I don’t really want to write anything about the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin, except to reiterate what I said here. In short, I think that politics deforms people (the less generous among us could argue that deformed people get into politics). And the ambition that gets driven into politicians doesn’t allow, say, the unprepared to say “no” to opportunities when they really, really should. It’s simply too late for Palin. She’s been hardwired to go for the top, she’s not prepared, and it’s all coming apart at the seams. It’s embarrassing, and I’ve never really been able to enjoy watching someone get embarrassed. Even Kathleen Parker is asking her to bow out.

What I do want to write about is Studs Terkel, one of my personal heroes, an oral historian and journist like no other, and one of the most important people I’ve ever had the honor to meet. This week at Time Out Chicago we put up our Chicago Heroes issue, and I—with the invaluable help of web editor Scott’s Smith insane work ethic—put together a Salute to Studs. We have lots of editorial up there, including a profile I wrote last year, a look at his legacy in the arts, and what I think might be the most exhaustive bibliography of Studs’ work, along with loads of video and audio. I humbly ask that you please check it out sometime, whenever you like. And if you’re up at 7am (CT) on Sunday, I’ll be on the radio with Rick Kogan, talking about it all.

I got stuck on a CTA train this morning for two hours. In a tunnel. So we got out and walked. In the tunnel. I wrote the whole thing up for Time Out Chicago, the quote below will take you there:

I’m as big a fan of visions of post-apocalyptic America as you’ll find, but what I learned today is that being a part of one isn’t that fun.

We got a headstart on our April Fool’s issue this week at TOC, since April 1 happens on a Tuesday and we hit stands on Thursdays. The goof had Donald Trump buying our mag and then reconceptualizing it in his image (i.e. a story on how to dress more expensively, another about how landmarks should be destroyed in favor of condos, etc.). The real philosophical underpinning, of course, came from the recent shakeups in Chicago, and elsewhere, that’s included layoffs at just about every media company in town (TOC included). So what’s left for a magazine to do but sell out to Trump?

We had a blast putting the issue together, but didn’t really expect people to take it seriously. Turns out, loads of people did. Lots of comments on the blog and elsewhere on the site, threatening canceled subscriptions, etc. One reader told Trump, “Your not that great man!” Of course, the best reaction came from Crain’s Chicago Business, which bought the story hook line and sinker, and reported it as true.

One of the pieces I wrote for the issue was a clubs review as Tara Conner, disgraced Miss USA. Check out the comments on the bottom. People eat celebrities alive.

So we’re going to do this with bullet points.

• Hiding Out is now available for pre-order. You can order it now and we’ll ship it to arrive at your home before it’s in stores. And it’s only $10.
• Everyone who pre-orders it gets an essay on the topic of their choice. No joke. Just fill it into the “notes” field when you order it. Any topic.
• I had a lot of fun in this interview with Chicagoist, about the Dollar Store, Hiding Out and how my destiny was manifested for me.
• The release party is ready to go. It’s going to be a blast.
• You can befriend Hiding Outon MySpace.
• Yes, it’s true, as a monthly show, The Dollar Store will cease after November 2. But we’ll probably bring it back soon enough, either as a monthly or in some other form. We just need a break. But every time I’m forced to say it I regret it more and more.

There’s lots more, but I just got back from vacation and can’t seem to get out from under the piles of e-mail and incomplete tasks from a week off. More soon!

I was hoping that the month of July was going to be a breeze. It hasn’t been. Here’s some stuff that’s been going on, bulleted because no one wants to read about all of these things in detail:

• My move from Wicker Park to Logan Square is in media res. I’ve been trying to make it as affordable and green as possible, so I’ve been moving via iGo car share, both for transporting stuff from my apartment to the new place and running various Craiglist errands. That’s the green side. The affordable side is that I’m doing the move largely after midnight but before 6am, because the car I use is free then. By the time the move is all done, I will have done about 95% of it by myself, via car sharing and after midnight. I was up until 4am this morning moving. I’m an idiot savant.

• I sold off my beloved Dipsy Doodle pinball machine, the first piece of “furniture” I bought in Chicago. Parting was such sweet sorrow.

• I have almost the entire tour booked at this point. Looks like there are just two or three holes left to fill. If you’re in Montreal, Baltimore or Chapel Hill and you want to hang out, shoot me an e-mail about a good place to read in your town. We will hang out there.

• I saw Jim Munroe the other day, which is always nice and inspiring.

• Printers’ Ball is tonight. If you haven’t seen it, check out the website. You can download the program there, which is designed as a Featherproof mini-book and contains the first half of the second story in Hiding Out, “Bicycle Kick.”

• “After Another Bomb Dropped” was recorded for Chicago Public Radio’s Vocalo.

• Lots of stuff over at the Time Out Chicago Books section.

• Paul Hornschemeier challenged me to a fight. I hope his mother doesn’t love him, because he’s going to get ended.

• Actually, I didn’t mean that. Check it out: He’s profiled in the Trib and Spin in the same week for different things. Everything’s coming up Hornschemeier. Including pregnancy tests, from what I hear.

• See you at the Printers’ Ball tonight, maybe? Free hand-screened featherproof tees, after all.

I haven’t been able to read much about the Tools of Change in Publishing Conference, mostly because I find summaries of lectures to be as exciting as lectures on summaries.

Two things, however, caught my eye. One, Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson (he of The Long Tail bandwagon) thinks that the future of books includes advertising. That’s advertising in books. The very idea of it depresses me, and I’m glad I feel so strongly that he’s wrong. The book is maybe the only place on earth where it feels safe to venture without encountering advertising. It’s like saying that the future of home-owning is advertising on your living room walls.

On the flipside, a guy has figured out how to make paper interact with a computer (hint: it uses conductive ink), which means a book can be in print, but its boundaries can be much, much larger. It’s called the blueBook, and it looks awesome. I wrote about over at TOC, and you can read that entry here.