Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

We’re only a few weeks away from Chicago’s mayoral election, COVID-19 public health emergency declarations are set to end in May, and Beyoncé is coming to Chicago. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with WBEZ editor Alden Loury; Lorraine Forte, head of the editorial board for the Chicago Sun-Times; and Maxwell Evans, reporter for Block Club Chicago.

We’re taught from a young age that fatness and weight gain are inherently unhealthy. But research shows being fat is not itself unhealthy, and anti-fat bias is immeasurably harmful to our health. The Health At Every Size framework of care presents solutions. Reset digs into the barriers larger-bodied people face in medicine — and how that impacts every other part of their lives with Dr. Kate Johnson, interim chair of psychiatry at Loyola University, and Mikey Mercedes, writer and doctoral student at Brown University’s school of public health. Then Reset talks to Evette Dionne about her new memoir Weightless and confronting medical fatphobia.

The Sun-Times is celebrating its 75 years of informing Chicago-area readers this week. Since January 2022, it has been part of Chicago Public Media alongside WBEZ and Vocalo. Reset talks with Sun-Times staffers Neil Steinberg and Stefano Esposito about the paper’s past, present and future.

Ready for some hip-hopera? Reset talks with Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, director, dramaturg and co-book writer for The Factotum, a fresh spin on The Barber of Seville that takes place on the South Side of Chicago and highlights diverse voices and diverse life experiences in a way that’s often missing from the genre of opera.

There are currently no federal U.S. laws that protect people from weight-based discrimination, and only a handful of cities and states have such laws on the books. Reset talks to professor Esther Rothblum and advocate Brandie Solovay about why this discrimination persists and how to address it.

After a tumultuous few years, the Chicago Reader moved to non-profit status in 2022. A six-month nationwide search for the right person to lead the new organization led to tapping a homegrown talent with experience at the Better Government Association and other Chicago-based organizations. Reset checks in with the former publisher and the publisher-to-be who starts in mid-February.

Plus-size fashion has come a long way in the 119 years since Lane Bryant opened its doors in 1904, but it still has a long way to go. Many people still struggle to access the same clothing options as straight-size people. Reset learns more from fashion blogger Natalie Craig and journalist Gianluca Russo, author of The Power of Plus. Then we’ll hear from Jovana Savic, founder of Thick Mall, a local vintage market offering more options to plus-size customers and local writer Megan Kirby who covered Thick Mall for the New York Times.

This newest WBEZ podcast shares stories of Asian Americans and their relationships with identity, confidence, and success. Reset chats with the hosts Susie An and Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, along with producer Stephanie Kim to get a behind-the-scenes look at the pod.

A lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood was instituted in 1985, but change is afoot. Reset hears from Dr. Anu Hazra, University of Chicago infectious disease specialist, Jim Pickett, senior advisor with AVAC, Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, Luke Romesberg, director of Youth Housing Program at the Center on Halsted, and Jennifer Brier, professor of history and gender and women’s studies, UIC.

Many asylum seekers arrive in Chicago with little knowledge of where they’ll sleep or how they’ll access food and care, especially mental health care. Reset hears about one migrant’s experience from Chicago-Sun Times journalist Elvia Malagón and from professor and social worker Aimee Hilado about what support migrants needs most.