Chicago’s LGBTQ+ library is a space for people to ‘find themselves in the shelves’
Thursday, June 26, 2025 • Duration 17:13
Early LGBTQ+ history can be hard to find. Photos, letters, literature and other artifacts have been destroyed or hidden away, in acts of homophobia, out of a fear of repercussions, and even by witting and unwitting family members.
“I think a lot of LGBTQ people, when they were passing away, their materials were being destroyed by family members that didn't understand them,” said Jen Dentel, the community outreach and strategic partnerships manager at Gerber/Hart, a large LGBTQ+ library and archive in Chicago. “And so having a space by us, for us, where we would collect and preserve the history became really important.”
As we learned in our last episode, some queer women boldly operated sapphic establishments in Chicago during the 1920s and ‘30s. However, there was very little written about these places. Often, the only evidence of their existence came in the form of old newspaper articles reporting on the sudden closure of these businesses at the hands of Chicago police.
In this episode, Dentel and Erin Bell, Gerber/Hart’s operations director, take us on a tour of this LGBTQ+ library and archive. They uncover archival treasures of the past, reveal unexpected moments in local gay history and explain the mission of the archive: to preserve queer history as a means of achieving justice and equality.
Where are the girls? A look at early lesbian nightlife in Chicago
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 • Duration 07:00
It’s not hard to find the LGBTQ+ hangouts in Chicago these days, but at one point it was. There’s a history of lesbian nightlife that goes back more than 100 years.
Yes, people really do win pledge drive giveaways at WBEZ
Thursday, June 19, 2025 • Duration 06:16
One Curious City listener was skeptical about whether real people actually win WBEZ’s pledge drive giveaways. They do. But there’s a little more to that answer. Plus, an economist who studies fundraising explains why people give money during pledge drives in the first place.
This episode was originally published on March 3, 2022.
Do people actually donate cars to public radio?
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 • Duration 05:00
An on-air spot soliciting car donations is a fixture of public radio, but do people actually donate? Yes, about 50 cars are donated a month.
There’s nature in Chicago. Go bathe in it.
Thursday, June 12, 2025 • Duration 15:04
“Forest bathing” is the exceptionally simple Japanese practice of taking a walk — or a seat — in the woods.
Why? For your health, of course!
In our last episode, we learned about Chicago’s urban forest — including the $416 million in benefits all those trees provide, in terms of energy cost savings, stormwater mitigation and air purification. Today, we’re taking advantage of that urban forest by taking a bath in it. (And no, there is no soap or water required.)
Our guide is the co-founder of The Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, Jeanette Banashak, who’s also a faculty member at Erikson Institute downtown.
Banashak has been leading forest bathing and nature companionship experiences for four years. She took Curious City to the Jarvis Bird Sanctuary on the North Side for what she called “a playful, slow, mindful, joyful walk [and] sit in the natural world.”
The goal of forest bathing is to disconnect from urban life, de-stress and connect with nature. Banashak said the practice is rife with health benefits, from lowering blood pressure to improving immune function and calming your parasympathetic nervous system. And although the practice does not require a guide, Banashak has a dream of training facilitators of these experiences to offer weekly sessions, year-round, on every side of the city.
Lucky for us, Chicago has plenty of parks, bird sanctuaries, and natural spaces in which you can forest bathe. So join us. All you need to do is make the time and press play.
Are healthy Chicago trees getting the ax?
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 • Duration 07:12
Some Chicagoans have noticed city workers cutting down seemingly healthy trees. Who is responsible, and why are they cutting down these trees?
‘Have you checked on your ancestors?’ This woman brings dignity to deceased Black Chicagoans
Thursday, June 5, 2025 • Duration 15:06
Tammy Gibson wants you to visit the gravesites of your deceased relatives.
“Have you checked on your ancestors?” said Gibson, the founder of Sankofa TravelHer, an organization dedicated to honoring the legacy of African-Americans who were often denied dignity in death.
As we learned last episode, Chicago’s long history of segregation affected both the living and the dead, as many area cemeteries once offered burial space “for the exclusive use of the Caucasian race.”
So where did African-Americans bury their loved ones in the 19th and early 20th centuries?
“From my research, African-Americans could not get buried in Chicago,” Gibson told Curious City. Instead, she said many African-Americans buried their dead in the South Suburbs, at cemeteries like Mount Glenwood in Glenwood, Ill., and later Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill.
In this episode, Gibson tells us about the people who first started these cemeteries and the notable people buried there. She talks about the work she does to continue honoring the deceased, including offering a reinterment ceremony years after the 2009 grave-stacking scandal at Burr Oak Cemetery. Gibson also works to get headstones for notable Chicagoans who do not have them. This includes Eugene Williams, whose death sparked the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, and journalist Ethel Payne from Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, who was known as the First Lady of the Black Press.
Exploring the segregated past of Chicago cemeteries
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 • Duration 06:57
Mayor Harold Washington is buried in a cemetery that was once for “whites only.” Protests and legislative fights desegregated area cemeteries.
What happened to Chicago's Japanese community?
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 • Duration 07:00
Lakeview once had a thriving Japanese community, but it fell victim to a push for assimilation. As one Japanese-American puts it: “You had to basically be unseen.”
Car towed? Listen to this on your way down to Chicago’s Central Auto Pound
Thursday, May 22, 2025 • Duration 10:28
If you’ve had your car towed in Chicago, there’s a decent chance you had to journey down to Lower Lower Wacker Drive — likely not in the best of moods — to open your wallet and recollect your vehicle.
“It's supposed to be a happy process,” said Michael Lacoco, the deputy commissioner of the city’s bureau of traffic services.
In our last episode, we answered some of your many questions about Lower Wacker Drive, a.k.a. Chicago’s basement. Today, we try to demystify a notorious Chicago landmark within: the Central Auto Pound.
Lacoco is a 33-year veteran of this department, the perfect person to help us on this journey. He explains why you shouldn’t try to steal your own car from the lot, why that white inventory number they draw on your window is so hard to wash off, and what you can do if you think you were wrongfully towed.
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