weekegg2-blog

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How to Set Up Site Search in Google Analytics and Find Insights Fast

It’s that little box in the header of your website. Visitors use it to search for things. It’s usually called a “Site Search” and it helps people find what they’re looking for fast. It’s a way to help your visitors.

But for the marketer, it’s an incredible listening tool.

The site search tool gives you a peek into what your visitors want from you and your website. And sometimes, it shows you what your visitors can’t find. It’s an amazing way to find and fix content gaps.

In this post, we’ll do four things:

Setup: How to set up “Site Search” reports in Google Analytics

Listen: How to analyze these reports

Empathize: Check to see if visitors are finding what they’re looking for

Take action: Create (or optimize) content based on your new insights into your visitor’s needs

Setup! How to configure site search in Google Analytics

It’s not set up in Analytics by default because websites are custom. A lot of sites don’t even have a search tool (only 54% do according to our research). Some sites have them in just one section (on this website, it’s just in the blog) and some sites have more than one search tool!

Analytics doesn’t know how your site works so you need to tell it how to listen for site searches. Follow these steps for setting up the Site Search reports in Google Analytics:

Use your search tool on your website to search for a phrase, such as “test.”

On the search results page, look at the URL in the address bar of your browser. The phrase you searched for (“test”) is probably there in the URL.

Note: If the word “test” is not in the URL, you’ll need to contact your developer to help you set up your Site Search reports. You can find instructions for tracking site search without query parameters here.

Because Google Analytics can see what’s in the URL and the URL contains the search term, it can capture and report it. But you have to tell it where to look. You have to configure Site Search tracking in Google Analytics by adding the “query parameter.” This is the letter or word that appears just before the equal sign and the search term.

The query parameter is often ‘s’ or ‘search_term’ or something similar.

Within the Admin section, under “View” choose “View Settings.” At the bottom of this list of settings, you’ll find the Site Search Settings. Simply turn it on, enter the query parameter and click “Save.”

Note: If you just set this up, it may take a few hours or longer to start seeing data. 

Also, there are two other settings here: a checkbox to strip out query parameters and toggle to turn on Site search categories. Unless the search tool is a key feature of your website and a primary way in which visitors get around, I recommend clicking the box and leaving the search categories toggle off.

That’s it! Your Site Search tool is set up and you’re ready to start listening.

How to Analyze your Site Search reports

Now we can eavesdrop on our visitors a bit, see what they’re looking for. The report we’re looking for is in Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms. It lists all the phrases that people type into your search box.

If the numbers in this report are very low, choose a longer date range to get more data and insights. This section also has some other interesting reports.

Overview: Actually, not very interesting.

Usage: What percentage of visitors are using your search tool? Lots of visitors?

Search Pages: From what page do visitors start their search? This is important if your site search is “global” on every page of your website, rather than just in one section, such as the blog or product catalog.

Check to see if visitors are finding what they’re looking for

The insights from this report are often so obvious that I’m guessing some of you readers just left and will never finish this article. The usability problems and content gaps are leaping out of Analytics and onto your to-do list for today.

But if you’re still here, let’s do some analysis.

First, pretend you are the visitor and search for the top three phrases that they search for. What do you see? Anything unexpected? Are you having the experience you want them to have? I bet I just lost some more of you. The issues are so obvious that you don’t need any suggestions.

Still haven’t left? Great. Here are some examples of insights. These are examples of what your visitors are trying to tell you.

Example 1: “I don’t understand your navigation labels”

You are a patio furniture company. You sell all kinds of outdoor stuff for decks, patios and pools. Your navigation might look like this:

And here is what your Behavior > Site Search > Queries report looks like:

See the problem?

Your visitors are searching for “umbrellas” because they don’t see it in your navigation. Your navigation says “Shade Solutions” which is a weird term that people never say. Unless you’re a marketer… It’s going to be hot at the beach today. Don’t forget your shade solution!

Action! Change your navigation labels to align with the phrases your audience is searching for.

Example 2: “I want help finding something faster”

You are a construction equipment dealer. Your website has a resource center with guides for buying all kinds of machines. It’s a big section, so it has a search tool.

And here is what your Site Search > Queries report looks like:

See the opportunity?

The page gives them three big options. But since they don’t see what they want, they search.

Action! Add “bulldozers” to one of the labels, give it it’s own section or make one of the images a bulldozer!

Example 3: “You aren’t giving me what I want”

You are a bank. Your site has lots of pages and content, so of course, there is a search tool. When you take a look, you can see that visitors are looking for some very specific information: “routing numbers.”

But look more closely at the data. See the “% Search Exits” column? Most people who search for this leave the site after searching. They leave before clicking again. They leave without finding anything!

Another way to look at this is to add more data to this report by using a “secondary dimension.”

Now you’re looking at a list of what people search for and the last page they visited. You can tell right away that some people find what they’re looking for and others leave from the search results page.

They never clicked. They left without the information they needed.

This is called the “Report of Broken Dreams” because it shows you what your visitors searched for, but didn’t find.

Action! This should be an easy fix.

Search for the phrase yourself. What do the search results show?

If you don’t already have a page on this topic, make one!

If you do have a page but it’s not ranking, update the page so it ranks higher for that keyword in your site search results. Put the phrase in the title, header and body text.

Now search again. All better?

Site search SEO is a type of optimization that everyone should love. Make your own content rank in your own search tool on your own website.

Example 4: “This page isn’t satisfying”

You are a tax advisor. Your firm offers a lot of services, your site has a lot of pages, so of course, you have a search tool. You check to see where people are using this tool by going to the Behavior > Site Search > Search Pages report.

Here’s what you find:

Not surprising, a lot of visitors search right from the home page. But what about the other pages? Are they missing some key information?

By adding the “Search Terms” as the secondary dimension to this report, you can see what people search for from which page of your site. A powerful combo!

Here’s what you find:

It looks like one of your pages is missing some specific information. People on the Estate Planning page are looking for something called “probate.” I’m not sure what that is, but you probably do.

Action! Add the missing information to the page. If this info is already on another page, you can also just add a prominent link, directing the visitor to the second page.

Data-driven empathy, Unmet information needs

Your visitors would rather click or tap than type. They don’t really want to use your site search tool, but if they don’t see what they want, they’ll use it as a last resort.

It’s a far, far distance from the mouse to the keyboard. It’s even further on mobile. Don’t force them to make the jump. Check your Analytics to see who is crossing that chasm and then build a bridge so your next visitor doesn’t have to.

Bonus! Is Google stealing your site searchers?

When you search for your brand in Google, you probably see your homepage ranking high with four or six links to interior pages underneath in two neat little columns. Those are your “sitelinks.”

But do you see anything else? Do you see a search box right above your sitelinks? This is common for big sites and well-known brands.

If you do, try a search using that search box. What do you see? Are you on a search results page within Google?

If so, Google keeping your potential visitors a little longer than they should. They’re not sending people to your site to see your search results. They’re taking away your ability to listen. You have two options:

Option one: Send those visitors to your site for their search results.

This will let people search your content faster, right from Google, but it gives you the visitor. To do this, add this code to your homepage, editing the URL and target fields for your site.

<script type=”application/ld+json”> “@context”: “http://schema.org”, “@type”: “WebSite”, “url”: “https://www.example-petstore.com/”, “potentialAction”: “@type”: “SearchAction”, “target”: “https://query.example-petstore.com/search?q=search_term_string”, “query-input”: “required name=search_term_string” </script>

Option two: Remove the Sitelinks Search Box from Google

If you want people to visit you first and search your content later, you can remove the search box from above your sitelinks, just like Amazon does, by adding this code to your homepage.

<meta name=”google” content=”nositelinkssearchbox” />

Now your visitors will have to come to your site, experience your brand and your design, before searching your content.

Got any data-driven empathy tips of your own? Share with your fellow readers by leaving a comment below!

Source: http://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/how-to-set-up-site-search-google-analytics/

[weekegg2-blog]

Rockies, Cubs get postseason off to an epic start

CHICAGO -- Over the past six months, it felt like for all the good stuff there was during the 2018 regular season, we heard almost as much about the things in baseball that could be a little better.

But now it's October, and the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies just reminded us once again why baseball is still great.

The Cubs were eliminated from the postseason by the Rockies on Tuesday, and they reflected on what's next. "You can only learn from losing," Jon Lester said.

Is it finally the Indians' year? Can the Red Sox complete their historic season? Or will we see a Dodgers-Astros World Series rematch? Our experts make their postseason picks.

Welcome to October, when it takes talent and some postseason magic to win it all. We break down every roster to see who has the right Fall Classic formula.

2 Related

By the time Albert Almora Jr. struck out to end Colorado's 2-1, 13-inning, 4-hour, 55-minute thriller, Tuesday's National League wild-card classic had extended into Wednesday. Lists were circulating about the game being the longest ... everything. Longest postseason game in Wrigley Field history. Longest wild-card game in the seven years of that round. Longest win-or-go-home game ever.

"Well, this was a great one," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "I think this is a classic. I think this will go down as a Major League Baseball classic."

The game was indeed long, but it wasn't about quantity. For a game that saw so few runs scored, it was packed with countless details, any of which might have been spun off into a game story, or at least a sidebar. It was tense and terse, from stem to stern. It was the perfect way to kick off the 2018 postseason. It was the perfect opening act.

That's right: We've got a whole month of this ahead of us.

Source: http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/24878165/mlb-colorado-rockies-chicago-cubs-get-postseason-epic-start

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Cubs pick up Strop's $6.25 million option

CHICAGO -- The Cubs exercised the $6.25 million club option on Pedro Strop, keeping a key member of the bullpen.

Strop, 33, who stepped in to close when Brandon Morrow was injured, went 6-1 with nine holds, 13 saves and a 2.26 ERA in 60 relief outings last season, his sixth with the Cubs since he was acquired from the Orioles in July 2013. The right-hander is the franchise's all-time leader with 114 holds, and his 2.63 ERA ranks second among Cubs relievers all time (minimum 100 games), trailing only Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter (2.39).

CHICAGO -- The Cubs exercised the $6.25 million club option on Pedro Strop, keeping a key member of the bullpen.

Strop, 33, who stepped in to close when Brandon Morrow was injured, went 6-1 with nine holds, 13 saves and a 2.26 ERA in 60 relief outings last season, his sixth with the Cubs since he was acquired from the Orioles in July 2013. The right-hander is the franchise's all-time leader with 114 holds, and his 2.63 ERA ranks second among Cubs relievers all time (minimum 100 games), trailing only Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter (2.39).

In each of his past six seasons, Strop has posted a sub-3.00 ERA.

Strop made a miraculous recovery at the end of the season after injuring his left hamstring on Sept. 13 and was included on the Cubs' roster for the National League Wild Card Game. Strop struck out two over one inning in the Cubs' loss to the Rockies.

"He did a great job on the big stage last year," Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said.

The Cubs still have one more decision to make regarding player options and that involves starter Cole Hamels, who has a $20 million option for 2019. The deadline for a decision on Hamels is the end of the day on Friday.

Carrie Muskat has covered the Cubs since 1987, and for MLB.com since 2001. You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/cubs-exercise-pedro-strops-option-for-2019/c-300133832

[weekegg2-blog]

Pedro Strop’s First Rehab Outing? A Success!

We are one step closer to seeing Pedro Strop back in the Cubs’ bullpen, please and thank you.

Strop made his debut rehab appearance with the Iowa Cubs, and six pitches – six strikes – later, it was over as a success.

The best case scenario is that Strop again feels good on Thursday, and then can return to the Cubs’ bullpen on Saturday in St. Louis.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2019/05/29/pedro-strops-first-rehab-outing-a-success/

[weekegg2-blog]

Homes sold above list price drop in 2018

by Evi Arthur February 5, 2019

After years of houses going for prices above the list value, 2018 saw the biggest drop in years, according to a recent report from Zillow.

As of December 2018, 19.4 percent of homes sold above their list prices, the lowest number in three years. The rate hit an all-time high since the housing market recovery in May, at 24 percent, and then dropped steadily for the next seven months.

Some think that the peak in May was indicative of a decrease in inventory, proving that buyers were desperate to close amid a perceived scarcity and were bidding higher offers in order to secure a house. The peak was also attributed to a dip in mortgage rates, allowing for buyers to bid higher and borrow more, with more affordable monthly payments.

However, the subsequent steady drop in late 2018 hinted at an increase in inventory and an increase in mortgage rates, which reached 4.9 percent in Nov. These rates were the highest since 2011.

Over 2018, average price above list dropped as well, remaining above $6,000 for the past few years and dropping to $5,860 in December. The median price for homes selling below list price remained fixed. This decrease in median above list price suggests that buyers and sellers are beginning to have similar price expectations for homes.

Evidence over 2018 also suggested a slowdown in previously “hot” markets. San Jose, California, dropped 46 percentage points in the number of houses that sold above list price and San Francisco, California, dropped 26 percentage points. West Coast markets, however, have done very well on home value appreciation over the period of entire ownership tenures, as recent research shows. 

During the latter half of 2018, San Antonio and Houston saw an increase by three percentage points in homes sold above list price, despite having an increase in housing inventory. These jumps were attributed to San Antonio’s rapidly growing population, and ballooning need for housing, and to concerns about Houston’s oil industry, wherein sellers asked for less, expecting a drop in demand amid low oil prices.

Despite drops, homes are still being sold faster and faster each year. 2018 ended with a median time on the market of 78 days, breaking the 2017 time by three days and the 2013 time by 20 days.

Source: https://chicagoagentmagazine.com/2019/02/05/homes-sold-list-price-drop-2018/

[weekegg2-blog]

Cubs Pop One of the Best High School Catching Prospects in the Draft in the 6th Round

Many of the Cubs’ earlier-round picks, perhaps especially first rounder Ryan Jensen, all have fantastic upside, but also have the look of “under slot” types – guys whom the Cubs may try to sign for less than their allotted slot value, allowing the team to use more of their bonus pool on later round, big swing, pricey types.

Through five rounds, though, we hadn’t actually seen the Cubs draft a guy like that (usually a high schooler with a strong college commitment, disinclined to pass it up unless he gets $X).

But, at pick 192, they just pulled the trigger on Ethan Hearn out of Alabama, considered by some to be the best high school catcher in the draft.

MLB Pipeline ranked Hearn 67th overall in the draft, describing him thusly:

“His talent and the relative lack of catching available this year is pushing him up boards. Hearn’s two most impressive tools are his raw power and pure arm strength, both of which grade as plus. He’s a left-handed hitter whose strength and aggressive, pull-oriented mindset give him plenty of pop to right field. He has a quick release on his throws and can record 1.9-second pop times to second base. A Mississippi State recruit, Hearn still requires some offensive and defensive polish. He needs to temper his approach at the plate because he doesn’t always make consistent contact against quality pitching. He has improved as a receiver but still has more work to do and loses concentration more often than he should.”

FanGraphs ranked Hearn 71st in the draft, and called him a, “Plus defender with a plus arm and above average raw power, but needs a reworked swing and may never be more than a 40 bat.” His arm actually ranked as the best in the entire draft at FanGraphs.

Keith Law’s top prospects list suggested that Hearn might be about the third best high school catching prospect in the draft in his view.

With some bonus pool savings earlier on, the Cubs should be able to sweeten their offer to Hearn to keep him from going to Mississippi State. Their sixth round pick has a slot of $247,000, but we’ve seen high schoolers like Hearn in recent years get three or four times that amount to sign away from college.

Here’s a look at some Hearn batting practice in his Team USA jersey:

And here he is in the lead up to the Under Armour Game at Wrigley Field last summer:

That is a big, strong young man.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2019/06/04/cubs-pop-one-of-the-best-high-school-catching-prospects-in-the-draft-in-the-6th-round/

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Women-focused coworking space The Wing will open in Fulton Market

The Wing, a new coworking space for women, released images of its Fulton Market space on Tuesday.

The women’s club is expected to open in March at 811 W. Fulton Street right near the neighborhood’s neon gateway sign. The organization first started in New York in 2016 and has since launched in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. This is the second coworking space just for women to open in the city, following EvolveHer which opened in River North at the end of 2017.

The 9,000-square-foot space has many of The Wing design hallmarks including modular furniture, gold light fixtures, brightly colored tiles, and a color-coordinated library. The Chicago space will have a lot of open space to work, private meeting rooms, a quiet room, bookshelves stocked with female-identifying and gender non-conforming authors, a cafe with food and drinks, a beauty room, and mother’s lactation room.

The space will also host events, workshops, and panels for members and guests—past events have covered topics like salary negotiations, writing elevator pitches, criminal justice reform, and skincare. Other Wing locations have hosted speakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Tina Fey, Christiane Amanpour, and Venus Williams. Members have access to the space and all events, plus unlimited, free drip coffee.

If you’re interested in joining The Wing, you can apply for the Chicago location here. Membership is priced at $215/month or $2,350 annually. Membership with access to all locations costs $250/month or $2,700 annually.

The club will offer free two-year, full memberships as part of a scholarship program to people whose work supports important communities within Chicago. The Wing also prioritizes non-profit organizations in its cities—it has partnered or worked with Women’s Prison Association, Every Mother Counts, and Sanctuary for Families.

Photos courtesy of The Wing

Video courtesy of CallisonRTKL Architects P.C.

Source: https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/1/22/18185782/the-wing-women-coworking-space-preview

[weekegg2-blog]

Free Car Wash For Past & Present Military Members

The National Car Wash (Ainslie and Broadway) has a deal for you on Sunday if you've served or are currently serving in the military.

Source: https://www.uptownupdate.com/2018/11/free-car-wash-for-past-present-military.html

[weekegg2-blog]

Spring Training Miscellany: Cubs Win, New Record, Chatwood Solid, Bats Rake, More

The Cubs beat the Diamondbacks today at Salt River Fields, where it sounded – in the videos, anyway – more like it was at Sloan Park. As usual, Cubs fans travel:

I reckon virtually all Cactus League record attendance figures come in games against the Cubs.

Kyle Hendricks, briefly, on his outing:

Clearly, we are at a point where you can’t put too much into any one positive Tyler Chatwood outing, and it’s hard to know how/if/when we will ever trust that he’s past the EXTREME command issues that torpedoed him completely last year. I just don’t know that it could have happened this Spring anyway. But, all that said, this is actually pretty great to see:

So long as you don’t blow it out of proportion, it’s good to know that he had a really wild last outing but did not carry it mentally/mechanically into the next one. He’s here and he’s gonna be here. The Cubs are better if he pitches well.

Mike Montgomery and Allen Webster followed Chatwood with clean appearances. Montgomery was delayed by shoulder stiffness at the outset of the spring, but seems to be long over it. Webster is gunning for a job in the bullpen.

Meanwhile, a number of the bullpen regulars got work in at the minor league games today, per our own minor league dude Bryan. Each of Steve Cishek, Carl Edwards Jr., and Brad Brach pitched in the minor league games, which is fairly standard for established guys who are not going to travel with the big league team to another park for a Cactus League game.

David Bote continues to rake this Spring, sending a homer the other way in this one. He also singled in the game, raising his OPS to 1.3lol52 and is your frontrunner for Cactus League MVP.

Anthony Rizzo smacking a double and Javy Baez smacking a single:

Javy Baez, making friends, as he does:

Fun is fun, and Anthony Rizzo is as good at this particular joking face as any athlete:

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2019/03/16/spring-training-miscellany-cubs-win-new-record-chatwood-solid-bats-rake-more/

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Khalil Mack inactive for first time in NFL career

Getty Images

Linebacker Khalil Mack‘s teams have played 70 games since he entered the NFL and Mack has been in the lineup for all of them.

That streak will end on Sunday. The Bears included Mack on their list of seven inactive players for their home game against the Jets.

The news isn’t out of left field as Mack was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report because of an ankle problem that’s been bothering him for several weeks. Word on Sunday morning was that Mack would take part in pregame warmups before a final decision was made and it must not have gone well.

That report also included word that wide receiver Allen Robinson would sit out with a groin injury and that turned out to be the case. The Jets, meanwhile, will be without wide receiver Robby Anderson and cornerback Trumaine Johnson after listing both as doubtful.

Source: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/10/28/khalil-mack-inactive-for-first-time-in-nfl-career/

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Keys to the Game: Bulls vs. Wizards (02.09.19)

The Bulls and the Washington Wizards meet for the second time this season, but the first at the United Center. Back on December 28th Chicago defeated Washington, 101-92, at Capital One Arena in our nation’s capital. All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by Zach LaVine’s 24. Lauri Markkanen (14 points / 14 rebounds) and rookie Wendell Carter Jr (17 points/ 13 rebounds) also recorded double-doubles. All-Star guard Bradley Beal led Washington with a game-high 34 points.

For both the Bulls and the Wizards tonight wraps up a back-to-back set of games, as Chicago played in Brooklyn yesterday while Washington took on Cleveland in DC. The two also came together to pull off a significant trade this week, with the Bulls sending forwards Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis to the Wiz for Otto Porter Jr. The Wizards then conducted a second player swap just before the NBA mandated deadline the other day, shipping Markieff Morris and a future second round pick to New Orleans for veteran wing sniper Wesley Johnson.

Porter joins the Bulls averaging 12.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists this season. He’s a career 39 percent 3-point shooter who connected on better than 43 percent of his deep attempts each of the previous two seasons. The hope is that he and the above-mentioned Lauri Markkanen can transform into an intimidating frontline for many years to come. Markkanen, who currently is in his second season, is averaging 17.9 points and 8.1 rebounds.

Zach LaVine is also enjoying a terrific statistical year, leading the Bulls in scoring with a career-best 22.9 points per game, along with 4.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, shooting 45.5 percent from the field overall. Heading into the weekend LaVine had scored 20+ points in six of his last eight games and has posted 34 games of 20 or more points overall. He’s one of only three players in the Eastern Conference to accomplish such a feat.

Prior to last night’s contests both the Bulls and Wizards have been struggling to win games of late, as Chicago had lost two-in-a-row and six of eight, while Washington had lost three straight and six of their last eight, as well.

In order to end up on top this evening the Bulls are need to overpower and out-execute Washington at both ends of the floor. Offensively they must keep the ball moving, getting everyone involved in the action. The Bulls have to make the ball skip from side-to-side and from player-to-player to force the Wizards to scramble to defend both the perimeter and down in the paint. To that end Chicago’s primary guards (Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine), as well as both Porter and Markkanen, must display an aggressive mindset, and be willing to attack the rim at every opportunity.

As a team, the Bulls also need take command of the boards and look to speed up the pace by getting out on the break as often as possible in order to post easy scores before Washington can set up defensively.

From the opening tip until the final buzzer, Chicago has to commit to outhustling the Wizards in every way imaginable.

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/gameday/keys-game-bulls-vs-wizards-020919

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Thirteen of Third Coast’s Favorite Scary Gaming Moments

As Halloween weekend comes to a close, you might be feeling a bit of sadness at the prospect of all the spooky fun fading. Don’t fret though, because Halloween isn’t over yet, and neither is all the scary fun. Here at Third Coast, we’ve compiled a list of the scariest moments we’ve had playing video games, and we’re here to share them with you. So grab some Halloween candy and explore our favorite frightening game moments. Then, if you dare, scout the Halloween sales on Playstation, Xbox and Steam’s Halloween sale (starting today) and spend some time reliving the horrifying moments we mentioned. Third Coast gamers Antal Bokor, Marielle Shaw, James Brod, Matthew Bucher and Allison Manley share their favorite scares below.

Screenshot: Penumbra: Overture (via igdb.com)

Penumbra: Overture

I came across Penumbra a few years after it came out, and I’m not sure exactly what drew me towards it. It immediately gave me an eerie, found footage sort of vibe, like I discovered something forbidden, or even cursed. Penumbra’s inherent jankiness really helped drive that impression home, but if you’re willing to suffer through some clunkiness you’ll find a truly unsettling, extremely atmospheric and compelling game about a man trying to find his long-presumed dead father in a remote underground facility in northern Greenland. Brave creatures, fight your deteriorating psyche, solve physics-based puzzles, and uncover horrific mysteries. Developed by Frictional games, known for Amnesia and Soma, Penumbra is a survival/psychological horror that will haunt you.

-Antal

Screenshot: Tomb Raider III

Tomb Raider (Series)

I may have already mentioned I was hooked on Tomb Raider from the very first game, but what needs mentioning in a list of scary games is that there are some truly terrifying moments in those first three Tomb Raider games. Some are by design—like the incredibly creepy last two levels of the original game, where the walls pulse and strange aliens abound—but others happened more organically. I remember being engrossed in a complicated puzzle in the midst of a lush jungle in Tomb Raider III only to nearly die of a heart attack when a tiger would suddenly ambush me, destroying my moment of quiet contemplation. Perhaps the scariest thing I remember happening in any Tomb Raider game I’ve played though was during Tomb Raider III, when a giant Shiva statue came to life in what had previously been a peaceful puzzle room. The legacy continues, too, as Shadow of the Tomb Raider turned out to have some very frightening foes in the depths of its cave systems. 

– Mariel

Screenshot: Subnautica

Subnautica

Not a conventional horror game, Subnautica is perhaps the game that scared me the most on this entire list. When I reviewed it last year (link to review) I mentioned its scarier moments, and even after putting about fifty more hours into that game since I reviewed it and even knowing all of its secrets, I still feel uneasy in its depths. There’s an extremely primal fear throughout as you are introduced to an underwater food chain that places you somewhere in the middle. Star Trek-like technology helps surviving under the oceans possible, but not necessarily easy as uncovering its mysteries puts you closer to some of Subnautica’s more terrifying creatures and environments.

-Antal

Screenshot: Layers of Fear

Layers of Fear

Layers of Fear is great because it’s a first-person psychological horror game featuring classic works of art mixed with grotesque uses for body parts… but it’s also got a LOT of great jump scares. Throughout the game (set in an artists’ manor), a lot of the paranoia comes in constantly-shifting hallways, many of which have words written on the walls and over the doorways. In one of those hallways, the wall above the door says “DON’T LOOK BACK.” When you see that, you just have to turn around, right? Let’s just say that if you play the game, you probably don’t want to. Unless you want to change your pants.

-Allison

Screenshot: Dead Space

Dead Space

I’d heard of the Dead Space games for years, and I’d always been interested. Resident Evil 4 in space, and gorier? Sign me up. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Dead Space is a horror game for people who don’t like feeling completely defenseless, without sacrificing the teeth-grinding anxiety that horror games give you in spades. It has plenty of satisfying weaponry, which is perfect when you’re going up against some of the most disturbingly scary creatures in any horror game I’ve played, because when every enemy you face looks like it was ripped right out of The Thing (which is a must watch for horror movie fans), you know you’re going to have a bad time. All of this is brought together with a setting that feels like Alien but scarier makes Dead Space a must play for fans of the horror genre.

– James

Screenshot: The Evil Within

The Evil Within

Legendary director and developer Shinji Mikami, best known for his work with Capcom and the Resident Evil Series, helped not only create the modern survival horror genre—but he also helped redefine it with Resident Evil 4 in 2002. When Evil Within came out, I think people were expecting another genre defining game. Instead, we got a mind fuck that is worthy of cult status. Gritty and rough around the edges, Evil Within is like playing through a horror hodgepodge. Taking cues from Silent Hill and the Resident Evil series, The Evil Within plays like the nightmare you would have after binge playing as many games in those series as possible. With a story that jumps from setting to setting without much explanation (until the end), increase the sense of hopelessness. And if that wasn’t bad enough, even on “Normal” difficulty The Evil Within can be pretty difficult, and checkpoints can be pretty sparse adding another layer fear in the form of lost progress. The sequel (see our review here) is a lot more conventional to modern horror standards, and while it never felt as gritty as the original, is also worth a look.

-Antal

Screenshot: The Forest

The Forest

I went into The Forest preparing to be scared. I knew it was a sort of Descent-esque survival game, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much horror would be involved. Try as I might to convince myself that the terrifying mutations that exist in the forests where my plane crashed weren’t real, the sounds they made, the way they hunt in packs, and the particular combination of twisted body parts they’re made up of had me legitimately terrified for almost the entire first half of the game. Adding to the fright factor, the monsters’ attack patterns are erratic—sometimes they’ll charge straight for you in groups, but sometimes they’ll fake you out, letting out a crazy sort of laughing sound as they do. Once you start exploring the caves, you’ll find newer and deeper horrors, with bloody limbs you’ll need to brush past, empty camps where things went terribly wrong, and the knowledge that just around the next bend you may encounter something you can’t get out of. While I eventually conquered my paralyzing fear of The Forest’s citizens and was better able to face off with them, I still can’t shake that uneasy feeling every time I load back into the game. 

– Mariel

Screenshot: Bloodborne

Bloodborne

Not strictly a horror game, its risk/reward mechanics can create some stressful moments—but more than that, Bloodborne is absolutely chock full of horror style. Werewolves, giant insects, and even eldritch horrors abound in a game that is just as horrifying as it is difficult. Arguably the best game in the Souls series, Bloodborne reinvents as much as refines the Souls series in a way that even Dark Souls 3 couldn’t completely match

– Antal

System Shock 2

When you think of evil video game AIs you might think of GLADoS, but the first think I think of is Shodan. While GLADoS had a sort of plucky wackiness to her evil, Shodan was ruthless and terrifying. Not satisfied with sending her zombified, mutated and cybernetically enhanced minions after you, Shodan also enjoys taunting you as you fight for your life, as seen in the above reveal rant from the original System Shock game. While the original System Shock is a cult classic that has been re-released over the years (with Nightdive Studios even working on a complete Unreal engine-based remake) I personally found System Shock 2 to be the scarier of the two, but they’re both great atmospheric games—and the spiritual predecessors to the Bioshock series.

-Antal

Screenshot: Bioshock

Bioshock

Going into Bioshock, I didn’t know what to expect. I’d picked up a PS3 a year or two after its initial release and was going back and trying to play the games I’d heard everyone raving about. I didn’t expect to be taken in by the game, but as soon as I emerged from that initial bathysphere ride into Rapture I was hooked. And scared. The lonely corridors paired with the cheerful 50’s dance classics set the mood perfectly, and it was all downhill from there, from the terrifying masks on the bunny splicers in their bloodied dresses to the Scripture quoting, hymn singing others gone mad and waiting to tear you apart. All this without even mentioning the terrifying stomping and hissing of Big Daddies lurking nearby, or the inherent scariness of the Little Sisters who accompanied them and their high-pitched shrieks. Bioshock had me so entirely immersed in its world that I still think of those frightening depths today. 

– Mariel

Screenshot: Raw Data

Raw Data

Raw Data is one of the few VR games that really manages to feel like a “full” game. It can also be really terrifying. Sure, we’ve seen a lot of horrible things in games, as evidenced by the stories you’ve read in this article so far alone. But when you’ve got the headset on and you’re in a dark laboratory corridor where there’s been a containment problem and robots in various stages of disrepair start attacking, it’s a whole new sort of fright. The worst ones for me were the ones that slowly slithered on the cold tile floor only to leap into your face at the last second. Even with weapons at the ready, I felt ill-prepared for their glowy red eyes and cold metallic skin so close to my face I could almost feel it.

-Mariel

Screenshot: Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2

One of the scariest moments I remember from a video game was in Resident Evil 2 for N64. One of the most memorable things about early Resident Evil games for me was simply opening doors. The creak of the door and the darkness inside served as a loading screen, but was also nerve wracking. Would something pop up? What was waiting for you in the next room? After playing through Resident Evil 1 and growing used to that loading screen, RE2 made it scary again. Opening doors was business as usual until one door opened to reveal a horde of zombies coming into your area.

– Matthew

Screenshot: Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation

When Alien: Isolation came out to rave reviews, I was super psyched to wash my mouth of the bitterness that was Aliens: Colonial Marines and finally embrace a truly good Alien game. And then it was so scary I couldn’t beat it. I played it for several hours, reveling in its retro-futurism and its recreation of a 1980s Alien world—one that believably sat between Alien and Aliens. But then I ran into that damned xenomorph, some primal childhood fear reared its head, and I was paralyzed. My mom used to warn me that watching the Alien franchise would scare me, but I certainly did not listen. After imagining there was a slickly oily, acid-blooded creature waiting to kill me with its razor claws and extending, stabby jaw for the majority of my life, facing a moving and thinking manifestation of my childhood fear was too much. I never beat Alien: Isolation—because it scared me too much. But I vow to return someday…just not today.

– Antal

We hope you’ve had fun with this list of our favorite scary game moments. If you’ve got your own favorite moments to add to this list, leave them in the comments!

Hi! If you made it down this far you must’ve liked what you’ve seen. If you did, consider donating to our Patreon. Your donations enable us to continue to provide this type of content and more. Check out our Patreon page at patreon.com/3CR. Thank you for your support!

Related

Categories: Game, Games & Tech, Round-Up

Tagged as: Alien: Isolation, Bioshock, Bloodborne, Dead Space, gaming, halloween, Layers of Fear, Penumbra: Overture, PlayStation, ps4, Raw Data, Resident Evil 2, scary gaming moments, shadow of the tomb raider, Steam, Subnautica, System Shock 2, The Evil Within, The Forest, Tomb Raider, Xbox, XBoxOne

Source: https://thirdcoastreview.com/2018/10/29/eleven-scary-gaming-moments/

[weekegg2-blog]

Bulls vs. Blazers forfeit game preview and open thread

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Look at this shit:

Lauri Markkanen is indeed out vs. Trail Blazers, per Bulls updated injury report. He joins the holdovers (Carter, Valentine, Hutchison, LaVine, Porter, Dunn) as out. Bulls are calling up 2-way players Rawle Alkins and Brandon Sampson even though Windy City Bulls have playoff gm.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) March 27, 2019

Reminder that the Bulls have had an open roster spot since the trade deadline.

Source: https://www.blogabull.com/2019/3/27/18284450/bulls-vs-blazers-forfeit-game-preview-and-open-thread

[weekegg2-blog]

This Synagogue’s Story Mirrors The History Of Jewish Migration Across Chicago

Stay up-to-date with the latest news, stories and insider events.

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Source: https://www.wbez.org/shows/curious-city/this-synagogues-story-mirrors-the-history-of-jewish-migration-across-chicago/c9a72fa4-888a-4882-8392-17399e83f4cb

[weekegg2-blog]

Herbarium Wedding Photos : Aileen and Ian

Aileen and Ian’s Herbarium wedding day was a celebration filled with so many big emotions. There was nonstop laughter, huge smiles, and happy tears everywhere you looked. The last time these two were on the blog, it was for their Millenium Park engagement photos. We had some scattered rain showers throughout the day, but Aileen, Ian, and their friends and family didn’t even seem to notice. Here’s a few of my favorites from their day:

Aileen got ready with friends and family at the Wyndham Grand Hotel along the Chicago river.

Ian got ready with friends and family at home.

I really liked the floral prints that Ian incorporated into his shirt and tie.

We had a break in the rain, so we headed outdoors for their first look and a few portraits.

We jumped into an Uber and headed to the Herbarium.

Afterwards, we hid away while guests filed in for the ceremony.

     After the ceremony, guests mingled and enjoyed cocktails as we got ready for the reception.

Dance party time!

Congrats again Aileen and Ian! I’m so grateful to have been a part of your Herbarium wedding day. I had a blast working with you, your friends, and your families, and I wish you all the best! Thank you to the team at Bad Hunter for all of their help to make this Herbarium wedding day possible. I’ve already since been bac

Let’s chat! You can contact me here if you’re interested in working together. You can read more about me in my bio, and see what other clients are saying in my reviews.

Source: https://stevekoophotography.com/uncategorized/herbarium-wedding-photos-aileen-and-ian/

[weekegg2-blog]

Here’s what $3,500 rents in Chicago right now

Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Today we are looking at apartments around $3,500 per month across Chicago.

Noble Square

Let’s start off with this duplex in the Noble Square neighborhood near West Town. The 3,000-square-foot home has oversized windows, 12-foot ceilings, and a bold, bronze colored ceiling. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit also has a private outdoor deck area with views of Eckhardt Park and the historic St. Boniface Church. It’s renting for $3,500.

Lincoln Park

This Lincoln Park condo is on the rental market for the first time (although, it’s for sale too). The three-bedroom, 1,489-square-foot home has panoramic views of the lake, shoreline, and city skyline. The open kitchen overlooks the living room and the third bedroom which is currently being used a library and den. Building amenities include a garage and car wash, hospitality room and kitchen, outdoor pool and sundeck, and a 24-hour door staff. Rent it for $3,500 per month.

River North

This classic timber loft with 14-foot ceilings comes with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, heated floors, a chef’s kitchen, a wood burning fireplace, surround sound speakers, and an outdoor balcony. The building has heated indoor parking, a gym, a roof deck, and a party room. Snag this downtown spot for $3,500 per month.

Wicker Park

Over in Wicker Park this two-bedroom, two-bathroom home comes with dark cherry floors, granite countertops, a wood burning fireplace with a contemporary mantel with floor-to-ceiling tiles, and a large master suite with a separate tub and shower, double vanity, and walk-in closet. There’s also a large rooftop deck with lots of space for a garden, hammock lounging or entertaining. Live here for $3,500 per month.

Rogers Park

Up in Rogers Park you can rent an entire three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home. The recently updated brick house has new crown moldings, a gas fireplace, new kitchen appliances, and refinished hardwood floors. It’s $3,375 per month to live here.

Poll

Which home would you rent for around $3,500?

16%

Noble Square

(88 votes)

15%

Lincoln Park

(84 votes)

17%

River North

(93 votes)

30%

Wicker Park

(165 votes)

19%

Rogers Park

(107 votes)

537 votes total Vote Now

Source: https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/11/28/18048882/chicago-rental-market-wicker-park-river-north

[weekegg2-blog]

A ‘freaking fag revolutionary’ remembers the early years of gay liberation in Chicago

When the annual Pride Parade steps off from the intersection of Broadway and Montrose at noon on Sunday, June 30—with Lori Lightfoot, Chicago's first openly gay mayor, serving as honorary grand marshal—it will represent a very different mind-set from the event that launched the pride parade tradition. This year's parade is expected to draw more than a million participants and onlookers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion of June 28 and 29, 1969. Thus the theme Stonewall 50: Millions of Moments of Pride.

I was a teenaged member of Chicago Gay Liberation, the loose-knit, short-lived group that organized the first pride parade on Saturday, June 27, 1970. Most of our group thought of ourselves, proudly if irreverently, as members of the "freaking fag revolution"—to borrow the phrase used by Thomas Aquinas Foran, the U.S. attorney who had prosecuted the so-called "Chicago Seven" anti-war activists charged with conspiracy and incitement to riot as a result of their protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

The first parade wasn't even a parade. It was a march, which meant we were allowed to walk on the sidewalks but not in the streets. There were no floats, no cars, no politicians, no crowds, no corporate sponsors pitching their brands to onlookers. The last thing on our minds was the possibility of any mayor, let alone an openly gay one, leading the way; we were happy the city's then-mayor, "Boss" Richard J. Daley, didn't set his cops on us.

The day began at noon with a rally in Washington Square Park across the street from the Newberry Library—known as "Bughouse Square" because of its storied history as a free-speech forum. From there we walked to the historic Water Tower at the intersection of Michigan and Chicago Avenues. Then, instead of dispersing as we had originally planned, we impulsively headed south on Michigan into the Loop, chanting "Out of the closets and into the streets!" as we wended our way through throngs of Mag Mile shoppers. The march ended with another rally in Civic Center Plaza (now Daley Plaza), where the event culminated in a joyous circle dance around the Picasso statue.

Between 150 and 300 people (depending on which account you read) showed up to celebrate what our flyer promoting the event declared (in all capital letters) was: "THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF GAY PEOPLE TELLING THE WARPED, SICK, MALADJUSTED, PURITAN AMERIKAN SOCIETY THAT THEY HAVE HAD ENOUGH SHIT."

That flyer is on display as part of "Out of the Closets & Into the Streets: Power, Pride & Resistance in Chicago's Gay Liberation Movement," a new exhibit at Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, the midwest's largest LGBTQ library and research center. Conceived by the library's director, Wil Brant, and curated by a team of young volunteers including professional librarians Chase Ollis and James Conley and designer Kurt Conley, the display is drawn from Gerber/Hart's extensive archival collection.

The march marked the first anniversary of a riot in New York City on June 28, 1969, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village owned by the Genovese crime family, reacted violently to what had begun as a routine police raid. That event, and the events leading up to and following it, are well covered in a new book, The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History by Marc Stein (NYU Press).

But that first Stonewall anniversary march wasn't the first activity of Chicago Gay Liberation, which started up in fall 1970 after University of Chicago grad student Henry Wiemhoff placed an ad in the Chicago Maroon student newspaper seeking a gay roommate. Not only did he get a roommate—a female taxicab driver named Michal Brody—he got a discussion group. We met in Wiemhoff and Brody's Hyde Park apartment and then, as our numbers grew, began to gather at the Blue Gargoyle, a community center and coffeehouse in the multicultural, nondenominational University Church on the University of Chicago campus.

Talking soon led to action. The first public Gay Lib event I participated in was a protest four months before the Stonewall march, on the snowy afternoon of Wednesday, February 25, 1970, outside the Loop headquarters of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois. The group was hosting a program on "Youthful Offenders" with a Chicago police officer, Sergeant John Manley, as guest speaker. But for us, the offender was Manley himself. The blond, muscular cop was notorious for entrapping gay men in Lincoln Park restrooms; wearing street clothes, he would pretend to solicit guys for sex and then arrest them if they responded to his invitation. Mattachine Midwest, an established "homophile" organization in town, published Manley's picture in its mimeographed monthly newsletter and mockingly suggested Manley himself was a closet case: "If I were gay and I didn't want anybody to know, and I felt very, very guilty, I think I might get a job where I could cruise in the public interest," wrote David Stienecker, the newsletter's editor. On February 7, 1970, Manley made an early morning appearance at Stienecker's third-floor apartment to arrest him for criminal defamation.

"After I unsuccessfully attempted to make a phone call, Manley called for a police van and I was escorted from my apartment in handcuffs," Stienecker now recalls. "Upon arriving at the precinct house, Manley suggested that if I just pleaded guilty the judge would only give me a slap on the wrist." But Stienecker, represented by the diligent and fierce lesbian attorney Renee Hanover, fought the charges. After several court appearances, most of which Manley missed, the case was thrown out of court, but Stienecker lost his job as an editor at World Book Encyclopedia due to the ensuing publicity—there then being no legal protection against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Manley later rose to the rank of captain in the police force, but his career crashed and burned in the mid-1990s when he was fired for sexually harassing female officers under his supervision. Some 20 years later, his name popped up in the news again when he was ticketed for, of all things, impersonating a government official after he posed as a U.S. Maritime Service "special agent" to avoid a parking ticket. Stienecker, who went on to a successful career writing educational books for children, is credited as a program supporter of Gerber/Hart's "Out of the Closets" exhibit.

In March 1970, we responded to the release of The Boys in the Band, the film version of the 1968 off-Broadway stage hit. Our aim was not to boycott the movie—which used waspish humor to illustrate the pathological, self-hating behavior of a group of gay New York men—but to use it as a teaching opportunity. We handed out flyers on the street outside the Carnegie Theatre on Rush Street (where Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse is now), which read in part: "The pain and cruelty typified by The Boys in the Band should be understood as the expression of human lives damaged by an environment of condemnation, suspicion, job discrimination, and legal harrassment [sic]."

Gay Liberation also organized dances, which drew large crowds from around the city. Though same-sex dancing wasn't illegal, it was forbidden in the mob-owned gay bars in Boss Daley's Chicago, where periodic police raids were a given. The first two Gay Lib dances were held in the protected environs of the University of Chicago campus. (It inspired other LGBTQ student groups to hold their own dances at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle—now UIC—and Northwestern University. At the latter, music was provided by the Siegel-Schwall Band, then one of Chicago's hottest blues-rock bands. )

When the U. of C. demanded that CGL move its dances off campus because the crowds were getting too big, we booked the Coliseum, located on South Wabash between 14th and 16th Streets, a huge venue that had hosted several Republican presidential conventions, sports events, rock concerts, and, a few weeks previously, a congress of Black Muslims. As historian Timothy Stewart-Winter, author of Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press), recounts in a Slate article titled "Beyond Stonewall: How Gay History Looks Different From Chicago":

"[T]here was a problem: The venue required an insurance policy, and every insurance agent the organizers approached said the risk was too great that the police would raid the dance, cart the attendees off to jail, and levy fines. Only on the day before the dance did the activists find a broker who'd sell them a policy—a black man whose company had insured the Nation of Islam's annual convention at the same venue."

About 2,000 people showed up at the Coliseum to dance for liberation on April 18, 1970. So did the police. But when the cops entered the hall and came face to face with a phalanx of attorneys—including the formidable Renee Hanover—primed to document any civil liberties violations, they shrugged and went away.

The Gerber/Hart exhibit includes copies of the mimeographed newsletters that Gay Lib used to spread its message in those long-ago pre-Internet days. Also on display is a copy of the Chicago Seed, the city's hippie/radical underground paper, which published an eight-page Gay Liberation supplement in one issue. There's also a well-deserved tribute to the late Frank Robinson, who gave Chicago's LGBTQ community the first professional- quality publications we could call our own. Robinson was a closeted middle-aged editor for Playboy magazine; unable to come out for our demonstrations, he devoted himself to behind-the-scenes messaging. After publishing a one time "Gay Pride" paper to promote the 1971 Pride Parade (which by then had been relocated to the Lincoln Park/Lakeview area on the north side), Robinson put out two editions of The Paper, a 1972 tabloid that covered local LGBTQ arts and politics. The Paper ran interviews with local counterculture celebrities such as painter Ed Paschke, lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear, female impersonators Roby Landers and Wanda Lust, and stage director Gary Tucker, aka "Eleven," whose gender-bending Godzilla Rainbow Troupe was then running its hit production of Charles Ludlam and Bill Vehr's outrageous Turds in Hell. A copy of The Paper on display at Gerber/Hart shows a photo from another landmark of Chicago's fledgling off-Loop theater movement, the Organic Theater's sci-fi epic Warp!, featuring André De Shields (who just won a Tony for his performance in the Broadway hit Hadestown) as Xander the Unconquerable. In 1973, Robinson had relocated to San Francisco, where he became the speechwriter for a camera store owner and activist with aspirations to a political career—Harvey Milk. But by then the city had its first (more or less) regularly published newspaper, the Chicago Gay Crusader, edited by activist Michael Bergeron with copy editing supervision by his lover Bill Kelley.

The success of the June 1970 Stonewall anniversary march (no one got arrested!) encouraged members of Gay Liberation to start developing a larger agenda. Inevitably, there were conflicts. Some wanted to merge Gay Lib into a broader leftist coalition; others preferred to keep the focus on LGBTQ issues. GL's women's and Black caucuses went off in their own directions; the Black caucus turned into Third World Gay Revolutionaries, led by Ortez Alderson, who went to prison for destroying draft records in downstate Pontiac. And in September 1970, as reported in a CGL newsletter displayed in the Gerber/Hart exhibit, "Tensions that had been brewing for some weeks finally came to a head . . . with the result that the group suffered a schism and a large number of members announced they were forming a new group—not a new caucus—to be called 'The Chicago Gay Alliance.' . . . Though there . . . were moments of acrimony, the parting was amicable. . . . All present expressed a desire to avoid the infighting of competitive groups in other cities"—a reference to the internecine turf wars that tore at the fabric of New York's gay community around the same time.

The debut issue of the CGA newsletter in November 1970 explained: "The Chicago Gay Alliance is actively interested in alleviating the ghetto (whether spiritual or physical) conditions of homosexuals, in dispelling the psychological and sociological mythology that has grown up about the subject of homosexuality, in providing referral services to homosexuals, in helping homosexuals 'coming out' develop a sense of pride in who they are and courage in facing the generally hostile outside world, to provide additional social outlets so that homosexuals can meet each other as human beings, to change repressive laws and end police and political harassment, and to improve communications between the homosexual and the heterosexual communities."

In 1971 CGA gave Chicago its first LGBTQ community center, a ramshackle red-brick two-story rented house on an Old Town side street at 171 W. Elm. By 1973 the center had closed for lack of financial support, and CGA ceased operations. But the activism continued. A July 1973 issue of the Chicago Gay Crusader reported that 20th Ward alderman Cliff Kelley, working with a group called Illinois Gays for Legislative Action, had introduced legislation in the Chicago City Council to prohibit discrimination in jobs, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation. It took 15 years for the City Council to finally vote an LGBTQ-inclusive Chicago Human Rights Ordinance into law on December 21, 1988.

The Old Town community center paved the way for today's gleaming Center on Halsted. The Gay Crusader was succeeded by the weekly newspaper GayLife, founded in 1975 by the late Grant Ford, and then by Windy City Times, cofounded in 1985 by Tracy Baim, now publisher of the Reader, and still publishing in print and online 34 years later. (I served as editor of both GayLife and WCT in the '80s.)

The Gerber/Hart exhibit's narrative arc climaxes with a major event from 1977, chronicled in an issue of GayLife on display. On June 14 of that year, singer, orange-juice industry spokeswoman, and former Miss America Anita Bryant arrived in Chicago for a concert at the historic Medinah Temple at Wabash and Ohio (it's now a Bloomingdale's home furniture store). The concert had been booked before Bryant achieved national notoriety as leader of an anti-LGBTQ initiative in Dade County, Florida. LGBTQ activists, including me, picketed the Bryant concert in Chicago, despite being cautioned by gay establishment leaders that our action would be an embarrassing failure. By then, it was thought, the activist energy of the early 1970s had waned, and the only time queers turned out en masse was for the Pride Parade. But a spontaneous, unexpected turnout of 3,000 to 5,000 (depending on whom you ask) proved the naysayers wrong.

Chicago Gay Liberation, the Chicago Gay Alliance, and the other groups that sprang up in the wake of Stonewall ran out of steam by the end of the decade, but the sense of empowerment they gave the community—and the lessons we learned from their successes and setbacks—guided us into the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic and the struggle for civil rights at the city, county, and state level drove a new activist spirit. "The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long," notes Gerber/Hart's James Conley. "As transformative as those groups were, they were temporary. But the impact they had in their short span of existence was monumental and lasting."   v

Special thanks to Amber Lewis at Columbia College Chicago

Correction: This article has been revised to reflect that the Siegel-Schwall Band played at a dance held on the campus of Northwestern University, not that of the University of Chicago.

Source: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/gerber-hart-gay-pride-history/Content?oid=70924510