https://www.pauldailing.com/project daily 0.75 2021-11-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541873332883-8F3M9YAVXLU05VNBI5UP/Short+pencil.PNG Projects - The Chicago Corruption Walking Tour Covered by outlets including NPR’s Marketplace, Reuters and Journal Métro, the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour was an experiment in live journalism, taking the willing through two centuries of dirty deals. In addition to the sites of kickbacks, stings and even murders, stops on the 2.25-mile tour included a street corner where four gerrymandered districts worm together, a luxury department store that received millions from an anti-poverty program and spots connected to Chicago’s history of segregation and voter disenfranchisement. The tour ran for the summers of 2016 through 2019. Half each year’s gratuities went to a different Chicago-area journalism nonprofit, including City Bureau, ProPublica Illinois and The TRiiBE. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541873332883-8F3M9YAVXLU05VNBI5UP/Short+pencil.PNG Projects - The Chicago Corruption Walking Tour Covered by outlets including NPR’s Marketplace, Reuters and Journal Métro, the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour was an experiment in live journalism, taking the willing through two centuries of dirty deals. In addition to the sites of kickbacks, stings and even murders, stops on the 2.25-mile tour included a street corner where four gerrymandered districts worm together, a luxury department store that received millions from an anti-poverty program and spots connected to Chicago’s history of segregation and voter disenfranchisement. The tour ran for the summers of 2016 through 2019. Half each year’s gratuities went to a different Chicago-area journalism nonprofit, including City Bureau, ProPublica Illinois and The TRiiBE. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541949576507-QK36NDSSXLJDVASAQVCS/Redflag-larger.jpg Projects - 1,001 Chicago Afternoons Based on Ben Hecht’s 1920s Chicago Daily News column 1001 Afternoons in Chicago, this six-and-a-half year, 1,001-story project brought the notion of “journalism that invaded the realm of literature” into the 21st century. In addition to profiles and interviews with Chicagoans from across the city (sometimes paired with illustrations from local artists), the project experimented with story form, delving into personal essay, satire, interactive maps, text-based RPGs and probably one of the very few breakdowns of campaign finance disclosure in the style of the Mandé people’s “Oral Epic of Son-Jara”. The project won a Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism and was featured on WBEZ, in the Chicago Tribune and as part of the Chicago History Museum’s “Chicago Authored” exhibit, which ran from 2015 to 2020. 1,001 Chicago Afternoons ended in 2018 with the publication of story #1,001. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541872972048-2FATNZUAC976M4ECMAWH/Redflag-larger.jpg Projects - 1,001 Chicago Afternoons Based on Ben Hecht’s 1920s Chicago Daily News column 1001 Afternoons in Chicago, this six-and-a-half year, 1,001-story project brought the notion of “journalism that invaded the realm of literature” into the 21st century. In addition to profiles and interviews with Chicagoans from all ends of the city (sometimes paired with illustrations from local artists), the project experimented with story form, delving into personal essay, satire, interactive map, video game and probably one of the very few breakdowns of campaign finance disclosure in the style of the Mandé people’s “Oral Epic of Son-Jara” in order to tell the stories of real Chicago and real Chicagoans. The project won a Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism and was featured on WBEZ, in the Chicago Tribune and as part of the Chicago History Museum’s ongoing “Chicago Authored” exhibit. It ended in 2018 with the publication of story #1,001. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541873041746-C699IWFKQJSYXEOTB3WS/Welcome+to+the+Neighborhood.png Projects - Welcome to the Neighborhood This storytelling series was, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, “a living graphic novel,” pairing Chicagoans from across the city with local artists to tell what life’s like in Chicago’s 77 distinct, divided community areas. Bringing together both professional and amateur storytellers, Welcome to the Neighborhood hosted events at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Printers Row Lit Fest, the Chicago Book Expo and “Let’s Get Working,” a three-day University of Chicago festival celebrating the life of Studs Terkel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541949507332-3SQBYRB5RBAOCYA3XPOK/Redflag-larger.jpg Projects - 1,001 Chicago Afternoons Based on Ben Hecht’s 1920s Chicago Daily News column 1001 Afternoons in Chicago, this six-and-a-half year, 1,001-story project brought the notion of “journalism that invaded the realm of literature” into the 21st century. In addition to profiles and interviews with Chicagoans from all ends of the city (sometimes paired with illustrations from local artists), the project experimented with story form, delving into personal essay, satire, interactive map, video game and probably one of the very few breakdowns of campaign finance disclosure in the style of the Mandé people’s “Oral Epic of Son-Jara” in order to tell the stories of real Chicago and real Chicagoans. The project won a Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism and was featured on WBEZ, in the Chicago Tribune and as part of the Chicago History Museum’s ongoing “Chicago Authored” exhibit. It ended in 2018 with the publication of story #1,001. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541872795196-R2DZU11E9T59FV05HWC9/Welcome+to+the+Neighborhood.png Projects - Welcome to the Neighborhood This intermittent storytelling series is, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, “a living graphic novel,” pairing Chicagoans from across the city with local artists to tell what life’s like in Chicago’s 77 distinct, divided community areas. Bringing together both professional and amateur storytellers, Welcome to the Neighborhood has hosted events at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Printers Row Lit Fest, the Chicago Book Expo and “Let’s Get Working,” a three-day University of Chicago festival celebrating the life of Studs Terkel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1587432939288-J4VL1C60JQRR7JBAI2FI/image-asset.png Projects - The Chicago Corruption Walking Tour podcast A 20-episode podcast expanding the walking tour of the same name, featuring interviews, music, original research, videos, maps and other civics insanity. The podcast went on hiatus in 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis. Past episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and TuneIn. https://www.pauldailing.com/clip daily 0.75 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1772476878514-2Y330OLOA5V5KO5CTAQM/image-asset.webp Clips - Season of the W.I.T.C.H. For the Chicago Tribune’s Vintage Tribune, a look at the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, or W.I.T.C.H., a satirical protest tactic that baffled both press and congressional subcommittees, a performance piece with an FBI file. W.I.T.C.H. ran a series of hexes around Chicago in 1969 and 1970, then vanished, leaving authorities chasing phantoms. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1724087147337-KD7MQ95P6EF2XUV2T58C/Screenshot+2024-08-19+115815.png Clips https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1772476878514-2Y330OLOA5V5KO5CTAQM/image-asset.webp Clips - Season of the W.I.T.C.H. For the Chicago Tribune’s Vintage Tribune, a look at the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, or W.I.T.C.H., a satirical protest tactic that baffled both press and congressional subcommittees, a performance piece with an FBI file. W.I.T.C.H. ran a series of hexes around Chicago in 1969 and 1970, then vanished, leaving authorities chasing phantoms. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1724087108137-IA8IEAJVRIBE7GFZBMNP/image-asset.jpg Clips - Iilaatawiaanki (We speak a language) In this Chicago Reader cover story, I profiled three local speakers of Myaamiaataweenki, the Indigenous language that gave Chicago its name. As the last native speakers died sometime in the 1960s or ’70s, today’s speakers use a reborn version of the language, crafted from three dictionaries and a prayer book that French Jesuit missionaries compiled in the late 1600s and early 1700s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1724087348939-R7T8UNP8L4A3NV4TF7GA/image-asset.png Clips - Iilaatawiaanki (We speak a language) In this Chicago Reader cover story, I profiled three local speakers of Myaamiaataweenki, the Indigenous language that gave Chicago its name. As the last native speakers died sometime in the 1960s or ’70s, today’s speakers use a reborn version crafted from three dictionaries and a prayer book that French Jesuit missionaries compiled in the late 1600s and early 1700s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1569439864219-TEY4BZD3HDEQYKWSTSN5/ee7e1b5a-d402-4bd3-bb70-31607f255d69%5B1%5D.jpg Clips - To Help Homeless Kids In Chicago, First You Have To Find Them In this radio piece for WBEZ’s Curious City, I broke down the difficulty in counting homeless children and how each child uncounted results in federal funding denied to communities and services denied to people who need them. Reporting involved multiple interviews with homeless or formerly homeless young people along with culling data from agencies ranging from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to Chicago Public Schools. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541876013567-UHWF553EFF00IZKGP42U/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F+%281%29.jpeg Clips https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541994831916-Y6EE5VBLFWS80DLH9A6Z/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F.jpeg Clips - The Long Death of Jean Lalime In this Chicago Reader cover story, I uncovered the mystery of Chicago's first murder, Fort Dearborn interpreter Jean Lalime. Researching declassified War Department communications, I showed the 1812 killing at the hands of “city father” John Kinzie was a politically motivated murder. The story also followed the 206-year journey of Lalime’s body from silenced informant to history museum storage piece. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541995158822-H7VT4QE2O1JXP13NRCQJ/Capture.PNG Clips - Cook County's Property Tax: The Motion Picture For Patch.com, AOL’s network of hyperlocal news sites where I served as a local editor from 2010 to 2012, a hilarious and informative look at the Cook County property tax system, which is completely different than the system used in all 101 other Illinois counties. Contains information on assessment and valuation, and unprovoked jabs at the music of James Taylor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541995374819-QVNG9Y7QC63DIQR8NTCK/Capture.PNG Clips - Holes at the Poles: One Auroran's journey to the center of the Earth For the Aurora Beacon-News, the story of Marshall Gardner, an early 1900s Aurora corset manufacturer who dedicated his life to proving that the Earth was a hollow sphere populated by a central sun, mammoths and Asians. Research for the story included interviews with experts on Hollow Earth theory, Gardner’s own writings, historic newspaper archives, the works of Isaac Newton and Sir Edmund Halley, and U.S. Patent databases. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541993660603-02RKKHUNSA3PADS22H4E/harrynicolaides.jpg Clips - Australian Writer Who Insulted Thai Monarchy Shares Prison Cell With Child Molester, Weapons Dealer Originally for my master’s work for Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism but later published in a condensed form by the Huffington Post, I interviewed Australian Harry Nicolaides inside Bangkok Remand Prison. The story looks at the political backdrop of Harry’s arrest for lèse-majesté, examining how a narrator aside in a self-published novel turned into prison time years later as dueling sides of a Thai political schism tried to curry favor with King Bhumibol Adulyadej. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541876095273-51U6SDHQV81Z985O9PIH/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F+%281%29.jpeg Clips https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541994860520-DQ4VS63UOBVXP2WYTROK/168205040_98a9c4c017_o.jpg Clips - Bangkok's red light district suffers from political chaos For the Agence France-Presse Asia-Pacific Bureau out of Bangkok, Thailand, I interviewed sex workers in Bangkok’s Patpong district to see how the 2008 Thai political crisis - including the seizure of the airport by anti-government protesters - were affecting an industry dependent on foreign sex tourists. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541877839975-V32BXYRHN9S3JW9MCHTU/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F+%281%29.jpeg Clips https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541993805736-CDQ2PYKMZ2HEQU815P60/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F.jpeg Clips - The Long Death of Jean Lalime: A classic tale of Chicago corruption, and also of rabbinical law, frontier justice, and the city's first murder In this Chicago Reader cover story, I looked at the fate of Jean Lalime, researching declassified War Department communications to show the Fort Dearborn interpreter’s 1812 killing at the hands of “city father” John Kinzie was a politically motivated murder. The story also followed the 206-year journey of Lalime’s body from silenced informant to history museum storage piece. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541874342561-672N6T81K1N2JPW3IB2Y/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F+%281%29.jpeg Clips https://www.pauldailing.com/work daily 1.0 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541961966849-FDL3YMHS0ND8KETL21AG/Redflag-larger.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1541991126110-VNY0B67K889MMDNUUO9V/396628BF-07C7-4121-80CE-9A685819C95F.jpeg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1602915132189-U8SYDE83AAW1SMMZVWMG/Blast%2BInto%2BAdventure%2Blogo%2B3.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1602915723602-B37B899D4GMOBNV3EQME/CCWTpodcastlogo.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5be5b8b929711415c1294bbd/1638293929875-8JIFIP62LKQGAP0VC04D/paul+dailing+6.JPG Work