Phone Messages

In the nineteenth century, phone companies began training operators to speak with a telephone voice. These vocal techniques soon became expected of all callers, but women especially were told to discipline their tendencies to be shrill.

In 1997, the Chicago City Council exonerated Catherine O'Leary for the Great Fire of 1871. For the fire's 150 year anniversary, the Chicago Historical Society has an exhibit that includes the model painting for a grand Cyclorama of the fire displayed in 1892.

Party lines, where more the one home shared the same phone line, required a certain telephone etiquette. Although they were phased out in cities like Chicago by the 1980s, as late at 2000, thousands in the U.S. still shared a line with their neighbor.

Democratic Socialism has become increasingly popular among young people, in part thanks to Bernie Sanders, whose activist career can be traced back to his time as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago.

Mervin G. O`Melia was the first director of the Illinois Local Governmental Law Officers Training Board. His driving skills were otherworldly.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago produced great artists like Ray Yoshida, great rock bands like Shrimp Boat and an artist's colony on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

In the 1920s Major General George Owen Squier designed the technology for piping muzak into homes and businesses. Ray Conniff's orchestra perfected this easy listening sound.

College wrestling can be nasty. Only a few triumph, and even fewer go on to become head coaches at Division I schools.

In the 1990s Barack and Michelle Obama could often be found dining at a Hyde Park favorite, the Medici on 57th, whose owner Hans Morsbach was also a carpenter, tree farmer and author of a book on sustainable forestry.

Spring Break in Florida is not always hot young bodies partying on the beach.

The 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health dramatically increased public awareness of tobacco's deadly consequences. But over two decades later, smoking at the University of Chicago remained popular, especially at the Regenstein library.

When it opened in 1926 The Shoreland advertised itself as The World's Finest Residential Hotel. From 1976 to 2008, the University of Chicago used it as a dormitory.

From 1962 to 2000, Ciral's House of Tiki was a popular late night hangout in Hyde Park. Its former location is now occupied by a luxury apartment tower.

Prank calls continue to be popular even though most of us have the ability to filter unwanted solicitors with caller ID and voicemail.

In November of 1988, Grant Hart visited Chicago to see an exhibition of William S. Burroughs' Shotgun Paintings at the Klein Gallery and Prop Theater's adaptation of The Last Words of Dutch Schultz.

Sometime around the release of the William S Borroughs album Dead City Radio, the Chicago based ensemble Nihilator, performed a piece inspired by the story Ah Pook the Destroyer.

In the 1980s Fakir Musafar helped popularize body modification. By 2017, 38 percent of young people ages 18 to 29 had at least one tattoo.

Ken Dunn, founder of Hyde Park's Resource Center, purchased a building at 61st and Blackstone to redistribute discarded goods. In the 2000s, as the Experimental Station, the same building became home to diverse community activities, including a union drive.

Ohio State has a notorious history of overenthusiastic football fans, especially when it comes to their rivalry with Michigan.

A high school disaster proves fruitful for a course on orality and narrative with Professor James Fernandez.

After the destruction of Flytown, the Short North became the name for the area just short of the Ohio State campus and north of downtown Columbus. Mike's Grill is the oldest bar in the neighborhood, and at one time had a very rough reputation.

A PK is a Pastor's Kid. A PGK is a Pastor's Grandkid. A Super PGK has grandparents and great grandparents as Ministers and Divinity School Professors.

A frequent trope in movies and TV shows, is for someone to give a potential suitor a fake phone number as a way to avoid further contact. One must be careful not to write the number on something of value.

Living in the city sometimes means dealing with neighbors whose music might be great at a club, but not so great coming from an adjacent apartment.

Before phone books emerged in the late nineteenth century, many U.S. towns had city directories. In recent years, cell phones and the internet have made printed directories obsolete.

In the 1960s Pierre Capretz developed his technique of mixing illustrations and movie clips into his classroom. In 1987, his method was realized in the TV series French In Action, which continues to have dedicated fans.

The WHPK DJ Arkansas Red is one of many quirky characters in a possible future Wes Anderson film.

Disneyland opened in 1955. Although it is not the oldest theme park, its position within a media empire helped create the power of its myth.

In 1920, the United States ratified the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. A growing number of women also attend college and join literary societies, where intellectual clashes could be intense.

The first radio soap opera was probably Painted Dreams, which began on WGN radio in 1930. The daytime soap reached its peak in 1981, when millions tuned in to watch the wedding of Luke and Laura on General Hospital.

The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 brought widespread destruction and many deaths, but some who survived found it thrilling.

Like George in the Seinfeld episode "The Burning," sometimes you feel there's nothing more to say.

In the fall of 1989, Marshall Sahlins taught a class titled Structure and History with a level of humor comparable to his brother's Second City Theater.

The sitcom Sanford and Son starred Redd Foxx as a Junk Dealer in the Watts neighborhood of L.A. A year after its premiere, Sly and The Family Stone released the album Fresh, whose songs can still inspire cheer on the subway.

Although attachment to material things causes suffering, sometimes a pair of clogs can bring happiness, at least temporarily.

Although the Film Forum lacked a listing in the New York Times for the second week of September 1989, Ingmar Bergman's Persona was likely shown there on Friday the fifteenth.

Artists have often struggled for time dedicated to their craft while being forced to earn a living. A Universal Basic Income could resolve this conflict.

The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and soon afterwards ATW Magazine, founded by Düsseldorf based artist Jårg Geismar, published images to celebrate German reunification.

The sale of vinyl records surpassed CDs in 2020 for the first time since 1986 as listeners find new appreciation for the visual delight of album cover art.

The National Ski Areas Association likes to emphasize that catastrophic ski injuries happen less than 1 in a million visits to the slopes. But a study from The Colorado Sun found an average of 10 skiers or snowboarders transported to emergency rooms each day during ski season.

Food a la Floyd was a series that ran on the Lifetime Channel from May to October 1989. It starred Keith Floyd, who made his first cooking series for the BBC in 1984 and continued to make new shows until his death in 2009.

Thirty four years ago I took a painting class with Vera Klement, but only a few fragmented memories of the experience remain.

In 1991, the University of Chicago ranked number 10 in U.S. News and World Report's list of top universities. Two years later it ranked at the bottom of Inside Edge Magazine's survey of schools where students have fun.

In July of 1989, The University of Chicago hosted Spike Lee for a preview of his film Do The Right Thing. The film's acclaim renewed interest in his earlier work, including Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, which he made as a student at NYU.

Even before the pandemic forced us into isolation, some worried we faced a loneliness epidemic. Surveys have shown we have fewer close confidants, and some scholars argue that new media technology limits our ability to connect. Other research has challenged the handwringing about isolation and suggested the impact of social media is more complicated.

In 1991, Arnold Schwarzenegger made a guest appearance on the Saturday Night Live sketch Pumping Up with Hans and Franz. Charles Atlas, legendary bodybuilder from an earlier era, appealed to kids with a comic strip story of sandy revenge.

In 1989, only one in four U.S. households owned an answering machine. A decade later, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! began offer a prize of Carl Kasell's voice on contestants' answering machines.

Inspired in part by New Orleans greats like Sidney Bechet, members of The Hall Brothers performed at The Emporium of Jazz from 1966 to 1991.

Rural Illinois may lack microbrews, but The Barrel Society in Princeton specializes in craft beers and whiskey. A small midwestern town was also home to an engineer who designed the modern sealed bicycle hub.

In 1975 The Foundation for the Community of Artists published a Health Hazards Manual, an early effort to warn painters about the risks of poor ventilation. Another risk involved being stranded somewhere in Chicago after midnight without a ride home.