“Usually I’m the torturer,” says 16-year-old Kristen Brooks. “This is the first time I’m being tortured.”

March 20, the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War. Brooks, a Mother McAuley High School student, is participating in a protest against waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique that the Bush administration claims is within the limits of the Geneva conventions, but which many condemn as torture.
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Ice cream can satisfy a sweet-tooth craving, but for a Chicago couple, this frozen treat is the answer to a much deeper desire—they want to make enough money so they can run a large non-profit of their own. “The facility has been a dream for years,” says Renee Richardson, who manages the new South Loop Marble Slab Creamery with her husband, Glen. The decision to manage the franchise was based solely on their urge to help others. “It was time to get focused,” she says. The couple will donate twenty percent of profits from the shop to their charities, one of which Renee founded and helps run for women and teenage girls. They plan to build a “mega-facility” with an educational space to teach the women of Renee’s charity, as well as open a prisoner rehabilitation center. And it doesn’t hurt, Renee says, that she likes the ice cream.

One of the most impressive buildings in Chicago’s recent history was unveiled last week, much to the delight of organizers as well as those in attendance. After witnessing the magnificent façade of the Spertus Institute’s new facility for months, it can now be confirmed that it more than lives up to the expectations set by its challenging exterior. Designed by the highly touted Kreuck + Sexton Architects, the firm which also designed the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park, the ten-story building is not only beautiful but also environmentally friendly, as it is LEED certified. Read the rest of this entry »

Amidst the recent rise in popularity of Mapquest and the overwhelmingly intricate Google Earth, the Field Museum’s simply titled “Maps” sets out to show that maps were once hand-written and delightfully flawed. Historical heavy-hitters like Charles Lindberg’s New York-to-Paris flight chart and J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginary depiction of Minas Tirith highlight the exhibit, but nearly all the pieces exist within their own subjective realm. Read the rest of this entry »