Stories by Erica Gunderson

When walking through Chicago’s older neighborhoods, you can often find hints about the history of the buildings just by looking up. Geoffrey Baer looks back – and up – at some architectural gems.

Young Chicagoans have joined the fair trade movement – and they want you to get on board, too.

What’s it like to date around while staying married? A Chicago writer shares her experiences diving into the world of consensual non-monogamy.

The Constitution says anyone under 35 is too young to be president, but are candidates in their 70s too old? What science can tell us about aging and job performance.

A new documentary examines the legacy of legendary Notre Dame President Father Ted Hesburgh. We speak with the film’s director and producer.

Geoffrey Baer deposits some knowledge about buildings left behind by the banking panics of the Great Depression.

The idea of the calorie was developed nearly 200 years ago and has proven to be a poor measuring tool for the speed-driven American diet. 

Through a collection of cultural observations, critical analysis and hormone-tinged memories, John Corbett’s new book makes the case that the 1970s was a musical decade unlike any other.

A viewer says her uncle used to swipe eggs from a factory in Bronzeville in the 1940s or ‘50s. Chicago history eggs-pert Geoffrey Baer has the surprising answer to that and other questions in this encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

We get up close and personal with some cold-blooded creatures ahead of the nation’s largest educational reptile show.

A semi-pro baseball team once bested the big leagues on the Northwest Side. Geoffrey Baer takes a swing at local baseball history and its “outlaw clubs.”

A dispatch from Wisconsin’s Northwoods, where Darren and Genevieve Coady hopes to reel in other Chicagoans who want an old-fashioned vacation experience.

In many ways, modern American life is set up for convenience and speed – and that can generate a lot of garbage. What you can do at home to reduce your waste output.

More than 2,800 streets make up Chicago’s famous grid, and city planners and developers drew the streets’ names from all sorts of people and places – including some of our own politicians.

In his new film “The Public,” writer, director and actor Emilio Estevez examines the intersection of homelessness and public spaces. Estevez joins us to discuss the film along with Chicago-based artist Che “Rhymefest” Smith and author Ryan Dowd.

A volatile winter has left the city’s streets cratered with potholes. What the city is doing to patch them up.

Fifty-one students faced off Thursday in the annual citywide spelling competition, and a new champion was named to represent Chicago Public Schools in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Chicago Tonight” stopped by for a look.

Memories of jumping rope as a child lures a Chicago woman back to the sport as an adult – and inspires her to start teaching double Dutch to a new generation through her organization Black Girls Jump.

Preservation Chicago has released its annual list of Chicago’s most threatened historic buildings – and this year, it includes two return entries and an entire category of buildings that dot Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Just how did Chicago wind up with 50 wards and 50 aldermen? Geoffrey Baer does the math in this edition of Ask Geoffrey. And: five fast facts about Chicago mayors past.

Memories of jumping rope as a child lures a Chicago woman back to the sport as an adult – and inspires her to start teaching double Dutch to a new generation through her organization Black Girls Jump.

Most Chicago-area expressways are littered with billboards. How did one expressway escape the same fate? Geoffrey Baer drives by with the answer to that and other viewer questions in this encore edition of “Ask Geoffrey.”

As religious congregations shrink, churches all over the city are being shuttered and converted into luxury residences. But not everyone is happy with the results. 

Chicagoans Darren and Genevieve Coady are getting ready for their first summer as owners of a lakeside resort in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. 

We discuss the latest science headlines with Rabiah Mayas, associate director of the Science in Society program at Northwestern University.

When walking through Chicago’s older neighborhoods, you can often find hints about the history of their buildings just by looking up. Geoffrey Baer looks back – and up – at some architectural gems.