Set Yourself On Fire

While I was driving this morning, I heard writer and former Chicagoan David Sedaris on Eight Forty-Eight and laughed the entire way to work. Definitely take a listen. He (and his sister, actress Amy Sedaris) is incredibly funny and irreverent, making us laugh at old people losing their dentures in shrubbery or a foreigner crying on an airplane next to him in his essays. He's come under fire for the "truthiness" of his work—though much of his work is listed as nonfiction, he fully acknowledges his tendency to exaggerate—but I call those people haters and continue to laugh out loud.

He's reading from his latest book, When You Are Engulfed In Flames, at Barbara's Bookstore (1218 S. Halsted) tonight. If you attend, get their early: Sedaris can definitely pack a house.

Perilous Biking

I've recently been considering getting a bike. My new neighborhood is going to be a lot more biker friendly, it's a great way to exercise, and I no longer fear the opinions of militant and mean hipster bikers. However, there has been an increase in cyclist deaths in Chicago as the weather warms up. Two have occurred within this past month and who knows how many others before them; the cover of one of Chicago's newsprint tabloids focused on the rise in biker deaths.

While driving to work this morning and listening to NPR, there was mention of the recent spate of cyclists deaths. Last night, Chicago bikers held their own "Ride of Silence," a nationwide event where bicyclists visit the sites of bicycle-related deaths throughout their cities. Eight Forty-Eight did a segment focusing on friends of fallen bicyclists and biking activists creating monuments in the form of "ghost bikes."

Ghost bikes are stripped bikes (so people won't deface them for their parts) painted white and locked up at the site of a biker's death. To listen to Eight Forty-Eight's story and learn more about ghost bikes, click here.



(A Ghost Bike for Tyler James Fabeck, killed two days ago. Photo credit: Howard Kaplan.)