CHICAGO — The joint meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion drew 10,700 scholars, professors, publishers and clergy members last weekend to the McCormick Place Convention Center, where for four days they established their alternate universe. It was reminiscent of the Mos Eisley cantina in “Star Wars,” filled with polyglot eccentrics. Dead languages lived (He speaks Latin! She reads Akkadian!). One saw robed Buddhist monks; priests and friars, collared or cassocked; nuns, in habit or not; imams in kufis; the occasional yarmulked Jew. And thousands more in rumpled khakis, name tag on lanyard like an officer’s medals. They clutched biblical concordances, Hebrew lexicons, Gospel commentaries.
CSU dining hall workers strike
For the first time in Chicago history, some university cafeteria workers are on strike
Chicago State University Cafeteria Workers Strike
Cafeteria workers for Chicago State University began a strike Thursday after their employer, Thompson Hospitality, cancelled negotiations with their union. The cafeteria workers unionized earlier this year and have been in negotiations with Thompson since June.
CSU cafeteria employees go on strike for a labor contract
Chicago State University (CSU) cafeteria employees went on an one-day strike Thursday demanding a labor contract.
Will Worker Justice Take Flight at Chicago Airports?
O’Hare Airport is a confusing crowded warren of human activity. Even Chicago natives get lost in O’Hare, an airport that always seems to be under construction somewhere. Fortunately there is an abundance of small shops where harried travelers may find refreshments and reading material to lower their stress levels. The same is true at Chicago’s much smaller and more human-sized Midway Airport.
A Scholarly Affair With a Side of Activism
CHICAGO — The joint meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion drew 10,700 scholars, professors, publishers and clergy members last weekend to the McCormick Place Convention Center, where for four days they established their alternate universe. It was reminiscent of the Mos Eisley cantina in “Star Wars,” filled with polyglot eccentrics. Dead languages lived (He speaks Latin! She reads Akkadian!). One saw robed Buddhist monks; priests and friars, collared or cassocked; nuns, in habit or not; imams in kufis; the occasional yarmulked Jew. And thousands more in rumpled khakis, name tag on lanyard like an officer’s medals. They clutched biblical concordances, Hebrew lexicons, Gospel commentaries.
We deserve better: Hotel workers talking union
Keisha Johnson may have missed her bus to work. She has lived for only a month at her current house, a small white-siding rent-to-own she shares with her husband, and she is still learning the IndyGo bus schedules. She steps off the curb and nervously scans the horizon north on Capitol Avenue. Finally, the No.4 comes into view. Sighing with relief, Johnson boards, finds a seat, and begins to put on her makeup.
Gathering for convention, religious scholars see labor issues as more than academic
Some religious scholars plan to spotlight the issue of fair labor this weekend in Chicago by boycotting the Hyatt hotel chain.
The American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature’s joint conference at McCormick Place, which is expected to attract several thousand scholars to the city, booked space in the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and the Hyatt Regency Chicago, but some participants say they will avoid the hotels based on teachings rooted in Scripture.