WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

File this one under: Local Boy Makes Good.

^{Ben Bradley}

Ben Bradley, who’s been a first-rate general assignment reporter and a rising star at WLS-Channel 7 since 2002, is about to be promoted to weekend news anchor at the top-rated ABC-owned station, sources said.

Bradley, 35, is expected to replace Kevin Roy as anchor of Channel 7’s Sunday morning newscasts. Roy was fired last April after he’d repeatedly failed to show up for work, citing “physical exhaustion.” The third time it happened — on April 25 — Bradley was called at home and summoned to fill in for the absent anchorman at the last minute.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, but if all goes as planned, Bradley would co-anchor Sunday mornings (from 6 to 7 a.m. and from 8 to 9:30 a.m.) alongside Stacey Baca, while still working as a reporter four days a week.

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We combed the universe in search of two splendid humans who could join Mission Amy K.R. as interns/apprentices. After a couple weeks of reviewing applications, interviewing, and reading piles of excellent writing, I am thrilled to now call them both up to the podium. I've asked them to introduce themselves in their own words.

Justin Kaufmann, Steve Edwards, and all of us at Vocalo are so happy they are on board. Please give a warm welcome to...

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Joshua Williams just graduated from the arts-focused charter school he attended alongside Lisa Gardner, called Innovations High School. He’s a tall young man, lanky, and quick to laugh or smile at any joke uttered. Even those, it seems, that merely pass through his mind. He just got his first job—OK, maybe his second, technically— in a coffee shop across the street from Union Station. And so far, he loves it.

I love Chicago, period. I love the city. I love being in the atmosphere, everybody moving and going places and doing things. I feel a sense of importance when I’m down there, ‘cause it’s like you’re either going down there to do business or going shopping or you know everybody. I just love going downtown. There’s nothing like downtown Chicago.

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SPAM musubi from Aloha Eats (photo by Katherine Bernot)

Today I'm turning over the blog to my intern, Katherine Bernot, a recent Northwestern grad, who is always on the lookout for cheap and filling food that also happens to be tasty.

SPAM occupies a prominent, if not always glamorous, place in American food history.

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Mission #30 begins with this short video about (and titled) Kindness:

Some of you may have seen that before; many have not. But I wanted to share it again here because:

a) I think the Toronto-based design group Thought Bubble did such an amazing job bringing that essay to life. And

b) it is the bridge that lead me, Mark and Corey (more on Mark and Corey later) to a talk about the "underbelly" of kindness. What I mean by that is, what about the times when you just can't rally your Better Self and you find yourself being kind of...not kind?

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Throw ya hands in the air for the above clip from "3-2-1 Contact," a 1980s public television program designed to teach kids math and science. The clip from the 1987 season features the still-emerging musical genre of hip-hop--and fast (for 1987) music video-styled editing to explain architecture to kids.‚ 

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When you’re playing a three or four-band club bill, every slot has its advantages and its disadvantages.

The headliner is, of course, the headliner, and therefore considered the best or most important band of the evening, though the downside if that’s your role is that you’re probably a little edgy for most of the night before taking the stage. The middle bands can play to the biggest crowd, since some people come late and some leave early, but you have the pressure of a quick turnaround, hastily putting your gear up on stage, and then quickly hauling it off. The openers get to play and then spend the rest of the night enjoying themselves. They may play to fewer people, given the late arrivals, but they have the luxury of leaving their equipment set up in the optimal position on stage after soundcheck and before the set, though the soundcheck almost never happens as scheduled.

Time is a nebulous concept in rock ’n’ roll.

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