Trade pizza, beer and the HDTV this Sunday to hang out with some really smart women. WBEZ’s Off-Air Series is bringing writers Anita Chandwaney, Jane Hamilton, Parneshia Joness and Audrey Niffenegger together to discuss their individual creative writing processes. Eight Forty-Eight’s Alison Cuddy will play host to an evening that will include “personal video, real-time artistic creation and discussion about the context from which each of these writers construct their unique voices.” To us, that sounds like the writers will be speaking a lot of their personal experience in creative writing. Here’s some more information about the women who will be present, all of whom have been residents at Ragdale, an artist’s retreat North of Chicago where many writers escape to work: more ›

WBEZ's Alison Cuddy sat down for a one-on-one with Mayor Daley and while we can't say she was soft on Daley, there are no major revelations in the interview. Daley defends his decision to dip into the parking meter fund for the 2010 budget; when asked how that money will be replaced, Daley simply says, "You replace money as the economy gets better," and then makes a joke about praying for the economy to get better. On the subject of TIFs, the Mayor said, "Most TIF funds don't generate any money." And on the topic of TIF transparency, Daley chuckles when Cuddy mentions the Chicago Reader and then seems to brush off the question with a less-than-genuine answer. Not that we're surprised. On the subject of privatizing other city assets, Daley side-stepped the question, saying, "There's no market. If there's no market, you cannot lease a public asset," as if to imply, "No." Which we don't believe as getting fair market value for the asset never seemed to be Daley's main concern. Other topics tackled include his approval rating and youth violence, on which Daley still manages to find a way to blame the media for something. more ›