A fair amount of the reaction to University of Missouri student protesters’ demand for a “safe space” that’s free from journalists boils down to a contemptuous What don’t these people understand about the First Amendment? I’ve seen this point made more than once by graduates (I’m one) of the university’s famous school of journalism. A second reaction (see columnist Jonah Goldberg’s reference to “delicate little flowers”) has been What don’t these babies understand about growing up?...

Brian Jackson/Sun-Times Media Sixth Ward alderman Roderick Sawyer says violence would drop if he and other aldermen were put in charge of a city jobs program. Last week Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed tough new regulations for gun shops in Chicago, including a requirement that they videotape all sales. The mayor framed the plan as part of his ongoing attack on the violence that continues to shake the city and make international headlines....

“Nerds, we’ve got a show!” So says Wil Wheaton in the premiere episode of The Wil Wheaton Project (henceforth TWWP), which is SyFy’s foray into the clip show territory of Tosh.0 and The Soup. Because you can’t have too many clip shows (thank you very much, Rob Dyrdek). There’s a bit of a twist, as indicated by the Wheaton quote above: it’s a clip show, but by and for nerds —or geeks, if you prefer or insist (let’s please just not fight about it)....

Michael Schmidt/Sun-Times Mayor Emanuel answers questions Wednesday at a press conference outside the Shedd Aquarium. Illinois should follow Chicago’s example and ease up on marijuana, Mayor Emanuel told a General Assembly committee Tuesday. That part of his testimony got the lion’s share of media attention, but the mayor’s other drug proposal was more significant. But whatever the motive, the proposal is a welcome one. Illinois is stingy on social service but extravagant on prosecuting drug addicts....

As the first snowfalls of winter pummel our work-weary faces, it’s difficult to keep in mind that Chicago can be a safe haven, a destination for refugees, a warm and comforting environment for folks escaping the ravages of poverty and government oppression and war. Some felt it viscerally this week, as American border officials fired tear gas canisters at toddlers during an otherwise peaceful march by asylum seekers at the Mexican border....

QI’m a twentysomething married trans guy in an openish marriage. In the online hunt for a guy to have some aboveboard under-the-sheets fun with, I run into snags because I’m trans (I disclose on my profile) and because I’m married. I’m baby-stepping my way toward an offline search for guys, going to events hosted by the local gay pride center. I’ve been thinking of not wearing my wedding ring at these meetups, as I worry it says I’m taken and off-limits....

The sun is setting earlier each day and festival season is drawing to a close. But that doesn’t mean this week isn’t packed with a slew of great events. Here’s some of what we recommend: Mon 9/18: Randi Wallace has had quite the journey: marriage led her to realize that she was queer and needed a divorce. Her solo show The Secret Life of a Lesbian Ex-Wife at the Annoyance Theatre (851 W....

We had a lovely summer, didn’t we? The world was spiraling down a planet-size shit funnel of humanity’s own making, but at least it was warm, breezy, and sunny in Chicago. During the last sweet breaths of the season I ate at the Kennison, the new restaurant in the Hotel Lincoln, and I took every opportunity to order the fantastic corn we were blessed with this year. It was the culinary analogue to Nero’s fiddle....

Q: My partner and I have been playing with male chastity devices. We’ve been considering going to a strip club while his cock is caged up and getting him lap dances. Is there some etiquette for this with the dancers? Do we let the dancer know before she is on his lap? Or do we not mention it? Is it rude to get a dancer involved at all? I’ve not yet found an etiquette guide for this situation....

Donald Trump vilified immigrants during his presidential campaign and has continued to do so since being sworn into office, signing executive orders that target undocumented immigrants, among other measures. As federal immigration officials emboldened by Trump’s executive orders seek out and detain undocumented immigrants, their communities are experiencing an increase in fear that can impact their health. An estimated 307,000 undocumented immigrants lived in Cook County as of 2014, according to a report commissioned by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights....

Q: After spending some years in the doldrums after having kids, my husband and I are now enjoying hot kinky sex and the occasional free pass to fuck other people. We couldn’t be happier. I have a friend who was extremely keen for me to cage his cock with the same kind of locking male-chastity device I got for my husband—a fixed-ring stainless-steel type. I have two questions: (1.) It took some maneuvering to get my husband’s balls through one by one, followed by his cock, but he managed....

Guitarist Mary Halvorson has always been open about her influences and like many musicians her age—she turns 35 today—rock has been a huge part of her early listening. She’s certainly the first jazz musician whom I ever interviewed to profess her adoration for Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich. She’s played in rock-leaning projects, like her spazzy band with drummer Kevin Shea called People, but her rock side has come out in her jazz playing in less obvious ways....

This is better than U2’s new album. The backlash around U2’s 13th album continues in the week since Apple slipped Songs of Innocence into roughly 500 million iTunes’ users libraries free of charge. New Yorker pop critic Sasha Frere-Jones said the band shouldn’t “shove your music into people’s homes”; the Washington Post‘s Chris Richards called it “rock-and-roll as dystopian junk mail”; Odd Future leader Tyler, the Creator said finding the album on his iPhone was, “Like waking up with pimples or herpes....

Best of Enemies is a movie about television—specifically, the short debates between liberal novelist Gore Vidal and conservative magazine editor William F. Buckley that were broadcast live on ABC during nightly news coverage of the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions in 1968. Vidal and Buckley loathed and disrespected each other, and each took it as his moral responsibility to drive the other from the public square. Their endless onscreen needling, still preserved on videotape, climaxed during the chaos of the Chicago Democratic convention when Vidal called Buckley a “crypto-Nazi” and Buckley replied, “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered....

Lately ShowYouSuck, the Cool Kids, and Mick Jenkins’s DJ, Green Sllime, have been dipping their toes into TV—and the medium has also inspired Chicago hip-hop group ThemPeople. The collective’s fingerprints are all over the work of several buzzing local rappers, including that of the scene’s undisputed prince. So when Chance the Rapper won three Grammys on Sunday—which provoked Chicagoans to start poring over their digital archives so they could brag about their connections to him—I looked back on the feature I wrote right before he dropped Acid Rap and remembered ThemPeople’s contributions to his career....

About a year ago, former President Barack Obama included “Butterfly Effect” by Travis Scott on a list of his favorite songs of 2017. It’s crazy to think back to a time when we had a president who—along with not being the worst person to walk the earth—had really good taste in music and culture. It’s also amazing to consider how much time and work was put into Scott’s third official studio album, August’s Astroworld....

The sixth annual Chicago Independent Movies & Music Festival kicks off next Thursday, and it’s got a killer live music lineup. There are plenty of shows that have piqued my interest, including local sound artist J.R. Robinson (aka Wrekmeister Harmonies) doing a live score for a 1922 European silent horror film called Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages; Tim Kinsella, Marvin Tate, and Leroy Bach performing tracks from an excellent 2013 LP that bears their name, with Willis Earl Beal opening for them; and on Fri 5/2 at the Double Door local hip-hop label Closed Sessions is hosting a showcase headlined by independent LA duo Blu & Exile, and colorful local MCs Alex Wiley and ShowYouSuck are opening it....

About two dozen people gathered in a community arts space in West Town on Saturday morning for a workshop titled “Alternatives to Calling Police During Mental Health Crises.” The training was hosted by Make Yourself Useful—a group “committed to actively fortifying POC-led racial justice movements”—and led by abolitionist organizers from disability rights group Nothing About Us Without Us and the People’s Response Team. Armed with statistics about the deadliness of police encounters for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, and a familiarity with the depth—or lack thereof—of police Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, the organizers introduced attendees to a variety of strategies for helping people experiencing a crisis to cope with it without dialing 911....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then security officer Vickie Gould, 59, really had a lot to say with her look. “I need a little happiness right now because I just got discharged from my job,” she said. “Emojis are just part of me; they mean being happy, different, and noticeable....

Talk about a lousy way to spend your birthday. On Labor Day, Stephanie Reid was biking along the lakefront to 12th Street Beach, where she planned to meet up with friends to celebrate turning 30. Near Adler Planetarium she wiped out on a patch of slippery, algae-covered concrete, winding up with a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, and some nasty road rash. Now she’s calling on the Chicago Park District to take steps to prevent similar mishaps—or worse—from happening to other folks....