CCLaP Weekender
From the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
June 12, 2015
New Fiction by Tony Lindsay Photography by Terry Suprean Chicago Literary Events Calendar June 12, 2015 | 1
THIS WEEK’S CHICAG
For all events, visit [cclapce SATURDAY, JUNE 13
3pm Paper Machete The Green Mill / 4802 N. Broadway / Free, 21+ thepapermacheteshow.com
A “live magazine” covering pop culture, current events, and American manners—part spoken-word show, part vaudeville review—featuring comedians, journalists, storytellers, and musical guests. Hosted by Christopher Piatt. 8pm Blackout Diaries High Hat Club / 1920 East Irving Park / $10, 21+ blackoutdiaries.info
A comedy show about drinking stories, a “critic’s pick” at Red Eye, MetroMix, and Time Out Chicago. Comedians share the mic with “regular” people, such as cops, firefighters, and teachers, all recounting real-life tales about getting wasted. Hosted by Sean Flannery.
SUNDAY, JUNE 14 10am
Sunday Morning Stories Donny's Skybox Studio Theatre / 1608 North Wells / Free
We performers are pre-booked. We feature novice as well as seasoned storytellers. On or off paper. 7pm Uptown Poetry Slam The Green Mill / 4802 N. Broadway / $6, 21+ greenmilljazz.com
Featuring open mike, special guests, and end-of-the-night competition.
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GO LITERARY EVENTS
enter.com/chicagocalendar] 7pm Asylum Le Fleur de Lis / 301 E. 43rd / $10 lefleurdelischicago.com
A weekly poetry showcase with live accompaniment by the band Verzatile.
MONDAY, JUNE 15 8:30pm Kafein Espresso Bar Kafein Espresso Bar / 1621 Chicago Ave., Evanston kafeincoffee.com
Open mic with hosts Chris and Kirill.
TUESDAY, JUNE 16 7:30pm Homolatte Tweet Let's Eat / 5020 N. Sheridan homolatte.com
This month's show features Nic Kay and Desiree Galeski. Hosted by Scott Free. Enter through Big Chicks at the same address.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17 6pm Lyricist Loft Harold Washington Library / 400 South State / Free youmediachicago.org
“Open mic for open minds,” presented by Remix Spoken Word. Hosted by Dimi D, Mr. Diversity, and Fatimah.
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9pm
In One Ear Heartland Cafe / 7000 N Glenwood https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-One-Ear/210844945622380
Chicago's 3rd longest-running open-mic show, hosted by Pete Wolf and Billy Tuggle.
To submit your own literary event, or to correct the information on anything you see here, please drop us a line cclapcenter@gmail.com
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CCLaP Publishing
A darkly surreal yet absurdly funny short-fiction writer, Matt Rowan has been a Chicago local secret for years; but now this latest collection of pieces, all of which originally appeared in the pages of the CCLaP Weekender in 2014 and ‘15, is set to garner him the national recognition his stories deserve, a Millennial George Saunders who is one of the most popular authors in the city’s notorious late-night literary performance community. Shocking? Thought-provoking? Strangely humorous? Uncomfortable yet insightful on a regular basis? YES PLEASE.
Download for free at cclapcenter.com/bigvenerable
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In the old days, I would have put a little brandy in her hot chocolate and not worried about waking her up—but not now. Her mother, a physician, would have a stroke if I gave her daughter a cap full of brandy, though I put Dr. Jasmine to sleep many a Christmas eve with spiked hot chocolates and she turned out just fine.
OPERA
TOOTH 6 | CCLaP Weekender
ORIGINAL FICTION
“Dental Hygiene” by Sarah Scicluna [www.flickr.com/sarahxic/]. Used under the terms of her Creative Commons license.
ATION
H FAIRY
BY TONY LINDSAY June 12, 2015 | 7
Because our grand-baby, Kura, is a lot like her doctor mommy, a very light sleeper, her grandma and I are standing in the doorway like two cat burglars in our own home. Kura lost her first tooth this morning and she knew nothing of the Tooth Fairy. But before we could tell her the fable, we had to call her Buddhist parents first because the Easter Bunny was catastrophe. We didn’t think the Easter Bunny was Christian, but they did. So for the Tooth Fairy, we called and got the okay. Now we are standing in the doorway of the child’s room, checking her breathing. “Go on in, Walter. She’s asleep,” Pearl says, leaning against me, almost pushing me into the room. I’m not convinced that Kura is sound asleep, but I take a step into the room anyway. After Jasmine graduated, she married Timothy Tanaka and they moved to New York to practice medicine. So we converted her bedroom into an office—but with the announcement of a grand-baby, it became bedroom again. When we found out that the baby was going to be a girl, we painted the room pink and added the princess bed with all the girly amenities. The bed is only three steps away from the door—I hold my breath and take each step with my legs wide apart, not allowing the flannel of my pajamas to rub and make noise. I hear Kura’s long, even breaths. She is asleep, so I reach into my pocket and pull out the ten-dollar bill. Her grandma wanted to give her a coin dollar. While reaching for the pillow, her eyes pop open. “Hey, Grandpa Walter,” she yawns. “Is it time for biscuits and gravy?” She and I have been eating biscuits and gravy in the morning for breakfast, unbeknownst to her low-calorie-breakfast-eating grandma. “Not yet, baby. I thought I heard you having a bad dream.” “No!” she says, elongating the o-sound, and falls right back to sleep— just like Jasmine did as a child. I slide my hand under her pillow, getting the smooth tooth and leaving the bill. I quietly back out of the bedroom. I don’t like her calling me Grandpa Walter. I wanted to be plain, ol’ grandpa, but since she has another grandpa, I have to settle for “Grandpa Walter.” Seems to me that she could call her other grandfather “Granddaddy” or something. Out in the hall, I show my wife the tooth and say, “Operation Tooth Fairy, completed.” I walk up to the front room, to my chair and the television. We’ve only missed a couple of minutes of the news. “She’s going to remember that you were in there,” my wife says, sitting on the sofa next to my easy chair. She tosses a throw over her lap and legs. “No, she won’t. Remember how Jasmine would wake up some nights and never remember? Kura is the same.” I sit in the chair and rear back, causing it 8 | CCLaP Weekender
to recline and the leg braces to extend. I grab the television remote from the holder in the arm of the chair and push the power button. “You think Kura is the same. She is Jasmine’s daughter, not Jasmine,” my wife says. “She won’t remember. Our grand-baby will wake up and see her tooth gone, along with ten dollars. She will be happy.” “Ten dollars?” She shakes her head and frowns. “What happened to leaving a dollar coin?” I don’t answer. “You are going to spoil her rotten. And don’t think that I didn’t hear about the biscuits and gravy.” She swings her feet up, on to the sofa. “She won’t remember me being in there.” “Yes, she will.” I push the leg braces of the chair down. “I got a taste for hot chocolate with a shot of brandy. You want some?” “Nope, and neither does your diabetes.” “One cup and a shot won’t kill me.” “Grandpa Walter! Grandpa Walter! She came! She came just like you said she would! She came, and look—I have ten dollars!” I wake to her big, toothy smile that has a hole in it. I reach over to wake my wife and see her spot is empty. “Grandma Pearl said that you heard the Tooth Fairy when you came into my room last night. Did you see the Tooth Fairy, Grandpa Walter? Did you see her a little bit? Did she have fairy dust trailing behind her? Were her wings like a bird’s or a butterfly’s? Or clear, like a fly? Oh, tell me you saw her a little bit, Grandpa Walter.” I look at the clock on the nightstand and it reads 8:45. I seldom sleep past 6:00, but I seldom drink two cups of hot chocolate with several shots of brandy. I sit up, blinking my vision clear, and in the face of my grand-baby, I see my daughter and my wife and all I want for her is happiness. “Did I see her? Of course I did.” “I knew it!” She jumps up like she has car springs in her heels. “Settle down, baby. I didn’t see her when she came in—I must have been asleep. I saw her after I left your room. I saw her leaving. She came in through our room because your room doesn’t have a window. When she left, she went straight through the glass without raising the window. Magic.” She gets up in the bed and sits next to me. “And her wings?” “Oh, they were clear, surrounded by glittery fairy dust. I tried to get some June 12, 2015 | 9
of the dust for you, but soon as I touched it, poof! It disappeared.” “Oh!” “Kura!” my wife calls from the kitchen. “Did you tell your Grandpa Walter that the biscuits and gravy are ready?” “Let’s go eat, Grandpa Walter. We have biscuits, gravy, and ham!” “Okay,” I say, looking at my daughter’s thin lips and my wife’s bushy eyebrows on Kura’s face. But Pearl was right—she really isn’t Jasmine. C
Tony Lindsay is the author of seven novels: One Dead Preacher, Street Possession, Chasin’ It, Urban Affair, One Dead Lawyer, More Boy than Girl, One Dead Doctor and two short story collections titled Pieces of the Hole and Fat from Papa’s Head. He has published book critiques and reviews for Black Issue’s Book Review. He was a contributor to the anthologies Don’t Hate the Game, Lucious, and Fire and Desire. He has also contributed to the on-line encyclopedia Identity.com and Mosiac. com. He has been published by to the African American literary web-site Timbooktu.com, as well as the young adult magazine Cicada. He writes bimonthly articles for Conversations Magazine, and he writes non-fiction book reviews for Hartman Publishing’s N’DIGO Magapaper. Lindsay has a MFA in Creative Writing from Chicago State University, Bachelors in Psychology from the University of Illinois – Chicago. He teaches at Chicago State University, ivy Tech Community College, South Suburban College and Westwood College.
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Terry Suprean
PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURE June 12, 2015 | 11
Location: Houston, Texas Terry Suprean is a Houston, Texas based artist, and the founder and curator of the artist collective and gallery Civic TV Collective in Houston, TX. Suprean was born in New Orleans in 1980, and has been exhibiting his work for the last 15 years across the American South, California, and parts of Europe through the Free International University World Art Collection (FIUWAC) based in Amsterdam and started by the students of Joseph Beuys. Suprean’s photographs are the products of analog photographic experimentations captured through digital recording devices. The images are single photographs made in-camera, without the use of manipulating softwares. Physical experiments with lighting and DIY lenses, dioramas, miniatures, and installations, projections, hex code editing, 3D printing, and other various forms of “smoke and mirror’ tactics are used in lieu of of software manipulation to create images that on first approach may appear to be products of complex digital processes, but are in fact primarily analog, becoming digital in only the final step of their creation when captured with a digital camera or other experimental digital recording device. In this way the organic experimental process used to create the images determines to a large part their final aesthetic and result. The process is also in this way a stand-in for the recurring themes found in the works regarding the tension between the physical and virtual world as they merge and overlap at the advent of technological age.
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www.terrysuprean.com terry@terrysuprean.com www.civictvcollective.com contact@civictvcollective.com
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CCLaP Publishing
It’s 2039, and a political faction called the Lifestyle Party has risen to power under the Presidency of Deepak Chopra. The new government bans scientific innovation and introduces a set of policies focused entirely on maximizing personal happiness. So why is Grady Tenderbath so unhappy? Believing that he’s fallen short of his professional potential, he buys a personal robot muse to nurture his talent and ego, while his wife Karen, a genetic scientist, becomes more entrenched in her lab. But just when Grady seems on track to solve his career crisis, he discovers a new problem: he’s swooning for the empathetic yet artificial Ashley. Not only that, he’s distracted by haunting visions of Karen transforming into...something else. Half speculative fiction and half marriage thriller, Rise of Hypnodrome explores how future generations might draw from the realm of epigenetic engineering to eventually control their own biology. Whether human or robot, the characters in this cutting-edge science-fiction novella have one thing in common: an irrepressible desire to evolve.
Download for free at cclapcenter.com/hypnodrome
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The CCLaP Weekender is published in electronic form only, every Friday for free download at the CCLaP website [cclapcenter.com]. Copyright 2015, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography. All rights revert back to artists upon publication. Editorin-chief: Jason Pettus. Story Editor: Behnam Riahi. Photo Editor: Melissa Jean Birckhead. Layout Editor: Wyatt Robinette. Calendar Editor: Taylor Carlile. To submit your work for possible feature, or to add a calendar item, contact us at cclapcenter@ gmail.com.
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