An independent magazine that focuses on fashion, music, art, DIY scene, etc. It is based in…read moreChicago. I guess it's still pretty small if you compare it to Vogue or something, but it is distributed nationally, if not internationally. They have cool articles and good photography. But the real reason they get 5 stars from me is for featuring one of my evening feather head pieces in their spring issue fashion spread. They're so cool in my book for that.

Chicago's college connection! This radio station has it…read moreall! Jazz, Sports, News, Alternative, Alternative Jazz, Alternative Sports, Alternative News. They've got a lot going on here- the students seem to be the DJs and they bring their own flavor of music with them. So don't expect to hear the same thing over and over and over and over like some of those top 40 stations. There's a good chance you'll never hear a song twice on here. Eclectic! There's some weird stuff on here. My favorite part is sort of the laid back attitude of the DJs. They're not all polished and professional like those Top 40 stations. Since it's a community radio station, they don't have advertisements every few minutes, like those Top 40 stations. In fact, they don't have any! It's all public service announcements, reminding you not to drive without a seat belt, or to wear a bicycle helmet. If you don't happen to be on the DePaul campus, you can still listen to this radio station on your smart speaker, or on their website, or even on their dedicated app!

EX DJ YELPING That…read moreis our top story tonight... Wow a lot has changed in 11 years. I use to have my own radio show on this station and also handled the sports too with my buddy Larry G. It was a lot of fun. The bad part is that the FCC really limited our FM signal, which meant I was broadcasting to a 6 block radius and the poor students eating in the cafe. Fast forward to 2013 and I am actually listening to DePaul Radio on my iPhone as I am writing my review. That is just crazy because I'm at least 2 miles away from the station. In fact, you can now hear this station worldwide on iTunes or watch them on a webcam. What a great opportunity for these future broadcasters. I hope they appreciate this because I would have been so excited for this kind of exposure. I have not been in the new station but it looks much nicer then what I was broadcasting from. We also had to splice tape too for our sport shows and interviews. I am sure the new studio is all digital. Handling the sports back then was fun. Larry and I would rolled up to the Rosemont Horizon (now called the Allstate Arena for all you young DePaul students) for the Mens Blue Demon basketball games with our press badges around our neck. We even got press parking right next to the stadium. It was even fun to get to eat with the real professional sports writers. Yes they feed us. This is the life! I had some great moments in my college radio career. I truly enjoyed interviewing an upset Alonzo Mourning after his Georgetown team got beat by DePaul. Yeah we had some good basketball teams in the past. I really wish they could return to the glory years. I also loved covering the women's basketball team too. I always enjoyed my one on one interviews with Coach Doug Bruno. He was always animated and a lot of fun. So my advice to these young broadcasters is this: learn as much as you can and do internships. Soak all of this in because it all changes in the real world. These will be some of your most memorable times, so enjoy every moment. I've got you tuned in and I'm enjoying it. Keep on spinning those records (those are those round things...no not CDs! Oh wait your probably spinning MP3's! Digital makes you life so easy!)

It bears repeating that WHPK can now be found in the "College Radio" section of iTunes. We're…read morestreaming live also at www.whpk.org. Tune us in! Especially during the "Party from Damascus" on Thursdays from 6-7 PM. Starting our eighth year on air, playing the best Middle Eastern music in Chicago. However, WHPK itself has been on-air for over 60 years!

My choice when I'm waiting in the Cell Phone parking lot at Midway…read more Also, I finally caught Chicago Yelp's Erika G. in action last week with her "Party from Damascus" show. Definitely check it out - the music is fabulous and Erika is totally smart and cool. Even bad dancers like me will get up and shake ass.

Great British series, always something classic and interesting to watch…read more Also informative and cultural.

If there's one thing to know about me, it's that TV is my life…read more So you can imagine my excitement when I nabbed a spot on 'Check, Please' to rep my beloved Chicago Suburbs before I departed for a life of television watching on Pacific Standard Time. My episode airs October 24th and I'll be real, I'm not so great on camera. On the internet? Sure. I'd like to think I'm pretty good on the internet, but on camera... welp... I trip on my words constantly, I can't make direct eye contact, and I talk out of one side of my mouth like the characters on the show Rugrats... it's possible I unknowingly had a stroke, and one time a coworker admitted that they legit thought I was autistic... for an entire 2 years. So I guess we'll see how this TV thing goes... they did give me a buncha wine, so the gap on the 50/50 of that is probably pretty wide. As far as WTTW in general, I can't knock 'em one bit. They were by far my favorite babysitter growing up and that Rick Steves... something about his voice is just very soothing to me. Puts my chakra in line or some junk. I recently learned that one in every 25 people is supposedly a sociopath... I don't want to incriminate myself or my cold, black heart, but I'll just say that WTTW taught me kindness and human emotions that I otherwise may have lacked. My parents tried really had to raise us brats but they had to work, A LOT, and I spent a lot of time in front of the TV, doing my learning and developing my character which I won't pretend is a shining example of humanity, but I could've come out a lot worse and based on the low-income area I grew up and seeing what the majority of other kids in my 'hood turned out like, I was better off in front of the TV than out in the real world. - Lamb Chop taught me how to be annoying with that glorious song that never ends. - Mr Rogers taught me that taking your shoes off inside the house important. - The Magic School Bus with my homegirl Miss Frizzle. - Freaking Kratt's Creatures - love those dreamy animal-loving brother. - Wishbone, the time traveling dog... couldn't get enough of that sh*t. - The Frugal Gourmet... Don't pretend like you or parents didn't own that cookbook. - WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SNA DIEGO - for hours on end. - Clifford The Big Red Dog, what's not to love? - The Big Comfy Couch was creepy and wonderful. - This Old House --- Bob Vila version or bust! - Reading Rainbow didn't exactly get me reading, but I watched the show, sooo... - And let's not forget that babe Bill Nye The Science Guy. Hubba.Freaking.Hubba. Sure, their fundraising broadcasting is pretty unbearable, but I guess it's good to turn the TV off and get out of the house sometimes, so the phone operators in mini stadium seating are my cue. As far as the studio and the staff are concerned, the place is immaculate and everyone there was cool as heck. The make-up artist was mega rad and a trooper when she had to work double time when it became apparent that I'm the sweatiest person ever and basically need make-up retouching every 10 minutes. The new(ish host Catherine De Orio) is super down to Earth and that's coming a person who went through a mini version of the stages of grief when Alpana left, but now having met Catherine and seen her deal with some pretty awkward on-set conversations like a pro, I've got nothing but love for her. And the icing on the cake was getting to meet and chat with David Manilow, the series creator, during the interview process and on set for the first day of Season 14 shooting. Super cool guy who just emanates energy and really pumped us all up for the taping. I feel super lucky to have gotten to be a part of the 14th season of a show that's on perma-DVR at my house and really is a legit slice if Chicago history, but even without, WTTW is the crown jewel of non-cable television and a thing I'm eternally grateful for. And you can watch me be the first person to say the word 'pussy' on Check, Please... possibly on Public Broadcasting altogether right here: http://checkplease.wttw.com/restaurants/season-14-episode-2-full-show