« News for the week of 9/11/12 »

This is usually the space where we get glib and post pictures of Ramona, but with Chicago's public school teachers fighting for their right to earn a living, we're just not in the mood.

If you aren't following local news, the Chicago Teachers Union began its strike on Monday. The long-embattled educators of the Chicago public school system are standing up against Mayor Emmanuel's austerity budget and pay cuts, and you can get involved.

• The CTU website provides links to contact your legislators and receive updates via their newsletter.
• If you want to learn more about why the teachers are striking, this Salon article and this New Yorker article both provide some good context.
• Bake and Destroy is compiling an ongoing list of local businesses supporting the CTU and offering discounts or services for educators and students. Uncharted Books is very proud to be a part of that list.

In related news (hint hint), Uncharted Books will be registering voters at the store on September 25. The registration will culminate in one of our biggest events so far, Why Obama Will Win in November. The event, which begins at 7 p.m., will feature authors Edward McClelland and John K. Wilson discussing their multiple books about the President, and will reassure anxious voters that they have nothing to worry about come November. But you still have to vote.

Tonight, we have a marginally less political event, Gabriel Wallace's PAMELA. This second installment of our monthly reading series will feature a demonstration by radical ecologist Nance Klehm and readings by Mark Guarino, Morgan Rozacky, and Grace LaPeruto. PAMELA begins at 7 p.m.

For more on our upcoming events, keep an eye on our Events page.

Finally, we have a large selection of new arrivals including some of the big award-winners of the last year. If you haven't already picked up your copy of Jesmyn Ward's National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones or Denis Johnson's Pulitzer-nominated Train Dreams, we have used copies on hand in addition to our usual collection of contemporary literary classics.

But seriously. Support your teachers. We know the CPS system is busted, but as the New Yorker's Rebecca Mead reminds us, "blaming teachers for the failure of schools is like blaming doctors for the diseases they are seeking to treat." We're all book-lovers here. Let's leave the union-busting to Wisconsin and show some actual support to the people who made sure you knew how to read in the first place.