By Scott Buckner

Part 1: Midnight Bus To Markham.
With Christmas Day now history, it was time to head back to southwest Missouri, where the winters are more hospitable for people who prefer polar vortexes to be some other poor sap’s misery. This time, departure from Greyhound’s stop ‘n’ drop (it’s not even a station; it’s a tiny storefront in a sorry-looking strip mall) in south suburban Markham was a more-reasonable 8:20 a.m., which meant daylight and the ability to see the countryside.
As it happens though, there are just some places you really don’t need to see in broad daylight, like south suburban neighborhoods where even a sorry-looking strip mall is probably doing the adjacent property values a favor.
Or, for that matter, the landscape of pretty much the entire length of Interstate 57.

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Posted on February 8, 2016

By Helene Smith

Addison & Elston.
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Posted on February 5, 2016

‘Group Of Postwar Artists Established The First Unique Chicago Style’

“This is the first major exhibition to examine the history and impact of the Monster Roster, which has been overlooked despite being one of the most important Midwestern contributions to the development of American art,” the Smart Museum says.
“Spearheaded by Leon Golub and united by a shared interest in the figure during a period that is often seen as dominated by abstraction, the group created deeply psychological works that drew on classical mythology and ancient art.
“It examines not only the complex aesthetics and personal styles of Golub and his compatriots – including Cosmo Campoli, June Leaf, Dominick Di Meo, Seymour Rosofsky, and Nancy Spero, among others – but also uncovers the Monster Roster’s relationships with preceding generations of Chicago artists and differences from the well-known Chicago Imagists who followed.”

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Posted on February 3, 2016

By Scott Buckner

I’m no stranger to traveling by Greyhound bus. I call it Riding The Dog. That’s not out of obvious reference to the company’s galloping canine logo, but rather because it’s an apt description of the sort of travel experience that awaits you, like the one you might expect from Amtrak if its logo was a hobo.
It’s not that I’m partial to Riding The Dog, or enjoy it much, because there are faster ways to get somewhere. It’s just that my visit back home to Chicago always seem to happen during the winter, when travel through Illinois is best left to a bobsled. If the odds favor sliding off into an icy, snow-filled interstate ditch, I’d rather have the tangled wreckage be Greyhound’s headache, not mine.

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Posted on February 1, 2016

By Helene Smith

Walk-ins welcome.
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Posted on January 29, 2016

By The Forest Preserves Of Cook County

Outdoors Empowered Network, the largest national network of Member Organizations through which educators and youth leaders have access to wilderness training and free outdoor gear libraries, welcomes the Forest Preserves of Cook County, located in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, as the first member program in the Midwest. Chicago joins Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boise, and Seattle in a growing number of cities with programs increasing much needed access to nature for youth.
The FPCC is the first government agency and land manager to join the OEN, and is emerging as a national leader in the creation of programs to support their use by youth, families and community-based organizations. The Camping Leadership Immersion Course, a program developed by the FPCC with support from OEN, provides a dynamic and affordable way to enrich the lives of young people through outdoor recreation and education. The goal of the CLIC program in the Chicagoland area, and that of the other OEN supported initiatives nationwide, is to provide outdoor experiences to youth who don’t often access public lands and overnight camping.

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Posted on January 27, 2016

By The Adler Planetarium

Discover new worlds, engage in eye-opening experiments and play next to Lake Michigan this summer during an Adler Planetarium summer camp!
The Adler Planetarium offers a variety of unique summer day camp experiences for children ages 3 through 16. Young space and technology enthusiasts alike will have the opportunity to spend part of their summer exploring space, using telescopes, building rockets, seeing immersive sky shows, programming robots, exploring exhibits, launching high altitude balloons, and much, much more.
Adler’s summer camps introduce kids, teens, and tweens to doing science while engaging their creativity. Children are invited to participate in these unique, memorable experiences during one or more summer camps at the Adler. Registration opens Tuesday.

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Posted on January 26, 2016

By Helene Smith

Sign man.
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Posted on January 22, 2016

By The Adler Planetarium with The Beachwood Linking & Embedding Affairs Desk

The Adler Planetarium is excited to announce the release of their newest sky show set to open on May 28th. The sky show, still to be titled, will explore the largest of Pluto’s neighbors in the Kuiper belt and invites visitors to join in the hunt for a new ninth planet.
The observable universe is more than 90 billion light-years across, and most of it is empty space. For centuries, astronomers have used math and physics to light the way. Decades before Clyde Tombaugh first observed Pluto, astronomers Percival Lowell and William Henry Pickering had predicted the existence of a mysterious Planet X in the same celestial neighborhood.

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Posted on January 21, 2016

By The Adler Planetarium

Mardi Gras is a huge celebration marked with festive street parties, masked balls, and lots of colorful beads. But why should the party begin and end on this planet? It’s about time we take the festivities further into our Solar System and celebrate Mars.
On February 6th, we’re saying goodbye to Earth and heading to Mars for a once-in-a-lifetime event. Guests will be transported to the Red Planet, masquerade as the first Martians, and experience first-hand what it would be like to live, work, and play on Mars. Join us on this once in a lifetime Mars-di Gras mission and let the good times rove!

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Posted on January 19, 2016