Features
Corrective measures
A UChicago professor spearheads an initiative to end mass incarceration.
Talking back
Reflections on the life and literature of Philip Roth, AM’55.
Bibliomania!
College students go head-to-head in a competition for the best undergraduate book collection.
Towering insights
English associate professor Adrienne Brown explores the complicated racial history of the American skyscraper.
Food for thought
Former White House chef Sam Kass, LAB’98, AB’04, is serving up new recipes and improvements to food policy. Plus: Kass’s recipe for brussels sprouts Caesar salad.
Course Work
Anatomy of song
Lights up on Thomas Christensenʼs Making and Meaning in the American Musical.
Editor’s notes
Remembrance of notes past
In dusty pages, pristine memories can live.
Letters
Readers sound off
Readers applaud class correspondents, debate health policy, ponder the merits of reflection and regret, and more.
On the agenda
Humanities’ reach expands exponentially
Dean Anne Walters Robertson on an exceptional time for the discipline.
UChicago Journal
Farsighted venture
James Chen, AB’82, is reenvisioning a centuries-old solution to transform millions of lives.
Forward thinking
The UChicago Empower Initiative changes the admissions conversation, adds more financial aid.
Value judgment
A Harris scholar fights to reform the property tax system.
Urban soundscape
At Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School, led by Helen Eaton, AM’00, anyone can play.
White power is not new
Historian Kathleen Belew finds an unexpected origin for a resurgent movement.
Original Source: Love notes
Even Nobel Prize–winning physicists get distracted in class.
Fig. 1: Habit farming
Historic agriculture crops up in modern life.
William Rainey Harper’s Index: Ventured and gained
The Edward L. Kaplan, MBA’71, New Venture Challenge, by the numbers.
Citations: Faculty research
Researchers investigate the mystery of shear thickening liquids, harness quantum entanglement, measure the benefits of a guaranteed work program in India, and say “good job!” to process praise.
For the Record: University news
A selection of the latest headlines from UChicago.
Peer review
Releases
The Magazine lists a selection of general interest books, films, and albums by alumni. For additional alumni releases, browse the Magazine’s Goodreads bookshelf.
Notes
Highlights from the latest alumni news columns.
Alumni essays
A good mayor is hard to find
The primary preoccupations of an unlikely political wife.
Empathy unmasked
To get outside himself, a writer takes up method acting.
Deaths
University obituaries
Recent faculty, staff, and alumni obituaries.
Lite of the mind
Doodlecore
Challenge yourself with the toughest UChicago entrance exam.
LONG
Science by the sea
In three weeks, there are just over 500 hours. The students in the Marine Biological Laboratory’s September intensive courses tried to use them all.
Nine weeks in Dakar
During winter quarter, the College offered a Study Abroad program in Dakar, Senegal—the westernmost city in West Africa—for the first time.
MEDIUM
Iʼll have what heʼs shooting
Max Teplitz, Class of 2020, puts his movie where his mouth is.
How to be a teacher on mars
Michael Wing, AB’85, on his career guide for “the PhD barista.”
Rip out your lawn
Retired attorney Charlotte Adelman, AB’59, JD’62, builds the case against nonnative plants.
How to make your yard more like a prairie
A list of native substitutes for nonnative (and boring) plants.
Can fifth graders do calculus?
Math Academy has the proof.
SHORT
A Yank at Eton
Miles Morgan, ABʼ17, AMʼ17, on teaching at one of Englands most famous boarding schools.
A breath of fresh air
James DuCanto, AB’88, on his “rock-star protection program” (aka saving people from choking on their own vomit).
Top 6 Farthest Study Abroad programs
When London or Paris just isnʼt far enough.
Whatʼs new in the College
Quantrell winners, prayer spaces, and more.
ET CETERA
Food: Riz au poisson
Tiebu djeun, the national dish of Senegal, cooked fresh in Bronzeville.
Lyrics for a band that doesnʼt exist
Peter O’Leary, AB’90, AM’94, PhD’99, on Rush, Yes, Steinbeck, Salinger, and faith.