And still more Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook news

Reviews of the book continue to pop up around town over the last month and change! Here’s a handy roundup for the curious: In South Side Weekly, writer Max Budovich noted that the book “offers a buffet of places you might want to visit, interesting facts, and memorable moments. It leaves you on your own … Continued

More on The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook

We celebrated the release of The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook in style at the Hideout on September 10, and that same week I appeared on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight to talk about the book. You can watch the whole feature, and read Sheila Elliott’s essay on Garfield Ridge here. On September 1 I also went down to … Continued

The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook is “required reading”

We got our first review and it is a doozy. I am still in shock, and gratitude. Big thanks John Warner and the Chicago Tribune for taking our work seriously. He goes on to say that the book “reinforces what an amazing and interesting place it is, filled with talented writers and artists who contributed … Continued

Reporting from Puerto Rico

In late 2018 Isabel Dieppa, Kari Lydersen, and I were the pleasantly startled recipients of a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, to research and report on property rights in Puerto Rico. We made three trips thanks to that grant — in December, January, and April — and spoke with many, many Puerto … Continued

In the Shadow of Lincoln Yards

What’s going on with the Hideout, you ask? I answer. Or try to anyhow. I wrote about the proposed Lincoln Yards development and what it might mean for the Hideout, the near north side, and the city at large for the Baffler (below) and then talked about it with Gary Zidek of WDCB’s The Arts … Continued

Down and Out in Detroit and Puerto Rico

“There was a great difference, I said, between the things I wanted and the things that I could apparently have, and until I had finally and forever made my peace with that fact, I had decided to want nothing at all.” 

On food sovereignty and solidarity in Puerto Rico

In May I spent a week in Puerto Rico with Tara Rodriguez Besosa and farmers and food activists working with the Fondo de Resilienca to help build a more sustainable Puerto Rican food system. I’ve been following Tara’s work for several years and I’m glad to be able to share some of it with this … Continued

Worldview, July 9, 2018

It was a pleasure to join Alexandra Solomon on WBEZ’s Worldview to talk — along with collaborators Kari Lydersen and Hannah Wiley — about our research into FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, and a host of related subjects. You can listen in here: https://www.wbez.org/shows/worldview.