Here's what we're reading today:
One Book, One Chicago Comes to the Big Screen: Back in 2010, reporter Patty Wetli was one of thousands of Chicagoans who picked up a copy of "Brooklyn" as part of the city's One Book, One Chicago program. The film adaptation of "Brooklyn" has just hit the big screen and the New York Times has an illuminating interview with the movie's lead actress, Saoirse Ronan.
Ronan grew up in Ireland but has since moved to London for work, a situation that not only parallels the character she plays "Brooklyn" but speaks to an experience so many immigrants share. The homesickness, "Brooklyn" director John Crowley tells her, never goes away: “You’re not from the country you’re living in, however great that is. When you go home you’re no longer from that place either. And people view you differently, and you view them differently, and it’s all different. And you can’t tell why.”
Will Chicago's Gangs Resort to Cannibalism?: Senior Editor Justin Breen is horrified by the comments earlier this year from televangelist Jim Bakker. When talking to preacher Rick Wiles about the potential return of an Ice Age, Bakker urged viewers to stock up on food in part because the gangs in America's big cities, including Chicago, would begin to eat the people they kill.
“New York, Chicago, all of your big cities, will be Hell,” Bakker said. “The gangs will take what they want. They will kill to take what they want. Then then they will start eating bodies of the people they kill.”
Holes in the World Wide Web: Next time you get frustrated with your computer's download speed, chew on this — more than one-third of Mississippi's population lacks broadband service at home. Writing for Wired, W. Ralph Eubanks traces the political and socio-economic forces that have landed the state on the wrong side of the digital divide. "The Land That the Internet Age Forgot" is a powerful reminder of the pervasiveness of inequality. Among Eubanks' most telling vignettes: The Ground Zero Blues Club, co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman, is a popular attraction in rural Clarksdale, Miss. Tourists come from far and wide to visit the club — not to listen to the music but because it's the rare place they can get a wi-fi connection.
Rahm's Staff Defends His Eavesdroppers: NBC 5's Mary Ann Ahern posted a selfie with one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's spokeswomen whose job it was to shadow the reporter to see whom she interviews. A WBEZ reporter followed up on this journalist shadow practice after experiencing a few eavesdropping experiences of her own over the past few weeks. While interviewing Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24th), Lauren Chooljian noticed one of Rahm's snoopers leaning in. A week later, the same thing happened while she was interviewing Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd). The mayor's press office in response said the tactic was intended to help reporters to "make sure reporters have what they need..."
What the heck just happened at Mizzou? An interactive timeline: The University of Missouri system's President, Tim Wolfe, and Chancellor of the Columbia, Mo. campus, both resigned Monday amid protest from African-American students including a strike by football players. While the story went national amid the racially charged protests, The Maneater, "the official, independent student news source of the University of Missouri" created an interactive timeline showing the controversy has been building for months and was much more than black-and-white. The timeline shows issues beginning in August such as protests of graduate student health care cuts, rallies for Planned Parenthood, controversy over a Thomas Jefferson statue along with "racism lives here" protests.
Aon Center has room for a view: The Aon Center, the third-tallest building in Chicago, plans a new observatory overlooking Grant Park, reporter David Matthews is reading in Crain's. The decision arrives after the 83-story tower, 200 E. Randolph St., sold to a New York investor this year for $712 million. The observatory would follow those of other notable Chicago skyscrapers: Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center, but unlike Willis or Big John, the Aon tower has protected park and lake views. Early plans also call for a sky-high bar/restaurant.
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