Tag Archives: Urban Culture

INTERVIEW / Jonah Raskin : Fred Klonsky and the Chicago Teachers’ Strike

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Chicago teachers on strike. Photo by Fred Klonsky / The Rag Blog.An interview with Fred Klonsky:Chicago teachers in red and on strike If the city of Chicago wins this strike it will very likely give the green light to big … Continue reading →

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Jay D. Jurie : Gotham and the Real World

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Aurora, Colorado:Gotham and the real world Particularly when the economy is in decline and the political environment is in disarray, these suburbs lend themselves to what Thoreau called ‘lives of quiet desperation.’ By Jay D. Jurie | The Rag Blog … Continue reading →

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BOOKS / Ron Jacobs : David Harvey’s ‘Rebel Cities’

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Living for the city:David Harvey’s ‘Rebel Cities‘ This is a radical book. Its discussion ranges from the workings of the monopoly rent system and the nature of neoliberal capitalism to a call to take back the city. By Ron Jacobs … Continue reading →

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Corey Hill : A Cultural Revolution in Struggling Detroit?

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Thorne Dreyer

D-Town Farm in Detroit. Image from Hello Ms.Detroit.Reimagining Detroit:Urban gardens and green economymark seismic cultural shift By Corey Hill / AlterNet / March 22, 2011 DETROIT — On February 16, Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder signed into law a sweeping emergency … Continue reading →

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David P. Hamilton : On the Road in France

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

French road sign warns of curves ahead. Photo from photoguide.cz.On the road in France:A different approach to getting around …you will often find yourself passing through villages where the road shrinks to one lane to be shared with pedestrians, bicycles, … Continue reading →

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Photographer Roy DeCarava : ‘The Sound I Saw’

Posted on October 31, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Photographer Roy DeCarava. Photo by triggahappy76 / Flickr.Roy DeCarava : 1919-2009 Photographer Roy DeCarava, who died Oct. 27 at age 89, dedicated his 60-year career to capturing images of African Americans. His subjects ranged from daily life in his hometown … Continue reading →

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Glenn W. Smith : Coyote Nation

Posted on September 21, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Our wily neighbor. Photo by Scott Stewart / AP. You know why coyotes do so well? Because they are not ideologues. By Glenn W. Smith / The Rag Blog / September 21, 2009 Coyotes have come to the city. I … Continue reading →

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Jonathan Franzen : ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’

Posted on August 23, 2008 by Thorne Dreyer

Skull-with-cell-phone by Spazmat in downtown New York City. Photo by Ivan Corsa. /Global GraphicaCell phones, sentimentality, and the decline of public space.By Jonathan Franzen This article appears in full in the September/October 2008 issue of Technology Review. One of the … Continue reading →

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Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Thorne Dreyer

‘Lovers of apathy and irony, hipsters are connected through a global network of blogs and shops’By Douglas Haddow We’ve reached a point in our civilization where counterculture has mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum. So while hipsterdom is the end … Continue reading →

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CITIES : Trading Places

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Thorne Dreyer

The Angel of Gentrification.The demographic inversion of the American cityby Alan Ehrenhalt Thirty years ago, the mayor of Chicago was unseated by a snowstorm. A blizzard in January of 1979 dumped some 20 inches on the ground, causing, among other … Continue reading →

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FILM : Mackenzie’s "The Exiles" Explores A Forgotten Urban Culture

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Thorne Dreyer

Tommy Reynolds (right) in Kent Mackenzie’s “The Exiles.” Still from Milestone Films.All-night party in a lost cityBy Andrew O’Hehir / July 10, 2008 In the late 1950s, a USC filmmaking student named Kent Mackenzie began hanging out with the community … Continue reading →

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