Gretchen Kalwinski

I’ve spent a good portion of the last 2 years working as a freelance editor for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), for some of their products/services/textbooks, including their Prostart guide, ServSave book, and Food Management Professional guide. They are now merged with their educational foundation, but when I began freelancing for them back in 2005, they were known simply as “NRA.” Funnily, many people in this industry are also affiliated with the “CIA” (Culinary Institute of America), and FBI (Food and Beverage Institute). The organization is a huge one, and because it’s politically active, is sometimes controversial, but I’ve had nothing but good experiences working with NRAEF staff over the years.

I just penned a book review for Make Literary Magazine on Bruce Boone’s poetic/New Narrative memoir “Century of Clouds.” It was lovely to swim around in the wonderfully obtuse, digressive book for a few hours this winter and I know so much more now than I did before about the New Narrative group. Century of Clouds is a reissue and an important staple of the New Narrative writers.

I wrote a new piece on Jean Shepherd, radio raconteur and famed for “A Christmas Story,” for the Chicagoan, a “new nonprofit media organization whose mission is to document the arts and culture history of Chicago and the greater Midwest with an emphasis on long-form storytelling.” Please note the beautiful illustration by Chicago artist Rob Funderburk. I’m so excited about this promising new project, and what a great excuse for me to wax poetic about my love/hate relationship with Shepherd, who was also born and raised in Hammond, IN.

“The artists installing this “guerilla” art (mostly in the warmer months and the dark of night) call themselves street artists and often hide their identities from cops by using nicknames. But don’t confuse their work with gang graffiti or tagging: It’s illegal, but there’s an altruistic mission to their madness. [for full article, click here.]” July 24, 2008. Issue #178.

I co-founded this literary website in 2007. [for full list of posts, click here.]

“Wycoff portrays the gritty, sorrowful elements of her characters’ lives head-on and offers no easy solutions—no one’s riding up on a white horse—but neither are the stories bleak. Instead, drama and tension are delivered in such a subtle but detail-infused way that the reader becomes invested in Beth’s plight early on in the collection. Download PDF [for full article, click here.]“ Time Out Chicago / Issue 107: March 15–21, 2007

“Meno promptly injected Redmoon’s aesthetic with his particular brand of unsentimental yet pathos-laden humor, creating a modern fairy tale about Emily, a lonely and lost girl living in a tenement in the 1920s. After realizing she can speak to and understand the chirping of birds, her loneliness is eased. [for full article, click here.]” February 13, 2007.

“Written by Melinda Lopez and directed by Steppenwolf associate artist Jessica Thebus, “Sonia Flew” brilliantly illustrates the ways that immigrants must partially forget their pasts in order to start anew in their adopted country. [for full article, click here.]“

“If you’re broke or simply looking for an alternative to the standard bar or hotel New Year’s “bash” — which is, let’s face it, usually overrated — Venus is at your rescue with some creative alternatives for welcoming 2006. [for full article, click here.]” December 1, 2006

“Jervis’s take is that the idea of a simplistic generational divide serves no one and that we should keep discussing the main point-gender justice-while retaining myriad voices that move us in the same direction: forward. [for full article, click here.]” October 28, 2006.

“An audio-blogger, experimental music lover, and managing director for the Third Coast International Audio Festival — an annual and ongoing celebration of documentary and feature audio works — Chicago’s Julie Shapiro is known for bringing to light fascinating audio segments, sounds, and radio works. [for full article, click here.]“

“But best known are his articles about his childhood in the rustbelt Midwest. One show compares a steel mill to the sixth circle of hell. [for full article, click here.]” September 2006, Issue 27.

“John Lennon once described New York as the center of the universe, saying that, “If I was living in the time of Rome, I’d go to Rome. But I’m living now, so I’ll be in New York.” Freelance work being a bit slow in Chicago right now, I had this in mind when I hopped a red-eye to NYC to visit a pal.

We got $2 sandwiches at the deli on the corner in her Brooklyn ‘hood, then hopped on the train to McCarren Park Pool where Joanna Newsom and Martha Wainwright were playing a 6 p.m. show headlined by the superb Neko Case. [for full article, click here.]” September 1, 2006.

“Joe Taft wants his bedroom back. For four months it’s been inhabited by a baby tiger named Max, while Taft, who’s 60, crashes on the couch. “I can’t get him out of my house until I move these other cats into the new pens being built,” he says. “Then I can finally have a bedroom. The walls are pretty raggedy in there.” He means claw marks, like the ones in his kitchen and living room. Download PDF [for full article, click here.]” may 20, 2006.

“One of the most organized groups is the Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In in Santa Cruz, California. In 2002, they started showing films such as The Third Man and The Gleaners and I  on vacant walls of abandoned buildings for friends and strangers to enjoy. [for full article, click here.]“

“Her ideas about muses go back to her childhood, when her grandmother warned her about the trials and tribulations of the role. Still, Tanya is so impressed with the great Russian writers that besides masturbating to Dostoevsky, she decides to achieve immortality by inspiring another person’s work. [for full article, click here.]“

“Girly takes place mainly in rural Pennsylvania, and depicts the unfolding of events in several women’s lives, most primarily the lives of the Hart family women, made up of Racinda Hart, her psychologically damaged sister Ruth, and out-of-it mother Amandine, who became a born again Christian when Racinda was a baby. [for full article, click here.]” January 15, 2006.

“Ladyfest organizers as a whole are a determined lot with an idealistic focus and an overabundance of energy. They also are uniquely open-minded about their attendees and welcome all genders. [for full article, click here.]” November 23, 2005.

“Known for her heartbreak-y tunes and melancholy, wistful lyrics, Frost is used to fielding questions from journalists about her relationships. She’s matter-of-fact about a recent breakup on her massive blog, edithfrost.com, and a recent post expresses frustration that her relationship status gets so much attention. [for full article, click here.]” November 23, 2005.

“Her onstage quirks have become almost legendary, with tales of her ending songs in mid-sentence, walking off of the stage, or as one rumor goes, playing a four-hour show because she was waiting for the crowd to disperse so that she wouldn’t have to interact with anyone. [for full article, click here.]” October 17, 2005.

“The first half of the film is made up of Cash’s childhood and simple country boy-beginnings, his first pangs of the music bug and gospel roots, and marriage to wife Vivian Liberto Distin, mother to four of Cash’s five children.

But make no mistake about it, his meeting and decade-long flirtation with June Carter of country music royalty the Carter Family is the real focus here. [for full article, click here.]” September 2005.

“To bolster community pride, the small town of Whiting honors its Eastern European heritage each year with its three-day Pierogi Fest, where the tried and true Polish/Slovak dumplings are fried or steamed with butter, and chock-full of different fillings like meat, cheese, potato, mushroom, berries and apricot. Download PDF [for full article, click here.]“

“Her perspective might be easier to comprehend if she were a sex-positive, 1960s [for full article, click here.]“