Illinois news

• A new genocide exhibit opens at the Holocaust Museum

  01-05-2024 19:25 via chicagoreader.com
  
  This week, as demonstrations charging Israel with genocide in Gaza ramped up on college campuses across the country, the staff of the Illinois Holocaust Museum was preparing for the May 1 opening of a new permanent exhibit they’d been planning for four years. Housed in the museum’s towerlike Hall of Reflection, it would be a […]
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• Mayor Johnson On What He’s Done for Black Chicago After First Year: Part 1

  16-05-2024 00:54 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Mayor Brandon Johnson met with Nicole Jeanine Johnson to discuss how, in his first year, he made specific and intentional investments in Chicago’s historically divested Black community and the tension caused by migrant spending. Below is part one of the full transcript, with appropriate edits for clarity.
  Q: What do you regard as some of your biggest accomplishments? 
  Mayor Brandon Johnson: Serving in this capacity this first year has really been the joy of this particular phase in my
  
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• Bugged!

  15-05-2024 21:32 via chicagoreader.com
  
  “Straggler!” I said, the insult popping from my lips the instant I spotted the creature. He was parked on a branch—his awkward tank of a body, banded with orange ridges, was supported by six toothpick legs and cloaked in gossamer wings. I couldn’t tell which of his three black and two red eyes might be […]
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• Tary Coffee House brings ancient preservation techniques from the central Asian steppes to River North

  15-05-2024 21:07 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Last weekend, chef Ratbek Sadvakasov was competing in the Top Chef Challenge at the Vegan Women Summit in Hollywood. He served vivid and carefully composed plates of Impossible Beef meatballs with golden millet, spinach, pumpkin cream, and honey, garnished with steamed broccoli and dried raspberry powder. Sadvakasov is not a vegan. Nor is his restaurant, […]
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• The power of Ten

  15-05-2024 20:38 via chicagoreader.com
  
  What started as a birthday party celebration for the Gift has since become an annual tradition, featuring ten ten-minute plays by a variety of playwrights. Adding to the numerical energy, each play is also rehearsed for ten hours before being performed . . . you guessed it, ten times. In defiance of rising entertainment costs, […]
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• Green Dreams at DeSalvo’s Pizza

  15-05-2024 20:36 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [email protected]. I’ve had my Green Dreams thick—somewhere between Detroit-style and Sicilian, dough pocked with all those focaccia-y bubbles—but let’s be real: this slice […]
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• Chicago’s arcade evolution

  15-05-2024 20:20 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Imagine a typical video game arcade. Filling the aisles, there are probably some classic games like Ms. Pac-Man or Galaga, or maybe newer ones like Mortal Kombat or Need for Speed. The thumping of bumpers and flippers from pinball machines mixes with blips and beeps from video cabinets to create ambient background noise. Maybe the […]
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• ‘This is deeply rooted in who I am’

  15-05-2024 19:48 via chicagoreader.com
  
  More Palestinians call Cook County home than any other county in the United States. I’ve often thought of the local Palestinian diaspora in the months since Israel launched its military assault on Gaza. I’m a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights and sovereignty and an Israeli citizen through my father, and I oppose the genocide Israel […]
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• Meet the Author puts the spotlight on a store appearance gone wrong

  15-05-2024 19:36 via chicagoreader.com
  
  The in-store author appearance is an awkward neither fish nor fowl contraption. It’s primarily a marketing tool dressed up as a literary event. And unlike larger lectures or panel discussions at events like the Chicago Humanities Festival or Printers Row Lit Fest, where the merchandise is kept outside in the lobby, authors for in-store appearances […]
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• Orphan black comedy

  15-05-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  At one point in Hell in a Handbag’s new opus, Poor People! The Parody Musical, the central protagonist, L’il Orphan Arnie (Dakota Hughes), complains, “Nothing makes sense when I try to make sense of it.” Audience members should keep Arnie’s statement in mind when they watch Poor People! In true Handbag fashion, the show begins […]
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• Murder in the Cathedral has fresh relevance

  15-05-2024 18:55 via chicagoreader.com
  
  T.S. Eliot conceived of his verse play Murder in the Cathedral in 1935. It was performed at Canterbury Cathedral and in the very room where the murder that provides the inciting incident of the plot—the killing of Archbishop Thomas Becket—took place. In a nod to that original staging, City Lit Theater Company’s new production (the […]
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• Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 16

  15-05-2024 18:55 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 16. May 16, 2024
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• City kids on the move

  15-05-2024 18:36 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Young People’s Theatre of Chicago brings this musical adaptation of the children’s book classic Last Stop on Market Street back to Chicago in a vibrant production that packs soul, substance, and silliness into one hour. Cheryl L. West’s adaptation of Matt de la Peña’s same-titled picture book (illustrated by Christian Robinson) features a score from […]
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• Goalden Chyld transforms drill music by pushing for peace

  15-05-2024 18:08 via chicagoreader.com
  
  More than a decade after it broke out commercially, drill music has arguably become Chicago’s biggest cultural export. This hip-hop subgenre burst into the mainstream in the early 2010s thanks to the likes of Chief Keef, King Louie, and Lil Durk, and it’s now influencing the sound of music as far afield as New York, […]
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• Gods & Monsters revisits the story behind James Whale’s Frankenstein

  15-05-2024 18:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  It’s been too long since actor/director/writer/singer/dancer/Obama media strategist Paul Oakley Stovall dedicated his prolific talents to Chicago’s theater community. A regular on stages hereabouts through the 1990s and early aughts, the multihyphenate’s career has traveled the globe over the past three decades, encompassing both the worlds of entertainment and high-level politics. With Gods & Monsters, […]
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• An Educated Guess tells an unexpected story about migrant experiences

  15-05-2024 17:36 via chicagoreader.com
  
  When it comes to portrayals, on the big screen or the stage, of the Latino migrant experience, most stories focus on the journey, on the actual border experience and the abuses many migrants face or on multigenerational stories that begin inevitably at the border and end with the family’s eventual assimilation to this country.  So […]
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• Bosses beware

  15-05-2024 16:54 via chicagoreader.com
  
  As the pandemic first sank its talons into the service industry—closing hotels, restaurants, grocers, and retail stores—service were lauded as “essential workers.” Since then, they’ve been unionizing their workplaces at a speed the U.S. hasn’t seen in more than half a century. Between March 2022 and April 2024, about 290 workers at nine Chicago hotels, […]
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• The Museum of Science and Industry Officially Gets a New Name After Gift

  15-05-2024 15:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park has a new name: the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. 
  The name change was announced back in 2019 when the museum received a $125 million gift from Chicago billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin, the largest single gift in the institution’s history.
  The Griffin MSI will have new logos and exhibits as well. To commemorate the occasion, the museum  will open its doors to allow for free admission to all on Sunday, May 19. 
  Griffin M
  
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• ‘Age Is Just A Number’: Black Grandmother Becomes Registered Nurse At 69

  15-05-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Facebook
  A Georgia grandmother said “Age is just a number” when it comes to accomplishing her goals.
  According to WDTV, Loretta Mack recently became a registered nurse at 69 years old.
  Mack said she had dreamed all of her life of becoming an RN. The grandmother, who was a certified nurse’s assistant for six years, took a leap of faith after being encouraged by a fellow resource nurse.
  “I said to myself, ‘It would be a great example.’ I love people so I&
  
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• MR. SONNY KNOWS for May 15, 2024

  15-05-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
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• Cult Show examines groupthink and collaboration

  14-05-2024 23:22 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Cult Show is a play about the human need to socialize and the cult of the Neo-Futurists. In it, ensemble members Alex Hovi, DeVaughn Loman, Joanna Jamerson, and Lara Johnson and writers/directors Jasmine Henri Jordan and Audrey Polinski greet audiences in ragtag outfits of red, blue, and yellow. Their getups and demeanors border on clownish […]
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• J Bambii makes space for everybody at south-side party the FiFi

  14-05-2024 20:33 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Inspired by her family and the get-togethers, birthday parties, and other celebrations they held throughout her childhood, south-side rapper J Bambii began curating fun, healing spaces for her community a decade ago. One of her recurring events is the FiFi, a party she started in spring 2022. Bambii says it’s grown to attract more than […]
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• Reader stories win at Peter Lisagor Awards

  14-05-2024 18:31 via chicagoreader.com
  
  The Reader is pleased to announce that two of our stories from 2023 won at the Peter Lisagor Awards, which recognize some of the best in journalism from Illinois and northwest Indiana. The awards are organized by Chicago Headline Club, the official Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Best food or restaurant coverage […]
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• The Chi’s Curtiss Cook On Black Male Mental Health And His Role As ‘Douda’

  14-05-2024 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Curtiss Cook of The Chi sheds light on his portrayal of Douda and how that prompted him to advocate for Black men’s mental health (Credit: Evgeny Milkovich).
  Navigating the highs and lows of life is a collective experience, but how we handle the tough times defines us. Mental health struggles among Black men are an urgent matter that warrants open dialogue and attention. 
  In a recent interview with The Chicago Defender, actor Curtiss Cook shed light on his journey, mainly how life&rsq
  
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• Customers Save $9 Billion in Energy Costs Through Award-Winning ComEd Energy Efficiency Program

  14-05-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Association House joins long list of ComEd customers who are reducing energy costs and carbon emissions through US EPA-recognized program
  ComEd today announced that hundreds of thousands of customers have saved a total of $9 billion on their energy bills through the company’s Energy Efficiency program. The program, which launched in 2008 and is now one of the largest in the nation, also received an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of
  
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• South Side Healthy Community Organization Recruiting For Community Advisory Council

  14-05-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Applications Accepted Until May 15th from Those with Vested Interest in the Health/Well-being of Chicago’s South Side
  The South Side Healthy Community Organization (SSHCO) is recruiting for the next term of its Community Advisory Council (CAC), a volunteer group charged with sharing ideas and input and providing advice on priority health issues and outreach initiatives on Chicago’s South Side.
  The SSHCO is seeking diverse candidates who reflect various demographics from the South Sid
  
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• J. Pharoah Doss: The inglorious bastard boom on campus

  14-05-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The baby boom was between World War II and the 1960s. When baby boomers reached adulthood, their elders criticized them for being self-centered and materialistic.
  The boomers were dubbed the “me-generation.” 
  Millennials were the grandchildren of the “me-generation,” but the Millennials, who became social elites, birthed the me-me-me generation. The me-me-me generation was not just another surge in birth rates; it was an inverted bastard boom.
  In Shakespearean times,
  
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• Remembering Steve Albini

  13-05-2024 20:27 via chicagoreader.com
  
  When Pitchfork broke the news last Wednesday morning that Steve Albini had died, it hit the Chicago scene like a thunderclap. Both as a recording engineer and as a musician, Albini had seemed like a permanent fixture, too thoroughly woven into the fabric of underground rock to leave it. At least when death came for […]
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• Chicago rock duo Feller celebrate their strangely enticing debut EP

  13-05-2024 17:18 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Last fall, when Jon-Carlo Manzo launched Fire Talk’s Chicago-centric sublabel, Angel Tapes, I knew to keep an eye on it. Fire Talk had already done exceptional work releasing music by local indie rockers, and Manzo has great taste. Angel Tapes’ third release is the new Universal Miracle Worker, the debut EP by local duo Feller, […]
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• Chicago metal four-piece Selenoplexia show you the darkest side of the moon

  13-05-2024 17:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Chicago metal quartet Selenoplexia attracted some attention with their strong 2022 debut EP, Agony, and last fall they released their first full-length, Exalt and Despair. The band’s name refers to what were believed, prior to the 20th century, to be the sometimes fatal physical and mental health conditions caused by the rays of the moon. […]
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