In the Loop

After a tumultuous few years, the Chicago Reader moved to non-profit status in 2022. A six-month nationwide search for the right person to lead the new organization led to tapping a homegrown talent with experience at the Better Government Association and other Chicago-based organizations.

Reset checks in with the former publisher and the publisher-to-be who starts in mid-February.

Plus-size fashion has come a long way in the 119 years since Lane Bryant opened its doors in 1904, but it still has a long way to go. Many people still struggle to access the same clothing options as straight-size people. Reset learns more from fashion blogger Natalie Craig and journalist Gianluca Russo, author of The Power of Plus. Then we’ll hear from Jovana Savic, founder of Thick Mall, a local vintage market offering more options to plus-size customers and local writer Megan Kirby who covered Thick Mall for the New York Times.

This newest WBEZ podcast shares stories of Asian Americans and their relationships with identity, confidence, and success. Reset chats with the hosts Susie An and Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, along with producer Stephanie Kim to get a behind-the-scenes look at the pod.

A lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood was instituted in 1985, but change is afoot. Reset hears from Dr. Anu Hazra, University of Chicago infectious disease specialist, Jim Pickett, senior advisor with AVAC, Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, Luke Romesberg, director of Youth Housing Program at the Center on Halsted, and Jennifer Brier, professor of history and gender and women’s studies, UIC.

Many asylum seekers arrive in Chicago with little knowledge of where they’ll sleep or how they’ll access food and care, especially mental health care. Reset hears about one migrant’s experience from Chicago-Sun Times journalist Elvia Malagón and from professor and social worker Aimee Hilado about what support migrants needs most.

Structural fatphobia is everywhere, including the skies. Almost no one can get comfortable on airplanes, and that’s especially true for fat and plus-size people. Reset speaks to podcast hosts Nicci Nunez and Alex Stewart who are leading trips around the world for plus-size people.

Chicago has some major decision-making to do in the February 28 election, and WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times are here to help you get up-to-date on the issues you care about. Reset talks to politics editors Tony Arnold and Angela Rozas O’Toole about the new mayoral questionnaire and quiz.

For countless Americans, the start of a new year brings renewed goals of weight loss, exercise and trying the latest diet trend. But for the sake of both mental and physical health, advocates are calling for a weight-neutral approach to fitness. Reset learns about what that would look like with Louise Green, C.P.T., plus-size trainer and founder of Big Fit Girl and Mirna Valerio, runner, speaker and author of A Beautiful Work in Progress.

Residents in Chicago and surrounding areas held vigils and protests demanding police accountability after the release of body cam footage that showed Memphis police officers brutally beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. He later died from his injuries. Reset talks with Sharon Fairley from the University of Chicago Law School, co-founder of the Let Us Breathe Collective Damon Williams and founder of the Lake County Chapter of Black Lives Matter Clyde McLemore.