Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, June 10, 2016. Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan sues sandwich chain Jimmy John’s Jimmy John’s is well-known for its quick service—and the strict noncompete agreements it forces employees to sign. On Thursday Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan filed suit against the Champaign-based chain over the controversial contracts, which may be illegal in Illinois. She’s asking the court to void all past noncompete agreements and stop Jimmy John’s from making workers agree to such terms in the future....

When I tell people Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday, they expect me to be a hopeless romantic, or to say some bullshit like, “I just love my friends so much!” No. I love Valentine’s Day because I love myself. I think everyone should be a little more self-obsessed, and Valentine’s Day offers the perfect opportunity to celebrate that obsession. But I didn’t always feel this way. A decade later, I adhere to two strict Valentine’s rules....

Middle school can be a nightmare if you’re not one of the cool girls. Girls Like Us is the Chicago-produced podcast that explores just that, taking on Lisi Harrison’s monumental YA series The Clique. The series follows a group of popular middle-school girls, led by the mean and judgmental Massie Block. Maybe you recognize the plaid book covers, with images of middle school socialites glaring back at you. The series, which arrived at the dawn of the reality television era, was marketed as the younger sister to Gossip Girl....

The Owl Estelle’s Finalists: Late Bar, Remedy

In their nearly 15 years as a band, San Francisco’s Grayceon have reimagined the traditional shapes of metal with challenging song structures, thought-provoking lyrics, and a sound that often feels orchestral despite being largely produced by a trio of cello, guitar, and drums. On their fifth album, Mothers Weavers Vultures, the group make a plea for humanity to build a better future, no matter the hardships along the way—a fitting capstone for a year most of us are glad to leave behind....

This summer UK dance-music singer-songwriter Aluna released her solo debut, Renaissance, whose lead track, “I’ve Been Starting to Love All the Things I Hate,” makes a case for pulling ourselves out of the collective malaise of 2020 to find our collective voice. In AlunaGeorge, her duo with producer George Reid, her soprano sometimes crosses into bubblegum-pop territory, but on “I’ve Been Starting” her determination and vigor set a different tone for the new album: “Sweet, sweet destiny / You’ll never be my enemy,” she sings....

When you think of the staggering levels of violence that members of the LGBTQIA+ community continue to endure (or, even more tragically, don’t survive), the title of Terry Guest’s 90-minute two-hander, produced by Story Theatre, feels like a blow. Guest explores the impact of trauma survived not just once or twice, but as a regular occurrence over decades, passed down through generations and carried in the very genetic makeup of African Americans....

Sikia Restaurant washburneculinary.com/facilities/sikia In an industrial part of Englewood populated largely by empty lots, factory buildings, and fast-food restaurants is the 77-year-old Washburne Culinary Institute—and inside of that is Sikia Restaurant, where Washburne students prepare and serve food in a room full of white tablecloths, tasteful artwork, and soothing music. Sadly, the $7 three-course meal that Sikia used to offer is no more (though the website still advertises it), but all the entrees are under $10, and most of the appetizers and desserts are $3....

Manual Cinema The local arts collective Manual Cinema creates inventive live performance pieces that suggest silent movies materializing out of thin air. Employing actors, musicians, a variety of puppets, and a combination of live-feed cameras and overhead projectors, the group stages elaborate shadow plays whose action transpires on multiple screens. Watching its shows can be dizzying, as your eyes dart constantly between the performers and the onscreen activity. In Mementos Mori, which premiered in January at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the group took audiences on a journey from contemporary San Francisco to the afterlife and back....

Mathew Klujian & Sons klujianrugs.com Of all my household furnishings, my rug has been with me the longest. We’ve been through a lot together, my rug and I. For years, it has faithfully protected my feet from cold floors and covered up depressing-looking stains. And yet I treat it so shabbily! I track mud and sand and dead leaves on it and sweep dust under it. It’s appalling. So last time I moved, I decided to reward it for its faithful service by giving it a spa treatment at Mathew Klujian & Sons....

Back by popular demand: The Back Room Deal features radio personality and longtime Reader political writer Ben Joravsky arguing local Chicago politics with Reader staff writer Maya Dukmasova. With sharp wit and stinging analysis, Joravsky and Dukmasova cut through the smoky haze of the elections to offer you a glimpse of the current Chicago races—ward-level and, of course, mayoral. Will these historic elections be determined in back-room deals, like so many in Chicago’s past?...

Chicagoans is a first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. This week’s Chicagoan is Tazima Davis, sex and intimacy coach and orgasmic meditation teacher. “What do men get out of it? They become more sensitive to their own feelings and sensations. They are able to interact with women in a way that they couldn’t before, because they’re more confident about what’s going on for women....

Whether you’re thinking shared plates for the table or would prefer everyone fend for themselves, one thing is for certain when dining at Venteux: you are going to want to place an order for the Grand Marnier soufflé. Yes, soufflé is classic and every French restaurant has one on the dessert menu, but the soufflé at Venteux, Chicago’s newest Michigan Avenue restaurant and patio inside the Carbide & Carbon building, is something truly special....

“Jumping is a little more challenging than it used to be,” says Michelle Kranicke, artistic director of Zephyr Dance and curator of the upcoming Amid Festival at Links Hall. “It’s not the going up, it’s the coming down.” To get the point across, Kranicke handpicked a group of highly acclaimed dancers still making waves around the country, among them Merce Cunningham protege Deborah Hay, Bessie Award winner Bebe Miller, and Links Hall cofounder Bob Eisen....

Beau O’Reilly, 68, has been a fixture on Chicago’s fringe theater and music scenes for decades, most notably with the Curious Theatre Branch (coproducers of the annual Rhino Fest), Maestro Subgum & the Whole, and the Crooked Mouth. During the pandemic, O’Reilly recorded a new album, Thrifty (Uvulittle), that features 14 tracks created at a distance with collaborators around the country. He’s throwing a release party at Constellation on Saturday, May 15, at 8 PM....

Binny’s Beverage Depot Independent Spirits, Inc. Finalists: Red & White, Bottles and Cans, Vin Chicago

Genre-bending jazz-rap troupe Not Lovely started almost on a dare. In summer 2015, vocalist and producer Jack Clements remixed Wilco’s “EKG,” rapped over it, and uploaded his version to the Soundcloud account of Auburn Hills, his studio hip-hop project with rapper-producer Alex Singleton—aka Why? Records cofounder Joshua Virtue. “EKG” eventually earned Clements and Virtue an invite to the Wilco loft, and when Jeff Tweedy asked the duo if they had a band, they decided to put one together....

Most Western narratives reduce Africa to a monolith of wanting and lack. Africa is (just) a (single) country. Africa is corrupt. Africa is backward, savage, dirty, diseased—a shithole. Tales of its wealth, innovation, diversity, and history apart from colonization are often dismissed as mythmaking and hyperbole. “It was an opportunity to really think about history in a wholly new way and also to ensure that it was not just told by Europeans because the witnesses—the chroniclers—were often writing in Arabic,” Lisa Corrin, the director of the Block Museum, explains....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.

Tricky Ol’ Puss trickyolpuss.com Runner-Up: Edd Fairman