By reconnecting to his indigenous culture, rapper and activist Frank Waln (BA ’14) found a sense of purpose. Now, he hopes to help other Native youth do the same. Waln grew up on a ranch on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, one of the largest and poorest reservations in the country. “The reservation where…

Impossibly gorgeous models lounge, pose and twirl on a rosy, early-morning beach in a video ad for the 2015 swim line of Victoria’s Secret. But this video isn’t just for looks. As you tap on one model’s zebra-printed bikini, a number 1 pops up, then quickly disappears. Tapping on a flowing white halter top elicits a…

On the silver screen, a director’s handiwork can’t be missed, but “editing is invisible,” says Peter Teschner (’80), whose 40-plus film credits include The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), Charlie’s Angels (2000), Borat (2006) and Horrible Bosses (2012). As a film editor, Teschner moves the story forward and provides seamless transitions from scene to scene. For…

Odom’s company WeDeliver turns everyday Chicagoans into drivers for local businesses.

“I feel like I’m imparting to the next generation empowerment, encouragement, a space to identify with who they are.”

“As dance and psychology ran parallel in my life, I learned to combine them.”

At least five days a week, Jay Bonansinga (MA ’88) gets up in the morning and puts on a jacket and tie. But he doesn’t leave home. Instead, he begins writing—hammering out at least 1,250 words—some six daily pages that lead to a novel in four months. The workmanlike pace serves the author well. In…

Lee Bey (BA ’88) was sweating it out on a May day in 2001. Less than three weeks into his job as Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s deputy chief of staff, Bey found himself informing a room full of prized architects and Chicago Bears owners that the boss wanted a new football stadium to be…

An inventory of the shelves at Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities on Chicago’s North Side sounds like a mad scientist’s shopping list. A broken rocking horse, a tray of antique dental tools, a mask shaped like a teddy bear, a human skull under a bell jar, a taxidermic giraffe’s head donning a humongous red necktie:…