Paul Durica, PhD candidate in English Language and Literature, was featured in The Chicago Tribune, discussing his company Pocket Guide to Hell and how his engagement with Chicago history has informed his scholarly work (and vice versa). On his motivation for founding Pocket Guide to Hell, which regularly sponsors events such as reenactments of the 1886 Haymarket Riot, Durica explains, "As I was doing research for my dissertation (about tramps, hobos and transients in American literature), I kept coming upon all of this good material that didn't fit into my academic work. I wanted to share what I was learning with the broader public.” On Sunday, March 17, Pocket Guide to Hell will recreate "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna’s 1908 First Ward Ball at the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia Ave.) at 8 p.m. According to the article, "Coughlin and Kenna conceived the First Ward Ball as a way of further stuffing their pockets, already bulging with graft, through imposed ticket and liquor sales...by 1908 it attracted 20,000 drunken, yelling, brawling revelers to the Coliseum on South Wabash Avenue. The guests slopped up 10,000 quarts of champagne and 30,000 quarts of beer. It was very messy." Durica will portray Kenna. Learn more about Pocket Guide to Hell here.

Graduate Student Affairs has announced the winners of the 2012-2013 Innovation Grant, which provides funds for projects created by students "that encourage graduate students’ academic progress, professional development, or personal growth." The winning projects below were proposed by graduate students in the Division of the Humanities.

• Chicago Art Journal Website: Proposed by Solveig Nelson, the Chicago Art Journal Website project aims to use the Innovation Grant to create a website for The Chicago Art Journal, a student-run, peer-reviewed journal located in the Department of Art History, in order to expand the journal's content and expose it to a wider audience.
• Essential Graphic Design for NELC Students Workshop: Proposed by Tytus Mikolajczak, the goal of the Essential Graphic Design for NELC Students Workshop is to expose graduate students in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations to graphic design software necessary for the preparation of digital images, a requirement for scholarly careers in the field.
• Open Source Tools for Writing Dissertations and Professional Documents in the Humanities: This two-hour session, proposed by Sarah Iker and Peter Shultz, aims to introduce graduate students to open-source tools that will allow them to create properly formatted and professional academic documents across a variety of operating systems.
• University of Chicago Move and Shake Women Retreat: Proposed by Alisha Jones, this two-day retreat offers a reflection on work-life balance for graduate student women, particularly women of color. Through the guidance of mentors, the retreat will allow women of color a safe space to discuss their experiences in the academy, while also providing an exchange among women on many different academic career paths.

Read all of the awarded proposals here.