Is that the?
The Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’s 2025 calendar of just her? Yeah, it is.
Just going to start off this newsletter by saying it’s the Monday of election week, and if you haven’t voted yet…what are you DOING? This is going to be a pretty Chicago-specific newsletter today, so my voting advice is also going to be Chicago specific, but find your polling place (the loop supersite was not too long of a wait for early voting, so that might be a good option!) and then check out the Girl I Guess Progressive Voter Guide for the deets on who to vote for in local office. We have a contentious school board election and a billion judges to go through, so if your politics align with mine the guide is the best way to go. For early voting, most of my friends have had to wait in lines for like three or four hours, and I have no idea how actual Tuesday is going to look. I have no advice for anyone living in a swing state—good luck and do the good thing!
Back when I was a law clerk, about three years ago, I had to go to the Cook County Treasurer’s office to pay off some property taxes for one of the lawyers, and while I was in line (it was around Christmastime), I noticed that the Treasurer’s office was decorated heavy with multicultural Christmas trees and photos of a woman with a gray pixie cut and a sparkly jacket doing a variety of poses for a themed calendar of herself. I thought to myself, “Wow, an icon,” and then proceeded to completely forget about Maria Pappas and her calendar for a couple of years.
But then, just last week my friend posted a picture of her own copy of the 2025 Maria Pappas calendar and memories of having to deal with county government came back in a flash. I know about the calendar, and this year, I was going to get one of my own.
According to this article from 2022, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas has been doing a custom calendar for years. There are only a few ways to get it, but because she is a public official these things are for free. The first way is to be one of her friends. I am not friends with her, but I think she would be a fun friend to have (I mean, she gives away calendars of herself every year, that is fun!). The other way—this year at least—is to pick up a copy at the Akira on Block 37, a store that she loves to shop in. She notably has over 60 coats, mostly from Akira, and features many of them on the calendar itself.
After I found out about the Block 37 deal, I went over to the store after work last Wednesday. I couldn’t find them displayed prominently in the store (crazy, I know) so I had to ask a store employee about the calendar. They looked at me for a second and were like, “Oh yeah one second,” and went to the back room, then emerged back with a copy of this beautiful piece of thick paper. They then told me she came here “all the time” and didn’t really know what the deal was with the calendars but she’s wacky in an endearing way. They also said that not a lot of people are coming in for the calendars, so if you’re looking for one for your own home there’s a good chance you can still get one for yourself.
From looking at her Instagram (in which she posts a LOT), I know that Maria Pappas loves church service, her dog, and Eastern European cultural events. She is Greek but she looks like any older woman with some ties to some Old Country, the typical Chicago thing to be. I don’t know much about Maria Pappas’s work as Treasurer since I don’t own a house or anything like that, but she has been in the same office since 1998 and has been re-elected six times. Maybe the calendars have something to do with it, or maybe nobody really knows what the treasurer of a county does. Either way, she seems to have a pretty good gig.
Some of my favorite outfits include: a fully sequined Diet Coke shirt (I need this with my whole being), a multicolored shiny plastic jacket, a blue and green fur coat while she is holding a doodle puppy, and her holding a baton while wearing a black tank top that says “MARIA PAPPAS” on it in hot pink lettering.
Honestly, I think that she is an icon. When I am in my 70’s I hope to have also amassed enough wealth to have a wardrobe iconic enough to give my fans a little fashion show for the whole year. We can all have dreams, right?
This week I’m doing standup on TWO shows. First is the Tuesday Good Show at the Gallery Cabaret on 11/5 at 7:00pm. Then on Friday 11/8 I’m opening for Baby Wine, 9:30pm at the Annoyance. Wow!