The Chicago Teachers Union scored a victory for their district last week, following an eleven-day teachers strike that made national headlines. For today’s episode, guest host Richelle Wilson brings the strike into focus: how did it get started? What were the teachers’ demands? What was the outcome? And what does this all say about labor, […]
Gun Violence: Perspectives from Chicago and Pediatric Surgeons
In the wake of the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas over the weekend, we turn our attention to gun violence for today’s episode with guest host Gil Halsted. First, we talk to Patrick Smith, criminal justice reporter for WBEZ, about Chicago’s most violent weekend on record—and how Chicagoans have a different […]
Racism and Police Violence in Chicago with Flint Taylor
For today’s pledge drive edition, Allen is joined by Flint Taylor to discuss the history of police violence in Chicago and his new book, The Torture Machine. Flint Taylor is a founding partner of the People’s Law Office in Chicago, a longtime National Lawyers Guild member, and a founding editor of the Police Misconduct and Civil […]
Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago with Simon Balto
To understand issues like mass incarceration and racist policing, you have to go back in history—farther back than Reagan’s war on drugs or even Johnson’s proposed war on crime. That’s the argument of Simon Balto, our guest today and the author of Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power. He spends […]
Fri. Jan. 25, the 2019 Terry Kath tribute special
Attention Terry Kath fans, Chicago fans, and fans of guitar-driven soulful rock & roll everywhere! D.J. el Serpentine’s “The Rattlesnake Shake” is proud and absolutely psyched to be bringing a radio tradition back to the airwaves of WORT 89.9 FM… the 2019 Terry Kath birthday tribute radio special, airing Friday, January 25, from 8:00 to […]
Lykanthea on constantly revising memories through music
Lykanthea, the project of Chicago-based musician, multidisciplinary artist, and academic Lakshmi Ramgopal, explored a mix of ambient music, carnatic music, and a healthy bit of pop on the 2014 EP Migration. But since Migration came out, Ramgopal has been working on all kinds of different performances and installations, including “A Half Light Chorus,” a project at Chicago’s Lincoln […]
