Marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road, a cluster of upcoming events are directly related to and inspired by the novel’s central themes and its contributions to Beat culture – including the iconic and symbolic way the manuscript was written. more ›

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market... more ›

Well, we can say with absolute joy that your recommendations for this month's Convince Us had us laughing out loud. Many of you suggested On the Road by Jack Kerouac, but alas, we've already read it, and it's been thrown across the room a couple of times already. more ›

Unlike Juliana Hatfield, we’ve got our idols. We’re a bit old to have ‘em up on posters above our bed now but there’s still the occasional picture of Pete Shelley, Jack Kerouac or Tom Jones (don’t ask) decorating our work cube. In the post-modern age of irony, these mini-shrines might seem a bit naïve to some but our moments of slavish devotion got some validation when we heard about PISTIL Magazine’s “idols” issue coming out in March. more ›

Wouldn't the title of this post make for the best children's book ever? more ›