“Fighting words: Checking in on the sass and spirit of the city’s open-mic battlegrounds
Hiss, grunt, snap—become well-versed”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: On the Town
Date: April 4, 2008
Eternal poet laureate of Illinois Carl Sandburg said it from the jump of the 20th Century: My city can kick your city’s butt. Just listen to the rusting, hulking lilt of Sandburg’s “Chicago Poems” and you can hear a city set to brawl, a pugilist ready to hit the mark and make his name.
Category: Writing
“Black Moth drawn to the light of a psychedelic, self-indulgent night”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: Tempo
Date: Monday, March 31, 2008
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: Arts & Entertainment
Date: March 2, 2008
“Latin entertainment offers plenty of options nowadays: Spanish karaoke, indie-rock dance parties, drag shows”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: On the Town front cover
Date: February 29, 2008
“A Latin American plaza springs up in Chicago”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: On the Town
Date: January 25, 2008
“Here’s how Cuba manages to span North America”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: On the Town
Date: January 25, 2008
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: Tempo
Date: Monday, November 26, 2007
Jay Fliegelman, Coe Professor in American Literature at Stanford University, was my teacher once during my brief career as a PhD student in English. His seminar, “History as Literary Art,” was my favorite class, though I took my master’s degree and fled the Farm after two very difficult years.
I was sad to see his obituary in an alum newsletter reporting that he passed in Menlo Park on August 14, at 58 years old.
