Welcome to the Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co.! Your friendly neighborhood spy store is run by Agents Nire Nah & Gaby FeBland.
Let's meet them!
Good morning, agents. What are your code names?
NN: Dr. Polka Dot.
GF: Shonda Blank Verse.
What's your six-word memoir?
NN: I'll never stop quoting movies. Sorry.
GF: Hold on, lemme check my planner.
What's the last great thing you read?
NN: A draft of an autobiographical short story my friend is working on.
GF: "Circe" by Madeline Miller. Perfect mythological fanfic.
What are you reading now?
NN: Let's Talk About Love by Carl Wilson. It's a book of essays. Mostly about Celine Dion.
GF: I'm finishing Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, and the fire-ravaged dystopian California is definitely a bit too close to home. Some chapters made me wonder if I was, in fact, reading my grandchild's autobiography.
What's your favorite item in the store?
NN: There are about a hundred! My favorite item (today) is our 1,000 piece Chicago map jigsaw puzzle. It's a tough one, but you'll have the city memorized by the time you're done.
GF: I'll never get over the hyper-realistic latex pigeon mask. It's like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; it works on every person and with every outfit.
Are you currently on any secret agent missions we should know about?
NN: We are plotting major schemes for Secret Agent Supply in 2020! One mission involves disguising our favorite lines of student writing in coded messages and puzzles that our customers can solve while they are visiting...and maybe sneak in some of their own creative writing as part of the adventure!
In my second identity as a singer-songwriter, I'm releasing an album of songs this winter. It's called Everything Stands Back Up and it is about mental health and recovery.
GF: The Secret Agent Supply has been working with genius local illustrator Jeff Sant on creating a holiday window display that will be up in a couple weeks! It will celebrate Chicago snow days and feature a few of our favorite lines of wintery 826CHI student writing.
Like Nire, I'm also a double agent and work as a writer, illustrator, and member of the band Friends of the Bog by night! This summer, I'll be the artist-in-residence at Build. Come to my art show in 7 months!
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