dave Bolland and Mike Handzus (and to a lesser extent, Jonathan Toews) were completely handcuffed in face-offs.
Get happy: Overview of the 2013 Color Run
Jun. 19, 2013
On Sunday my husband and I ran a 5K called the Color Run, which is inspired in part by the Indian festival Holi. The theme of the run is “Happy” (hence the “Happy” tattoos I received with our packet pickup) and along the run bursts of colored cornstarch are thrown at you. The idea is that the runners wear all white, and then by the end of the race it’s a messy, colorful joyful mess, with a party featuring even more bursts of color. If you’re still white by the end of the race, you’re doing it wrong (isn't that just the theme of life, really?)A friend told me she was running the race and so I signed up, remembering the happy expressions and ruined shirts of post-Color-Run runners from a few years ago. I had a few reservations pre-run, though. Earlier this spring my friends and I ran another untimed, “happy” gimmick race called the Rave Run where the idea was that the runners race in the dark, lit up by 5Ks worth of light show and glowing apparel.
'God is not a bully' spreads message of love to LGBTQ people
Jun. 19, 2013
When I came out in my church I was 16 and still wearing ascots for ties. I was a mop of hair looking for guidance in the faith that had given me a home. I chose to be a Baptist because of its overt grounding in community and its personalism over the Latin coldness of my mother’s Catholicism. Being a Baptist was a call to dance, and there can’t be a revolution without dancing.
Then I was called into the Pastor’s office. He gave me a choice. I could choose either my “desires” or my religion. The church could never be a home for my perversion.
But it wasn’t just God’s flock that was after me. God himself was waiting for me—with a sniper rifle. The Pastor told me about the high rates of HIV, depression, suicide and death from drug use in the gay community as empirical evidence of divine wrath.
“God’s waiting to cut you down,” he claimed. “And he’ll get you eventually, when you least expect it.”
I left the church, where I’d been renowned for my poetry. I even placed in a national competition for it, but I felt like that voice would never be heard. I hugged the people who loved me goodbye, the ones who vocally supported my coming out.
Upcoming Zulkey-related events
Jun. 18, 2013
I will be appearing at, hosting, or merely attending some fun events in the near future, so if you're looking for something to do in the city in the next month or two, look no further!
June 19: Guts & Glory at Powell's. I will be reading a personal piece about my sick need to know the mean things people say or write about me at this series hosted by Keith Ecker and Samantha Irby. Learn more about it here.
June 25: Lily Koppel at the MCA. Zulkey.com interviewee Lily Koppel will be reading from her new book The Astronaut's Wives Club. I predict it will be an awesome time.
June 29: The Kates. It's an all-lady humor night at the Book Cellar, my favorite bookstore! Walk around Lincoln Square, drink some wine, have a laugh, eat some dinner.
Two views of Roseland, decades apart
Jun. 18, 2013
This section of Michigan Avenue runs along the top of a ridge, and was originally a trail used by the native peoples. In the early 20th Century, the State Street streetcar line was extended via Michigan to 119th Street, and a shopping strip developed. That's a postwar PCC streetcar in the 1955 photo.
Gately's Peoples Store, long a fixture on the Michigan Avenue, closed during the 1980s. The streetcars have been replaced by buses, too.
McPier seeks new plans for DePaul arena
Jun. 18, 2013
Fearing the planned $195 million sports arena near McCormick Place could be an architectural missed-shot, McPier officials today announced they have redrafted the search for architects in hopes of getting a better design for the project.
Jim Reilly, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority—the agency commonly nicknamed "McPier"—said the original request for qualifications for architects was "pretty specific to firms who had experience with sports facilities." McPier's original conceptual drawings of the project appear with this post. The peak-roofed building in the center of the above image represents the arena.
Reilly said the new pitch is aimed at also getting top-drawer architects who have never designed sports facilities, but would be willing to team with firms that have.
"The Jeanne Gangs of the world—and I don't mean to point to her specifically," Reilly said, referencing the MacArthur Fellow whose firm, Studio Gang, designed Aqua Tower at Columbus and Randolph. "This way, some well-known or up-and-coming designer with no arena experience can apply.