#993: Death on Display (Or what’s the difference between a pickled punk and a pharaoh?)

October 15th, 2018 § permalink

I’m standing in a darkened room while soft, almost New Age music plays overhead. It’s relaxation-tape music, down to the odd moments of the simulated sounds of rainfall trickling around the carpet and glass.

I’m staring at a severed head. » Read the rest of this entry «

#945: The Chicago Corruption Walking Tour Book — A Hail Mary Pass with Dinosaurs

June 25th, 2018 § permalink

For the past two-ish years, I’ve been trying to find a publisher for a book version of the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour.

No dice.

So, in a sort of Hail Mary pass spurred by the fact the Field Museum moved SUE the T. rex out of the main hall so I have to find a new scene-setting bit for the intro anyway, here is the latest draft of the intro. Hopefully, it’ll whet your appetite to either take the tour or to say, “By gad, why I’m a publisher looking to find hot new properties that will appeal to adult nonfiction readers in the political science segment, the highest earner within Publisher Weekly’s History/Law/Political Science category, which saw 9.3 million unit sales in the first six months of 2017 — a 25 percent increase over the same six months in 2016! It makes great business sense to email this Paul fellow at 1001chicago@gmail.com!”

And if not, hey, at least you’re getting a fun read today. » Read the rest of this entry «

#888: The T. rex That Wasn’t

February 12th, 2018 § permalink

Her ass is gone and her ribs have been marked up, hand-writ tags dangling from each one like they’ve been priced for a yard sale.  » Read the rest of this entry «

#885: Finding Mercedes

February 5th, 2018 § permalink

She was a South American beauty, body born for the beach.

She cast her head around as her dark eyes scanned the room. All eyes were on her sleek form, the swivel and sway in her walk.

And her lateral nasal supraorbital gland used to expel bloodstream salt accumulated through the repeated ingestion of sea water as she pursued her diet of squid, krill and cuttlefish? Dang. » Read the rest of this entry «

#818: Tour de Chicago – Lakefront Encroachment

July 19th, 2017 § permalink

If all went according to plan, the wife and I are currently backpacking through Marseilles following the Tour de France and you’ve already taken bike routes through the history of newspapers and the LGBTQ community.

Now let’s talk about the lake. » Read the rest of this entry «

#793: Morning at the Field

May 22nd, 2017 § permalink

It was the quiet time at the Field Museum of Natural History, the first few minutes after the 9 a.m. opening on a gray, murky Sunday. » Read the rest of this entry «

#523: Prehistory

August 31st, 2015 § permalink

It’s the smell that gets you. Melting, burning plastic searing the air like the reek of an ‘80s perm.

The machine whirs and shakes, not enough to cause concern, but just enough to get the excitement going. It’s a giant, familiar console topped with a clear plastic bubble so you can see the gears and valves shift and move and shake. » Read the rest of this entry «

#262: Peace to 2013

December 30th, 2013 § permalink

Peace to the old man sipping drinks at the VFW bar.

And the bagpiper on the condo roof.

Peace to the newsman, chasing stories for cartoons.

Peace to the lady who jammed in Tunisia.

And peace to the one who makes really sexy ladies’ underthings. » Read the rest of this entry «

#124: The Smell of Naphthalene

February 11th, 2013 § permalink

“The name is magic,” Dr. Thayer told me as we walked through a gap she had cranked between two of the 80 aisles of dead beetles, roaches, flies and spiders. “So much of taxonomy depends on the name.” » Read the rest of this entry «

Where Am I?

You are currently browsing the Museum Campus category at 1,001 Chicago Afternoons.

  • -30-