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About James

James Seidler is a writer living in Chicago. The editor for the now-defunct humor publication FLYMF, he has now decided to maintain his web presence and smart remarks through this blog. View all posts by James →

Affordability Index

March 24, 2010Well Worth ReadingJames

The Center for Neighborhood Technology has put out a pretty cool interactive map comparing housing affordability in 330 metro areas with and without transportation costs mixed in. Unsurprisingly, the results show that seemingly affordable areas away from urban centers become more unaffordable when commuting costs are factored in.

I’m surprised to see that my childhood home in Indiana is rendered unaffordable by transportation while houses just on the other side of the St. Joseph River (seemingly in the same transit space) are unaffected. Our old place in Pasadena falls under the same categorization, while our current apartment in Chicago is affordable under both measures (but just barely!). Same for our old places in Wrigleyville (public transit must really factor in).

Ralph Gamelli in The Morning News

March 22, 2010FLYMF AlumsJames

FLYMF alum Ralph Gamelli has had a story, “Go Climb a Tree,” published in The Morning News.

Ralph’s story, Rocky Balboa Launches Into Inspirational Speeches Too Frequently, was published in FLYMF’s Greatest Hits. He also contributed How Long Before I Use My Ejector Seat? and Twilight Zone Episodes For the Internet Age.

The Dude Abides

March 17, 2010MoviesJames

Down these mean streets walks a man who won’t allow his rug to be pissed on.

Roger Ebert has selected The Big Lebowski as his most-recent Great Movie.

Edit: I think his original review is better.

Writers at Their Day Jobs

March 17, 2010BooksJames

Lapham’s Quarterly has a fun infographic showing the day jobs of writers including Faulkner, Kafka and T.S. Eliot.

A Mayor for All Seasons

March 15, 2010PoliticsJames

Evan Osnos has a profile in the New Yorker of Chicago’s Mayor Daley, “The Daley Show,” which does a good job of cataloguing the man and all of his frustrating complications. But Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Reader has a compelling comeback, “Taking the New Yorker for a Ride,” charging that the profile falls for the typically myth-making surrounding the mayor.

My favorite line in Joravsky’s piece? The one citing people’s weakness for the argument that Chicago’s success relative to other rust-belt towns is the result of Daley’s strong-man rule.

But I’ll just ask our visiting correspondents to reconsider the pervasive view that Chicago needs a temperamental tyrant who oversees a corrupt and inefficient regime in order to get anything done.

In the same issue of the Reader, reporter Mick Dumke explores why the time might be right for Daley to be replaced in “Time for a Revolution.” I doubt it, but I hope so.