Chicago Reader
BUFORD, JAMAL DEGERATTO, DANIEL DEVER, MATT DOUBLEDAY, JAKE MIKVA, ROBERT REITER, MARILYNN RUBIO, CHRISTINA CRAWFORD STEED

IMAGINE THIS
Every week I’m reminded that there’s a younger person out there who, like myself (yes, that was me in the library), is discovering our pages or website for the first time. And every week there’s something great, new, challenging, or maybe even joyful that I’d like them to know about.

Reader Letters
The Chicago Reader accepts comments and letters to the editor of less than 400 words for publication consideration.

POETRY CORNER
A weekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

Reader Rewind
So for our final issue of 2024, we’ve decided to share some of our favorite gems from those cherished archives.

Bean pie, my brother?
Made from cooked, mashed, small navy beans, the bean pie is the iconic food of Black Muslims everywhere.

READER BITES
Hot chocolate isn’t something I usually go for. While I may crave it a couple times a year, usually around the holidays, it was more in my rotation when I was younger — before I acquired a taste for coffee, matcha, or chai. But they’re doing something different at Sfera Sicilian Street Food.

Speed Wash
Pick had a way of capturing the city through the eyes of the people he wrote about. His subjects were authentic and unfiltered (and not always in a pleasant way). He documented all the mess and excitement of life in a Chicago that in some ways has long since died—and in some ways is still very much alive.