The North Shore Weekend August 12th, 2023

- William Butler Yeats

S a v e u p

t o $ 1 2 0 0

NEWS

8 life imitating art

Don't miss Lyric Opera's Sunday in the Park with Lyric season preview event

10 summer sounds

The Friends of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation pairs its popular music festival with beer and bourbon

12 market milestone

Lake Bluff Farmers' Market celebrates its 30th anniversary in the community

LIFESTYLE & ARTS

14 oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan's biopic about the atomic bomb is an educational experience

John Conatser FOUNDER & PUBLISHER

ADVERTISING @NSWEEKEND.COM

Jennifer Sturgeon

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

15 sound of freedom

A film about modernday child trafficking spotlights an important issue

16 #hashtag

Meet Erin Minckley and learn more about her passions and pursuits

17 material pursuits

English wallpaper, a Gucci classic, and the Lamborghini Countach from The Wolf of Wall Street top weekend must-haves

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

18 sunday breakfast

Kathryn Haydon's poems of Lake Michigan generate collective ripple effect from readers

Michelle Crowe, Dustin O'Regan, Julia Paulman, Kemmie Ryan, Sherry Thomas, Megan Weisberg

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Mitch Hurst, Bill McLean

DESIGN

Linda Lewis PRODUCTION MANAGER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Chris Geimer ADVERTISING COORDINATOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

PHOTOGRAPHY AND ART

Kyle Flubacher

PHOTOGRAPHY

Tom Bachtell, Barry Blitt

ILLUSTRATION

Cheyanne Lencioni ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

THE FRIENDS OF LAKE FOREST PARKS AND RECREATION FOUNDATION PRESENT

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

America’s history is a history of immigrants. Coming from all corners of the globe, immigrants have influenced every aspect of American life, from arts and culture to business enterprise to how our communities were and continue to be shaped. But perhaps no other area of American life has been more impacted by immigrants than the food we eat.

The history of that impact cannot be told without street food—the cheap eats originally sold from carts that were a favorite of the working class, both for its ethnic tastes and affordability.

And the original street food in America was the hot dog.

The hot dog in America first blew up in New York City, where hot dog stands dotted the Manhattan landscape. It was popularized in Chicago at the 1893 World’s Fair, and during the depression, the classic Chicago hot dog was born.

Vienna Beef wiener on an S. Rosen’s bun (the one with poppyseeds) “dragged through the garden,” topped (in order) with mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomatoes, pickle, peppers, and celery salt. The idea, essentially, was to put an entire meal on a bun. (If you threw on some cheese, you’d be covering all five major food groups).

The Vienna Beef wiener is the key to this Picasso.

“I use all Vienna Beef natural case hot dogs. I use the best of the best. People like that snap of the hot dog, that texture of the hot dog,” says Jerry Rayyan, owner of Dear Franks in Deerfield, which is a member of the Vienna Beef Hall of Fame. “When you bite into a hot dog there’s no other flavor like it.”

Bill Savage is, you could say, a hot dog aficionado. He’s partial to Romanian Kosher hot dogs, the sausage shop in Skokie, and keeps a pack in his freezer. Savage lives in Rogers Park and is a Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University. He teaches a course on Chicago history that includes how culinary tastes in Chicago were developed.

“The hot dog is immigrant food. It came over with German Jewish immigrants from Central Europe,” Savage says. “The cultural importance of the hot dog is simply the fact that it's one of the pieces of evidence for the way that immigrant culture works in the United States.”

These days in addition to hot dogs it's tacos and Chinese restaurants, Savage says. Immigrant groups come over and they initially sell their food to each other, but more often than not end up selling it to everybody.

“The hot dog is also, like all the other great Chicago native street foods, about class identity,” he says “Hot dogs were cheap and something you could hold in your hand and eat on your 20-minute break from your factory job or your work site. Tacos are just basically Mexican hot dogs. That’s one way to look at it.”

Take Italian Beef. Savage says Italian Beef

in Chicago drew its popularity from the fact it could be stretched, feeding as many people as possible. Italian beef and rib tips became popular in Chicago’s Black community. The Italians popularized tavern-style pizza. Cutting it into smaller squares meant being able to share with larger groups of people.

“These are all foods of poverty and of creativity. The hot dog became sort of ubiquitous because it's cheap. It's a low barrier of entry to get into a business, especially back when Chicago had hot dog carts,” Savage says. They've been outlawed now for a long time thanks to the brick-and-mortar restaurant clout, which convinces officials that it's not safe to sell food from a cart.”

The hot dog spot Left Bank in Lake Forest is reflective of this trend away from stands to brick and mortar stores. Left Bank’s roots can be tracked to a hot dog stand opened at Forest Park Beach in the early 1960s by Bob and Gertie Pasquesi. The Pasquesis would eventually open the Left Bank on North Bank Street in Lake Forest.

Left Bank changed hands a few times and in 2020, Susan Simms, a City of Lake Forest employee, purchased the restaurant and revived it after it had experienced a bit of a rough patch. It now resembles a quaint European café.

“The building was originally, from what I understand, a barber shop, so there’s still the original light from the barber shop outside. It’s very small and narrow, and there’s seating for just 15 people. It’s just an interesting building,” Simms says.

“It was very dark, so I brought it back to its original color.”

Simms has also revived some of the original touches that date back to the stand at the beach. She serves Scott Petersen hot dogs, bucking the trend of using Vienna Beef, which by far dominates the Chicago-area market, and returned to a sloppy joe—which she calls the “not-so-sloppy joe”—recipe that was created by the Pasquesis.

“I do all the original stuff and then I’ve added some things of my own, but everything we have is homemade and from scratch,” she says. “So, I think that’s part of the draw and the charm for everyone.”

In addition to its working class roots, there are other reasons the hot dog exploded in popularity. It’s association with summer and barbecues and ballparks.

The popularity of the hot dog today is due in large part to Jewish immigrants who, for lack of a better phrase, turned wiener production into something of an art form. Someone had to supply all of those street vendors with dogs, and Jewish entrepreneurs stepped up to the plate. The challenge was if they wanted to be kosher.

“Jewish food producers had to decide whether they wanted to primarily market to fellow Jews who keep Kosher or whether they were going to sell to everybody,” Savage says. “Even if it’s all beef they couldn’t get kosher because there wasn’t a rabbi there to make sure the knives are sharp enough and things like that.”

It's tough to operate a hot dog stand and market just to Orthodox Jews, Savage says. You may have lots of friends at the synagogue but plenty of non-Jews love hot dogs too. It’s an economic choice. It’s part of the multicultural aspect of food in Chicago generally. Initially hot dogs were marketed as kosher, but they weren’t kosher enough for many practicing Jews.

“Kosher meant extra clean, extra careful. Foods stands had a reputation for being a dirty place, a greasy spoon where you’re going to get food poisoning,” says Savage. “When McDonald’s and White Castle started, they designed their stores to be shiny, a wholesome thing that meant cleanliness.”

Nathan Handwerker, the son of a poor Jewish family in Poland, immigrated to the United States and opened his famous hot dog stand, Nathan’s, on Coney Island in 1916. Now an iconic brand with thousands of stores worldwide, Nathan’s Famous is also home to the 4th of July hot dog Eating Contest. The company sold more than 700 million hot dogs in 2022.

While Nathan’s advertised their dogs as kosher-style, which appealed to the broader American market, they were not made according to kosher standards. Hebrew National came along in 1905, founded by Theodore Krainen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and raised the bar for kosher standards but it wasn’t until the 1990s that fully kosher hot dogs became widely available and a staple within Jewish Orthodox community.

Today grocery shoppers who like a good hot dog will find dozens of options in the hot dog aisle. The original hot dog entrepreneurs would be pleased to learn that a pack of hot dogs can be found in the refrigerators of millions of Americans. Its rise to stardom is a tale of tenac-

ity, taste, and timing.

If you’re looking for entrepreneurs, you’d do well to pop into Little Island in Evanston. Another Vienna Beef Hall of Fame member, the legendary hot dog shop was opened nearly 60 years ago by the Siegel family and has been owned the past 40 years by Kevin Craig, who toils away in the kitchen just about every day.

Craig and Little Island serve a wide variety of Vienna Beef dogs as well as a selection of other sandwiches, including a popular cheddar burger and cheese fries made with famous Merkts cheese from Wisconsin. The restaurant retains its original old school feel, and its popularity as an Evanston hot spot endures.

“I’m working harder now than when I was 20 years old,” Craig says. “I used to come here when the original owner was here. People come in now and they bring their kids, and their kids are bringing their kids. The same people have been coming here for years.”

In addition to the Chicago dog, over the decades the hot dog has been regionalized. Ironically, there’s the Coney Island dog popular in Michigan and Michigan Red Hots popular in Upstate New York. Slaw Dogs, which are slathered with coleslaw, are popular in the American south.

The dog also gets the gourmet treatment. Ira Fenton, the co-owner of the Mean Weiner in Highwood, grew up in Chicago and says he visited about every hot dog stand in the city looking for the perfect dog. His favorite was Flukey’s Dogs, which began in 1929 on legendary sandwich row on Maxwell Street.

Fenton and his partner, Sergio Rangel, took over the Mean Weiner about three years ago and have carried on its tradition of bringing fine hot dogs—and a whole lot of other delicacies, including its popular tacos—to the Highwood community.

While one might be tempted to call the Mean Weiner a dog joint fitting for Highwood’s high-end restaurant row, Fenton thinks it's just more about serving the same quality food it’s been serving for 13 years. Because of its hot dog innovations, so to speak, over its short history the Mean Weiner has developed a larger, regional reputation, not unlike legendary Doug’s Dogs in Chicago.

“All day long we get people who drive in from Zion or Kenosha who just want to try out our menu,” Fenton says.

Because of its long, rich history in Chicago, hot dog shops have served as a kind of community center. Kids hang out after school. Workers pop in for lunch. Retirees gather and shoot the breeze. While tasty, the hot dog also has social appeal.

“What began as a hot dog stand in 1977 grew into what has become a local icon,” says the owners of Michael’s in Highland Park. “We have been through a lot over the years, and we proudly serve our wonderful North Shore community for generations to come.”

While the hot dog has evolved and even been revolutionized over its more-than-a-century lifespan, one constant remains. Said Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry:

“Nobody, I mean nobody, puts ketchup on a hot dog.”

TJ Gosse Glenview

Wisconsin

LIFE IMITATING ART

Everyone at Lyric Opera of Chicago is delighted to usher in the 2023/24 cultural season on a high note with Sunday in the Park with Lyric, an evening of beautiful music led by Enrique Mazzola along with members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center and the Lyric Opera Orchestra.

Hosted by Lyric's General Director, President & CEO Anthony Freud and NBC5Chicago's LeeAnn Trotter, this event takes place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, August 20, at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph Street, Chicago.

Sunday in the Park with Lyric will feature selections from a variety of works in the upcoming 2023/24 opera season, offering a preview of the extraordinary productions to come.

Audiences can look forward to compelling moments from Lyric’s new-to-Chicago productions of Wagner’s The Flying Dutch-

man, Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Janáček’s Jenůfa, Rossini’s Cinderella, Verdi’s Aida, and the Lyric premiere of Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer's Champion

All selections will feature projected English titles. Additionally, attendees will receive exclusive ticket offers for Lyric's highly anticipated upcoming season.

Leading the concert will be Lyric's esteemed music director, Enrique Mazzola, entering his third full season with the company. Mazzola’s upcoming season at Lyric is full of firsts, including his first Wagner opera in Chicago with The Flying Dutchman, his first contemporary work at Lyric with Champion, and his first-ever production of Verdi’s Aida, which will also be his 100th operatic title as a conductor.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2023/24 Season opens on Saturday, September 23, and promises a powerful lineup of productions. The

season opens with The Flying Dutchman (September 23 to October 7) and is followed by the Season Opening Gala: An Evening with Audra McDonald (October 6). The season continues with The Daughter of the Regiment (November 4 to 25), Jenůfa (November 12 to 26), Cinderella (January 21 to February 10), Champion (January 27 to February 11), Aida (March 9 to April 7), and Mozart's Requiem (March 22 and 24).

To ensure the safety and security of all attendees, please note that enhanced security protocols will be in effect at Millennium Park. Visitors arriving after 5:30 p.m. may

be required to undergo bag checks and pass through metal detectors, and visitors under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult, with a maximum of four minors per adult.

Lyric's performances for the 2023/24 Season will take place at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, in Chicago and will feature easyto-follow English translations projected above the stage. For detailed information about subscriptions, single ticket sales, or specific performance dates and ticket availability, please visit lyricopera.org or call 312-827-5600.

Photography by Kyle Flubacker

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Sunday in the Park with Lyric, a free family-friendly event in Millennium Park on August 20.

SUMMER SOUNDS

The Lake Forest Music Festival returns on August 19 featuring barbecue, bourbon, beer and, of course, live music.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

The Friends of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation once again presents its music festival on August 19 for an event that brings together the community for an evening of live music, great food, and drinks. This year’s theme is a nod toward the American South, featuring four chefs cooking up barbecue that will be accompanied by bourbon and craft beer.

Featured bands on two stages include the official Steely Dan tribute band Deacon Blues, Beyond the Blonde, one of Chicago’s premier cover bands, and ’70s and ‘80s cover band Hi Infidelity. There will also be a raffle for a signed guitar that belonged to Jon Bon Jovi, Keith Urban, or Jimmy Buffet.

The event is one of four fundraisers the Friends sponsor each year to raise funds for programs and special projects for the park district. Others include an annual golf outing, a 4th of July celebration, and a Christmas tree lighting at the outset of the holiday season.

Rick Amos sits on the Friends board and is

involved in planning the Lake Forest events. He says the Lake Forest Music Festival is designed to bring the community together and its timing in mid-August is deliberate. He’s keeping his fingers crossed for good weather.

“This is our fifth year. We've had the bad fortune of poor weather and been rained out two of the four years that we've done it, and had to shut down because of thunderstorms,” Amos says. “Last year was a good year for us. It's a good way to end the summer. We do it the weekend before school starts up here in town, and everybody should be back from vacation.”

The purpose is to provide an opportunity for people to come to downtown Lake Forest and be with their friends, enjoy some food and music, and contribute to park district activities. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people have attended in past years, and up to $70,000 has been raised.

The Friends hope to raise between $80,000 and $100,000 per year between all of the events it sponsors.

“It's just a good way to get out and enjoy the end of the summer and raise some money that goes towards Parks and Rec programs,” Amos says. “It could be scholarships or other need-based requests in town. Part of our mission is to raise money to help kids attend programs in the Parks and Rec department. There's this perception of Lake Forest that everybody's very wealthy and it's just not true.”

The Friends of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation has been around since 2001 and includes 15 volunteer members. One hundred percent of the funds it raises goes to the Parks and Rec to augment its budget. In addition to scholarships, over the course of the year there are a variety of issues that pop up for which there is no budget. Unlike other park districts in the region, Lake Forest Parks and Rec maintains its own authority to raise outside money for its programs and activities.

“We are also a pass-through entity, which means if you're in town and you want to give to a charitable cause in our community, but you don't necessarily want to go through the process of creating a 501(c)(3) and all the paperwork and administrative work there, you can make a donation for a specific public project in our community,” Amos says. “We'll take the funds

on your behalf and direct them in the way in which you intend.”

The organization also helps the Parks and Rec Department with its planning by funding feasibility studies and other types of surveys, which helps the department spend its budget more wisely. It relies heavily on interactions with the community, and input from residents plays a big role in setting its agenda. It’s not just sports. It’s also protecting and expanding Lake Forest’s public assets for residents to enjoy.

“Our newest project in east Lake Forest is helping raise money to create a path from Forest Park down to the beach,” says Amos. “We're out

talking to donors and corporations and people in the community that may want to be a part of that project. It’s adding a new feature to our beach, which is one of our best assets.”

The Lake Forest Music Festival takes place from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on August 19 in the parking lot behind City Hall. Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for youth (ages 6-20) and can be purchased at lfparksandrec.com. Kids ages 5 and younger receive free admission. VIP packages that include food and drink are also available.

Between 2,000 and 4,000 people attend the Lake Forest Music Festival each year, which is sponsored by the Friends of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation.

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MARKET MILESTONE

The Lake Bluff Farmers’ Market celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, carrying on a special local tradition that unites the community.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

As with most traditions, the Lake Bluff Farmers’ Market was launched somewhat serendipitously.

It was 30 years ago that Fred Wacker, Chairman of the Board of Trustees in Lake Bluff, pulled aside Kathleen Gridley Swanson’s better half, Frank “Pony” Swanson (who was the Economic Development Chairman in Lake Bluff at the time) and told him the town needed some livening up.

Pony came home that day and asked Gridley what she thought of the idea of a farmers’ market.

“Whatever you want, hon,” was Gridley’s response, a working mom at the time with plenty of other issues on her mind. Neither knew then their banter would lead to a long-standing tradition in downtown Lake Bluff.

The Lake Bluff Farmers’ Market is now a North Shore institution, a thoughtfully cultivated collection of vendors offering breads, produce, candies, and other products that locals have come to love. It’s also become a community gathering spot for North Shore residents on Friday mornings throughout the summer months.

“People come because of the quality of the food. We have great vendors. We have a committee of six who reviews the vendor applications,” says Gridley Swanson, who now manages the market. “Our vendors come because they know Lake Bluff is a great market.”

There’s a lady from Grayslake who makes appetizer dips, flower vendors (who doesn’t love flowers in summer?), and food trucks that

serve up pork sliders and other tasty treats.

“It’s not the biggest market in the world. Lake Bluff is not the biggest community in the world, but it’s a wonderful market,” Swanson says.

She is a people person at heart and the job of managing a farmers’ market, for her, is hand in glove. Pony didn’t know it at the time he conceived of the idea, but his spouse turned out to be a perfect fit to oversee it.

“Any market manager, not just me, acts as a mini chamber of commerce. People ask me, ‘Where is the library? Where can I get a sandwich?’,” she says. “I enjoy seeing people. It’s a very positive event. The Public Works Department sets up tables and chairs for people to come and spend time with one another.”

While the vendors and the food and products on offer are the main attraction of the market, Lake Bluff has made summer Fridays a larger community event.

There’s story time for children, performances by local musicians, and, with a bit of luck, you can catch RC Juggles, a local entertainer, work his magic.

but perhaps an essential service for eaters—an expert knife sharpener.

“We feel our knife sharpener is food related,” she says. “If you want to be able to slice your apples in fall and carve your pumpkins, you need sharp knives.”

If you haven’t checked it out yet, we highly recommend. Tell ‘em Pony sent you.

Swanson says the market does allow for one vendor who doesn’t offer something edible

The Lake Bluff Farmers’ Market runs on Fridays from 7 a.m. to noon in downtown Lake Bluff through October 13. For more information, visit lakebluff.org/residents/farmers-market.

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BY REX REED ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL

RUNNING TIME: 3 hours

RATING: 3.5 stars

As summer movies go, writer-director Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is in a class by itself. American moviegoers looking for a brief escape from the heat with brainless action or forgettable fun can waste their money on the latest Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible clones, people who will laugh at a public hanging have Asteroid City and Theater Camp , and anyone who isn't allergic to pink has the insulting, obnoxious, and idiotic Barbie . But if you want a single cinematic experience worth remembering after the summer of 2023 has come and gone, Oppenheimer is the one.

The American public is not programmed to savor and embrace a three-hour movie about nuclear physics, so my serious concern for the longevity of this epic biopic about

OPPENHEIMER

A three-hour biopic about the man who created the atomic bomb brings intelligence and purpose to an otherwise hot-pink-tinted movie summer.

the man who invented the atomic bomb and changed the world is genuine.

Initially, they'll be intrigued enough by the rave reviews to see what the excitement is all about, but after hard-core Christopher Nolan fans and what's left of a dwindling mature audience have seen it and word of mouth sets in, I doubt if Oppenheimer has legs.

I hope I'm wrong, because this is a film with intelligence, purpose and historic value. See it and learn something.

Divided into sections which, in Nolan's traditional dedication to style over substance, bounce all over the place like Mexican jumping beans, the film begins at the height of World War II after Einstein splits the atom and the Atomic Energy Commission competes with Germany to see who could develop the inevitable atomic bomb first.

J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy in a titanic performance that dominates almost every scene) was the scientist recruited by the military to head the Manhattan Project, the secret branch of the government devoted to creating the most powerful bomb known to mankind.

Being a Jewish physicist with left wing political leanings, he worked feverishly to defeat the Nazis and end the war. Since he already owned a ranch in New Mexico, it was there that a town called Los Alamos was constructed to house the temporary community that would build and eventually test the

bomb once it was developed.

The midsection of the film bogs down in a boring attempt to explain quantum physics, devoting a huge mass of time to the scientific elements of the bomb--uranium, titanium, hydrogen, plutonium, and the proportions of each. The internecine relations among members of the Manhattan Project are confusing and complex, but to relieve the scientific tedium Nolan introduces a human element as Oppenheimer's staff nicknames him "Oppy" and in his signature pork pie hat he masters the art of mixing the perfect martini and debates his mistress (Florence Pugh) on the pros and cons of Communism.

The film never shows what the bomb did to end the war, but a good chunk of the film concentrates on the first detonation in a section of the New Mexico desert called White Sands. Oppenheimer did succeed in beating the Nazis at developing the bomb, but to his everlasting regret, Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered in May1945 so he was forced, against his better judgment, to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war in Japan instead.

The result made Oppy the most famous man in the world, but he was so riddled with guilt about the disastrous toll his bomb took on multitudes of civilian lives in Japan that he would have nothing to do with President Harry Truman's gung-ho plan to move forward with the hydrogen bomb—an even more devastating weapon of mass destruc -

tion, alienating the government by devoting himself to arms control.

The final section of the film details the ugly post-war ramifications of Oppy's about face, when times had changed and the toxicity of the shameful McCarthy era made it easy to indict a man whose brother (Dylan Arnold) and wife (a firm, implacable Emily Blunt) were both once members of the Communist Party. So, the man once considered the most important man on the planet found himself betrayed, persecuted, and humiliated by the same U.S. government he had once worked for so diligently, now victimized in a smear campaign spearheaded by his once worshipful colleague Lewis Strauss (a wonderful Robert Downey Jr.), who accused him of being a Russian spy.

The movie goes off the rails again as it slides downward in a series of Senate interrogations that pit the numerous participants in Oppy's life and career against each other.

Oppenheimer is inarguably an engrossing film of vast moral conviction and conflicted conscience, but it's admirable scope is not always lucid. In no way linear in structure and gimmicked up with pretentious noise and camera cuts, switching from color to black and white, imploding with the sound of bomb blasts and stomping feet, the film becomes exasperating.

Christopher Nolan films are usually about visuals, not character or plot, and the actors are along for the ride. This one, for a change, is about one of the most demanding and

controversial chapters in American history and the man who made it happen.

Nolan compiles the facts but doesn't seem content with facts alone. His inability to tell a story straight (or maybe the key word is his refusal ) scatters a maximum of diverse elements in a dozen directions at once. A great story becomes plausible but incoherent.

Fortunately, the story survives, and the one thing that works consistently through -

out is the galvanizing centerpiece performance by the Irish actor Cillian Murphy. He's been in other films (including Nolan's Dunkirk ) but his output has never been prolific.

This time he's provocative and profound, in a demanding role headed for Oscar recognition. And he's supported by an astounding cast, including unrecognizable Gary Oldman as a blunt and unlikeable Harry S. Truman, Tom Conti as Albert Einstein,

Matt Damon as the lieutenant general who appoints Oppy to head the Manhattan Project in the first place, and Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Matthew Modine, Kenneth Branagh, Tony Goldwyn, Casey Affleck, and others—every of them exemplary and perfect.

Despite the flaws, Oppenheimer is an unforgettable rarity in a currently stagnant cultural swamp of movie mediocrity. See it and learn something.

SOUND OF FREEDOM

The horrors of modern-day child trafficking are brought to life in this flawed, but highly recommended thriller.

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 10 minutes

RATING: 3 stars

Sound of Freedom , one of the year's surprise box-office hits, is a bland, so-so, but ultimately valid thriller about child trafficking that manages, despite routine direction and screenplay (both by Alejandro Gomez Monteverdi), and competent though unexceptional performances, to work its way into your heart because of its powerful subject matter.

The facts are real, the issues vital, and the kidnapping of children for child pornography is a monumental horror that never fails to strike a chord in the hearts of people everywhere. If the pacing in this film lacks momentum, and the action has a low-budget feel that robs it of a badly needed urgency, it's still a movie well deserving of serious attention and well worth seeing.

Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) is a federal agent for the Department of Homeland Security who rescues a young boy from child traffickers and then discovers he has a sister who is still being held in captivity and prepared for life as a sex slave. Ballard has been stalking child traffickers for 12 years and

has already arrested 280 pedophiles, but as a father of six, something about these siblings hits a personal patriarchal nerve.

So, he quits his job and turns vigilante to head for the jungles of Colombia to rescue the imprisoned child. The film focuses on Tim's dangerous journey, with a sleazy partner called Vampiro (Bill Camp), an American expatriate who served time in prison for laundering money for the Colombian drug cartels.

The trail leads into the heart of darkness, shifting occasionally to the little girl's perspective, but it mercifully avoids too many details about the child's suffering and terror. Nor does it turn into a bloody action thriller to keep the audience interested and awake. (In truth, it could use a few more shock effects, if you ask me.)

A colorful cast of characters that includes a beauty queen who lures children into prostitution by inviting them to her apartment for talent show "auditions" provides insight into the kind of seemingly "nice" and "normal" people in the trafficking underworld

for profit. But the centerpiece attraction is Caviezel, who rose to stardom playing Jesus in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ , as a convincing Tim Ballard. He engages you with insight into a tough guy's heart, mind, and soul. You can feel is compassion and courage while he simultaneously struggles with emotional guilt for leaving his wife behind (a wasted Mira Sorvino).

The villains who prey on innocent children and elude the law are disappointingly stereotypical and the end result provides little in the way of instructing us about the ways we can take action to save our children from predators. Still, Sound of Freedom is an important subject mainstream Hollywood has mostly ignored.

A statement in the closing credits states that child sex trafficking has becoming the fastest growing criminal network throughout the world; there are more people enslaved now, by traffickers, than there were in the days when slavery was rampant. Overlooking its flaws, this is a film of hair-raising revelations, highly recommended.

EDITED BY JULIA PAULMAN ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL

Local author, artist, and mother, ERIN MINCKLEY founded Relativity Textiles in 2015 with the help of a Kickstarter campaign. The company began with wallpaper but today is “not just for walls anymore,” as it offers fabrics, wallpapers, and rugs. With an MFA in Fiber and Materials Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and 10 years of experience working in the manufacturing industry, this triple threat uses her research and printing know-how to design globally inspired motifs with cultural narratives that span the globe. Her drawings and hand-painted artworks are the basis for each design. Connecting homeowners to foreign cultures by way of wallpaper motivates Minckley to pay homage to the craftsmen and women of the world. The wallpapers used are almost all screen printed by hand, but when printed digitally use the best paper substrates on the market in an effort to be durable and also eco-friendly. Minckley recently partnered with Highland Park’s Elizabeth Mollen of Stone Textile Studio to launch a new collection under Relativity Collective. Minckley sets aside her paint brushes to share how she stays current in a busy world. relativitytextiles.com.

#ON MY NIGHTSTAND

I am reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin because an old friend sent it to me in the mail full of his Post-it notes. It’s always good to keep my mind motivated toward creativity and expansion. It reminds me that even though I am using art in my career, there are other more personal ways to use my imagination. Life is full of opportunities to envision something and create what you want. That is what I am all about.

#ON MY MOBILE

I am following real estate these days because I am in the market for a home for myself and my two sons. I continuously scroll for the right fit for us. The housing market is up and down but I’ve been patiently waiting for many years to become a homeowner. My guilty pleasure is checking out all the pictures online and imagining what wallpaper I would use to spruce up each room. I also follow authors like Mel Robbins and Mark Manson. Their witty videos on YouTube (Manson) and Audible series of mini-stories (Robbins) are uplifting and humorous and a perfect way to start my day with a pep talk. I like to pretend they are my friends and we are FaceTiming in real life.

#IN MY EARBUDS

For music, I listen to a lot of girl bands. I recently saw First Aid Kit at the Salt Shed, and I learned of the band Joseph last year when they opened for The Shins. I love hearing a woman belt out a tune from the bottom of her heart. What courage!

MATERIAL PURSUITS

This weekend’s curated luxury trends

THE WOLF OF FIFTH AVENUE

Home to the financial markets on Wall Street as well as the fashion houses of Fifth Avenue, New York City is a worldwide hub for high-end luxury. RM Sotheby’s, the leading private sales and auctioneer of premium collectibles, is once again bringing the world’s most desirable luxury motor cars to this cosmopolitan city with a dedicated auction hosted at Sotheby’s global New York headquarters—including the 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary which appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street. This exclusive boutique sale during Sotheby’s Luxury week on December 8 puts the “hero car” driven by Leonardo DiCaprio (who played high-flying financial “Wolf” Jordan Belfort) on the market for the first time. One of the most memorable vehicles in modern film history—having transcended the boundaries of its own automotive legacy and embraced the realm of timeless cinematic artistry—is made rarer still with the fact that only 12 were believed to have been made in this specification. Expect this film icon to sell for between $1.5 and $2 million. rmsothebys.com

ARCHIVAL ELEGANCE

Supermodel Liu Wen brings the poetry of simplicity to a timeless icon of Gucci’s iconic Bamboo 1947 bag— which is being pulled straight from the archives for a new campaign that puts female empowerment at the forefront. Back in post-war 1947 when traditional materials were difficult to find, Gucci used the lightweight, durable bamboo for the handle of a new bag. The curved bamboo handle forged by a flame crowns the 1947 leather creation, marking the house as an innovator in craftsmanship. Gucci’s new Bamboo 1947 campaign, photographed and directed by David Sims, portrays an intimate exchange from one icon to another. The campaign celebrates the purity of a design that is free from the constraints of time or trends. With its iconic bamboo top handle, every connotation presents a one-of-akind, precious piece of design. In this poetic mirroring of the human context, every bag is unique and presents its own set of individual nuances to be treasured. Available for $4,600 at gucci.com.

BESPOKE WALLPAPER

British wallpaper brand Graham & Brown recently introduced three new wallpaper designs in the U.S., each influenced by multicultural references and the mixture of materials, creating a rich and diverse palette drawn from around the globe. One of our favorites of this collection is the Hartley Damask, a sophisticated creation with nuances that bridge past and present. Damask is a patterned textile, deriving its name from the fine patterned fabrics produced in Damascus, Syria, in the European Middle Ages. Graham & Brown’s Hartley Damask design brings the intricate filigree design to life with precious metallic intricacies. True damask was originally wholly of silk, but gradually the name came to be applied to a certain type of patterned fabric regardless of fiber. This fresh design combines British country manor chic, paying homage to the heritage gardens

RAPTURE AND VERSE

Lake Bluff author Kathryn Haydon observed Lake Michigan from a front-row seat for a year and then penned a book of moving poems about the magnificent body of water.

BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT

Virtually every day from July 2021 to July 2022, Lake Bluff author/speaker/possibility thinker Kathryn Haydon visited an outdoor house of worship.

Her sandy pew was a spot on the edge of Lake Michigan.

This vast body of water served as the daily, delightfully changeable celebrant—minus the vestments.

“We who sit, a soundless congregation; the lake, a sermon in waves,” Haydon describes, divinely, at the end of the first entry in her latest book, Unsalted Blue Sunrise: Poems of Lake Michigan (Prairie Cloud Press, 2023).

“Lake dimples where she smiles,” begins another. “Over there where the waterbirds flock. Beguiling, the lake, her dimple and her wink.”

A collection of photographs of Lake Michi gan—clicked and arranged by a friend of her aunt Rita—inspired Haydon to grab a note book and tiny pencil, observe the North Shore’s expansive gem, and paint it via words for nearly 365 consecutive days.

“My aunt’s friend positioned a camera in her apartment window that looks out to the lake just north of downtown Chicago,” Haydon says. “She took a photo every day over a year and then put them in a little handmade book. I was awed that on some days the lake looked like the Caribbean and on some days it looked like Siberia, complete with floating ice chunks.”

But Haydon originally had no intention of parlaying her home-to-shore ritual into her second book of poetry (What Do Birds Say to the Moon? was her first, in 2018) and sixth book overall. She wanted to see Lake Michigan change and shape-shift daily for herself, all while crafting poetic sketches to capture the great lake’s wide-ranging moods and oceanic personality.

“I’d return home each day and chisel the thoughts and observations I had scribbled on paper down to precise, essential words,” recalls Haydon, whose early frolics near Lake Michigan included skipping stones with her father in Door Country, Wisconsin, and searching for sea glass along Gillson Beach in Wilmette.

“As I did that, I saw the poems take form and thought, ‘These should be shared with others who love the lake and want to be nice to it in order to preserve it.’

“It was a journey,” she adds, “full of connections, art, and serendipity.”

Released in June, Unsalted Blue Sunrise contains 45 poems. Each is brief, visual-centric, thought-provoking. Some are whimsical. Most are vivid, like the one that describes Lake

word

“To write Unsalted, I challenged myself to visit the lake nearly every day to see it differently, observe it deeply, write my impressions,” Haydon says. “This improved my own creative endurance, to take a robust, original project from inception to completion. I am modeling the principles that I teach, with the effect that the book is awakening people’s deep soul thinking.”

There is considerably more blank space than

Wheaton and eventually graduating from Wheaton Warrenville South High School. She played tennis and basketball for Tigers teams and ran for the school’s track and field team for a season.

Commitments to the student newspaper, including a stint as editor, and community service projects kept her busy outside the classroom.

Haydon majored in Spanish and Latin

American Literature and minored in Economics at Northwestern University, where she reconnected with Lake Michigan as a member of the school’s crew team.

After careers in banking and education, Haydon, a creative and innovation expert who lived in New York and California, founded the consultancy Sparkitivity to deliver training, workshops, and keynotes that help future-proof businesses and careers. All of her work is designed to help individuals and teams discover untapped strengths and optimize their most powerful thinking.

“I love speaking to community, business, and school groups, talking to the greater concept of creativity interwoven with poetry readings,” says Haydon, who holds a Master of Science degree in Creative and Change Leadership from SUNY Buffalo. “It’s been wonderful to connect with fellow lake and poetry lovers.

“My hope for Unsalted is that it stirs people’s love for the lake and nourishes their own creativity. People who’ve read the book are writing to tell me that they have taken up their own creative explorations. I call this the ‘ripple effect’ of the book.”

Kathryn’s husband is Ravinia Festival President and CEO Jeffrey Haydon. Their teenage son, CJ, is already an entrepreneur in the field of aerial photography. The family has lived in Lake Bluff since 2020.

Kathryn finds the village’s people and architecture interesting. She enjoys walking, cross-country skiing, and ice skating. Viewing Lake Michigan still leaves her breathless.

But before she enters the great outdoors, Haydon begins each day with a sense of gratitude, followed by some quiet time.

“My phone is never near me when I wake up,” Haydon says. “It’s always downstairs, far away. I like to read or write in my room before I do anything else. In an age where everything we encounter seems to narrow our thinking, creativity widens it, adds perspective, awareness, compassion. Most thinking—especially online—is reactive. People are spending more time consuming information than they are producing original thought.

“The more people that are using their creative thinking consistently, the better our world,” she adds.

For more information about Sparkitivity and Kathryn Haydon’s books, visit sparkitvity.com. You can sign up to receive her articles and updates at the bottom of every page on the website. Her book Unsalted Blue Sunrise is available at Lake Forest Book Store, The Book Stall, amazon.com, and Twigs, a florist in Lake Bluff. Her Unsalted poetry reading on Sunday, October 1, 3-4 p.m., at The Book Stall in Winnetka is free, but registration is required (thebookstall.com).

combinations that shake up even the most casual reader’s perspective.

This newer construction (2021) third floor condo in the Mid, a boutique elevator building, offers beautiful finishes and an elegant open floor plan. This 2 bedroom/2 bathroom corner unit includes a private balcony and roof top deck with city views. The entire unit boasts engineered wood floors. The living room has a wall of windows out to the balcony and opens to the kitchen. Shades can be controlled by app. Stunning finishes in the kitchen with Bosch stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, stainless steel deep sink, soft-close cabinets, under cabinet lighting, and breakfast bar seating. Tall ceilings and recessed lighting throughout. In unit washer and dryer and nest thermostat. One parking spot included in heated, indoor garage, along with bike storage. Easy access to highway and transportation.

2021 New Construction Condo

2423 W. Fullerton Avenue #3G

Logan Square

Chicago • $515,000