Morning Shift

From the apartment where ‘Child’s Play’ was filmed to a motel with a sandwich bed, here’s a tour of 25 Chicago-area places with remarkable stories.

Morning Shift speaks with writer Ben Austen spent seven years chronicling some of those lives and tracing the long history of Cabrini Green for his new book High Risers: Cabrini Green and the Fate of American Public Housing.

Looking at a building’s architecture offers a glimpse into a different time. The style, purpose, and location can show how a neighborhood has changed over the years. The 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial aims to bring together that rich history with insights and ideas for the future with this year’s theme: “Make New History.” An element of this year’s Biennial is extending exhibitions, performances, and discussions past the Loop with six anchor museums around the city. One of those is the DuSable Museum of African American art where Chicago: A Southern Exposure opens Friday. It highlights the architecture south of Roosevelt Road through the photos of Lee Bey. Lee details the project for us and talks about his new role at the Museum.

If you want to be brilliant, you’ve got to let yourself be bored. “Boredom” and “brilliance” are two words that normally don’t go together, but there’s a strong argument that embracing those seemingly dull moments in our lives can spark creativity. Morning Shift gets tips from Manoush Zomorodi, author of the new book, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self, on the importance of putting aside our digital devices and letting our minds wander.

Chicago Public Schools students head back Tuesday. But one part of the city’s population will be less visible in the halls. An analysis from Chicago Metropolitan Planning Council shows that enrollment of African-American students is at an all time low since 1998. We talk to MPC’s Alden Loury who breaks down the numbers and explains some of the reasons for the drop.

The penultimate season of Game of Thrones has come to a close. If you’re a fan of the show, what did you like or not like about what just happened? What do you think will happen next year when HBO rolls out the final 6 episodes? Greta Johnson and Peter Sagal of WBEZ’s Nerdette recaps join us to, simply put, nerd out about Sunday’s season finale and give their predictions for the series wrap in 2018.

Morning Shift talks to a Navy recruiter and a new sailor about questions and concerns that come up as military enlistees transition into their new jobs.

The first year of college can be daunting for anyone: being away from home, adjusting to a more challenging curriculum, fitting in, and how much money will it all cost you and/or your parents. Add to those, issues like homelessness, undocumented immigration status, and even violence-related trauma, and a college education can seem impossible. Those are issues some students at Arrupe College face. Part of the Loyola University Chicago system, it offers a two year program that it hopes will be a springboard to more higher education for its students. Much of the work and philosophy of the school comes from Fr. Stephen Katsouros, the Dean of Arrupe College. He joins Morning Shift to tell the school’s story, which is the subject of his book, Come to Believe:How the Jesuits Are Reinventing Education (Again).

Chicago may be the home of the Blues but it’s also the birthplace of dozens of iconic hip-hop artists. Often overlooked in the national conversation about the history of hip-hop, Chicago’s hip-hop roots go almost all the way to the birth of the genre. The home of Kanye, Common, Chief Keef, Lupe Fiasco, and Chance the Rapper, there’s something about Chicago that pushes the boundaries of hip-hop. We talk to Che “Rhymefest” Smith and Ryan Brockmeier, director of the documentary Midway: The Story Of Chicago Hip-Hop.

Charlottesville, Va., this weekend became a scene of violence stemming from a clash of politics and ideology. Rally goers identifying as “white nationalists” met to protest the scheduled removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Counter-protestors confronted the rally, and events turned deadly when a man others allege is a Nazi sympathizer ran his car into a crowd. We speak with Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi who co-founded a non-profit called Life After Hate, about why he’s not surprised this continues to happen. We also check in with Mrinalini Chakraborty, an activist who organized vigils around Chicago.

A year after journalist Jamie Kalven brought to light the details of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald’s killing, he is now pulling back the curtain on how whistleblowers in the Chicago Police Department face backlash. A four-part series in The Intercept points to the department’s alleged “code of silence” for the reason that internal corruption in the department goes unchecked. We talk to Kalven about what he learned while immersed in the lives of two cops who tried to put an end to a corruption ring of drugs, money and killing, all perpetrated by one of their own.

A year after journalist Jamie Kalven brought to light the details of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald’s killing, he is now pulling back the curtain on how whistleblowers in the Chicago Police Department face backlash. A four-part series in The Intercept points to the department’s alleged “code of silence” for the reason that internal corruption in the department goes unchecked. We talk to Kalven about what he learned while immersed in the lives of two cops who tried to put an end to a corruption ring of drugs, money and killing, all perpetrated by one of their own.

You probably know him better as Councilman Jamm from NBC’s Parks and Recreation, but now actor and comedian Jon Glaser is tapping into one of his real passions: gear. His new pseudo-reality show Jon Glaser Loves Gear airs this month on truTV where he’ll get into the best and worst gear he finds. The Morning Shift talks to Glaser about the show, his off-center brand of comedy and what makes this comedian laugh.

You probably know him better as Councilman Jamm from NBC’s Parks and Recreation, but now actor and comedian Jon Glaser is tapping into one of his real passions: gear. His new pseudo-reality show Jon Glaser Loves Gear airs this month on truTV where he’ll get into the best and worst gear he finds. The Morning Shift talks to Glaser about the show, his off-center brand of comedy and what makes this comedian laugh.

Photographer Mike MacDonald’s work has been published in books and major magazines. But his obsession is with the natural beauty found in the prairies, woods, and other wild places around Chicago. We talk to MacDonald about his new book, how he captures his incredible images, and his top picks for viewing the sweeping vistas and amazing details around the area that he believes can change your life.

Photographer Mike MacDonald’s work has been published in books and major magazines. But his obsession is with the natural beauty found in the prairies, woods, and other wild places around Chicago. We talk to MacDonald about his new book, how he captures his incredible images, and his top picks for viewing the sweeping vistas and amazing details around the area that he believes can change your life.

A leading voice in the Black Lives Matter movement, DeRay McKesson will now be teaching a seven-week Black Lives Matter seminar at the University of Chicago, where he is a fellow at the university’s Institute of Politics. DeRay McKesson joins us to talk about digital organizing and what he thinks can be the solutions to police violence against African Americans.

A leading voice in the Black Lives Matter movement, DeRay McKesson will now be teaching a seven-week Black Lives Matter seminar at the University of Chicago, where he is a fellow at the university’s Institute of Politics. DeRay McKesson joins us to talk about digital organizing and what he thinks can be the solutions to police violence against African Americans.