Best books from a very long 2018

Hello and Happy New Year’s Eve, dear reader. It’s been a long year, hasn’t it? Kind of feels like it’s been the longest year in the history of the universe. Maybe that’s why I was able to squeeze SO MUCH reading in this year, because it’s been the year that never ever ends. Will it... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
December 31, 2018 at 12:47 pm • 

A Woman's Sacrifice

A Woman's Sacrifice
I don’t know that I actually have articulate words to express what I felt during Dr. Ford’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today. I don’t know that there are words to relay this kind of helpless rage, this endless, soundless screaming into the void, this “I want to tear my skin off and... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
September 27, 2018 at 9:10 pm • 

How to Survive Your Birthday

I hate birthdays. There’s just a natural, crushing disappointment that arrives every year alongside the phone calls and the birthday cards. Maybe it’s because I hate goodbyes, and no matter how much better I’ve gotten at saying hello to each subsequent chapter of my life, saying goodbye to time never gets easier. Or maybe it’s... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
September 22, 2018 at 7:03 am • 
ChicagoNow Video
Advertisement:

The books I've read have become my passport

The books I've read have become my passport
When the new year arrived, I decided I was going to read less this year (I cannot for the life of me remember what my reasoning was, though I think it had something to do with carving out more time to finish *an important thing* and the fact that I’m starting grad school this fall).... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
June 28, 2018 at 6:16 am • 

The Handmaid's Tale has always been violent

The Handmaid's Tale has always been violent
The latest episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, “The Last Ceremony”, was particularly brutal to watch for a number of reasons. [Major episode spoilers ahead! Ye be warned.] In reverse order, the second reason was the gut-wrenching moment when June’s daughter was ripped out of her arms and the parallels it so painstakingly draws with the current news of immigrant children being taken... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
June 21, 2018 at 7:22 pm • 

"It's just a game" and other things I'd tell my sixteen-year-old-self

Once a month, Chicago Now bloggers are given a prompt and challenged to write about said prompt in one hour’s time. Tonight’s prompt is “What are three pieces of advice you would give to your 16 year old self?” Sixteen is almost officially a decade ago for me. Wow — that’s terrifying, but so much of my... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
May 30, 2018 at 9:01 pm • 
Advertisement:

Feminist Book Club: The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti

My friends and I created a feminist book club on Facebook to engage and discuss feminist topics. Our inaugural choice was The Purity Myth by writer and feminist activist Jessica Valenti. The subtitle of the book says it all: “How America’s Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women”. The focus of Valenti’s novel is the... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
May 8, 2018 at 1:47 pm • 

Why I Traded Tennessee Orange for UConn Blue

Traded might be too strong of a word; I was a Tennessee fan first and became a UConn fan second. But over the past ten years, my blood has leaked UConn blue. I started playing basketball in middle school, and that was the college era of Naperville’s golden girl, Candace Parker. Her Pat Summitt-led Lady Vols... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
March 28, 2018 at 8:20 pm • 

Don't read the comment section during March Madness*

Don't read the comment section during March Madness*
*If your March Madness includes women’s basketball. We should know better by now. The comment section on the internet is one of the grossest, most misogynistic places I’ve ever laid eyes on, full of an angry breed of people who apparently get off on leaving their grimy, Cheeto-dust cyber-fingerprints on every corner of the internet. And, man,... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
March 16, 2018 at 7:16 pm • 
Advertisement:

The enigma of a vanished musician: Pim Stones

The enigma of a vanished musician: Pim Stones
Over a year ago I added the song “We Have it All” by Pim Stones to one of my writing playlists. It popped up in the Discover Weekly section that Spotify curates every Monday, and it quickly became one of my favorite songs. The artist has a beautiful, distinct voice, and I’ve never been able to shake... Read more »
By Rachel Benn,
February 26, 2018 at 5:44 pm •