This January, the town’s most famous barbecue restaurant will close its Urbana location (again). Black Dog Smoke & Ale House ...

This week is the last week of publishing for the year on Smile Politely, and I want to end 2025’s Thirsty Thursday column ...

A year ago, when we published this annual article, we were post-2024 elections facing the terrifying uncertainty of what the ...

This year has felt a little like the WORST, huh? So much of 2025 has been a dumpster fire. It’s not just the antics of the ...

In case this sounds unfamiliar, let’s discuss it a bit. The Odyssey Project within the Humanities Research Institute at the ...

We’ve made it through another year of publishing at Smile Politely. In 2025 we published more than 1,300 articles and SPlogs.

Listen up: the University of Illinois Press teamed up with The Country Music Foundation last summer and dropped one of the ...

Born6, 1775, Jane Austen is the author of literary classics such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma.

December 21st, the Winter Solstice, officially marks the shortest day of the year. After that we, the daylight hours will ...

For the introduction to last year’s BEST, I wrote this: “As we move into a challenging 2025, let us remember to make note of the things that give us normalcy and happiness, and bring us together with ...