CHICAGO — Do you have an Election Day hangover? Us too. We're distracting ourselves with these stories.
Spin with Gaga: New-agey spin class SoulCycle is coming to Chicago, and Chicago Magazine writes that for $1,000, you can work out next to Lady Gaga on April 21. Or, in the same room as Lady Gaga. A seat next to her will run you $2,500. All the proceeds go to Mother Monster's charity, the Born This Way Foundation. In case you're on the fence about whether the $1k is worth it, note that Gaga's mom will also be in the class.
(Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Is Blue the Color of Death? "Mad Men" is back and for hardcore fans of the show that means Wednesday's "Mad Style" posts from fashion bloggers Tom & Lorenzo (aka, TLo) are back too. The duo analyze everything from Peggy's prints to Joan's necklaces to Roger's porn-tastic mustache with an attention to detail that astounds. Does costume designer Janie Bryant really use clashing colors to signal discord between characters? Does Don's switch from white to blue dress shirts really mean he's going to die? We don't know, but reporter Patty Wetli thinks it's hella fun to theorize and speculate along with TLo.
Woo-Oops, Woo-Oops: Senior editor Andrew Herrmann finds a Chicago angle in a Washington Post profile of two founders of a proposed bobblehead museum in Milwaukee. To raise money, they have developed a special line of the toys, including a Ronnie "Woo-Woo" Wickers doll modeled after the polarizing Cubs fan. The bobbleheads cost $5 to make, they sell for $20 and Wickers get a buck. Writes Post reporter Geoff Edgars: "Sell enough and you make money. Order too many, you've got a garage full of Ronnie 'Woo Woos.' So far, only 1,500 of the 5,000 have sold." One of the museum founders allows, "We probably made too many. That was a learning experience."
South Side Bees: Who knew that the South Side of Chicago was such an ideal habitat for honey bees? Sam Cholke is reading in the South Side Weekly about beekeepers from Hyde Park to Pullman who are finding the city, with it's low levels of herbicides and pesticides that can stunt country bees, is an increasingly lush habitat for honey bees. Apiaries are sprining up across the South Side and increasingly available classes are making the hobby more accessible as urban farming continues to gain in popularity.
A new campus meal plan: David Matthews is reading in the Wall Street Journal that more colleges are opening food pantries as the number of low-income students (and college costs) rise. More than 200 institutions of higher education have linked up with local food banks to offer students free food post-recession, the Journal reports. The trend coincides with tuition at four-year public universities rising 25 percent since 2007. Meanwhile, nearly 20 percent of students in the University of California system hail from families making less than $26,000 annually, up from 13 percent in 2008. “We have students receiving full aid, but then sleeping in somebody’s car because they could not afford to pay rent,” UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said.
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