Category: national
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Reality TV and Me
I recently finished Emily Nussbaum’s (2024) second book — Cue the Sun! — for a book club. Others have considered this book to be an accessible account of the “fusion of authenticity and contrivance” in reality television (Stowell 2024) and the narrativizing and gamifying of its starts (Cunningham 2024). As such, this oral history both…
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Hands Off and On
To My Elected Officials and Other Members of Congress: I was one of thousands in Chicago, and millions across the country, who spent Saturday afternoon sending a message. This message to the Trump administration was that we’ve already had enough, and that we’re prepared to stand for the preservation of our political principles and values.…
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Conversations and Conflicts
I had hopes for a recent Chicago Public Library event, which was co-sponsored by the Clarence Darrow Commemorative Committee, about the 1925 Scopes trial and banned books. I didn’t expect such a sparse audience, which given the venue might have surprised the organizers as well. Nonetheless, I settled into a seat and later focused on…