S. Nicole Lane

Right now, somewhere out there, a data center is working just for you.
Anything that flows through your laptop, tablet, or smartphone is driven in part by one of these massive computing and storage facilities. Data centers—on average 100,000 square feet in size—house, process, and distribute digital information 24 hours a day.
Chicagoland’s ample land, water, and money make the area a mecca for the booming data center industry. According to a June report from real estate and investment firm C...

COVERT, Michigan — The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, long synonymous with safety lapses and regulatory oversight, is poised for an unprecedented comeback under Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s plan to reopen the shuttered plant by 2025 — the first attempt of its kind in U.S. history.
However, in this robust agricultural region, there are fears about how reopening a problematic plant could impact area farmers and the food they produce.
Approximately 6,362 farms are within 50 miles of P...

“The truth is you’re a god, a miracle. People daydream of a big woman, a strong woman. They daydream of someone with a deep voice and a loud laugh,” writes Vera Blossom in “Remember You’re a God,” the opening piece of her debut book How to Fuck Like a Girl.
How to Fuck Like a Girl by Vera Blossom
Dopamine, paperback, 168 pp., $17.95, mitpress.mit.edu/9781635902273/how-to-fuck-like-a-girl
Blossom’s writing about raunchy bathroom sex, Craigslist meetups, and yearning for more, more, more keeps ...

Vaginal dilators come in many shapes, sizes, and even colors. They resemble a phallic-like shape, sort of like a tampon, and can come in plastic or silicone. They vary in length and thickness and are used to stretch your vaginal tissue. If you have pain during sex, pelvic floor dysfunction, menopause, or have had a gender-affirming surgery, dilators may be recommended.
What Is the Purpose of Dilators?
Dilators work to gradually make the vagina more flexible, strengthening the pelvic muscles t...

Ovarian reserve refers to the amount of eggs a woman has. Most women are born with about 2 million eggs (a newborn baby has even more – 20 million), and this reserve diminishes with time. A more rapid decline of eggs begins around age 37.
Research shows that one-third of couples have issues getting pregnant if a woman is over the age of 35., and getting your ovarian reserve checked could help you evaluate your fertility and plan for immediate or future pregnancies.
How To Test Your...

Have you ever had rough or rowdy – but enjoyable – sex and felt a throbbing pain that radiated throughout your pelvis afterward? Doesn’t sound too sexy, does it?
Technically a sex injury, having a bruised cervix isn’t desirable. The cervix may feel tender or sensitive after a penis, sex toy, or another object has continuously bumped and, therefore, “bruised” the cervix during deep penetration.
A bruised cervix can also be caused by reasons outside of intercourse, like endometriosis...

The voices of Spoon River Anthology sound a lot like mine from childhood. It doesn’t matter if it’s the 1800s or the 2000s—small-towners often fantasize about lives they’d rather live. They hold a thousand memories, carry a broken fiddle, become apple thieves, and dream of the grace that awaits them in heaven.
Edgar Lee Masters published more than 200 poems in Spoon River Anthology in 1915. The difference between my hometown and Masters’s is that I don’t know what my neighbors said once they ...

Getting off doesn’t always have to include the first video that pops up on Pornhub. In fact, turning yourself on can be more curated and more refined—and it can include your favorite celebrity tush.
When Mr. Man first went live online ten years ago, the website developers aimed to create a warehouse of archived male celebrity nudity where viewers didn’t have to sit through a flick just to catch a glimpse. What began as an extension of the website Mr. Skin—which archives female nudity in telev...

Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at fooddrink@chicagoreader.com.
You can walk into Novel Pizza Cafe hungry and walk out with a pizza pie and a matcha latte. Yes, coffee drinks and pizza go together.
The small, unassuming pizza joint in Pilsen is inspired by the owners’ Filipino and Mexican heritages. While the south side has many classic p...

The Lower West Side of Chicago, chiefly Pilsen, is home to music lovers, Mexican eateries, bustling cafes and vintage shop hoards. More than simply a destination neighborhood, Pilsen has a reputation for its gutsy arts district, its Second Friday gallery events and its 50 street murals around 16th Street that celebrate local culture.
Green Room Newsletter
Stay ahead of what’s hitting Chicago stages, galleries, museums and more with Green Room, WBEZ’s weekly arts & culture newsletter!
By subsc...

Adapted from the mystery novel Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman, the seven-part Apple TV+ series with the same name follows Jewish homemaker Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman), who lives a comfortable yet boring life in 1966. After discovering the body of a murdered young Jewish girl, Schwartz has a mini-crisis during which she divorces her husband and moves to Baltimore to become an investigative journalist. In a parallel world is Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram), a Black overworked mother livin...

Americans are scared of artificial intelligence. According to a YouGov survey, 54 percent use the word “cautious” when explaining their feelings toward AI, and 49 percent feel “concerned.”
In the new Apple TV+ series, Sunny, a futuristic backdrop of Japan and distrust in robots is revealed through dark comedy, unbelievable grief, distrust, and a battle between what’s real and artificial.
Rashida Jones plays Suzie Sakamoto, an American transplant who relocates to Kyoto for a new beginning. Aft...

Approximately 18 million American women have diabetes and a staggering 43.7 million have prediabetes. However, 90% of people don’t know they have prediabetes according to a study published in Clinical Diabetes.
Not only can diabetes impact heart health, vision, and kidney health, it can also influence vaginal health.
The reasons for this are because blood glucose is too high and is being inadequately controlled, which is typically seen in women with type 1 diabetes more than type 2 diabetes.
...

Once called the “Loop’s Little Brother,” Uptown houses nearly 60,000 residents in an area rooted in jazz, entertainment and nightlife. Art Deco buildings evoke the sultry spirit of the neighborhood in its heyday.
Today, Uptown is made up of microcosms, with unique slices offering distinct food, culture and attractions. Black Ensemble Theater will host the Black Playwrights Festival later this month, from Aug. 21 through Aug. 24, and the historic Green Mill jazz club is staging shows nightly, ...

Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at fooddrink@chicagoreader.com.
I’m always on a breakfast sandwich hunt. I usually pick cafes based on my particular needs that day, considering my bank account, emotions, and work flexibility. For hangovers, I stop at Bridgeport Coffee. Splurging days are for Bad Owl Coffee Roasters. And I can settle in at...