Rick Kogan – Page 53 –

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix. Walter Tavis wrote the book that became the series and was a devoted chess player himself.

Column: The story behind ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ and other tales from author Walter Tevis

December 2, 2020 at 6:00 a.m.

I just finished "The Queen's Gambit." Big deal, you're thinking. Big deal, because that would make me just one of an estimated 62 million people and counting who have seen...

Cartoonist Rich Sparks holds one of his single-panel cartoons, or "gag panels," captioned "QUANTUM MECHANIC."

Column: Rich Sparks does drawings that make people laugh, and sometimes cringe. How’d you like a hand sandwich?

December 1, 2020 at 6:00 a.m.

Like a lot of young men with a dream, Rich Sparks arrived here aiming to become a star in the city's ever nurturing theater scene. "I had studied acting in...

Karen Wadden Mueller, a learning disabilities specialist, works virtually with a 57-year-old student named Andre as he learns to read on Nov. 12, 2020, in Chicago.

Meet a 57-year-old South Side man with a dream: ‘I want to be able to read a book before I die’

November 27, 2020 at 12:52 p.m.

For all their deprivations and frustrations, these locked-down days and nights have given some people the time and opportunity to fulfill their dreams and desires. I know a woman who...

Column: ‘Get Out Alive’ lives on, with musical artist Nikki Lynette’s stage triumph coming soon to small screens

November 23, 2020 at 1:33 p.m.

When the world came to a stop in March, Nikki Lynette was just getting started. In March she was in discussions with a couple of theaters, one here and one...

Erich "Mancow" Muller performs his high energy morning radio show at WLS 890 AM in Chicago, Thursday, May 2, 2019.

Mancow Muller is leaving WLS-AM morning radio. Ready instead for Mancow the mayor?

November 19, 2020 at 7:58 a.m.

It is time, at long last, to say goodbye to Mancow? Maybe, maybe not. This distinctive, polarizing but certifiably energetic (and for a time wildly popular) radio personality, real name...

Column: ‘Betrayal’ documentary shows a shocking one-sided case against Teamsters leader Bill Hogan, Jr.

November 16, 2020 at 4:52 p.m.

In the history of the labor movement, Chicago has played an important role. That history has been punctuated by sad and bloody chapters and it might do you some good...

An undated photo of Sally Rand during a rehearsal of her famous fan dance.

Column: A new book remembers the ‘American Sex Symbol’ Sally Rand, who created a scandal at Chicago’s World Fair

November 11, 2020 at 11:25 a.m.

My father — maybe some of your fathers too — told me stories about the remarkable things he saw at A Century of Progress, the world's fair held on Chicago's...

Actor Steve McQueen, left, and racer Carroll Shelby stand by McQueen's Ford-Cobra roadster on June 28, 1963, in Los Angeles.

Cooler than cool? There is no escaping the life, legacy and stardom of Steve McQueen.

November 11, 2020 at 6:27 a.m.

Actors spend much of their public lives speaking words written for them by others. Through those words, combined with some ever-mysterious physical alchemy, some of these actors become stars. A...

People celebrate in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood after former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was announced as the winner.

Jubilation, disappointment, wariness and hope: Chicagoans react to Joe Biden’s presumptive victory over President Donald Trump

July 5, 2022 at 9:23 a.m.

At his home in suburban Wood Dale — about 25 miles and a world away from the jubilant pro-Biden revelers who would soon flood the streets of downtown Chicago —...

A resident of Cabrini-Green works in her vegetable garden on July 9, 1974, in Chicago.

Column: Peter Keller once called Cabrini-Green home but ended up in prison. He says he ‘knows how to talk’ to today’s kids in trouble.

November 4, 2020 at 11:26 a.m.

It is a small and lovely little park, tucked behind the firehouse that sits on the corner of Armitage Avenue and Larrabee Street in the cozy and comfortable Lincoln Park...

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