April 20, 2023

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SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.

Volume 10, Issue 15

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors

Martha Bayne

Christopher Good

Olivia Stovicek

Sam Stecklow

Alma Campos

Section Editors Sky Patterson

Wendy Wei

Jocelyn Martínez-Rosales

Community Builder Chima Ikoro

Contributing Editors Jocelyn Vega

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo

Scott Pemberton

Visuals Editor Bridget Killian

Deputy Visuals Editor

Staff Illustrators

Director of

IN CHICAGO

Walmart closes three stores on the South Side

Last week, Walmart announced it would be abruptly closing four stores in Chicago, three of which are on the South Side. The retail supergiant gave communities just five days’ notice, leaving some without an accessible or affordable grocery store. In addition to a supercenter in Chatham (8431 S. Stewart Ave), neighborhood Walmart stores in Little Village (2551 W. Cermak Rd.), Kenwood (4720 S. Cottage Grove Ave. and Lakeview (2844 N. Broadway St.)) have also closed. The closures come after Whole Foods abruptly closed its store in Englewood and residents protested the opening of a Save-A-Lot in its location, which is known for having fewer fresh vegetable, fruit, and high-quality options. As usual in these situations, Walmart defended its decision by claiming that its Chicago stores are unprofitable, but it was unclear what, if any, steps the company took to help sustain the stores or engage with the community before making the decision to close. Chicagoans critical of the closures have pointed out that Walmart has received millions in tax subsidies to open stores in Chicago and that in 2020, CEO Doug McMillon announced Walmart’s commitment to staying in the city and reopening after civil unrest that summer. The stores closed this Sunday, April 16, but the pharmacies will remain open for another month.

IN THIS ISSUE

csu staff and faculty push back against years of austerity

After ten days of striking and ten months of bargaining, Chicago State University’s union has reached a tentative agreement.

savannah hugueley ................................

poet josé olivarez attempts to resist empire in promises of gold

Published in February, the collection of poems wrestles with the legacy of colonialism and capitalism.

reema saleh

shawnee dez emerges from her shadow

The South Shore native and alternative R&B musician releases debut album MOODY UMBRA after years of singles and collaborations.

gretchen sterba

Shane Tolentino

Mell Montezuma

Shane Tolentino

Fact Checking: Sky Patterson

Fact Checkers: Christopher Good

Savannah Hugueley

Jessica Nalupta

Layout Editor Tony Zralka

Special Projects Coordinator

ShotSpotter tries to save itself and rebrand

Malik Jackson

Managing Director Jason Schumer

Office Manager Mary Leonard

Advertising Manager

Susan Malone

Webmaster Pat Sier

The Weekly is produced by a mostly all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions from across the city. We publish online weekly and in print every other Thursday.

Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to:

South Side Weekly

6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637

For advertising inquiries, please contact: Susan Malone (773) 358-3129 or email: malone@southsideweekly.com

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The election of Brandon Johnson could spell the end of a lucrative deal for ShotSpotter, the company that licenses its gunshot detection technology to the Chicago Police Department. Johnson has vowed to end the deal with the company, arguing that it does little to add to public safety and citing its destructive role in leading police officers to Adam Toledo two years ago. After the election, shares of ShotSpotter dropped twenty-five percent and the company announced it would be rebranding as SoundThinking (though ShotSpotter will remain the name of their product). Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration extended ShotSpotter contract in October but it is set to expire this year. Research about the technology has shown some eighty-six percent of ShotSpotter calls don’t result in a police report, while Chicago’s inspector general’s office issued a report in 2021 that the technology rarely leads to stops or evidence for gun crimes.

Chicago chosen for Democratic Convention

The Democratic National Committee chose Chicago to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which will take place at the United Center and McCormick Place from August 19 to 22 and draw an estimated 50,000 visitors. “Chicago is a world-class city that looks like America and demonstrates the values of the Democratic Party,” said Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson in a statement. “We are unmatched when it comes to hosting events of this scale. I look forward to working closely with the DNC to facilitate a spectacular convention that showcases Chicago’s diverse culture, our beautiful lakefront, our renowned hospitality sector, and our best asset: our amazing people.” The last time the convention came to Chicago was in 1996, the year President Bill Clinton was reelected. Prior to that, Chicago hosted the infamous 1968 DNC, when thousands of people protested the Vietnam War outside the convention hall and hundreds were arrested and injured.

‘unity good friday’ brings together churches of color in chinatown Christian churches from Englewood, Tri-Taylor, and Pilsen unite in Chinatown for a day of worship.

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wendy wei .............................................. 10 the exchange

The Weekly’s poetry corner offers our thoughts in exchange for yours.

chima ikoro, sky patterson, alejandro hernandez, monica kakkar, imani joseph, diacos love.....................

brother-and-sister punk band has skin in the game

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Punk duo Pancho and Stacy García talk about their debut show “Vaqueros y Rockeros” and embracing their Chicana/o identity. jesús g. flores

el poeta josé olivarez intenta desafiar el imperio en promesas de oro Publicada en febrero, la colección de poemas lucha con el legado del colonialismo y el capitalismo. por reema saleh

traducido por alma campos

as mayor, brandon johnson is inviting you to reimagine safety in chicago Johnson lays out his priorities once he assumes office.

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tonia hill, jim daley, and tiffany walden, the triibe ............................... 20

calendar Bulletin and events.

zoe pharo, south side weekly staff. 22

Cover illustration by Shane Tolentino

CSU Staff and Faculty Push Back Against Years of Austerity

BY SAVANNAH HUGUELEY

Faculty and staff at Chicago State University (CSU) have suspended their strike, pending an offer from the administration, after being on the picket line for ten days and orchestrating a sit-in at the university president's office. On April 3, CSU staff went on strike for better pay, more manageable workloads, and other improvements to their working conditions, and on April 16 they announced a tentative deal, pending a vote by the union later this week.

A week into the strike, on a bright Monday morning at the intersection of E. 95th St. and S. King Dr., people filed into the picket line ringing green cow bells and holding signs. About a hundred professors, staff, alumni, students, and supporters marched in a circle in front of a waisthigh stone wall displaying a Chicago State University sign.

McFadden & Whitehead’s 1979 disco classic “Ain't No Stoppin’ Us Now” could be heard over the speaker, echoing the sentiment that brought everyone to the picket line that day: “If you've ever been held down before, I know you refuse to be held down any more.”

The union had been bargaining with the administration over a new contract for ten months, but negotiations stalled over several key points. Many faculty saw the administration’s unwillingness to negotiate further as part of a pattern of disinvestment, as CSU workers have faced the brunt of state budget cuts at public universities. “It feels like every time you’re on the South Side, you have to beg for, you have to fight for, everything that others just can simply negotiate and get,” said Dr.

Ernst Coupet, an economics professor on the bargaining team who has worked at CSU for twenty-two years. “I’m just tired of that.”

Holding a megaphone and welcoming in each new supporter, statewide president of University Professionals of Illinois (UPI), John Miller, was among those leading chants like “Equity and justice!” which was fervently answered by the crowd with “for CSU!” The chants harmonized with clinking bells, music playing on speakers, and intermittent honks from trucks and cars showing their support.

“What do we want?” the marshalls asked.

“Contract!” replied the crowd. “When do we want it?” “Now!”

Following a few hours of marching on Monday and whispers of a special

guest, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson visited the picket line to express solidarity with the union. An educator and longtime organizer with the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU)—which also expressed their solidarity with CSU—Johnson was immediately comfortable, hugging and greeting people as he made his way through the crowd.

In his speech, he acknowledged how vital CSU is to the city: “This is an incredible institution that has a long history of pumping out some of the greatest minds to actually deliver services for the city of Chicago.”

Representing about 160 faculty, lecturers, academic support staff, and technical support specialists

at the university, the CSU union chapter is part of the UPI Local 4100, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The union began bargaining over a new contract with the administration in June of last year but negotiations eventually stalled. In March, the union overwhelmingly voted (ninetyeight percent) to move forward with a strike and filed their intent to strike with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

CSU faculty are among the lowest paid public university faculty in the state: CSU lecturers have the lowest average salary of any Illinois state university, and CSU professors make the second lowest average salary, according to data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). CSU staff have effectively been forced to take a pay cut in recent years, according to Coupet. While the average faculty salary in Illinois is $95,670, according to a report from the National Education Association (NEA), the average full-time teaching faculty salary for CSU in 2021 was about $84,640, with full-time lecturers making as low as about $37,000.

According to the union, average annual raises for faculty at CSU over the past five years were only between zero and 2.75 percent, but because of inflation, Coupet estimates that CSU staff have lost 1.45 percent annually in real wages. In real buying power, a CSU worker’s salary before the recent agreement was only worth eighty-five percent of what it was worth in 2016.

To bring salaries in line with other public university faculty, the union

After ten days of striking, ten months of bargaining, and years of state budget cuts, the Chicago State University union has reached a tentative agreement to better the future of the South Side school.

The picket line on Monday, April 10.

PHOTO BY SAVANNAH HUGUELEY

proposed annual raises from four to 6.5 percent over four years, totaling $523,000 or $131,000 annually. The administration countered with raises between 2.5 and three percent and a $1,000 lump sum payment, according to the salary proposal released by the union Friday prior to the agreement. Faculty pointed out that the administration could have paid for this part of their proposal with president Zaldwaynaka “Z” Scott’s new contract and bonuses totalling an estimated $500,000 or the $480,000 CSU spent on law firm Laner Muchin Ltd. to handle negotiations despite having general counsel on staff, according to the union.

Laner Muchin is also representing two other public schools, Eastern Illinois University and Governors State University, who went on strike after CSU.

The union also fought against CSU’s family leave policy and faculty workloads. Currently, if both parents or caregivers work at the university, CSU only allows one parent to have paid family leave. According to Coupet, the union was adamant that each person fostering or having a child should have the right to paid leave.

The union also pushed back against increased faculty workloads produced by a credit system that assigns more courses to teachers with smaller class sizes and a system that does not adequately factor in research as part of a professor’s workload yet requires research for retention.

CSU did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

While increased pay and better teaching conditions are important, the crux of this fight was always much bigger for the faculty, staff, and students involved. “I think a lot of times people think the strike is about just what we get paid. And that's important; a living wage is important to be able to do your job successfully,” said Dr. Kelly Ellis, an English professor who has worked at CSU for twenty-four years. “It's also about the history and culture of diminishing certain schools, and not others.”

Over the years, CSU faculty have weathered budget impasses, administration turnovers, shortened school years, threats of layoffs, years without raises, and so much more. When adjusting for inflation, CSU’s budget has dropped by thirty-three percent since 2004.

When Illinois’s public universities suffered cuts in their allocations, CSU was hit with the largest funding cut of any other school with allocations, dropping by about sixty-five percent from 2015 to 2016. Despite CSU relying on state funding more, it experienced a substantially bigger drop (by about seventeen percent) than any other public university in the state. As a result, CSU laid off about 400 nonfaculty members and later about ten faculty members.

CSU is the only public university on the South Side of Chicago and the first university in Chicago to accept Black students. For years, CSU has primarily catered to Black, Brown, and working class students. In fall 2022, about seventy

assembled their own pickets. “Some of the students have been out as long as any faculty members have been out there. That's how connected we are to our students,” said Coupet.

Over the past year, the union members said they often felt like the administration hindered negotiations by changing up or creating their own rules. According to Coupet, the administration would flat out deny requests the union brought to the table without providing reasoning for the denial.

Instead of working with the union representatives to guide them toward something mutually agreeable, he said the

staff and faculty.

Following at least eight long bargaining meetings over the course of the ten-day strike, the union and administration finally reached a tentative agreement. On Sunday, following the sitin, the CSU administration responded to the newest proposal from the union. The bargaining team spent the whole day responding to the administration’s counter offer and finally agreed to a tentative contract after another four-hour meeting. In a statement released Sunday evening, the CSU union president, Valerie Goss, said they secured an agreement that increased staff and faculty pay while “recognizing the university's financial constraints.”

Even though the strike has been suspended, it took an immense emotional and physical toll which, according to Ellis, also affected their students. “Not only am I concerned about their work, but I miss them. I like them. And most of my colleagues that I know feel the same way,” she said. “To get to this point is very difficult for us… But we're doing this not only for ourselves but for the school and for future faculty.”

percent of the 2,300 undergrad and grad students were Black, more than any other public school in the state. And sixty-four percent of undergrads and sixty-seven percent of grad students receive some Pell Grant funding. That’s about double the national average.

“When it starts to become a habit that we are some of the lowest funded… then it’s time to step up,” said Ellis, who has gone to nearly every picket.

At Monday’s picket, Johnson pointed out that professors and staff are not just educating—they are providing vital support systems for their students. “Every single day you’re not just educating, you’re loving and supporting, and you’re building families…that’s what this movement is about,” Johnson said.

The students know this as well. Both Ellis and Coupet saw their current and former students on the picket line every single day, and they said students even

administration created a sort of guessing game. “They [would] treat us as if we're supposed to guess how much money they have in their pocket, and they'll let us know when it's there....this is not really bargaining in good faith,” he said.

In response to the strike, the administration denied faculty accrual of vacation, sick leave, and other earned benefits and, on April 14, denied them their first paycheck. The administration was also poised to stop paying its larger portion of health insurance premiums had the strike lasted through the end of the month, leaving workers to pay to retain their coverage.

Last Friday, the day after President Scott briefly attended a bargaining session for the first time and refused to answer questions from faculty, union members held a sit-in at the president’s office. It ended in her office calling the campus police on the sitting protestors—her own

CSU faculty returned to class on Monday, April 17, following the tentative agreement. In her statement, Goss said that the staff and faculty have prioritized students’ needs since day one, so a returnto-work agreement was essential to reaching a final contract. To account for missed class time, the agreement includes extended office hours, tutoring sessions, registration meetings, exam sessions, and other services.

The exact details of the four-year agreement will be released once union members vote to finalize the contract later this week.

But for Ellis, the strike was successful in more ways than one: It built power and community among CSU staff, faculty, students, and other community members. “It's been stressful. At times, it's been frustrating. It has also been empowering, coming together with my colleagues and being united in what we're asking for,” she said.

“So that has made me feel very powerful and made us feel very powerful.” ¬

Savannah is a fact-checker and writer with the Weekly.

“I think a lot of times people think the strike is about just what we get paid… It's also about the history and culture of diminishing certain schools, and not others.”

—Dr. Kelly Ellis, CSU professor

Poet José Olivarez Attempts to Resist Empire in Promises of Gold

Published in February, the collection of poems wrestles with the legacy of colonialism and capitalism.

is an attempt to understand how artists make art that resists empire, but they can also be absorbed within empire—critique, commentary, and all. “American Tragedy” puts this front and center:

“...it is easier to listen to an artist outside detention capable of spinning the secret into a coin, we can share at a dinner party where everyone will sight & look contemplatively that’s their part in this american tragedy”

Olivarez began writing Promises of Gold in 2019, with some of the book’s earlier poems published as early as 2013. The collection’s title and its chapter names call back to the shorthand of “Gold, God, and Glory” which spurred Spanish colonizers toward extraction, eradication, and enslavement in Mexico and Spain’s new imperial conquests.

In Promises of Gold, Olivarez stylistically draws on Spanish colonial imagery and the language of empire for the book’s structure, but he also uses them to echo the process of undoing colonial harm. “What is gold to us? What is holy to us? Where do we find glory?” Olivarez asks us in the forward of his latest collection.

Promises of Gold is a post-pandemic collection through and through— filled with class anxieties and righteous resentment toward the rich and powerful. In one of his poems,“It’s Only Day

Whatever of the Quarantine & I’m Already Daydreaming About Robbing Rich People,” Olivarez fantasizes about punching Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in the face and living long enough to punch him again.

“I think it resists empire by resisting the way that empire wants to make all books functional,” Olivarez said in an interview with the Weekly. “It’s not an antiracist book…it doesn’t have a diversity, equity, inclusion type of purpose. It’s useful, maybe only for those of us that are interested in organizing.”

Many of Promises of Gold’s more economically-stressed poems stem from wanting to be more direct about class.

“When I wrote Citizen Illegal, I thought class identity was a big part of those poems. And I found that…mostly the

conversations that people were interested in having with me were about identity, belonging, and family,” Olivarez said.

In writing these poems, Olivarez wanted to capture the way class and financial insecurity have shaped his own life. There is a blunt anger spinning through the pages—from the promise of upward mobility, what the rich do to be paid first, and learning how to adjust to having money but always feeling the anxiety of money problems.

“I was talking with a friend the other day, and I was like, ‘there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel stressed out, looking at my bank account. It doesn’t matter how much money I have. I don’t know [if] that kind of insecurity will ever go away,” Olivarez said.

Laid throughout Promises of Gold

Following that, “Poem with a Little Less Aggression” characterizes audiences and the state as implicit in the violence and consumption of capitalism, even the artist who clarifies before his critique, “when i am invited/ to the halls of wealth…i take my seat/ i snap a flick/ i pose with all my teeth showing/ how harmless/ i am.”

“...i can’t help the poor if i’m one of them says the billionaire. i can’t help the poor if i’m one of them says the banker signing off on my family’s foreclosure. it’s true, you know: there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. some truths are useless.”

“Having been a little bit more celebrated by different poetry and cultural institutions, just seeing how those organizations and those institutions can champion a certain type of political stance, [but] at the same time, they can turn around and accept donations and money from the grossest people on the planet,”

José Olivarez.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MERCEDES ZAPATA

Olivarez added.

“Part of what I'm trying to do is just remain vigilant and maybe even suspicious of myself in some ways, trying to stay grounded in remembering that all of that stuff is transient. What matters is not necessarily that type of institutional support, but writing poems in community with people that are struggling against empire is a way that I would phrase it.”

In his author’s foreword and while talking to him, Olivarez often refers to his poems as attempts—to make beauty out of a situation or create space for imagining something different. “Some poems are failed attempts in a way. They can’t actually undo the harm they’re trying to undo. They can’t actually rescue the moment they’re attempting to illustrate or show or reveal.” There is a tension in making the ugly and complicated, beautiful, but Olivarez thinks of writing as attempts to hold the temporary nature of these moments and let them live longer.

“I write a lot about family and about possible lives of family members…and I write a lot about my family who has passed away. In some ways, the poems are most beautiful to me when they can hold those people,” Olivarez said. “It’s this imaginary space that I create in the poems, and at the end of the poem, those spaces disappear into the ether. To me, the beauty continues to exist even when they do fold up into the ether because it makes it so that I can continue the conversation just a little bit longer.”

In the poem, “An Almost Sonnet for My Mom’s Almost Life,” Olivarez crafts a life that could have been for his mother had she not had children.

“...she spends her twenties following Marco Antonio Solís show to show. hands up in surrender. in praise to a different god than the one she spends Sundays kneeling to now i love imagining Her like this: her name Maria, Maria a name the men curse

To the heavens from Guadalajara to Oaxaca. the holy name of the mother reborn a mother to none..”

In this almost-alternate reality, she chases musician shows and takes care of only herself. The poem remarks she would protest if she heard this, but it keeps

wondering what her life would be like with a life all her own. In writing, Olivarez fills in the gaps of silence between himself and aspects of his mother that he simply cannot know.

“One of the big revelations for me is, my parents growing up would talk to me about the sacrifices they made for me and my siblings, which made me think that they always carried some amount of sadness, or longing for the life that they left,” Olivarez said. “But my mom always made sure to tell me, ‘I’m not sad about the choices that I’ve made. This is my life. And this is the life that I wanted, and I chose it.’ In that same poem, there’s this point where she pushes back in [and] says that her life would be boring without family and without God, which is how my mum would really…that’s like what she says.”

Throughout the collection, Olivarez navigates loneliness, wistfulness, and heartbreak in ways both tangible and new. “Poetry Is Not Therapy,” as he titles one poem, yet its first line answers, “but that doesn’t mean i didn’t try it.”

But Promises of Gold is filled with tongue-in-cheek humor, much of which comes from how Olivarez writes. Olivarez starts by imagining his three younger brothers and writing a poem they would like. “It’s important to me that they don’t feel excluded from the poems, that if they want to read them, they can,” he said.

While emotional and heavy, the book shines at its most when it’s wavering between silly and sincere, earnest and amusing. In public readings, audiences are between laughter and still silence. “I think humor adds a very particular texture to poetry that is useful. It can help give it some spark and fire and animate them in a way,” he said.

In Promises of Gold, the lyrical comes to life in the everyday—whether the reader is laughing alone with the book or listening to his spoken word in a crowd. His favorite poem from the collection

is “Eating Taco Bell with Mexicans,” whereupon introducing his future wife to his brother and promising to take her to a secret Mexican food spot, they take her to Taco Bell. The collection occasionally features his brother’s quippy text messages about becoming “MIDDLE CLASS in this mf” and how the sky and poetry are dope.

Promises of Gold went to print simultaneously with its Spanish translation by David Ruano González, a Mexican poet and translator in Mexico City. González’s translator’s note is found at the beginning of the book.

If an act of translation is always an act of betrayal, as the common saying goes, González adds that “translation is a decision too.” His commentary in the collection explains some of his decisions and how he negotiates meaning, rhythm, and wordplay between Olivarez work

heaven and its familiar faces. There are no white people in heaven. Jesus is your reincarnated cousin from the block and God is “one of those religious Mexicans” with whom the others avoid drinking or smoking around. Sometimes, people are welcomed at the gates, and sometimes, Mexicans must sneak in or work in the kitchens to achieve their own version of the American dream.”

Citizen Illegal makes no attempt to promise the American dream. But in Promises of Gold, these Mexican heaven poems take on a darker tone. Scattered three times throughout the collection, each poem rejects heaven and all it has to offer. For its people, heaven has lost its luster. The Mexicans say “no thank you to heaven,” because a paradise would require someone to clean it. Its inhabitants find its fancy parties boring, text each other that it is time to leave, and ditch paradise for a better spot in between heaven and hell. In the second “Mexican Heaven” poem, Olivarez writes:

and his own. Gonzalez navigates between being as true as possible to Olivarez’s intentions and to the Spanish language. As he puts it, the second half of Promises of Gold is “the experiences of a Mexican from Chicago turned into the Spanish of a Mexicano who lives in Mexico.”

For Olivarez, reading his poetry in his first language makes them feel new again. “Even though I know in English what happened, seeing how the poems unfold in Spanish still surprises me and makes me emotional and makes me feel like I’m outside my poems in a way that I don’t know,” Olivarez said. “Spanish was my first language, and it’s the language that my family uses to talk to each other, so to see some of those memories, which I’ve only processed in English, borne out in the language that they sometimes happened, it made them feel a little bit raw.”

The “Mexican Heaven” poems, which feature so prominently in Citizen Illegal, are here again. In Citizen Illegal, the poems are a running thread which call back to each other and all anachronistically depict

“forget heaven & its promises of gold— everything we make on this planet has one purpose. every poem, every act of photosynthesis, every protest. if heaven is real, then its gates are closed to us. maybe heaven is just a museum of all the life we have extincted…”

Later in the poem, he adds:

“...in death, we arrive at god’s house—only to find god torturing dolls. we wanted to be made in god’s image—we imagined gold & not the melting that gold requires.”

In his own words, Promises of Gold “attempts to make beautiful the complicated, but does not ignore the complicated. It embraces the world.” ¬

Reema Saleh is a journalist and graduate student at the University of Chicago studying public policy. She last wrote about the changing of the guard in City Council.

Olivarez often refers to his poems as attempts— to make beauty out of a situation or create space for imagining something different.

Shawnee Dez Emerges From Her Shadow

The South Shore native and alternative R&B musician releases debut album

MOODY UMBRA after years of singles and collaborations.

BY GRETCHEN STERBA

Two days before Shawnee Dez released their debut album

MOODY UMBRA, the alternative R&B musician invited more than thirty of their closest friends, collaborators, and supporters to an album listening party. The crowd was jam-packed together—either seated on the floor or in rows of fold-up chairs—and bathed in blood-orange light inspired by the 2018 Italian horror film Suspiria, one of Dez’s biggest influences for the album. Video recording was discouraged in efforts to stay present.

Just before Dez pressed play on the project, which they’ve been working on for over three years, they addressed their longtime community.

“I’m a very emotional girl,” Dez, twenty-seven, said. “Just recently, I’ve started to really embrace my emotional and intuitive gifts. I don’t think of it as a burden anymore. I don’t care if people think that I’m too moody, I feel like everyone can take space if they need space. But this is the way that I operate in the world, this is the way I see the world. So really, what this project is, is a world that’s living inside of me.”

Then the thirty-minute album played, and euphonious sounds of sweetly layered harmonies and sub-bass emerged, deliciously feeding our ear canals. Stirring head nods and soulful snaps set the tone of the room as Dez sat cross-legged on the floor swaying, twirling their hair, and dancing in place. When the last track ended, they received a standing ovation.

If you were to Google Shawnee Dez, a 2017 YouTube video of the South Side native and multi-hyphenate musical artist might pop up. Published by the global

music community Sofar Sounds, the video shows Dez performing the original song “Slipped Up,” and currently sits at a cool, 260,000-something views.

The comments range from “wows” and “OMGs” to the more declarative sentiments that all artists hope to evoke: “Girl. You have an incredible talent. The World needs this.”

In the six years since that video was uploaded, Dez has rolled out singles like “Wait”, “Let It Be”, and “White Skies.”

If you’ve had the pleasure of listening

people in and seeing people,” the South Shore resident told me over lunch at Plein Air Cafe in Hyde Park. “I think I was literally put here to connect with people. And then performing is just an extension of that … But whenever I used to get nervous, I would imagine everybody as a baby. Like, all of y’all used to shit on y’all selves.”

Dez grew up on the South Side, bumping CDs of 90s R&B girl groups like Xscape and SWV that bootleggers sold in her parents’ hair salon on Stony Island. She would sing along to the songs on a Walkman

“When I was younger, [my dad] was like, ‘You’re going to sing today at the shop. Be ready.’ Very intense in that way.”

Though Dez’s parents helped foster her growing passion for music and her poise toward the craft, her core memories around music during childhood were also balanced with calm, peaceful vignettes— from driving around in Hyde Park to skating at the roller rink on 87th, which would later serve as sonic influences on MOODY UMBRA (Dez wrote and coproduced every song on the album).

“We’d listen to music, talk, or just fall asleep; I think it was kind of therapeutic,” Dez said of how her father would take her and her siblings for drives around Hyde Park. “He always had instrumentals of Jay-Z and OutKast. He would make me rap. Like, ‘OK, go.’ He would make me freestyle. I’m very thankful that both my parents are entrepreneurs and have that very expansive way of thinking, and really encouraged my sisters and I to be artistic.”

to Dez or seeing them perform at Sleeping Village, Garfield Park Conservatory, or the Chicago Reader’s 50th UnGala Celebration, you’ve experienced how alternative R&B dreamscape blends vocals, production, and live band instrumentation in a way that stimulates all senses, cutting through you while leaving you both satiated and yearning for more. Now, Dez’s body of work has culminated in their debut album—which they co-produced—MOODY UMBRA, released April 14.

“Performing is my thing, like bringing

in her childhood bedroom. Shortly after auditioning for choir in the first grade, Dez remembered, they got serious about what it would take to be successful in music.

“I literally remember bawling on my pink room floor and just being like, ‘If you don’t learn how to hit this note, you’re never gonna make it.’ In second grade? Why am I being so tough on myself?” Dez said.

As Dez reflected on her upbringing (Dez is a Cancer, while both her parents are Virgos), she recalled being in environments that were encouraging, but intense at times.

Fast forward two decades later, and Dez’s MOODY UMBRA feels grounded in whatever moment or emotion each track be it wistful, pensive, nostalgic, or serene.

Take “Rinky,” a coasting-down-LakeShore-Drive-type of bop with a live bass guitar bumping, accompanied by a few lines of lyrics, both flirtatious and romantic (“Can we go for a ride, baby? / Ride the sun till the night baby”) and yearning (“We know it ain’t over”).

On “Dismantle,” an upbeat, bad bitch anthem with Pivot Gang rapper MFnMelo (the only feature on the album), synthesizer-based production breaks up the heaviness of the album: “Back up, you been

“In terms of the energy [of the album], shadow work is at the center, I think it’s really important that we make space for our shadow self to come out and play…”

can catch me on stage.”

If we take away those interludes, Dez is the first to say themselves that MOODY UMBRA is heavy, and unapologetically so.

“Umbra is the center of a shadow,” Dez said, explaining how when they heard the witchy soundtrack to the 2018 Suspiria (scored by Thom Yorke of Radiohead), they “had to make an album.”

“In terms of the energy [of the album], shadow work is at the center,” Dez explained. “I think it’s really important that we make space for our shadow self to come out and play, and be curious about it so that it can’t be used as a weapon against us, but rather a tool to continue our growth.”

The order of the tracklist demonstrates a person’s journey through shadow work, which can be defined as the process through which someone intentionally works with their unconscious mind to uncover the parts of themselves that they repress or reject. The album also makes space for the moods, trials, tribulations, and feelings that can arise from conducting shadow work (hence, the album’s name). In fact, one of the album’s later tracks, “Never See”, drowns the listener in melancholy, as Dez comes to the realization that even in doing shadow work and circumnavigating the circle of life, one may never see their potential: “I may never see a day where I get to show ya / I may never see a day where I get to be.” Yet we strive to go on.

“Why did I let myself get away from

not really welcomed. There’s not really a space to talk about your desires and change your mind and be curious. Especially, I am so indecisive. I change my mind all the fucking time, and people really get upset with me. Like, ‘Oh, you’re flakey.’ No, I just live very intuitive [in] what I want and I am standing on that … I’m standing on what I need for myself.”

But being a Black woman in music, both in general and the Chicago music scene, can be a double-edged sword.

“As a woman in music, and a Black woman, too, it was always really hard to find collaborators that were both seasoned and also not mansplain-y, bro-y vibes,” Dez said. “I was hitting that wall all the time.”

As Dez’s career has progressed— especially with the creation and and release of this album—she has been thankful but disappointed in men in the Chicago music community.

“I’ve cried so much about this project,” Dez said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have any support. I’m not signed, I don’t have any clout, people are not on my heels to collaborate with me or send resources my way.’ I was like, ‘Fuck, what do I have to do for people to see me and see my passion and want to help me achieve a goal?’ Because I feel like Chicago does that really well for the men.”

Dez added that as a Black woman in music, male collaborators have crossed boundaries, wanting to take platonic,

professional relationships to the next level instead of focusing on the art.

Like her vision and experience of her album, Dez’s journey has led her to collaborators one rarely sees her perform without, including Eddie Burns, Sam Hudgens, Reno Cruz, Josh Jessen, Kurt Shelby, Kenneth Leftridge, and Malik Lemon, to name a few.

“In that circle [of collaborators] it’s like how relationships progress. ‘OK, let’s have a kid,’” Dez joked of the creative process of making, mixing, and mastering the album, “That’s what this project is.”

With MOODY UMBRA officially out in the world, Dez is sharing the deepest shadows of themselves, while giving us a cloudy dream of a sound. But as an audience, we’re wide awake.

“Obviously, I can’t control how people or where people listen to it, but when you sit down to watch a movie, you sit down to watch the movie,” Dez said. “That’s how I want people to listen to it. I would like for them to just sit down and listen to it.”

In terms of what takeaways Dez’s

moody, nostalgic, and soulful music leaves us with, they offer that we tap into our younger selves in hopes of propelling us forward with newfound love, knowledge, and appreciation.

“I think about being younger and my days with my like CD player walking around, going laying in your room and being bored and doing nothing while you listen to music was really fucking cool. You really get to escape into a different world. Yeah, you’re a kid, you don’t have a lot of leeway to do what you want, but when you put your headphones on? Everything turns into something else around you.”

Fans can catch Dez performing MOODY UMBRA at Lincoln Hall on May 18. ¬

Gretchen Sterba is a freelance journalist based in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. She’s written for the Chicago Reader, HuffPost, BUST Magazine, and more. She last wrote for the Weekly about the viability of voting by mail.

Portrait of Shawnee Dez taken at her listening party.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JACOB KING

Album cover art for MOODY UMBRA.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAYA IMAN

‘Unity Good Friday’ Brings Together Churches of Color in Chinatown

Christian churches from Englewood, Tri-Taylor, and Pilsen come together for a day of worship.

BY WENDY WEI

On the evening of April 7, a unique community of Christians gathered in Chinatown. For the first time, four congregations from across the city came together for Good Friday. The service was held as a joint celebration of cultural diversity and call for social justice—aptly titled “Unity Good Friday.”

The worship was held at Chinese Christian Union Church (CCUC) on 2301 S. Wentworth Ave., where folks from multiple racial backgrounds and South Side neighborhoods steadily filled every row of pews in the main sanctuary, and eventually reached the upper balcony.

In addition to the mainly Chinese host congregation, the worshippers represented the Chicago City Life Center (CCLC), a predominantly African-American church in Englewood led by Pastor Charles Moodie; Oasis Church Chicago, a multiracial church in Tri-Taylor led by Pastor JP Troglio; and Bethel Temple, a Latinx church in Pilsen led by Pastor Johnny Delgado.

“We need to continue to encourage one another…We have to get together. And church, we got to get to work. We got to get to work,” preached CCUC English Ministry Assistant Pastor Chris Javier, who delivered the evening’s sermon.

Going beyond a traditional Good Friday message of salvation, Javier called on the congregation to work in service of their communities. “God did not make us clean again so that we can sit back, kick our feet up, and chill,” he continued, to a chorus of amens. “We’ve got a job on this earth, we’ve got a job in every neighborhood that we are planted in. And that’s to share the gospel and to do these good deeds.”

What exactly the Bible means by

performing “good deeds” is a theological question that different Christian denominations interpret in different ways. But for the churches present at Unity Good Friday, this call has come to include working together with Black, Brown, and Asian communities to tackle issues stemming from racial inequity.

By the start of the second song, a bilingual English-Spanish rendition of Hillsong’s “At The Cross,” over 400 people stood together, shoulder to shoulder, to commemorate the Easter tradition with longtime friends and newly-met strangers.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, mainstream media across the country has emphasized images and stories of racial tension among Black,

Brown, and Asian communities, against a backdrop of BLM protests and anti-Asian hate crimes.

In Pilsen, Latinx gang members allegedly targeted African-Americans during the 2020 June BLM protests. After the murders of two Chinese men in February 2020, allegedly by a Black man, Chinatown residents called for more police and increased their surveillance infrastructure. Organizations formed neighborhood watch groups, gathered funds to help seniors acquire and install security cameras outside their homes, and encouraged cooperation with local police to report suspicious behavior.

Some community members have been trying to shift this narrative of racial conflict, including Christian

churches. In June 2020, CCUC partnered with Bronzeville’s Progressive Baptist Church—a historically Black church—to co-lead the Chinatown March for Black Lives; Javier was a key organizer. The march publicly acknowledged the harmful effects of anti-Blackness in Brown and Asian communities as it weaved through Pilsen, Chinatown, and Bronzeville.

Unity Good Friday did not spring up overnight, but developed in parallel to years of coalition-building. Troglio of Oasis Church and Moodie of CCLC met eight years ago, when Troglio led spring break ministry trips for college students from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ilinois to Englewood, where CCLC is located.

Three years later, Delgado of Bethel Temple joined the mix, and the joint events grew from there. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, the three churches supported one another with outreach, meal distribution, and outdoor gatherings.

The churches have a strong history of mutual support, despite serving different and geographically separated communities, Troglio said. This is the third year that CCLC, Bethel, and Oasis have hosted combined services—but the first collaboration with CCUC.

Pastor Bob Wong of CCUC was brought into the fold in January 2023, when attending a prayer meeting alongside Moodie. “One of the ladies [of CCUC] who was praying began to weep and say, you know, ‘I feel like we need to do more with the African-American community,’” Moodie recounted. “And my wife [Pastor] Kehinde Moodie said, ‘I'm going to go speak to [Pastor Wong] to see if we can partner in some way.’”

PHOTO BY WENDY WEI

Word spread from pastor to pastor that there was mutual interest in working towards racial solidarity. “Long story short,” explained Troglio, “we all sat in a room together, the four of us pastors, and just really felt like there was an agreement together to combine.”

Moises Perea of Bridgeport provided English-to-Spanish translation at the service for the Spanish-speaking attendants and those who are more comfortable hearing the message in Spanish. A member of Bethel Temple for twenty years, Perea has been translating as a career for even longer, including a stint as a translator for Chicago Public Schools.

When asked why it is important for Bethel members to outreach beyond Pilsen, Perea said his belief is rooted in the Bible. “I think the Father calls us to be out in the world and in different neighborhoods. We should be doing it more often and more intentionally.” He remembers the difficulty of reaching out to folks in “rough

neighborhoods” but feels it is necessary.

One of the community members from the CCLC congregation present was Mike Drake, a South Side resident. He reflected at the conclusion of the service that “we mostly serve Englewood, but we could do more of this. Because our brothers and sisters are broken all over the world, and all over the city.” Drake said this event has been discussed amongst CCLC members over the past weeks. “I’m so glad I said ‘Okay I’ll come,’ and that I did.”

As the leader of a historically African-American church, Moodie understands that “in the AfricanAmerican church, they have been fighting for justice for so long,” while many recent immigrants are not aware “that [they] have some of the same issues that [the Black community] has.” Moodie considers himself to be among those learning from this history, as he and his wife are both first-generation immigrants, from Jamaica

and Nigeria respectively.

The lead pastors recognize that a collaborative effort towards racial solidarity must not stop at just one service, and are holding a meeting on April 28 to continue this momentum. “Most pastors who know me will know, I don’t like to focus on events, I like to build relationships so that we can really have an impact,” Moodie said.

“We don’t want this just to be a onetime thing a year,” echoed Troglio. “What does it look like to maybe gather once a quarter and worship together? What would it look like to do outreach together? What does it look like for the city of Chicago to see multiple different churches, gathering, and doing heavy lifting work for the communities, for people?”

The answer to these questions is still forming. Before the service was dismissed and the congregation went off to dinner with friends and family, Wong announced: “There’s a lot of great restaurants here in Chinatown. Have some fun, but know

who you represent. Because I know the restaurant workers will know you’re not from around here. So as followers of Jesus Christ, what that translates into is tip, and tip well.”

Laughter broke out.

“Did I go too far?”

“No! Not at all,” shouted a few folks.

“That was good!” responded another.

“We’re about to take offering as well,” Wong joked, before closing out the evening.

Though it was said in jest, perhaps a good deed means supporting a local community restaurant whose business has plummeted because of racist stereotypes. It may be having conversations with those whose struggles are unfamiliar to one’s own experience. It could be, as many churches have done for centuries, distributing food to those who need it, marching in solidarity, and spending time in prayer with neighbors. ¬

Wendy Wei is a section editor at the Weekly

Our thoughts in exchange for yours.

The Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.

The Function of Forehead

by

theoretically speaking, functionality considered, you gotta be big. you’ve got big responsibilities; need the proper room to hold meetings and mediate between my eyebrows and my edges. hold my thoughts in place, Steward of My Frontal Lobe/wig.

remind folks i am my fathers child, this is where i hold his genes. remind me of the moon, so influential.

you drive a facial expression home, shift skin around like the tide, ripples remind folks i have an attitude.

Spring Commute

by sky patterson

Cold sheets of rain fall as I march to my bus stop. Walk turns into run.

A Haiku about Fall/Spring, Death/Rebirth

by alejandro hernandez

A lively Summer

Fades. Leaves turn golden and die, Nourishing next spring

A Haiku About Smoking Weed in a Forest in Michigan

by alejandro hernandez

Green all around me

Smoke signals drift in the wind

God bless Mother Earth

Chima Ikoro is the Weekly’s Community Builder.

THIS WEEK'S PROMPT: “EXPLAIN THE FUNCTIONALITY OF SOMETHING YOU SEE EVERY DAY.”

This could be a poem, journal entry, or a stream-of-consciousness piece. Submissions could be new or formerly written pieces. Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to chima.ikoro@southsideweekly.com.

chima “naira” ikoro inspired by a workshop led by e’mon lauren

Our thoughts in exchange for yours.

Easter Interlude (Haikus)

by imani joseph

Once upon a time

My nigga rose from the dead

For ghetto Mecca

Cold morning hot night

Blooms orchids n cicadas

Flip flop weather holds

Dancing bark teasing

Sprouting pollen n apples

Miss forest’s floor

Is wet from the rain

My homies drowning inside Swamp ghost trap launches

New blaxploitation

Film featuring the city Gurlll trickster in spring

spring springs memories

Lake Michigan on my mind

Tai chi with the trees

head, tail, cross and more winds, I take off and ... Touchdown! The Windy City!

fairy observations

by diacos love

No.1 the endorphin rites let lavender’s lust seduce fems with a rose toy when in cherry time

No.2 his gaping hole the most powerful Exothermic pumping of a holy halo

No.3 fall thanks giving…is it ethical? yes. like mac cheese from an un-clean pot

No. 4 a strange teacher you’re bald with loose leaf’d hair that flakes on our class but do you have purpose?

Honest Haikus

by monica kakkar

we are the people spring of possibilities

Chicago South Side

my Achilles’ heel mixed-media artistry

Chicago Deep Dish

few honest haiku home-brewed blend of honest tea here’s to Wrigley Field!

Brother-and-Sister Punk Band Has SKIN in the Game

Punk duo Pancho and Stacy García talk about their debut show “Vaqueros Y Rockeros” and embracing their Chicana/o identity.

BY JESÚS G. FLORES

Cameras and lights flashed across the room as a man took off his black sombrero, hopped on stage, and climbed up on a speaker about his height. The man, Francisco García, goes by Pancho and is the lead singer of LOS SKIN. Pancho leapt off and hurled himself into the crowd. The people below braced themselves to catch the man who, moments before, performed with his sister Stacy García.

LOS SKIN is a brother-sister Chicana/o Punk duo based in Pilsen. They identify as Chicana/o, an ethnic and political identity that recognizes the unique cultural upbringing of many Mexican Americans—perfectly synergizing with punk music’s politicized and countercultural roots. One only has to see them perform live to experience this.

Songs on their sets switch from fasthitting guitar riffs and impactful drums to psychedelic cumbia-inspired guitar work and danceable drum beats. Their event “Vaqueros Y Rockeros” (cowboys and rockers) last summer at the Subterranean on the North Side created a space for both cultures to meet. As the name says, this was a show for cowboys, rockers, and everything in between.

DJ Flores Negras, a friend of the band, invited them to fill in for her set, Cumbia Y Los Goths. LOS SKIN jumped at the opportunity. Weeks of preparation went into planning “Vaqueros y Rockeros.” They contacted the venue, put a lineup together, got the word out,

and distributed flyers throughout the city.

On the day of the event, Pancho calmed his nerves by going to work at his parent’s retail store. “If I were to stay home, I would be pacing around like,

‘fuck fuck fuck,’” he said. After clocking out, Pancho headed over to his mom’s house to pick up Stacy and her drums. They met Alex, their new bassist and the lead of Nikko Blue, at their practice space.

Gathering the rest of their equipment, they headed over to the venue.

Arriving early and stepping out of an older white minivan with instruments in hand, they were greeted by the sight of people dressed in an eclectic mix of combat boots, botas, sombreros, Dickies pants, and metal band t-shirts.

One of the guitars LOS SKIN had brought, a vintage Les Paul, was gifted to Pancho by their dad, who had also been in a band in his youth. Pancho said, “They did cumbias, almost like Los Bukis, and covers too.” Pancho had been playing guitar for four years using his dad’s Les Pual to get that heavy tone he loves.

Stacy, meanwhile, had only been playing for over a year but quickly took to the drums. A girl drummer in a music genre historically dominated by men, Stacy was thirteen at the time of “Vaqueros Y Rockeros”.

Someone else was originally going to play drums for LOS SKIN, but he became ill the day of an event. Since Stacy was already taking drum lessons, she was a perfect last-minute substitution. Pancho said, “I made her jam, and it sounded good. We played a show, and it went really well, and we just kept practicing [together] from there.”

She is younger than the age requirement of many venues, but still hammers away drum beats when performing.

The line was winding around the corner. Passerbys looked at the group of concertgoers with confusion and

PHOTO BY JESÚS G. FLORES

curiosity. It was a large turnout, and everyone was here—everyone except the sound guy. Through a miscommunication, the person in charge of the show’s sound setup had gotten the wrong date. The bands were all there, and the speakers were in place, but no one could finish the sound check. Their instruments just lay there half set up.

One of the employees decided to lend his PA system for the event. “The guy hooked it up and was like, ‘This gonna be like super DIY.’ But we’re all used to that,” Pancho said.

LOS SKIN was up, starting the night fast and heavy with their song “Skin” and keeping that pace throughout the set until slowing things down for their last two songs, “Calavera” and “Si un dia me voy”.

“We’re heavy as hell, and then just like that, we’re singing about our hearts breaking,” he said.

The Weekly spoke with the Garcías. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you feel when you showed up and saw a line of people in vaquero hats?

Pancho: It was dope . . . being able to express [yourself] with other people who are aware of the culture. Being able to be a vaquero and rockero. You’re both, you know? So it’s cool to see all that in one room where people get down to rock music and norteñas. We don’t see that sometimes, but we were able to show that this is who we are.

How did your family react when you started a punk band?

It’s funny; they were like, “Oh, you guys play music.” They thought we would sound bad, but then one of my uncles checked us out. He came to my house because we used to practice at my dad’s barn. We had a show there, and my uncle came and said, “Let me hear something.” And we played, and he said, “Whoa, you guys actually sound good!” Some of my cousins were like, “Low key, I thought you were gonna sound like ass, but it’s actually really good.”

So it just happened like that? It wasn’t planned out?

Yeah. I would have never thought Stacy and I would be playing music together. I wouldn’t expect us to be good in a humble way. We’re able to make music, and I would never expect that.

I know you guys label yourselves a Chicana/o punk band. What differentiates you from regular punk?

Well, being Chicana/o. It’s like we’re Mexican, but we’re first generation too. I never really looked at it as something, but now it’s like an identity for me. Both my parents were born in Mexico. And

We came up with the name LOS SKIN because of the color of our skin. It’s in our blood. We’re Latino; we’re Mexican. You don’t see a brother-sister band, especially a Mexican one, often. People can relate to some of the struggles that we went through.

We do have a culture, you know? It’s incredible we can express ourselves and not hide. To be able to share what we feel and [people] being able to relate.

Is this identity something you’ve recently discovered?

I feel like it’s always been there, but it’s something I recently got into. I feel like I wasn’t really able to express myself, and

embarrassed about how we lived because our culture was so different from theirs. I was constantly worried that people were looking at me weirdly. Good thing I had great friends that helped me embrace myself and never judged me based on how I look or how my family lives. I still didn’t have that connection with other Latinos and Mexicans because I never spoke Spanish with someone my age. You know, an actual conversation. It was always with my mom and other family members. When I was eighteen, I was like, “Oh, I really wanna get back into my roots.” I really wanted to see my culture. So I got into it more, little by little. Now I feel like I’m fully discovering my true Chicana/o Mexican self.

What about you, Stacy?

Stacy: I don’t know. It’s cool being in the Mexican family, but at the same time, it gets weird.

Pancho: What’s weird about it?

Stacy: Sometimes you want to be like other people. But at the same time, you like your culture. But then it’s weird because you don’t know what other people think about it. So you don’t know where to go.

Pancho: The way I see it now, people think you have to prove something that you don’t. What makes you Mexican is being you, being who you are . . . embracing your culture and all this stuff living in your blood. You don’t have to prove anything. You don’t have to be more Mexican than the other person. Just be yourself.

Do you have any musical inspirations? What do you listen to for inspiration or to replicate in your music?

it’s amazing seeing where my parents come from (Guanajuato and Morelos) and them giving us the opportunity to do what they couldn’t. So that’s why I use the name Chicana/o.

now I’m able to with Chicana/o. I’m a proud Chicana/o. It’s just how I feel, and I can finally express that.

Growing up, I went from a diverse school to an all-white one. I felt almost

Pancho: Oh yeah, definitely. I like hardcore, metal, experimental stuff, and psychedelic music. For example, l really like Pink Floyd or Tame Impala. There are some stoner metal bands that I get inspiration from too. And then on the Latin side, I realized I really like cumbias because that inspired me to play it too.

“We came up with the name LOS SKIN because of the color of our skin. It’s in our blood. We’re Latino; we’re Mexican. You don’t see a brother-sister band, especially a Mexican one, often.”

PHOTO BY JESÚS G. FLORES

And then Calfines is cool. I was like, oh I want to start singing Spanish. I want to add more cumbia to our music.

Stacy: I mostly like rock and punk. Like System of a Down and Falling in Reverse. Sometimes indie music.

Pancho: When we first started playing, “I was like, what kind of music do you want to play, Stacy?” I thought she wanted to play something soft or something. She was like, no, some punk stuff. I was like, whoa.

How do you guys get shows? Is it just you two, or do you have someone helping you get them?

Pancho: It just happens randomly. One day I was just like, “Man, we need more shows. We don’t have any coming up.” Next thing you know, we have five shows coming up. I just hit up people. We’ll play a show, people like how we sound, and invite us to their events. So yeah, that’s how we get shows. I also have connections with good people already in the music scene. I hit them up like, “We

should play a show together”. Or we’ll play a show, and then people will say, “Oh, we like how you sound. We should play together.”

Of the songs you’re working on right now, which is your favorite one?

Pancho: I like all of them. The first song, it’s called “Skin,” like our band name. I got the idea because of Black Sabbath. Their first album is named “Black Sabbath,” and the first song [on the album] is Black Sabbath. I always tell people if you’re a real metal band, you have to name your first song after your band name. Then our second song is going to be called “Desmadre”. It’s a fast punk song. Our third one’s called “Payaso,” and Stacy came up with that one. She was like playing this sick drum beat. I was like, hold on, keep playing that. She was playing it, and I came up with the riff, which sounded really cool. It’s one of my favorite songs to play live.

What was your favorite part of the Vaqueros Y Rockeros show?

Stacy: My favorite part was seeing how everyone was just rocking out to us, and just like seeing everyone so happy to see us. It was fun!

Pancho: Honestly, my favorite part was seeing how many people came out to support the bands. A lot of my family came out! Some of my roommates don’t really like that kind of music, but they still came out and supported us.

It was cool showing a different side [of yourself] and seeing everybody dressing like a vaquero. And I really enjoyed our set. I feel like we killed it. I’m still thinking about it all the time. Like, I can’t believe it. We did that. ¬

Jesús G. Flores is a Latino multimedia journalist from Hegewisch. He mostly covers Latinx subcultures and previously covered a record store in his neighborhood for the Weekly

PHOTO BY JESÚS G. FLORES

El poeta José Olivarez intenta desafiar el imperio en Promesas de oro

El más reciente libro de poesía de José Olivarez, Promesas de oro, es “un volumen de poemas de amor para los ‘homies’”, que fue escrito en medio de una pandemia mundial que nos ha dejado vulnerables y expuestos a todas las demás fuerzas que navegamos a diario. Publicado en febrero, Olivarez celebra en su poesía el amor en todas sus formas: familiar, fraternal y, a veces, fugaz.

Olivarez es poeta, educador e intérprete que nació en Calumet City, al sur de Chicago. Su primera colección de poesía Citizen Illegal exploró temas de identidad inmigrante, familia, política y nostalgia de Chicago. Después de su éxito, Olivarez lanzó Promesas de oro donde el poeta enfrenta temas del colonialismo y el capitalismo y cómo mantener vivo el amor.

Olivarez comenzó a escribir Promesas de oro en 2019, con algunos de los poemas del libro publicados en 2013. El título de la colección y los nombres de sus capítulos hacen referencia a la frase de “Oro, Dios y Gloria” que representa la filosofía de los invasores españoles para la explotación, erradicación y esclavitud en México y en las nuevas conquistas imperiales de España.

En Promesas de oro>, Olivarez adapta su estilo a las imágenes coloniales y al lenguaje del imperio para formar la estructura del libro, pero también lo utiliza para rechazar el daño colonial. “¿Qué es el oro para nosotros? ¿Qué es sagrado para nosotros? ¿Dónde encontramos la gloria?”

nos pregunta Olivarez en el prólogo.

Promesas de oro es una colección pospandémica llena de ansiedades de clasismo y resentimiento hacia los ricos y poderosos. En uno de sus poemas, “Sólo es un día cualquiera de la cuarentena y ya estoy soñando despierto con robar a gente rica”, Olivarez sueña con darle un golpe en la cara a Jeff Bezos, presidente de Amazon, y vivir lo suficiente para volver a golpearlo.

“Creo que [la colección] resiste el imperio al oponerse a la forma en que el imperio quiere hacer que todos los libros sean funcionales [para el sistema]”, dijo Olivarez en una entrevista con el Weekly. “No es un libro antirracista... no tiene un propósito de diversidad, equidad, e inclusión. Es útil, quizá sólo para los que estamos interesados en organizarnos.”

Muchos de los poemas con temática sobre el acceso económico surgen del deseo de que fueran más directos acerca del clasismo. “Cuando escribí Citizen Illegal, pensé que la identidad de clase era una parte importante de esos poemas. Y descubrí que... la mayoría de las conversaciones que la gente estaba interesada en tener conmigo eran sobre la identidad, la pertenencia y la familia”, dijo Olivarez.

Al escribir estos poemas, Olivarez quiso captar el modo en que la clase social y la pobreza han moldeado su propia vida. Hay un sentido de rabia contundente en las páginas: desde la promesa de la riqueza, lo que hacen los ricos para beneficiarse a sí

mismos, y el aprender a adaptarse a tener dinero aunque siempre con ansiedad.

“El otro día hablaba con un amigo y le decía: ‘No pasa un día sin que me sienta estresado al mirar mi cuenta bancaria. No importa cuánto dinero tenga. No sé si ese tipo de inseguridad desaparecerá algún día”, dijo Olivarez.

A lo largo de Promesas de oro Olivarez explica cómo los artistas crean arte que desafía el imperio, pero que también puede ser absorbido por el imperio, con todo y sus críticas, opiniones y demás. “American Tragedy” (Tragedia estadounidense) en un ejemplo:

“...es más fácil escuchar a un artista afuera de su arresto capaz de girar el secreto en una moneda que podemos compartir en una cena donde todos suspirarán & mirarán contemplativamente esa es su parte en esta tragedia estadounidense”

A continuación, el “Poema con un poco menos de agresividad” pone a todas las personas implícitas en la violencia y el consumo del capitalismo, incluso al artista, que aclara antes de su crítica: "cuando me invitan/ a los salones de los ricos... tomo asiento/ me retratan, y enseño los dientes/ lo inofensivo/ que soy".

“...no puedo ayudar a los pobres si soy uno de ellos dice el banquero que firma la ejecución hipotecaria de mi familia. es verdad, lo sabes: no hay

consumo ético bajo el capitalismo. algunas verdades son inútiles.”

“Después de haber sido un poco más reconocido por diferentes instituciones poéticas y culturales, sólo ver cómo esas organizaciones y esas instituciones pueden defender un cierto tipo de postura política, [y] al mismo tiempo, pueden por otro lado aceptar donaciones y dinero de la gente más asquerosa del planeta”, añadió Olivarez.

“Parte de lo que intento hacer es mantenerme alerta e incluso desconfiar de mí mismo en algunos aspectos, intentando mantenerme firme al recordar que todo eso es pasajero. Lo que importa no es necesariamente ese tipo de apoyo institucional, sino escribir poemas en comunidad con la gente que lucha contra el imperio, es la forma que yo lo expresaría”.

En el prólogo del autor y al hablar con él, Olivarez suele referirse a sus poemas como intentos de embellecer una situación o crear espacio para imaginar algo diferente. "Algunos poemas son, en cierto modo, intentos fallidos. En realidad no pueden deshacer el daño que quieren deshacer. No pueden capturar el momento que intentan ilustrar, mostrar o revelar". Existe una tensión a la hora de hacer bello lo feo y complicado, pero Olivarez piensa que escribir es un intento de sostener la fugacidad de esos momentos y dejarlos vivir más tiempo.

“Escribo mucho sobre la familia y

POR REEMA SALEH TRADUCIDO POR ALMA CAMPOS

Publicada en febrero, la colección de poemas lucha con el legado del colonialismo y el capitalismo.

sobre las posibles vidas de mis familiares... y escribo mucho sobre mi familia que ha fallecido. En cierto modo, los poemas son más bellos para mí cuando pueden contener a esas personas”, afirma Olivarez. “Es un espacio imaginario que creo en los poemas, y al final del poema, esos espacios se esfuman. Para mí, la belleza sigue existiendo incluso cuando se desvanecen, porque así puedo sostener la conversación un poco más”.

En el poema, “Casi un soneto para la vida de mi mamá que casi fue”, Olivarez dibuja la vida que podría haber sido para su madre si no hubiera tenido hijos.

“...ella pasa sus veintes siguiendo a Marco Antonio Solís de show en show. manos arriba rindiéndose. rezándole a un dios diferente al que ahora le dedica los domingos de rodillas. me encanta

imaginármela así: su nombre María, María un nombre que los hombres maldicen a los cuatro vientos de Guadalajara a Oaxaca. el santo nombre de la madre renacida una madre de nadie….”

En esta realidad prácticamente alternativa, persigue espectáculos musicales y sólo se ocupa de sí misma. El poema señala que ella protestaría si oyera esto, pero no deja de preguntarse cómo sería su vida si tuviera su propia vida. Al escribir, Olivarez rellena los huecos de silencio entre ellos y los aspectos de su madre que simplemente no puede conocer.

“Una de las grandes revelaciones para mí es que, cuando era niño, mis padres me hablaban de los sacrificios que hacían por mí, los sacrificios que hicieron por mí y mis hermanos, lo que me hizo pensar que siempre llevaban algo de tristeza o añoranza por la vida que dejaron”, dijo Olivarez. “Pero mi madre siempre se aseguraba de decirme: ‘No estoy triste por las decisiones que he tomado. Esta es mi vida. Y esta es la vida que yo quería,

y que escogí’”. En ese mismo poema, hay un punto en el que ella se defiende [y] dice que su vida sería aburrida sin su familia y sin Dios, que es como mi madre realmente... es lo que ella dice”.

A lo largo de la colección, Olivarez aborda la soledad, la nostalgia y el desamor de formas tangibles y nuevas. “La poesía no es terapia”, titula un poema, aunque su primer verso responde: “pero eso no significa que no lo intenté”.

Pero Promesas de oro está lleno de ironía, sobre todo por la forma en que Olivarez escribe. Olivarez empieza imaginando a sus tres hermanos pequeños y escribiendo un poema que les gustaría a ellos. “Para mí es importante que no se sientan excluidos de los poemas, que si quieren leerlos, puedan hacerlo”, dijo.

Aunque emotivo y profundo, el libro brilla más cuando oscila entre lo absurdo y lo sincero, lo serio y lo divertido. En las lecturas públicas, la gente se encuentra entre la risa y el silencio. "Creo que el humor le añade a la poesía una textura muy particular que resulta útil. Puede ayudar a darle algo de chispa y fuego y los revive en cierto modo", afirmó.

En Promesas de oro, lo cotidiano se vuelve lírico, ya sea que el lector se ría a solas con el libro o escuche sus poemas en público. Su poema favorito de la colección es “Comer en Taco Bell con mexicanos”, en el que, tras presentarle su futura esposa a su hermano y prometerle llevarla a un lugar secreto de comida mexicana, la terminan llevando a Taco Bell. En ocasiones, la colección incluye mensajes de texto de su hermano en los que, por ejemplo, le dice que se está convirtiendo parte de la “CLASE MEDIA en este pinche lugar” y que el cielo y la poesía son increíbles.

Promesas de oro se imprimió al mismo tiempo que su traducción al español por David Ruano González, poeta y traductor mexicano en la Ciudad de México. La nota de traductor de González se sitúa al principio del libro.

Si un acto de traducción es siempre un acto de traición, como dice el dicho, González añade que “la traducción es una decisión también”. En la colección explica algunas de sus decisiones y

cómo negocia el significado, el ritmo y el juego de palabras entre la obra de Olivarez y su interpretación. González navega entre serle lo más fiel posible a las intenciones de Olivarez y mantener la lengua española. Como él mismo dice, la segunda mitad de Promesas de oro son “Las vivencias relatadas por José Olivarez en su obra poética, vistas desde mi posición de mexicano que vive en México, son las vivencias de un mexican, no de un mexicano.”

Para Olivarez, leer sus poemas en su primer idioma hace que vuelvan a sentirse como nuevos. "Aunque las cosas sucedieron en inglés, ver cómo se desarrollan los poemas en español todavía me sorprende y me emociona y me hace sentir como si estuviera fuera de mis poemas de una manera que desconozco", dijo Olivarez. "El español fue mi primera lengua, y es la lengua que mi familia utiliza para hablar entre ellos, así que ver algunos de esos recuerdos, que sólo he procesado en inglés, renacer en la lengua en la que a veces sucedieron, los hizo más reales".

Los poemas de “Mexican Heaven”, que ocupan un lugar tan destacado en su primera colección de poesía Citizen Illegal, están aquí de nuevo. En Citizen Illegal, los poemas son un hilo conductor que se hacen referencia unos a otros y todos representan anacrónicamente el cielo y sus rostros familiares. En el cielo no hay anglosajones. Jesús es tu primo reencarnado del barrio y Dios es “uno de esos mexicanos religiosos” con quien los demás evitan tomar o fumar. A veces, la gente es recibida en la puerta, y otras veces, los mexicanos tienen que entrar a escondidas o trabajar en la cocina para conseguir su propia versión del sueño americano”.

Citizen Illegal no hace ningún intento de prometer el sueño americano. Pero en Promesas de oro, los poemas del cielo mexicano adquieren un tono más oscuro. Cada poema rechaza la gloria y todo lo que tiene que ofrecer; el cielo ha perdido su brillo.

Los mexicanos dicen “no gracias al cielo”, porque un paraíso requeriría que alguien limpiara los baños. Sus habitantes

consideran aburridas sus fiestas de lujo, se envían mensajes de texto para decir que es hora de irse y abandonan el paraíso por un lugar mejor entre el cielo y el infierno. En el segundo poema, “El cielo mexicano”, Olivarez escribe:

“olvida el cielo & sus promesas de oro —todo lo que hacemos en este planeta tiene un propósito. cada poema, cada acto de fotosíntesis, cada protesta. si el cielo es real, entonces sus puertas están cerradas para nosotros. tal vez el cielo es sólo un museo de toda la vida que hemos extinguido…”

Más adelante en el poema, añade:

“...en la muerte, llegamos a la casa de dios—sólo para encontrar a dios torturando muñecos. queríamos ser hechos a imagen & semejanza de dios — imaginamos oro & no el fundir que el oro necesita.”

En sus propias palabras, Promesas de oro “intenta hacer bello lo complicado, pero no ignora lo complicado. Abraza el mundo”. ¬

Reema Saleh es periodista y estudiante de posgrado de política pública en la Universidad de Chicago. Anteriormente escribió sobre los cambios del Concejo Municipal.

As Mayor, Brandon Johnson is Inviting You to Reimagine Safety in Chicago

In his first 100 days, Johnson plans to address youth employment by doubling the number of young people hired for both summer and year-round positions.

BY TONIA HILL, JIM DALEY, AND TIFFANY WALDEN, THE TRIIBE

This article was originally published by The TRiiBE.

Fifty-five years to the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the moral architect of the Voting Rights Act, was assassinated in Memphis, and nearly forty years after Harold Washington upset the Chicago machine to become the city’s first Black mayor, Brandon Johnson—buoyed by overwhelming support in Black communities on the South and West Sides—defied the political establishment and won the April 4 runoff for mayor.

“It was right here in the city of Chicago, that Martin Luther King Jr. organized for justice, dreaming that one day that the civil rights movement and the labor rights movement will come together,” Johnson said in his victory speech in the South Loop. “Well, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights movement and the labor rights movement have finally collided. We are experiencing the very dream of the greatest man who ever walked the earth.”

Johnson narrowly won the April 4 runoff over former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Paul Vallas after receiving over fifty-two percent of the vote, while Vallas received about forty-eight percent. Johnson won all of the city’s majorityBlack wards, where in the first round of the election, Mayor Lori Lightfoot performed better than all seven other Black mayoral candidates. Johnson also won five majorityLatinx wards: the 22nd, 25th, 26th, 33rd and 35th Wards.

Turnout was key to Johnson’s victory, and organizers from multiple labor

unions, including the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and political organizations such as the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (CAARPR), helped get him over the finish line. United Working Families (UWF), an independent political organization, endorsed Johnson and canvassed on his behalf throughout the election cycle. Since January, UWF estimates that through its volunteer field program, they’ve knocked on half a million doors in Chicago and made a million phone calls.

Youth voter turnout played a significant role in Johnson’s win. Voters aged eighteen to twenty-four increased their turnout by about 5,000 votes on April 4 compared to February 28, an increase of more than thirty percent. Overall, the eighteen-to-twentyfour age cohort accounted for nearly four percent of ballots cast on April 4.

Geographically, voter turnout trends in the runoff mirrored those seen on February 28. For example, turnout was the highest in two white-majority wards that are home to many police and city workers: the 41st Ward on the North Side, which includes Edison Park, Norwood Park and Sauganash; and the 19th Ward on the South Side, includes Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood. The 19th Ward cast the most ballots in the election overall with 23,317, while the 41st Ward cast 18,436 ballots.

“It will be a new day in Chicago in terms of progressive policies, and it might be a way for us to stop the exodus of African Americans from leaving the city of Chicago,” said Delmarie Cobb, a veteran

journalist and political consultant.

The seeds for Johnson’s ascendance to City Hall’s fifth floor were planted a decade ago. In 2013, after then-mayor Rahm Emanuel closed fifty schools (most of which were on the South and West Sides), then-CTU president Karen Lewis, of the union’s Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), determined that labor actions alone were not enough to advance the caucus’s progressive agenda and protect neighborhood schools. They established a political action fund and began running candidates for local and downstate office. Johnson, a former teacher and longtime CORE organizer, was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2018.

Now, Johnson is asking Chicagoans to do something that’s been seemingly impossible for administration after administration, something that unequivocally knocks the status quo off its square. Something so ostensibly radical that it trips racial fault lines. Something that, if given room to breathe, could very well undermine the foundational notion that Black Americans are inherently inferior—that instead, if their communities are truly invested in, they will thrive.

Johnson is asking Chicagoans to reimagine public safety. It’s been a persistent throughline of Black liberatory thought dating back at least to the first cries to abolish slavery, stretching onward to the 2020 unrest following the police killing of George Floyd—and beyond.

This reimagining challenges the notion that safety can only be reactive to violent crime, where a shooting happens and the police show up, for example. Instead,

reimagining public safety requires a kind of world-building. What are the root causes that lead a person to commit that crime, and how can they be prevented?

“We’ll have a mayor that will listen to the public, particularly poor people and young people because the past mayors we’ve had have not done that,” said Robert Starks, a professor emeritus of Political Science at Northeastern Illinois University. “They’ve overlooked the children and the poor.”

During a one-on-one interview with The TRiiBE on March 23, Johnson spoke about the ways in which his platform aligns with grassroots organizers, who for centuries have questioned whether the institution of policing actually protects Black people, and dreamed of reimagining the system. “I think there’s an assumption that calling the police budget into question means getting rid of police,” Johnson said. “And I guess it just depends on who you ask, but the fear is how do you ask a system to protect you when the system has been used to brutalize you at the same time? That’s the fear. Can a system that has historically brutalized also protect?”

Johnson added that the impetus for reforming the criminal legal system is deeply rooted in abuses perpetrated by law enforcement.

“Police brutality case after police brutality case, people begin to lose hope that it was possible to not only repair damages, but to hold the system accountable,” he said. “The call to action was centered around young people’s desire to see real justice [but] could not find it working through the system, and wanted to provoke a more sincere conversation about

the role of policing in Black communities in particular.”

Many of the progressive goals that Chicago organizers have been fighting for are the foundational world-building blocks of Johnson’s campaign. He vowed to support Bring Chicago Home, which would increase the real estate transfer tax on real-estate sales valued over $1 million to create a dedicated revenue stream to address homelessness. He also vowed to create a homeless preference at the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to prioritize them for housing choice vouchers and sitebased units.

He wants to immediately enact a freeze on the transfer of CHA land to nonhousing uses. Such controversial land swaps have led to the construction of a new $150 million open-enrollment school near the South Loop, or the construction of Chicago Fire Football Club practice facility for professional soccer, instead of new housing promised to those forced out of public housing. In 2015, community organizers and residents from Dearborn, Ickes and Wentworth Gardens Homes called for city leaders to put a moratorium on CHA land transfers to create a plan for replacement housing, which was promised when the highrise project homes were demolished between the late 1990s and 2010s.

Additionally, Johnson vowed to double youth summer employment to over 60,000 jobs, reopen shuttered mental health clinics, support the Treatment Not Trauma ordinance to have health professionals, not police, respond to mental health crises, and promote 200 new police detectives to lower caseloads and improve murder clearance rates.

“It exists in every single institution, the structural violence that has been the prevailing form of governance,” Johnson said. “And I believe that’s why there’s so much energy and excitement around my candidacy, because we made it very clear that the tale of two cities, we’re going to put an end to that.”

The crowd at Johnson’s Election Night watch party brimmed with angst, excitement and pure Black joy as Johnson began pulling ahead of Vallas in the race.

“I’m glad that this is finally at an end. I’m hoping it comes to the correct conclusion. I believe that Brandon Johnson is the correct person for this job,” said

Community Organization (KOCO) and Southside Organizing for Power (STOP).

About 2,000 people filled the Marriott Marquis in the South Loop, eagerly awaiting election results.

“If the numbers hold, that’ll be great for Chicago. It gives us an opportunity to reset our path and figure out a different way of doing government in the city of Chicago, a way that supports our communities in a way that uplifts people and a way that addresses some of our nagging, longstanding challenges in the community and in the city,” Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) told The TRiiBE.

By 9pm, the energy in the room shifted to celebration mode as the 1992 house music classic “Percolator” began to flow out of the speakers. People all over the room began dancing in unison.

The energy in the room didn’t dissipate. The room was still celebrating as Johnson took the stage to address the crowd after Vallas conceded.

“Chicago, tonight is just the beginning,” Johnson told the crowd. “With our voices and our votes, we have ushered in a new chapter in the history of our city.

“The truth is the people have always worked for Chicago. Whether you wake up early to open the doors of your businesses, teach middle school or wear a badge to protect our streets or nurse patients in need or provide childcare services. You have always worked for this city. And now Chicago will begin to work for its people, all the people because tonight is a gateway to a new future for our city.”

is to invest in people. He also added that he would build upon the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who brought his campaign to Chicago in the mid-1960s to shine a light on the inhumane living conditions for Black people on the West Side and that of Chicago’s first Black mayor Harold Washington who, built a multi-racial coalition and enacted transformative change throughout his decades-long career in public life.

“Tonight is proof that by building a multicultural, multigenerational movement, we can bring together everyone. No matter if you live on the North, South, and West sides. We have demonstrated that we can change the world, Chicago. We finally will have a city government that truly belongs to the people of Chicago,” he said.

The same evening, Lightfoot, in a written statement, congratulated Johnson on his win. “It is time for all of us as Chicagoans, regardless of our ZIP code or neighborhood, our race or ethnicity, the creator we worship, or who we love, to come together and recommit ourselves to uniting around our shared present and future. My entire team and I stand ready to collaborate throughout the transition period,” the statement reads.

There’s a month left until Johnson’s May 15 inauguration. That means the transition process is in full swing. During a one-on-one interview with The TRiiBE on April 5, Johnson named public safety, public transportation, environment and housing as his top priorities.

He added that it’s important to identify

the people who can “unite our city around education, public safety, transportation, healthcare and environment,” referring to people that will fill the roles in his administration’s cabinet.

“I believe in co-governance. I want people to know that the process that I will lead will be transparent,” Johnson said.

He said that during the first 100 days of his administration, he plans to address youth employment by doubling the number of young people hired for both summer and year-round positions.

In addition, Johnson wants to prioritize how the city handles mental health care services and wants to pass Treatment Not Trauma and Bring Chicago Home as well as an impact study for the environment. He also plans to reopen the Department of Environment. The office was removed in 2011 under then-mayor Rahm Emanuel. Lightfoot created a new position in city government, the Chief Sustainability Officer, to replace the department.

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd Ward) first introduced the “Treatment Not Trauma” ordinance to the City Council’s Health and Human Relations committee in 2020.

As written, the ordinance would establish 24-hour crisis response teams within the Chicago Department of Public Health and deploy them citywide. The response teams would be equipped with a clinical social worker, emergency medical professional, or registered nurse.

Bring Chicago Home is a proposal that calls for restructuring the real-estate transfer tax on high-end property sales and imposing a one-time tax on sold properties; funds would be redirected toward efforts to combat homelessness.

“We cannot have people sleeping outside and I’m going to work very hard to see Bring Chicago Home become a reality,” he said.

Johnson also wants to ensure that Chicagoans, even those that didn’t vote for him, have a seat at the table. He said he is committed to uniting the city.

“Uniting this city in this moment is not just crucial and critical for the city of Chicago, but it’s critical for our democracy because there’s so much divisiveness,” he explained. “I’m going to work hard every single day to continue to unite this city and I appreciate the opportunity to do that.” ¬

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Chicago elected Brandon Johnson to be its next mayor.

BULLETIN

May Day March 2023

Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph St. Saturday, April 29, 2pm. Free. bit.ly/ MayDaymarchrally

Join fellow workers and various Chicago organizations—including the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression—for a rally and march in celebration of International Workers Day. The march is in support of the fight to defend immigrant and workers rights, legalization for all, the right to unionize, to hold police accountable and to defend LBGTQ and reproductive rights.

(Zoe Pharo)

The 2023 Production Institute Application

Monday, May 1, 12:59am. Free. bit. ly/2023ProductionInstitute

The Community Film Workshop of Chicago presents the Production Institute, which makes high-quality digital production training accessible to emerging media makers from South Side Communities. Applicants must have have a feasible project proposal, and have attended all Film Aesthetics classes, which take place on Tuesdays, March

21, 28, April 4, 11 from 7pm to 9pm. The deadline for applications is April 30.

(Zoe Pharo)

Kid Koala: Creatures Board Game Event

Epiphany Center for the Arts, 207 S. Ashland Ave. Saturday, May 6, 7pm–8:30pm. Free. bit.ly/KidKoalaboardgame

From Chicago Humanities and CHIRP Radio, Kid Koala—DJ, film composer, theatre producer and visual artist and multimedia performer who has toured with Radiohead and other famous groups—presents his new project “Creatures of the Afternoon.” Part board game-part vinyl, this interactive gaming experience allows players to meet various music-playing creatures, find musical instruments, collect cards and create a song to save the Natural History Museum. (Zoe Pharo)

Community Pet Day Free Pet Clinic

Lagunitas Brewing Company Chicago, 2607 W. 17th St. Sunday, May 7, 11am–3pm. Free.

Lagunitas Brewing Company is hosting a free pet clinic for the first 350 dogs and cats. The event will also include

pet bundles, such as flea/tick and rabies vaccinations, in addition to pet supplies such as leashes and collars. (Zoe Pharo)

One Summer Chicago Application

Various locations, Various locations. Friday, June 2, 1pm. Free. bit.ly/OneSummerChicagoapp

One Summer Chicago, an initiative by the mayor’s office and Chicago Department of Family and Support Services to provide in-person job and life-skills training for youth ages fourteen to twenty-four have opened their applications. The program take place from June 26 to August 4. Participants earn $15.40 an hour within all Chicago Departments and most programs are between twenty to twentyfive hours per week. Young people can apply at OneSummerChicago.org. Deadline of June 2. (Zoe Pharo)

EDUCATION

Englewood Early Learning Application Fair

Hamilton Park, 513 W. 72nd St. Thursday, April 20, 4:30pm–7:30pm. Free. bit.ly/Englewoodearlylearningfair

Get in-person support with your Pre-K

application and connect with preschool programs in your area, engage in fun activities with your child and learn about additional resources. Giveaways also available. (Zoe Pharo)

United Nations: the State of Black Chicago

Build Coffee, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Friday, April 21, 7pm–9pm. Free. shorturl.at/pzFMQ

Justin Hansford, a Howard University law professor and member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, and other Chicago nonprofits are hosting a town hall discussion on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Panelists will discuss issues currently impacting Black communities and whether Chicago is in accordance with the SDGs. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to share their own experiences. Moderated by Howard University law student Nandi Bryan. (Zoe Pharo)

FOOD AND LAND

Big Marsh Park Clean Up

Ford Calumet Environmental Center, 11555 S Stony Is Ave. Saturday, April 22, 10am–1pm. Free. bit.ly/3Laxeuj

“A Pocket Universe” will be the first Big Marsh is hosting a park clean up on April 22 in celebration of Earth Day. They are meeting up at Ford Calumet Environmental Center at 9AM. The event is rain or shine. If you have any questions, reach out to Paul Fitzgerald at paul@ bigmarsh.com and sign up at the link.

YBG Chicago Earth Day 2023

Gwendolyn Brooks Park, 4542 S. Greenwood Ave. Saturday, April 22, 11am–2pm. Tickets are $10. bit.ly/EarthDayGwendolyn

YaleBlueGreen-Chicago’s Art, Humanities and Science program at the Gwendolyn Brooks Monument will honor the spirit of Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black Pulitzer-awarded writer and “The Oracle of Bronzeville.” This earth day celebration will include workshops in sapling care and poetry, with Chicago-based poets Kira Tucker and Laura Joyce Tucker. Coffee and bagels will be provided, and the workshops will be followed by a 12pm lunch at Carver 47 of Little Black Pearl. (Zoe Pharo)

Hanami: Cherry Blossom

Viewing

Garden of the Phoenix, 6300 S. Cornell Ave. Saturday, April 22, 1pm–4pm. Free. bit.ly/Hanamiphoenix

The Hanami festival, an annual cherry blossom celebration in Jackson Park, is back this year. Taking place in the Garden of the Phoenix on Wooded Island, the festival is hosted by the Japanese Arts Foundation, in partnership with the Japanese Culture Center, Chicago Park District, Shubukai, Tsukasa Taiko and the Consulate General of Japan. This part of the park is surrounded by the Columbian Basin, which is home to around 160 cherry blossom trees. The afternoon includes Shubukai performances, a traditional Japanese dance, and Tsukasa Taiko, Japanese drumming, as well as origami folding and cherry blossom sketch sessions. See map to view access points and parking information. (Zoe Pharo)

Beading Fun for Earth Day at King Library

Chicago Public Library, King Branch, 3436 S. King Dr. Saturday, April 22, 3pm–4:30pm. Free. bit.ly/earthdaybeading

Join King Branch for a fun-filled afternoon of beading in celebration of Earth Day! Make bracelets and other jewelry using provided materials or bring your own! All skill levels are welcome.

(Zoe Pharo)

ARTS

Rearview Mirror Sessions with Duane Powell and Luther Vandross

Green Line Performing Arts Center, 329 E. Garfield Blvd. Thursday, April 20, 7:30pm–10pm. bit.ly/rearviewVandross

Music historian and DJ Duane Powell has dedicated the 2023 installment of the Rear View Mirror Sessions to four virtuosic vocalists: Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross, The Isley Brothers and Rick James. Vandross is April’s artists. Each session ends with a live performance in tribute that month’s artists, and on April 20th, this will be musician Kalind Haynes. Rear View Mirror Sessions is presented by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago and Soundrotation, in conjunction with BrainTrust Management. (Zoe Pharo)

Wordfetti Open Mic

Made Artisan Collaborative, 1802 W. 103rd St. Sunday, April 23, 6pm. Free. bit.ly/wordfettimic

See some of Chicago’s hottest hip hop and spoken word artists with performances by The Ambi/\nce, Malik Leon, Jeronimo Speakers, Shaundric and The Third. (Zoe Pharo)

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