If you're hankering for a little bit of controversy and a lot of culture tonight, Sir Salman Rushdie will be reading from his new novel, The Enchantress of Florence. Enchantress is a sort of Arabian Nights, set when a European traveler captures the court of Emperor Akbar, lord of the Mughal Empire, with a story about a beautiful and mysterious woman's travel to far off Florence. Even if Enchantress doesn't sound like your cup of......

It's no secret that, here at Chicagoist, we love libraries. And why not? All those books, magazines, newspapers, and, most importantly, microfiche! Yes, we're huge nerds. But the library contains a wealth of knowledge. Maybe it's the vast number of books, the sheer volume of literature. Maybe it's the quiet atmosphere, the hush that implies a sense of sanctuary, a place to give reverence to the great literary works of our time. Whatever the reason,......

There isn't much sadder than this: Blythe Ann O'Sullivan, a 25-year-old Bloomingdale native, died on Thursday while serving in the Peace Corps. O'Sullivan was far from her family when an accident occurred in the fields of Suriname, where she was working with local women to create and fund a village community center and help get clean drinking water to rural areas. She was shot in the thigh after tripping the wire on a device local......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

It was twenty years ago today that Mayor Harold Washington collapsed at his desk in City Hall. He died of a massive heart attack. In 1983, Washington surprised Chicago by winning the Democratic Primary for Mayor. He won with 36% of the vote, beating out incumbent Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Richard M. Daley. In the April 1983 general election, Washington received 52% of the vote to become Chicago’s first black mayor, trumping Bernard Epton......

What started as Chicago actor and director David Blixt’s creative inquiry into the Capulet-Montague feud quickly became so much more. The Master of Verona, Blixt’s debut novel set in 14th Century Italy, explores Italian political life, conspiracy, the life of Dante, and the possible backstory for Romeo and Juliet. While directing the aforementioned Shakespeare play years ago, he found its all-consuming resolution fascinating and troublesome, hinting at but never revealing the source of the families’......

Yeah, people knew how to fly the friendly skies on November 21st, 1965, when the menu above was served on a United Airlines flight from Denver to San Francisco. This and 380 other menus from airlines, ocean liners, and railroad lines are available for perusal online at the Transportation Library archives of Northwestern University. The archives hark back to a time when multiple course meals were de rigueur not only for first class passengers,......

Tuesday we gave you the rundown of who is running for a Green Party nomination in Illinois, but among the candidates, one in particular stands out. Richard B. Mayers, a white supremacist connected with Matt Hale's Creativity Movement is running against Jerome "Jerry" Pohlen in the 3rd Congressional District. This isn't the first time Mayers has run for office. In 2002 he was removed from the ballot in the 9th Congressional District, leaving Jan Schakowsky......

George Ryan starts his prison sentence today, and the Sun-Times and Trib have helpfully chronicled every move the former governor has made since last night. You know what that means: time for a Ryan Round Up! Olé! Yesterday, the 73-year-old released this statement to the public, again claiming innocence and thanking his family and legal team. At 5:50 this morning, Ryan left his home in Kankakee in a van driven by his son, George Ryan......

Everything we theoretically know and can see comprises only 5% of the universe. At least that's what they tell us. They also tell us that the rest of the universe is mostly a mystery, a mystery explained away as "dark;" dark matter holds it together, and dark energy pushes it apart. Astrophysicist Rocky Kolb (the mustachioed man to the right), is part of the "they," and he's presenting a discussion on the new frontier of......

Property tax rates for the Chicago area were announced yesterday, and the fight over how much to raise taxes flared up again. While Todd Stroger tried to make his proposed increases more palatable by offering to rebate any leftover cash from a tax hike that hasn't yet been approved, Mayor Daley took a different approach, sending Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey to a city budget hearing yesterday to shill for higher property taxes. Predictably, county commissioners......

Admit it. One of the reasons you read Missed Connections (and we know you do) is because of the unusual ways people find to try and reconnect. In this edition, we highlight some of the past week's posts, where some brave souls have gone outside of the normal CTA/grocery store/local gym route and found potential love interests in some less-than-traditional places. Often times people who have a crush on their co-worker find it easier to......

We hope some of you got a chance to go to something at the Chicago Book Festival last week, but if not, here’s your chance. Our take on the second week: Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s senior legal analyst, discusses and signs his newest book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, and maybe adds a few pointers for broke Chicagoists. Monday, Oct. 8, 6 p.m., Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St., Cindy......

Now that the Cubs are in the playoffs, want to convert? Or maybe you've been a Cubs fan but need to brush up on your trivia skills? Tonight, authors Glenn Stout, of the Best American Sports series, and Richard A. Johnson, the curator of the New England Sports Museum, present their latest collaboration, The Cubs: The Complete Story of Chicago Cubs Baseball, at Harold Washington Library. The Cubs details Cubs history covering such items as......

You might have already heard of the City 2000 project. The mission was to document life in Chicago in the first year of the 21st century for future generations and all that (which, as NASA's "Ask an Astrophysicist" informs us actually started in 2001). Over 200 photographers set out to capture life in the city, as well as sounds and video, which are housed at UIC's library. You can watch parts of the project......

Just so you know, nobody is going to let you forget about global warming for more than five minutes. Whether it's Al Gore's tears, your alderman's lightbulbs, or Blackle, somebody's always got some new way to save the earth and they want to bend your ear about it while they are driving home. The newest thing you should be worried about? How global warming is going to affect your health. About 12,000 physicians, health care......

Although many of us are at work today, for our Jewish friends sundown yesterday marked the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It is regarded as the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in God's world. Judaism has four "new year" observances, each marking a different yearly observance. Rosh Hashanah is the new year for people, animals, and legal contracts. There......

The debate over the Chicago Children's Museum plan to relocate to Grant Park has escalated since Monday’s neighborhood meeting at Daley Bicentennial Plaza. There, museum officials introduced plans for a more sunken, environmentally friendly design adjacent to the Plaza. The Museum’s growth has been remarkable. Founded in 1982 in two Chicago Public Library hallways, it’s since moved three times, most recently to Navy Pier in 1995. Twelve years later, they’ve apparently outgrown that tourist magnet.......

Here’s what you missed while you were sneezing and burning: Guest #18, your comments are hilarious, but how do you fare with a live audience? If you think you’ve got the chops, submit a 1-2 minute video to Time Out Chicago by September 20. Best entries will be screened online for their discerning website visitors. The top four will compete live for the chance to be crowned “Chicago’s Funniest Person.” (... at least according to......

We were probably among the last people not to have read Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. But no longer are we among those unhappy few. Honestly, our main deterrent was the hype. It was the "new cool" hipsters' book, so smug. That and the back cover looked ho-hum (yeah, we're shallow), so we kept declining on principle. But it was a bad decision. Finally a friend convinced us to read it while on......

- In case you've missed the previous screenings of local film Crime Fiction, produced by former U of C students, you've got another chance to see it this evening at this month's edition of the Midwest Independent Film Festival. That's at the Landmark Century. There'll be an afterparty just around the corner at Cousin's. - Starting this Wednesday night at 6, Jonathan Rosenbaum presents a weekly series of film screenings and lectures at the Siskel......

Happy Labor Day Chicago! Although for many this is a day of picnics and playing, Labor Day has a bit more history behind it, and a significant role in its creation was played by people right here in Chicago. In the midst of the Industrial Revolution, with workers putting in 12 hour days and seven day weeks and child labor rampant, a small slice of our city lived in relative labor peace for a good......

The French have spoken. Overseas officials have denied U.S. requests to extradite Hans Peterson back to the States to stand trial for the murder of Dr. David Cornbleet. The 29-year-old Peterson allegedly confessed to killing Cornbleet, his former dermatologist, due to a prescription drug that left him impotent. Despite pleas from U.S. senators Durbin and Obama, the French embassy returned a rejected verdict, with the explanation that they won’t sell out a French national. After......

- Say hello to Cuppy's. Another coffee chain opens its first Chicago location. - Taking parenting advice from Britney Spears, a 26-year-old woman left her kids in the car with the windows up and hot air blowing while she went to Cook County Criminal Court on the south side. - Oak Park/River Forest High School alumni Charles Simic was named poet laureate by the Library of Congress. - Keep drinking your beer, Cubs fans.......

Modest hero saves toddler and brushes off praise after locating boy, and putting his own air mask on him. The family of a missing Plainfield woman hopes two billboards to be unveiled Tuesday in that community, asking "Where is Lisa Stebic?" will help generate new tips. Somebody's lovin' it. McDonald's turns some heads by sponsoring a music tour featuring Chicago's Twista, a rapper whose raunchy lyrics have been identified by a billboard campaign decrying......

Who knew that U of C's DOC Films has been showing movies for 75 years? (Rhetorical question, as we're sure that many of you already knew that.) Well, they have. In fact they're the longest continuously running student film society in the U.S. As you can imagine, they've collected a lot of cool mementos in that time. Things like letters from Samuel Fuller and Jean Renoir, movie posters autographed by Hitchcock, and old programing calendars.......

We're happy to report that mayors across the state are having a pretty good week. That is, if you think "pretty good" means "pretty good for people watching their crazy antics," which, of course, is why we are so happy to report it. Let's see what we have for them, shall we? Romeoville mayor Fred Dewald will be taking home our "Really Didn't Think That, or Anything, Through" award this week, as well as a......

If you're like Chicagoist then you're a warrior. A warrior without air conditioning. And in times like these, hot times … in the city, it's best to know all sorts of tricks for cooling down. There's the lake, there's the public library, most restaurants and, of course, lying very still with fans on every side of your body. Those are just a few ways of keeping cool without the aid of energy draining, electric grid......

In spite of this library's ghostly warning, let's judge a book by its cover. We know it's cliched, but summer is all about cliches and fun. So, what's the book you had to buy because the cover was so pretty/intriguing/wonderful that you figured it would look good face-forward on your bookshelf if nothing else? For July, give us a book that we can use to strike up a conversation with cute boys on the......

This one’s dedicated to those out there whose main form of exercise revolves around a slick, shiny pole. No, we’re really not talking about anything relating to Chris Nieratko. … Well, maybe in an indirect fashion. Earlier this month, a funky new health club opened up in the West Loop. This wasn’t just any club, however. This was a club for the ladies. Flirty Girl Fitness at 1325 W. Randolph offers a range of salacious......