Theodore Richards

The latest excerpt from my next book, “What Happened to Icarus,” is available here in Wayfarer Magazine. Read the article “Mozambique” here: www.wayfarermagazine.com/p/mozambique...

“If we do not take seriously the deep, psychic processes at work, we will be doomed. To think that something like the holocaust cannot happen here is to ignore ... history and, most importantly, what’s really going on with the human psyche"

Read: open.substack.com/pub/theocosm...

Blackhawk helicopters flying over the the south side of Chicago. We are under siege.

Here’s another excerpt from my next book, “What happened to Icarus.” It’s a story about mentorship and community—and about what endures when memories fade. www.wayfarermagazine.com/p/sue?r=18kv...

Wayfarer Magazine Issue 43 Print Edition Pre-order Now!

Read the new issue of @wayfarermagazine.bsky.social here: open.substack.com/pub/wayfarer...

The Two-Inch Glass An Essay by Theodore Richards

The following article, “The Two-inch Glass,” is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, “What Happened to Icarus.”

It’s about borders & barriers, freedom & imprisonment, and a visit to Cook County Jail.

www.wayfarermagazine.com/p/the-two-in...

If the University of Chicago Won’t Defend the Humanities, Who Will? Why it matters that the University of Chicago is pausing admissions to doctoral programs in literature, philosophy, the arts, and languages

If the University of Chicago Won’t Defend the Humanities, Who Will?

Why it matters that the University of Chicago is pausing admissions to doctoral programs in literature, philosophy, the arts, and languages

By Tyler Austin Harper

www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

I was recently interviewed for The Wayfarer’s series, UNCHARTED
@wayfarermagazine.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/wayfarer...

Death Bed An Essay by Theodore Richards

This is piece, entitled “Death Bed”, published in Wayfarer Magazine, is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, “What Happened to Icarus.” It’s a chapter about what happens when death becomes the only possible subject of conversation.

substack.com/home/post/p-...

My favorite part of the air & water show coming to Chicago every summer is how it reminds me why we have no money for schools, healthcare, the arts, or feeding the hungry. Money for war but can’t feed the poor.

Chuck Mangione dies: See photos of Rochester icon going all the way back to the 1960s The Rochester native achieved international fame with the hit "Feels So Good."

www.democratandchronicle.com/picture-gall...

“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.”

RIP, Joanna R. Macy (May 2, 1929 – July 19, 2025)

You’ve Done This Before An Essay by Theodore Richards

An excerpt from my next book, What Happened to Icarus. www.wayfarermagazine.com/p/youve-done...

“We think that our purpose is to make it always bright and sunny, to numb the pain, to fix the broken things. But repair is something different. Repair is the antidote to despair.” Read here: open.substack.com/pub/theocosm...

It’s Over An Argument for Giving Up on the United States of America

Honoring interdependence and community today, not celebrating independence (or the nation-state). open.substack.com/pub/theocosm...

home | IBUKUN Fest

“IBUKUN Hip-Hop Arts and Culture Festival is a one-of-a-kind cultural celebration that brings together music, conversation, fashion, art, and community under one roof on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago”

www.ibukunfest.com

My publisher used Caravaggio’s “The Conversion on the Way to Damascus” for the cover of my novel “The Conversions.” I saw the original for the first time here in Rome at the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo. @wayfarerbooks.bsky.social

There is a story
Written on my daughter’s body
In languages I don’t speak…

Read more on Substack:

open.substack.com/pub/theocosm...

The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong Cosmologists are fighting over everything.

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

5 Years Later, How George Floyd’s Murder Has Impacted Police-Community Relations Nationwide protests erupted in the summer of 2020, a so-called racial reckoning, shortly after a video of the killing surfaced online. Residents took to the streets demanding systemic change to polici...

Thanks to my friend Kofi Ademola for all the good work he does and his contribution to this conversation: news.wttw.com/2025/05/21/5...

New edition now available from @wayfarerbooks.bsky.social

I was recently interviewed in The Wayfarer about a new project called “Reimagine: Self & Worldview.” Read the interview here: open.substack.com/pub/wayfarer... @wayfarermagazine.bsky.social

Wayfarer Magazine May Edition A Preview of Forthcoming Articles from Wayfarer Magazine

Coming soon from @wayfarermagazine.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/wayfarer...

“Although it gives us the illusion of control, the impossibility of invisibility, of lostness, is how our power is ceded.” Read more in Substack: open.substack.com/pub/theocosm...

“A Letter to My Daughters,” my memoir and winner of the 2018 Independent Publisher Award Gold medal, is being re-released. More here: www.wayfarerbookstore.com/product/a-le...

“ReImagine: Self & World(view)” is shared inquiry into the stories we tell that give us our sense of place in the world and how we can reimagine them at this moment—a moment when our systems and, even more significantly, the stories that connect us, are unraveling. More info on the attached flyer.

For #EarthDay, I am sharing an excerpt from Creatively Maladjusted. “Nature & Education"

Read here: open.substack.com/pub/theocosm...

Trump administration cancels funding for study of behavioral diversity in animals at Brookfield Zoo The Trump administration is canceling funding for a study of behavioral diversity in animals at the Brookfield Zoo as it dismantles a federal agency committed to libraries and museums.

After reflecting on the stupidity of the regime in thinking that biodiversity is a DEI program, I realized the deeper lesson: As biodiversity is needed for healthy ecosystems, cultural diversity is required for healthy civilizations. We destroy them at our peril.

www.yahoo.com/news/trump-a...

Trump Cuts Millions In Funding To Chicago Museums, Cultural Groups Illinois Humanities lost about $2 million in funding, or one-third of its annual budget, which leaders say could impact the future of free programs, festivals and resources for arts organizations in C...

I taught philosophy through the Odyssey Project at Illinois Humanities and can say that they do some great work. The regime is anti-humanities because they have no humanity.

blockclubchicago.org/2025/04/14/t...