Travel & adventure expo Jan. 17-18
The 2015 Chicago Travel & Adventure Show will take place Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 17-18 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.
Now in its 11th year in the Chicago area, the Travel & Adventure Show features more than 1,200 travel experts from the world's top destinations, tours and suppliers to help travel enthusiasts find, plan and book their dream vacation.
Cheryl Strayed will discuss her 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, recently made into the Reese Witherspoon movie Wild, currently in theaters. Among other slated guests are the Travel Channel's Samantha Brown; Peter Greenberg, Emmy-winning investigative reporter and travel news journalist; Pauline Frommer, Editorial Director of the Frommer's Guides and Publisher of Frommers.com; and Patricia Schultz, best-selling author, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.
See www.TravelShows.com/Chicago .
Poet Blanco speaks at foundation event
Openly gay poet Richard Blanco spoke at the Poetry Foundation, 61 W. Superior St., on Jan. 8.
"Las Chavas: Poetry and Film from Honduras" featured Blanco, the fifth inaugural poet of the United States; Brad Coley, director of the forthcoming documentary Las Chavas; and Cheryl Chapman, executive director of Our Little Roses, the only all-girl orphanage in Honduras.
Photos by Jeffrey "Hitch" Hitchens
DeGeneres, 'Orange' among Choice winners
Ellen DeGeneres was named Favorite Daytime Host, and the prison series Orange Is the New Black was tabbed Favorite Dramedy during the People's Choice Awards, which aired Jan. 7 on CBS.
The Big Bang Theory, which stars out actor Jim Parsons, won multiple honors. The sitcom about a group of scientists won for Favorite Network TV Comedy and Favorite TV Show, while co-star Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting was selected as Favorite Comedic TV Actress. Also, Glee's Chris Colfer won for Favorite Comedic TV Actor, over such nominees as Parsons and Jesse Tyler Ferguson ( Modern Family ).
Maleficient, which stars Angelina Jolie, was chosen Best Movie; Jennifer Lawrence won Favorite Movie Actress; and Robert Downey Jr. was selected Favorite Movie Actor and Favorite Dramatic Movie Actor.
In the area of music, awards went to Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Maroon 5, among others.
Also, Betty White, 93, was named TV Icon.
The stars of TV's MomAllison Janney and Anna Farisco-hosted the awards show.
The full list of winners is at www.peopleschoice.com/pca/awards/nominees/ .
Actor Taylor Negron dies
Actor and comedian Taylor Negron, who first rose to fame as the pizza guy on Fast Times at Ridgemont High, has died after a long battle with cancer at 57, Advocate.com noted.
In addition to film roles, Negron was on TV shows such as Seinfeld, The Hughleys, ER and Party of Five. Deadline reported that the out gay actora fixture in the Los Angeles comedy scene had recently been appearing at "Un-Cabaret ( where he is considered one of the monologue's shows original members ), The Moth and Comedy Central Stage's Sit-n-Spin, among many other shows.