Movement is part of the American dream. Across an ocean to the new world, west to the last frontier, then up the social ladder, out to the suburbs–or so they say it goes. Social mobility and housing mobility are inextricably…
Author Archive for Robin Peterson
Quad Club revels
by Robin Peterson •
It’s not often one sees college students, professors, elected officials, a medical oncologist, and a detective fiction writer all in the same room, let alone onstage together–but that’s what the audience at the annual Revels play was treated to last…
Angry Young Man: Brecht’s first play comes to EP Theater
by Robin Peterson •
The eponymous main character in Bertolt Brecht’s play “Baal” shares his name with an ancient Phoenician deity and a Christian demon–fitting, as his personality is both radiantly charming and deeply perverse. Baal is a talented young poet, an unabashed hedonist,…
Farming on Film: Mitra Sticklen documents life on the urban farm
by Robin Peterson •
“It’s not hard to make this stuff look good,” says filmmaker Mitra Sticklen, pausing in between shots of the bright green kale and collards on display on a stand at the 61st Street Farmers Market. “It’s beautiful stuff–beautiful footage.” The…
Miss Zacatecas
by Robin Peterson •
The seven young women onstage at the Zacatecano Cultural Center in Brighton Park last Sunday night were dressed to impress, wearing red tops and black skirts with coiffed hair and makeup fit for a prom night. Over the course of…
Little House in the City
by Robin Peterson •
The topic of the presentation was billed as “urban homesteading,” but speaker Erik Knutzen is dissatisfied with that label: “It’s a little too ‘Little House on the Prairie,’” he told the thirty or so listeners gathered at Woodlawn’s Experimental Station…
Golden Eggs: Angelic Organics Learning Center teaches chicken care and more
by Robin Peterson •
On Saturday, March 21, chicken enthusiasts from all over Chicago flocked to Woodlawn’s Angelic Organics Learning Center to attend a free workshop on basic backyard chicken care. It was the Center’s second such workshop and, like the first held in…
Thicker than Water
by Robin Peterson •
As with most resources, Americans consume a disproportionate share of the earth’s oil and water. It’s especially easy to do when gas is cheap and the Great Lakes are close. However, as panelists at the March 18 discussion “All’s Fair…