Today on I’ll Follow You, I am super excited to bring you my conversation with the author and editor Jerome Pohlen.
(You can stream our chat via the embed here or pretty much anywhere else you source your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and Google Podcasts.)
Jerry has written 23 books for both adults and children, including Oddball Illinois (which is the flagship title of the larger Oddball travel book series), The Apollo Missions for Kids, Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids, Gay & Lesbian History for Kids, and Chicago Baby, as well as articles and op-eds for the Los Angeles Times, Advocate, and the Chicago Reader. Since 2001, he has worked for publishing house Chicago Review Press where, as an acquisitions editor, he signs up adult nonfiction in categories including US history, LGBTQIA, nature, popular science, and DIY, along with children’s nonfiction and activity books. Prior to joining CRP, Jerry was the editorial director for the educational toy company Learning Resources; taught fourth and seventh grade in the Chicago Public Schools; worked as an engineer for Martin Marietta; and served in the US Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BS in mechanical engineering and received his master’s in elementary education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Our wide-ranging chat is roughly broken up into three distinct sections: we talk about his work as a writer, his father’s work as an engineer on both the Apollo and Viking space missions, and Jerry’s run for Congress as a Green Party candidate in Illinois in 2008. But since Jerry and I do know each other very well after working together for about 20 years, I was also confident that there was no way this would turn into a simple recitation of high points from his resume. There’s lots of laughter as Jerry regales me with stories from his wild, and wildly charmed, life including how he got the unofficial $100 tour of OJ Simpson’s house not long before it was torn down; the time when James Dean visited him in a dream to tell him to quit his job; how it took him probably 10 to 15 years to realize that he’s always been a writer; and how spending time at an impressionable age around a bunch of scientists working on missions to Mars deeply imprinted on him the notion that “problems are solvable.”
SHOW NOTES
Buy Jerry’s books on Bookshop.org.
The corner of Irving Park and Southport is only about a half a mile away from Wrigley Field, so the area gets pretty bonkers on game days.
Here’s a link to more info about the Gold Pyramid House from Atlas Obscura.
The Johnson Wax Headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Quimby’s bookstore is a much beloved institution in Chicago. Here’s a quick capsule history, from to Quimby’s own FAQ page:
On September 15th, 1991, Steven Svymbersky, the founder of Quimby’s, opened the store in Chicago on 1328 N. Damen (at Evergreen) in Wicker Park, in a 1000 sq. ft. space. Since 1985 he had published over 50 zines with his friends, and had published Quimby Magazine for five years in Boston. Steven explained the philosophy of the store with these words: “I really want to carry every cool – bizarre – strange – dope – queer – surreal – weird publication ever written and published and in time Qvimby’s will. Because I know you’re out there and you just want something else, something other, something you never even knew could exist.” (And yes, that was a V.) In 1997 Steven sold the store to Eric Kirsammer, the owner of Chicago Comics. Steven moved to Amsterdam with his family shortly thereafter. Eric purchased the store from Steven in order to continue Steven’s commitment to the First Amendment. After a few years, the rent became too expensive to keep Quimby’s at the same spot in which Steven had opened it. Eric moved it to its current locale, 1854 W. North Avenue, to provide it with a more permanent locale. He also still owns Chicago Comics. Quimby’s and Chicago Comics have a reciprocal “sister store” relationship, where we transfer materials between each other and often collaborate on ordering, outreach and off-site events.
WBEZ is Chicago’s NPR affiliate station.
Gianofer Fields now hosts the podcast Meet Me at the Chazen.
The restaurant the Blue Frog, formerly located at 676 N. LaSalle St. in Chicago, officially closed in January 2016.
Tied Up in Knotts: My Dad and Me by Karen Knotts
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery
John Austin’s MiniWeapons of Mass Destruction series
Click here for more information about the Viking missions to Mars and here for photographs and other info about the Viking landers.
Walter Cunningham (March 16, 1932 – January 3, 2023)
Here’s some photos from the day in January 2006 that Jerry took me to a protest in downtown Chicago.
Jerry’s book Progressive Nation: A Travel Guide with 400+ Left Turns and Inspiring Landmarks is no longer available in its original print edition, but you can still download the e-book.
Queen of Peaches 