Captain Composer // Kimo Williams // Buffalo Soldiers Photograph by Katrina Wittkamp Kimo Williams It happened 36 years ago and 13,000 miles away, but James “Kimo” Williams remembers as if it were yesterday. As a young combat engineer in Lai Khe, Vietnam, he was on guard duty one night, and he thought he saw an … Read more
Gotta Dance // Keith Elliott and Harriet Ross // Dance for Life Photograph by Katrina Wittkamp Harriett Ross & Keith Elliott At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, with several of his friends dying, Keith Elliott looked for a way to battle the disease. A dancer with the Joseph Holmes Chicago … Read more
Past Finder // Julieanna Richardson // The Historymakers Photograph by Katrina Wittkamp Julieanna Richardson Though she recalls no overt racism from her childhood, as one of only 1,000 blacks in an Ohio town of about 50,000 people, Julieanna Richardson did feel as one apart. She remembers the day her white grade-school classmates, asked to describe … Read more
Bionic Man // Dr. Todd Kuiken // Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Photograph by Katrina Wittkamp Dr. Todd Kuiken As a high-school student in Twin Falls, Idaho, Todd Kuiken was fascinated by TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man. “I loved that show,” he recalls, “but I got a little sick of it by the time they … Read more
Tom Chambers is a young graduate of Harvard who recently scrapped his job as an actuary to make a living playing online poker. But a new law threatens his livelihood. Can he and others like him hold—or must they fold?
Turning 65, Rev. Jesse Jackson talks about his life, the Democrats, the biggest issues facing America today—and the role he plays in his son’s thriving political career
Is it a rocket ship? Was it a refueling station for German U-boats? Does it house a white whale? Those are just a few of the bizarre rumors that have swirled around the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette since its completion in 1953 (official answers: no, no, and no). But no matter what the … Read more
This winter’s utility bills present good news and bad news. The good news is that your gas bill should be noticeably smaller than last winter’s, thanks to a strong supply in storage and a mild hurricane season this fall. The bad news is that average electric bills are expected to increase. Here’s a look at … Read more
Chicago has always been known as a newspaper town. At its peak in the mid–19th century, 11 daily newspapers and 22 weeklies were published here. Now, of course, there are just two major dailies: the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times, both of them making news with their own troubles. Tribune Company (which owns Chicago magazine) … Read more
At age 24 , British author Martin Amis débuted with his comic novel The Rachel Papers. Nineteen books and umpteen story collections followed, plus two high-profile marriages, five children, and enough international gossip to make Paris Hilton weep. Now this 57-year-old “bad boy of English letters” has morphed into one of the most celebrated living … Read more
