Andrew Breitbart

Meredyth Richards says it's tough in Chicago for a conservative. The 24-year-old Lincoln Park resident is politically active, passionately devoted to Republican causes and living in a city where the numbers are stacked against her. Richards, the president of the Chicago Young Republicans, said she's even considered moving. Why does she stay? "Aside from being a masochist, I don't really know," Richards said, perhaps only half-jokingly, while adding that "the city is wonderful and it has its perks.

Meredyth Richards says it's tough in Chicago for a conservative. The 24-year-old Lincoln Park resident is politically active, passionately devoted to Republican causes and living in a city where the numbers are stacked against her. Richards, the president of the Chicago Young Republicans, said she's even considered moving. Why does she stay? "Aside from being a masochist, I don't really know," Richards said, perhaps only half-jokingly, while adding that "the city is wonderful and it has its perks.

Can a live lit show about all things current find happiness in a jazz club steeped in a century of history? That's what Christopher Piatt aims to find out this weekend as he moves The Paper Machete to the storied music club. Piatt, a former Time Out Chicago theater editor, launched the magazine-style revue in January 2010 at Lincoln Square bar Ricochet's. The weekly show of original essays about hot topics - which has included a lineup of guests like actor Michael Shannon (“Boardwalk Empire”)