Blackstone Bicycle Works

Extensive interview about Dan Peterman's building at 6100 S. Blackstone in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The enormous building was gutted in a suspicious fire and eventually rebuilt and reorganized under the name The Experimental Station. Peterman describes the character and cultural life of the original building and the endless political and bureaucratic challenges that he faced in the struggle to rebuild. A good window into Chicago city politics and the difficulty in maintaining an autonomous cultural practice in Chicago. The Baffler and magazine and the initiative Blackstone Bicycle Works - tenants of 6100 S. Blackstone - are also discussed.

Dan S. Wang interviewed Dan Peterman about a range of topics: Peterman's art practice, the community that inhabited the building at 61st Street and Dorchester, the fire that destroyed the building, the struggle against the city to rebuild, and the rebirth of the building as the Experimental Station.

Features on: Mayor Richard M. Daley's proclamation that he'll make Chicago the greenest city in America and how The Resource Center's projects are already working on this; a memorial to Mark David "Malachi" Ritscher who performed self-immolation protest of the Iraq War; How the Chicago Recovery Alliance affects change through unconventional programs; the story of the survival of a man attacked by a grizzly bear; surveillance cameras in Chicago as part of "Operation Disruption"; the redevelopment of Block 37; how the Great Andamanese and the Sentinelese survived 2006 tsunami using instinct and spirtualism; discussing living through World War II, Nazi-ocuppied France with grandma; the most expensive US House race in history with James Hill of Iowa; The Department of Homeland Security's human trafficking awareness campaign and how its exploitation of fear of women being sold into sex slavery echoes the history of the sensationalist tales of "white slavery" throughout the 20th century, masking real concerns like rights for migrant workers and sweatshop laborers; a review of the Massive Change show and how it only makes yuppies feel better about capitalism; an interview with cryptozoologist Loren Coleman; an interview about "sabermetrics,"; which is the study of baseball statistics; and why everything sucks except sports (mostly).