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I talked to WGN’s Nick Digilio about why the 1990s were the greatest decade in Chicago’s history. It wasn’t just because of the Bulls. Read the Chicago magazine article that sparked the conversation here, and listen to the interview here.

My CityLab article about how accents are changing in Chicago and Pittsburgh popped up on the MSN homepage. As a result, I was invited back on to WGN’s “Bill and Wendy Show” to talk about the state of the Chicago accent. You can listen here.

After eight years, I finally got into Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office to ask him about school closings, declining neighborhoods and the Laquan McDonald shooting. He was combative. He was defensive. He was Rahm. Read what he had to say here.

I visited the brand-new Mascot Hall of Fame in Whiting, Indiana, for Slate. Read my report here.

I was on Illinois Public Media’s “The 21st” today, talking about my Chicago magazine story on how Illinois stands to lose two House seats if a citizenship question is included in the Census. I discussed my experiences as an enumerator in the immigrant-heavy community of Rogers Park. Listen here.

Here’s my Chicago magazine article on how the fact that Illinois is the most average state has also allowed it to play a special role in American history, as the engine of the nation’s racial progress, the Land of Lincoln and Obama.

July 1: The Hideout, Chicago, 5 p.m.
July 3: Tuesday Funk, Hopleaf, Chicago, 7:30 p.m.
July 5: 57th Street Books, Chicago, 6 p.m.
July 7: Everybody Reads, Lansing, Mich., 3 p.m.
July 8: Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Mich., 7 p.m.
July 9: Pages Bookshop, Detroit, 6 p.m.
July 11: Middleton Public Library, Middleton, Wis., 6:30 p.m.
July 14: Caestecker Public Library, Green Lake, Wis., 10 a.m.
July 14: Fond du Lac Public Library, Fond du Lac, Wis., 2 p.m.

On WGN’s “The Download,” host Justin Kaufmann and I held a contest for the best Chicago accent. We ended up giving Lou Malnati’s pizzas to Scott from Berwyn and Nick from Mount Greenwood. Listen here.

On Thursday, June 8, I joined Justin Kaufmann, host of WGN’s “The Download,” for a feature called “You Know What I’m Saying?” I tried to guess where callers were from by asking probing questions such as “What do you call a store where you buy alcohol?” or “What do you call athletic footwear?” I was able to identify the home states of most callers; the ones who stumped me won a free pass to Sycamore Speedway in Sycamore, Illinois. Listen here.

December 1 was Publication Day for “How to Speak Midwestern.” It started off with an interview on the “Morning Shift” program at WBEZ in Chicago. Listen here. Crain’s Chicago Business ran an excerpt from the book. Chicagoist weighed in with a nice feature, as did Third Coast Review. In the evening, I did a book reading at the Book Cellar, where we sold 29 books, a one-day record for me.