Illinois news

• The art of preserving newspaper boxes

  10-08-2023 21:50 via chicagoreader.com
  
  If you walk through Lincoln Park during clement weather, you may see Horace Nowell, 26, armed to the teeth with a baggy white suit and a respirator mask. Someone once mistook him for a beekeeper, so a bit of an inside joke persists among his neighbors: “Here comes the beekeeper,” they often chaff. Horace upcycles […]
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• An artist in exile

  10-08-2023 18:53 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Fazel Ahad Ahadi expected to spend his whole life in Afghanistan with his extended family. But in summer 2021, Ahadi found himself hastily dismissing class and speeding home to raise a bonfire of books in his backyard. The Taliban had reclaimed Afghanistan’s capital city, and a 20-year artistic renaissance had come to an abrupt and violent end.
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• Juggalo family values

  10-08-2023 18:25 via chicagoreader.com
  
  The first time she hit me, all 118 pounds of me flew across the ring and onto the hard wet ground. It was just past 3 AM on the third night of my first Gathering of the Juggalos, and I was boxing blindfolded in a makeshift ring with a woman who outweighed me by maybe […]
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• Local noise rockers Something Is Waiting take a left turn into 90s metal swagger on the brand-new Absolutely

  10-08-2023 18:22 via chicagoreader.com
  
  When Something Is Waiting formed in 2016, the band consisted of five dudes whose stacked resumés included stints in several Chicago heavy favorites, and on their first few releases they focused on big, mean, chaos-bringing noise rock a la Unsane. Over the past few years, though, they’ve charted a new direction, trading in nihilistic bludgeoning […]
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• Lifeguard make a break for indie’s big time with Dressed in Trenches

  10-08-2023 18:12 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In Nina Corcoran’s recent Pitchfork Rising profile of Chicago postpunk trio Lifeguard, guitarist-vocalist Kai Slater described what draws together the teenagers in their Hallogallo scene. “It feels like everyone involved is really desperate to make music,” Slater said, “like it’s not a choice, but their natural role.” This sense of necessity invigorates the high-wire tension […]
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• Goodman grows a delightful family show

  10-08-2023 18:11 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Settled in the grass at Moore Park in the Austin neighborhood, a baby clad in a vegetable-patterned onesie coos to the music, while a toddler wriggles, wiggly worms in hand, to the aptly named “I Like Worms” song—only to begrudgingly give the rubbery creepy crawler back to the cast members. All the while, a chorus […]
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• Next to Normal is worth the ride

  10-08-2023 17:55 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Next to Normal is a musical that takes on a mental health crisis to destigmatize. This is a good thing. Go to Paramount’s Copley Theatre for Jim Corti’s staging. Be proud, open your heart, and listen to the struggles of Diana, a mentally ill woman (played by the incredibly talented Donna Louden). She’s a mother […]
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• Not a wasted moment in this Measure for Measure

  10-08-2023 17:39 via chicagoreader.com
  
  At a time when so many larger, established theaters are cutting back their seasons, laying off staff, or suspending operations, smaller theaters, like the relatively young Forest Park Theatre (it has only done three productions in the last three years, one each summer) give me hope. Performing in an open field, this cast of young […]
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• The Light still shines

  10-08-2023 17:32 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Loy Webb’s professional playwriting debut, The Light, caused quite a stir in its 2018 world premiere with New Colony (later renamed the New Coordinates, who are now defunct). The onetime critic for Newcity saw her play hit off-Broadway the next year, and she’s been an in-demand writer in Hollywood for the past several years (well, […]
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• Why Afrobeats and Afro Nation Detroit Are Such a Big Deal

  10-08-2023 16:45
  
  The Chicago Defender speaks to DJ El about the Afrobeats artists performing at Afro Nation Detroit. 
  Afrobeats is defined as electronic and dance music elements set to African percussion, with hints of highlife, dancehall, hip-hop and R&B, says Rolling Stone. Its origins are traceable across the spectrum of Black expression, emerging out of West Africa. The tone of Afrobeats is often upbeat, digitally produced, and sung in English, West African and pidgin languages.
  Now it’s a wor
  
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• 13th Annual Send-Off Celebrates 180 CHA College-Bound Students

  10-08-2023 15:00
  
  Recently, about 180 public housing students gearing up for their college journeys, came together for a grand trunk party held at the United Center. This event marked the 13th edition of the Take Flight College Send-Off, organized by the Chicago Housing Authority.
  The participating students represented a range of institutions, from local ones like the University of Illinois Chicago to distant campuses like the University of Southern California. The trunk party was made possible through the genero
  
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• This Week In Black History August 9-15, 2023

  10-08-2023 14:00
  
  AUGUST 9
  1936—Sprinting sensation Jesse Owens wins a total of four Gold Medals at the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Born in Lawrence County, Ala., Owens gained international fame for his victories in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump and the 4?100 meter relay. His victories undermined Adolph Hitler’s claims of White, especially German, superiority over all other peoples. However, Owens disputed claims that the Nazi leader was so infuriated with him that he refused to shake
  
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• Pritzker Administration Announces $10M in Grants to Strengthen Mental Health Services in Schools

  10-08-2023 13:00
  
  Youth Agencies Invited to Apply for Funding from American Rescue Plan Act Intended to Aid Post-COVID-19 Mental Health Services for Young People
  Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced the State of Illinois is accepting grant applications from schools and agencies that support child and adolescent health for a share of $10 million in federal funding intended to strengthen mental health services for students across Illinois.
  The funding from the CDC&rsquo
  
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