October 3, 2018 by South Side Weekly

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY The South Side Weekly is an independent nonprofit newsprint magazine written for and about neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. We publish in-depth coverage of the arts and issues of public interest alongside oral histories, poetry, fiction, interviews, and artwork from local photographers and illustrators. The South Side Weekly is dedicated to supporting cultural and civic engagement on the South Side and to providing educational opportunities for developing journalists, writers, and artists. Volume 6, Issue 2 Editor-in-Chief Adam Przybyl Managing Editors Sam Stecklow, Bridget Newsham Senior Editors Christian Belanger, Julia Aizuss, Mari Cohen, Hafsa Razi, Olivia Stovicek Politics Editor Ellen Mayer Education Editor Rachel Kim Music Editor Christopher Good Stage & Screen Editor Nicole Bond Visual Arts Editor Rod Sawyer Food & Land Editor Emeline Posner Contributing Editors Elaine Chen, Mira Chauhan, Bea Malsky, Amy Qin, Rachel Schastok Data Editor Jasmine Mithani Radio Exec. Producer Erisa Apantaku Radio Editor Sam Larsen Radio Hosts Olivia Obineme Social Media Editors Bridget Newsham, Sam Stecklow Visuals Editor Ellen Hao Deputy Visuals Editor Kahari Black, Ellie Mejia, Lizzie Smith Staff Writers: Leah von Essen, Ashvini Kartik-Narayan, Kiran Misra, Anne Li Staff Radio Producer: Bridget Vaughn Fact Checkers: Abigail Bazin, Sam Joyce, Bridget Newsham, Adam Przybyl, Hafsa Razi, Sam Stecklow, Tammy Xu Staff Photographers: milo bosh, Kiran Misra, Jason Schumer Staff Illustrators: Siena Fite, Natalie Gonzalez, Katherine Hill, Courtney Kendrick, Kamari Robertson Webmaster: Pat Sier Director of Operations: Jason Schumer The Weekly is produced by an all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions from across the city. We distribute each Wednesday in the fall, winter, and spring. Over the summer we publish every other week. 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, contact: (773) 234-5388 or advertising@southsideweekly.com

IN CHICAGO Dirty Water Politics

A whisper is sweeping through the homes of Chicago: one if by election, two if by gubernatorial appointment. Well, not quite, but we will all be waiting anxiously on word from a judge as to exactly how the next Metropolitan Water Reclamation District commissioner will be elected, or potentially not. The seat has been vacant for nearly a year, following the death of commissioner Tim Bradford last December. A last-minute write-in election secured nominations for both Democrat Cameron Davis and Green Party candidate Geoffrey Cubbage. (No Republican candidate ran.) But just three days after the primary, Governor Bruce Rauner appointed his go-to interim district commissioner, Republican David Walsh, to fill the vacancy—and argued that Walsh would stay on beyond the upcoming general election and until 2020, when Bradford's term would have ended. The appointment, which Rauner made three and a half months after Bradford's death, was met with raised eyebrows at the Cook County Clerk's Office. Spokesperson Nick Shields responded, via the Sun-Times, that "November's general election will determine who fills the ... vacancy," and that "whoever receives the most votes in this race will be certified by our office as the winner of the race." Now, with that November deadline looming, the MWRD is relying on a court-issued declaratory judgment to settle the dispute. With Davis promising to focus on green infrastructure and against corporate pollution, and Cubbage criticizing the MWRD's pay-to-play politics—which he helped to reveal earlier this year in a Green Party–conducted analysis of campaign donors who received contracts from the MWRD—we are hopeful that the judge sends a clear signal to Chicagoans that their votes do, in fact, matter. Another One Bites the Dust, or: What Goes Around Comes Around After fifty-five years, the family-owned Chicago grocery chain Treasure Island will permanently close all locations. October 12 will be the last business day according to an employee from the Clark and Elm streets location, as told to Crain’s Chicago Business. Patrons of the Hyde Park location may be experiencing déjà vu at the sight of empty shelves and long lines to buy the remaining discounted inventory, just as they did ten years ago when the same empty shelves at the same location signaled the close of the seventy-five year old Hyde Park Co-Op, which was one of the nation’s oldest and largest consumer grocery co-ops. But that closure ushered in the then new Treasure Island store. In fact, according to a 2008 Tribune article, a lease had been signed for the Hyde Park Treasure Island location before the Hyde Park Co-Op had actually closed its doors. Although there is no scoop at present as to what will occupy the 55th Street space once Treasure Island exits, it is highly probable whatever moves in will move in will do so at warp speed, in stark contrast to the the five-year vacancy in South Shore’s Jeffery Plaza—which to date is the only location in Chicago not to be replaced by a new grocer after the Dominick’s grocery chain left the Chicago area in 2013. Reader Redux It’s hard out here for an alt-weekly paper. Everywhere you look it seems like local indie publications are shuttering (or getting bought out by mysterious right-wing shell companies). But somehow—improbably—the Reader keeps on keeping on. Just last year, Chicago’s largest alt-weekly narrowly escaped being TRONCed into oblivion. Now it’s changed hands for the second time in a little over a year, and has been operating without a permanent editor-in-chief since January. But the Reader’s latest sale has given us a few reasons to be optimistic about the paper’s future. In what must be a historic twist, the notoriously white and North Side-oriented paper is about to be Blackowned. The new ownership group—led by Chicago Crusader publisher Dorothy Leavell—officially took over on Monday. The group also announced two new hires: Anne Elizabeth Moore as editor-in-chief and Karen Hawkins as managing editor for digital. Moore is a cultural critic, author, punk anthologist, comics journalist, and self-identified queer-crip. If you go to her website the first words you’ll see are “Sweet Little Cunt” (the name of her newest book). We think this is—um—cool. Hawkins is the founder of Rebellious, an online feminist magazine about Chicago, politics and pop culture, and a Black lesbian from the south suburbs who has been hustling in Chicago media for years and deserves a come up. The two women join longtime Windy City Times editor and publisher Tracy Baim, who was installed as the Reader’s publisher back in September. By our count that means that the editorial leadership of The Reader is now entirely made up of queer women—particularly remarkable when you realize that just a few months ago, the paper was run by a narcissistic shock jock who openly abused his staff and thought it was a cool idea to print a racist slur in a headline. We hear there’s another big change in store for the Reader: they’re moving to Bronzeville. We’re excited to welcome our new neighbors to the South Side, and for any Reader staff who are feeling lost down here, we recommend checking out our Best of the South Side Issue.

Cover art and table of contents by Lizzie Smith

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A week’s worth of developing stories, odd events, and signs of the times, culled from the desks, inboxes, and wandering eyes of the editors

¬ OCTOBER 3, 2018

IN THIS ISSUE

Know His Roots

Art Aquatic Rod Sawyer................................10

A Study in South Works Lewis page................................................6

Avian Oasis

Christopher Good.................................3

Kopano, In Their Own World Juhi Gupta................................................8

Sam Joyce....................................16

MUSIC

Know His Roots

Matt Muse on his new project, Nappy Talk BY CHRISTOPHER GOOD COURTESY OF MATT MUSE

COURTESY OF MATT MUSE

When I meet Matt Muse on a bright August morning, the South-Sideraised rapper is on top of his game. The night before our interview at WHPK 88.5 FM’s broadcast station in Hyde Park, he’d doubled as featured artist and host for Young Chicago Authors’ WordPlay, the city’s longest-running open mic. Earlier in the summer, he’d performed at Taste of Chicago and Fox 32’s Good Morning Chicago, and in the days to come, he’d head out to New York City for a sold-out performance with Sofar Sounds and to celebrate his twenty-sixth birthday. But beneath the promotional frenzy was Muse’s clearest statement to date: Nappy Talk, a freewheeling exploration of Chicago, self-love, role models, and natural hair. Across its seven tracks, Nappy Talk draws upon a variety of inspirations: there are nods to radical politics

and Kanye, and verses informed by experiences at Northern Illinois University and by Young Chicago Authors. The features, too, crisscross Chicago’s rap landscape—from Bronzeville duo Mother Nature to Evanston’s Femdot, plus a star turn from The Boy Illinois. Yet it’s the development of Muse's own style—from the sing-song hooks to the gruff, double-time verses—that makes Nappy Talk an exciting listen. He raps plenty on Nappy Talk, but in the album’s most memorable moment, he boils it down to the only seven words you need: “Gambino for president and Muse for mayor.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity; go to southsideweekly.com to listen to an extended version that aired on SSW Radio, the Weekly’s radio show and podcast.

OCTOBER 3, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 3

MUSIC

hat it's like for you to host an event like Young Chicago Authors?

It’s really great. See, I work at YCA, so I'm hosting the entire month of July, but I featured last night as well as hosted, and it went really well. This is my second year there, so I've done it a good amount of times. But it’s always a challenge, and each week is a challenge in itself. ‘Cause it’s always a new thing that's going on, but it's a positive challenge. You deal with new folks coming in being nervous to perform, you deal with people not being as respectful to the space as you want, but there's this positive energy that always looms over the room and just always solves everything. So it's always good. Well, you've had a really busy week, because your new project—Nappy Talk— just dropped. Congratulations. And you were at Taste of Chicago over the weekend, how was that? Taste was really really fun. I don't normally say performances are fun, but [that's] specifically the word I've been using, because I actually had a great time. And that’s rare, right? I wouldn't even say it's rare, just more so... performances are like, “Yeah, it went really well because I moved the crowd.” Or, “Man, I could've done this better”—blah blah blah. But I wasn't really concerned with that when I got offstage. Everybody in the crowd seemed to have a smile on their face and enjoy themselves. And I enjoyed myself, so. So it seems like your new stuff ’s reaching people. Yeah. I know you've been performing for some time now. Could you talk about how you got started? Oh man. I'm twenty-five, I started performing my stuff to the public when I

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was eighteen, when I first started...and then I just performed a whole lot at Northern Illinois University. It was just like, a practice grounds for me. Anybody you ask that went to the different events in the Black community at NIU would tell you that I was performing at everything. Like, I was extra [laughs]—but if I would stand up and speak at an event, I would rap first, and then do an announcement about my organization that I was in. So I’ve always been performing. You didn't ask me this, but something that's changed throughout the times is like.... Now that I've graduated—I graduated two years ago, May 2016—and just been in Chicago working on the music, I’ve been trying to see what I need to improve on in my performances. And I know, I used to yell a whole lot. Like, I used to yell into the mic! And I still know that I yell and talk loud, but [I’m working on] being more intentional with raising [my] voice. Because a mic is supposed to project you, that's literally what it's for. And so that's something I've been working on and practicing, just, how do I have a presence in my voice without yelling.

Saiyan,” the concept was a song that I had had in my head for a year and a half before I even got a beat or anything like that. So I met this producer in Toronto over last summer, like August or September. I thought, “Yo, this is dope,” and I hit up Femdot like, “Yo, you like Dragonball Z, you want to rap about it?” He's like, “Yeah,” and I was like: this song's so good, I’m going to put it on the album. Yeah, I think it speaks pretty well to Nappy Talk as a whole—in that it's a play on words, but it’s also really serious, about making yourself heard, getting your voice out...that’s just cool. Speaking of hair, can we talk about the cover?

Yeah, absolutely. So, what I wanted the cover to feature was some form of the process that keeps my hair looking the way it does. I get twist-outs, two-strand twists very frequently, at least once a month, to put coils in it. So initially it was going to be a cover of someone Speaking of collaboration: there are some actually doing that to my hair. But I don’t really great features on Nappy Talk. Did you know, I kind of vacated from that idea, and Femdot meet through YCA? because there are a lot of album covers that feature that, and how can mine be Yeah, I met him maybe two years back, 2015. different? I thought, “Yo, this is dope,” liked his vibe, Then it was like, okay, what if we and just connected. And we had been trying just show a part of the process, you to get a song together for a long time, and I don't know exactly what the person’s kind of changed my approach to it. At first I doing, but you know that they’re doing was too busy and he was too busy. Then I was something to my hair, and they have the like, “You know what? Let's just try this, I’ve spray bottle. Which is actually olive oil in got this song about this thing we both like, her hand. So initially it was just going to are you interested?” be a close-up pic where you could just see her hand. But something happened: the Is that “Dragonball Z”? photographer was taking a whole bunch of shots at one time, and he accidentally Yeah. And all of these songs were inspired took a picture of the full view where you by my decision to not cut my hair. And they can see her. So she’s only standing on didn't become a project until November or that stool because she’s short, and she December. couldn’t reach my head the proper way for the picture. But when we’re going That’s a pretty fast turnaround. through the pictures, we like the ones up close, but there's something about that Yeah. So when I first made it, the song he's framing that was like—yo, this is the one. on specifically, it was just a fun song that I So about two weeks into me was going to drop as a single. And “Negro finishing up the album cover, I switched

it from one of the close-up shots, to the one of her. And in the close-up shots, I had on a jacket, whereas in this other shot I have on the Colin Kaepernick shirt. And I don't think a lot of people noticed that I'm wearing a shirt with Colin Kaepernick on it. Yeah. I noticed throughout the album and the single artwork, the photos are in black and white, except certain colors pop. Could you tell me more about that? It was something we did on accident that looked really cool. I won't say on accident—I didn’t ask for it to be done. The photographer, Jhaylen Cherry, who’s an amazing photographer—we were doing a photoshoot that was unrelated to anything, just a winter photoshoot. And we went outside, I had this yellow jacket on that I brought for the shoot, and there was this yellow wire going across the top of where we were at, and there was this yellow Volkswagen Jetta. And he was like, let's take your picture in front of that Jetta, and let me do this cool thing real quick. And he did it, and I loved it, and I was like: this looks so cool, I'm going to [use this effect on] the album cover. So it was a beautiful mistake. The Kaepernick shirt has me thinking about all the references to Black heroes on the opening track. It’s a really powerful way to kick off the album. What were you thinking about when you made that, what did you want to get across with that? Yeah, I think, like, it's two things. It fits right into the title of the song, which is “Nappy N****a Winnin’.” When you think about Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Dennis Rodman, and Kobe, they all were champions. Well, number one, they're all Black men. Number two, champions. Number three, they all had some form of hair at some time during their career. I think Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson had short hair, but because of the time that they came up in,

MUSIC

definitely check her out. She’s just an amazing solo singer that I met at a Sofar Sounds show last Spring—she went before me and I was like, oh, she's really good. Beautiful spirit, nice personality, and I just always loved her voice. Just talking more about your work as a whole: The SiKK Tape was really conceptual, and I’m just now realizing how focused Nappy Talk is. What's next for you? How do you see this as part of your growth as an artist? Man, I’m glad everyone's pulling things from it and finding all the little intricacies in it, because I was like: yo, this is finna be my most laid-back—like, unintentional, in air-quotes—project. But I think that when I sit down to write songs, it’s always intentional, it's hard for me not to put those little things in there. So I’m gonna just keep doing what I want to do. Like, I think with The SiKK Tape I was putting it on myself to make a certain type of sound, this grandiose album I wanted to be so amazing... whereas with Nappy Talk, I want you to enjoy it. I want you to play it and have fun and vibe out. On “Getting to It,” you rap that you have “seven words for a naysayer.” What are they? People ask me that! You just have to listen to the next seven words and count to seven. It’s "Gambino for president and Muse for mayor."

where I’m from, that I found in my music. I think the “head been lost” lyric is like: “Yo, you're crazy to be doing this music.” But nah...it’s gone and it's not coming back. And the “Can't Tell Me Nothing” reference at the end of the second verse, “Wait til I get my money right”—that's what the whole song is about. We broke, so let's get this money. I love that song. As far as what he been on, he’s being the form of himself that he is. And I think the only thing I take specific issue with is the Donald Trump–related things. I think that he just has to be a little more calculated before he takes certain alliances. But he’s an artist, and man, anything related to that.... At the end of the day, we gotta stop trying to make people be what we want them to be, and realize them for what they are and who they are—and either choose to accept or, you know, do what we do. The references were in direct relation to that, [and] in direct relation to the impact he had on me as an artist. But yeah, Common is the reason I rap. Be was the first album I bought. You know they rap battled here at WHPK, right? That’s freaking amazing, that's dope. Christopher Good is the Weekly’s music editor, and can be found with his headphones on. He most recently coordinated the Washington Park and Woodlawn neighborhoods for the 2018 Best of the South Side issue.

Can we talk about the Kanye references on the album?

COURTESY OF MATT MUSE

I feel like any kind of hair made them, and just being Black...it was looked down upon. And specifically Kobe, when [his jersey] was No. 8, the afro was the thing. So it was [about] embodying all three characteristics. And the names rhyme too. “Shea Butter Baby” is one of my favorite tracks. Who was the feature on that? And the production is incredible.

So, I wrote the whole song. But what's amazing is when I sat down to write it, the person singing the hook, her voice literally played in my head. The hook hit me in the middle of the night, it was like two-thirty, three o'clock in the morning, and I just started singing it in her voice. So I was like, she has to be on this song. Her name is Shawnee Dez, and if you're not familiar with her music, you should

First of all, the Kanye references exist because I love Kanye. Kanye has been a huge influence, point blank. Specifically, in “Don't Tweak,” I rapped “since Ye had pink polos and a backpack, my head’s been lost and I can't Google Maps back.” Kanye was such a huge inspiration, you know, growing up with his music. When he dropped Late Registration, which is my favourite album of all time, and then Graduation, they were motivators for me. I was a high school kid who was nervous about everything, I was shy. And they— and some of Common’s albums—were the first self-confidence, in who I was and OCTOBER 3, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5

LAND

A Study in South Works

A summerlong installation explores the anthropocene in artifacts from South Works LEWIS PAGE

BY LEWIS PAGE

arly in the afternoon on the day of her installation’s opening, Stella Brown is standing by the end of one of the mammoth concrete walls at the site of U.S. Steel’s former South Works plant, on the lakefront at 87th Street. Two local residents approach by bike; they say they’re frustrated that the park district decided to spend money on an artist—from outside of the neighborhood, no less—rather than on other much-needed facilities, like restrooms. Brown acknowledges the problem, says it’s indicative of bureaucracy, and offers that she tried to get a Porta Potty for the opening event. A temporary fix, though, is not what they want. “Maybe they should have gotten you to design the bathrooms.” “Unfortunately,” Brown says and smiles, “I’m not really that kind of artist.” 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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Brown says she’s inserting herself into a dialogue about the anthropocene, the name for the geological epoch during which humans have had a significant effect on the earth. The concept of the anthropocene is usually used to highlight the negative environmental consequences of human actions: the carbon-filled atmosphere, the depleted ozone layer, species extinction, and the rest. Brown’s work, though, has a more optimistic bent. She aims to emphasize the positive aspects of human impact on the environment, pinpointing the start of the anthropocene at the beginning of agriculture, rather than the industrial revolution, tracing a history of collaboration rather than one of decline. The aim is to stretch the imagination to a longer timeframe—as Brown puts it, a “deep geologic timescale.”

Brown’s installation, “South Works Deep Geological Study,” consists of industrial detritus, gathered from the area around the walls, which line the 2,000 footlong slip where boats carrying iron ore once docked, splitting the 440-acre South Works site in half. Since Steelworkers Park opened in 2014, the eastern quarters of the walls are parkland. Closer to shore, U.S. Steel maintains control. She spent a few days with friends, scouring the site for artifacts of human intervention. The results were sorted, piled, and wrapped in wire—there’s concrete, smoothed by the lake surf; iron pellets; and chunks of slag, both iron and steel. A few larger chunks are displayed in an indent in the ore wall’s end, mounted on rebar.

“I wanted to bring a sense of importance and curiosity to them, and through that make people more interested in the site,” Brown says. But for newcomers who confront the walls, curiosity is in no short supply. And for longtime residents, the space already holds a strong sense of importance as the former site of 20,000 jobs. Ringo Garcia grew up around the neighborhood, and his father worked in the mill. He’s seen the contents of the installation before, and the walls. “To me it’s just a bunch of rocks… would I be [admiring these rocks]? Raising five kids, working every day? I’d just kick them out of the way,” he says. “It’s a tactic of the rich and famous that they’re thinking fifty years ahead while we’re just thinking from tomorrow to the next.”

LAND

ext to the installation is a stand, stocked with pamphlets researched and written by Brown, with covers mimicking the National Parks Service’s signature style. Inside is historical and geological background, thoughts by the artist, and a set of interviews with local figures. In one interview, Tom Shepherd, a Far South Side resident and member of the Southeast Environmental Task Force who has contributed to the Weekly, describes the walls as “too big to take down.” What were they for before? Some of the crowd at the installation opening marvel and speculate. Others know all too well. Iron ore would be shipped in and stowed between the massive concrete walls before being processed into steel at the South Works plant. Craig Pfinster remembers, as a child, the sky over that section of the city was blackened with factory smoke. His father worked for U.S. Steel. At the opening, Pfinster and Patty Lawson gather around Brown’s work, toying with a magnet, marveling at the weight of the small chunks of iron and steel slag. “You’re not good enough!” Lawson chastises the lump of slag. Pfnister, chimes in. “Ya didn’t make the cut.” He giggles. If they hadn’t been discarded, maybe the chunks would comprise steel beams holding up skyscrapers downtown. The two laugh and walk over to the mouth of the ore wall canyon, looking out at the vegetation. A spectator mentions that the landscape looks like something out of The Maze Runner, or some other youngadult dystopia. Brown’s mother, Gretchen Brown, had the idea first, scouting the location as a set piece for Divergent. Part of the apocalyptic appeal of the place is, as Brown points out, the allure of an extinction fantasy. It’s suggestive of what the city might look like if empty of humans at some indeterminate future time, left to be reclaimed by whatever flora and fauna are up to the task. As long as humans rule the city, attempts to repurpose or speculate on the future of South Works feel inevitable. Two developers have tried, though thus far both plans fallen through: in 2016, McCaffery Interests scuttled a plan to build a $4 billion neighborhood. Then, just this May, a month after reports of soil contamination threatened to hold up the project, Irish developer Emerald Living halted work on a

mixed-use 20,000-residency development. To some current residents, these plans are an affront. Why build a new bedroom suburb for commuters to downtown when what’s really needed is work? The sting of the abandoned plans for a Solo Cup factory is still felt a decade later. But most at the opening of Brown’s installation expressed a preference for the site as is. They might like a restroom, a trail or two blazed through the brush, and maybe another informational panel. But what could it become that could be better than what it is now—a place where every visitor feels like the first person to discover the city’s “greatest physical and most sublime historic resource,” as architect Dan Wheeler once called it? So Brown is saddled with a hard task. Why make a sculpture about a sublime sculpture? It’s a little bit like dancing about architecture, as the saying goes. But what’s wrong with that? In September of 2016, Erica Mott Productions staged a dance performance on and around the walls. The walls can complement an artist, even if they’ll always overshadow.

y 7pm on the night of the opening, almost everyone has left. The remainder know Brown well, and sit on the grass looking south from the site. Birds swarm back and forth, until the entire flock tries to settle on the one small tree in the center of the field. The friends joke that they won’t fit. “Stupid birds,” one of the friends interjects. “That’s why they’re there and we’re here. They don’t even know what rebar is.” It’s true: birds can’t build big walls like we humans can. They have to make do with the few trees afforded to them. But expertlevel rebar knowledge aside, humankind faces a similar dilemma. There is no blank slate. The flock has to work with what’s been given. But at South Works, at least for now, the past makes for a nice Saturday in the park. Lewis Page lived in Hyde Park for four years. He has written about shipwrecks, WHPK, and the Southeast Side. He is now based on the West Coast.

Photos: Mathew Murphy

EPHRAT ASHERIE DANCE October 11–13, 2018 7:30 p.m.

“Ms. Asherie stretches boundaries and categories of dance, and in the process, redefines what dance is and what dance can do.” —THE BERKSHIRE EDGE TICKETS $30 REGULAR / $24 SENIORS / $10 STUDENTS SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE 25% dance.colum.edu

OCTOBER 3, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7

VISUAL ARTS

Kopano, In Their Own World

The nineteen-year-old South Shore native sits down with the Weekly to discuss donuts, dreams, and art. BY JUHI GUPTA

f you stopped by the Stan’s Donuts on Fairbanks and Erie this summer, you might have had the pleasure of buying a treat from the burgeoning South Side musician, artist, and activist Kopano. When we met in Woodlawn for an interview, Kopano opted for a dance session on the dewy grass. Ants crawled around their toes—nestled in black Birkenstocks— as their gold hoop earrings swayed in a glint of sunlight. We sat on a log to talk about life, childhood, dreams and art—and over the course of our conversation, I got to know one of the most unique young artists working in Chicago. As they said with a smile: “My friends be like, ‘Kopano just be in their own world.’ ” Shortly after we conducted this interview, Kopano announced that they intend to take a break from releasing new music and performing. In a post on their Instagram, they wrote that they’re reinventing themself: “I don’t like the brand I’ve built since I was 16 & I’m exhausted by others projecting their perception of me onto me.” Since then, Kopano has taken down their public Instagram account – a symbolic step towards this goal. Kopano has struggled with the idea of “blowing up” for a while now, and they have felt increasingly uncomfortable with the capitalist notion 8 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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of “being a brand.” Their recent popularity—well-received Soundcloud singles, a show at Schubas—led to introspective questions about audience, purpose, and wellness. Even earlier this year, Kopano was wondering whether they felt certain about the path they were on. But this humble uncertainty and vulnerability is what makes their art so compelling. Kopano’s musical style is quintessentially Chicago: syncopated rhythms create a groovy backbeat for heartfelt, soul-searching lyrics. Take, for instance, Kopano’s collaboration with Billy Lemos, “RAIN”: a bright, poppy single which showcases both their stylistic range and their upbeat personality. Kopano is quick to mention the artists that inspire their style, like neo-soul band Hiatus Kaiyote’s lead singer Nai Palm: “She really taught me that I don’t have to be someone I’m not… I’m enough.” And enough, they are—especially on stage. Performing live comes naturally to Kopano, whether they are singing alone or accompanying their voice with guitar and piano. They’ve been performing at open mics since the age of thirteen, and played with a band called K-Mu (an abbreviation of Kopano Muhammed) in high school.

“BLACK WOMEN SPECTRA.” WAS PERFORMED ON JUNE 17, 2017 AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Releasing new music, however, is more difficult: instead of stage fright, Kopano confronts “recording fright,” which has kept them from releasing much new music since 2017’s soulful 5-song EP Just in Time for Love. Kopano—whose name is Sesotho for ‘unity’— grew up in a large family, with five siblings and a cousin at home. They have a history in classical music, having played the violin and viola for years, but the pressure of competitive violin pushed them toward other creative outlets. So, in their freshman year of high school, they walked into their first vocal lesson. Kopano never

COURTESY OF KONO

looked back. Jazz vocal improvisation was a whole new world for Kopano, who initially thought jazz was just “for old people.” But they soon realized they had more control over their voice than they ever had over an external instrument. As they put it: “my body ain’t gonna go out of tune!” Kopano expresses themself through a diverse array of creative outlets—not just music. But central to all of their creative pursuits is an emphasis on community. The foundation for this was laid in high school, when frequent microaggressions from peers had them yearning for a more positive, accepting world. After taking

VISUAL ARTS

“I love making people uncomfortable.”

“BLACK WOMEN SPECTRA.” WAS PERFORMED ON JUNE 17, 2017 AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

COURTESY OF KONO

the bus for an hour every day from their South Shore home to attend a selective enrollment school in the West Loop, they would often face ignorant comments about their sexual orientation and race. But Kopano found solace in the queer Chicago DIY scene, where they were immersed in a culture of acceptance, freedom, and love. Last June, Kopano called upon this community—and drew upon these experiences—to compile a work exploring the body of the Black woman. “Black Woman Spectra,” their first foray into performance art, premiered at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Streeterville through 21Minus, a program that highlights artwork created by local youth. “Spectra” has two parts: the first is a thirteen- by fifteen-foot mat which represents the ways Black women are depicted in the media, with a cast ranging from Penny Proud, of the Disney Channel’s Proud Family, to Sandra Bland. The second part is a performance, where a white man, white woman, and Black man pull at the hair of a Black woman whose mouth is bound with tape. As a description of the work on Kopano’s website states: “The performance portion shows how quickly allies become oppressors when their support for Black women is no longer in their best self interest.“ Kopano’s politics do not go unspoken for long: they are forthright about their anti-capitalist, pro-social identity, and they translate these values into their art. As they put it, “People really just be staring at you”—especially if you’re walking down the street as a non-heterosexual couple. “I’m just trying to live my gayass life!” they exclaim. And so, one of Kopano’s priorities—in art and in life— is normalizing who they are. Instead of feeling shame or cynicism, Kopano has embraced individuality with grace: “I love making people uncomfortable.” This is the core of their philosophy: in order to normalize queerness and Blackness in society, individuals must be confronted, their assumptions challenged. It’s a commitment that allows Kopano to forge their own path. They often put themself in situations where they feel uncomfortable in order to grow. And when it comes to how they navigate love, Kopano quips, “there is no how-to guide for a queer relationship.” They feel no need to appeal to respectability politics, since these politics generally apply—and were invented in

reference—to heterosexual relationships. This unconventional approach to life and love translates into more creative freedom. “I think being queer has made me a better writer,” they joke. At one point in our interview, Kopano stands up from the log we’re sitting on to dramatize the two worlds they inhabit: one foot in the structure of the "real" world; the other in their ideal world. It is clear that Kopano refuses a world of boxes and binaries—but they also recognize that to shut yourself off from the world around you is to live in denial. The key element, then, is balance. Kopano draws upon their own frustration with finding a quality education on the South Side when organizing with friend Eva Lewi's I Project, which raises money to support elementary school students in South Shore. But they also consider the politics of how their art is handled, refusing to partner with people or corporations that do not respect their identity, or that fail to support the communities they belong to. Kopano returned to Oberlin College and Conservatory for their second year this fall, where they are completing an undergraduate degree in economics—they want to know and understand the enemy— and jazz vocals. They’re still unclear about what their life will look like after school: work in the nonprofit sector, research on the economics of Black communities, and studies on the music of the African diaspora all come up in conversation. But there’s no doubt that Kopano will continue to be personal and vulnerable: to keep sharing their stories, to keep connecting with other people. We might not hear from Kopano for a while, but we should keep an eye on them: they have been and will be a force to be reckoned with. Juhi Gupta is a contributor to the Weekly. She last interviewed the Chicago singer and pianist Akenya.

OCTOBER 3, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9

VISUAL ARTS

Art Aquatic ROD SAWYER

Muralists and the Shedd Aquarium showcase the beauty of underwater animals throughout the city BY ROD SAWYER

n a sunny day in West Englewood, cars zoomed past as a new mural was being laid out on the side of 15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez’s office. What started out as a simple blue background took on layers of vibrant blue and purple tones, with dashes of yellow and white for contrast. Every now and then, artists Sam Kirk and Jenny Q. stood back to admire their work and gain perspective on what needed to be added next. A small chain fence enclosed the area so Kirk and Q.— who have collaborated on projects before, including a mural in Casablanca, Morocco, and a coloring book called “As Queer As I Wanna Be”—were able to spread their materials out. On the other side of the fence, members of I Grow Chicago—a nonprofit in the neighborhood that provides safe spaces for residents to learn and

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practice art, health, and local impact—and the Shedd Aquarium were setting up for a small station area for kids to paint. The quiet area soon became alive with energy as the kids began to paint. Kirk and Q.’s mural was part of the Shedd’s new exhibit “Underwater Beauty,” which aims to showcase the beauty of a variety of species of aquatic animals. In addition to the exhibit and the murals, the Shedd curated a mobile aquarium that gave participants the chance to interact with local Great Lakes species and complete scientific activities. The mobile aquarium rolled through Douglas Park, Jackson Park, Altgeld Gardens, Auburn Gresham, Austin, and Humboldt Park in July. Caitlin McElroy, manager of government relations at the Shedd, pointed out that the mobile exhibit was another way to engage with youth in

VISUAL ARTS

Chicago communities, and that while “people think of the Nemos and the fun bright fish as being really far out there, we have some really cool fish right here in the Great Lakes and in our rivers” that can help spark more interest in aquatic fields of study. Sea creatures like the spotted sea jelly can be found swimming through one of the three important categories in the exhibit: Rhythms, Pattern, and Color. Walking through the exhibit places the viewer inside the ocean, with lighting evocative of ocean waves and a wide variety of fish species swimming by. You might run into the weedy seadragon, one of two species of seadragons that is usually found along the southern and western coasts of Australia. These seadragons are slowmoving and use their unique camouflage to resemble swaying seaweed to avoid predators.

ROD SAWYER

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VISUAL ARTS

If you look closely, you may also spot the ribbon eel, which surprises everyone by flashing in and out of hiding. Scientists think the eel is a protandric hermaphrodite: although all eels are born male, they have the ability to transition from male to female when it becomes necessary for the survival of the species in their area. Following its opening, the Shedd commissioned five artists to create murals that help to draw students into taking more interest in aquatic beauty. The artists—Sam Kirk in West Englewood; Lavie Raven, who created a mural on the side of a beauty shop in Bronzeville; Jason Brammer, who painted on the side of a Logan Square bar; Caesar Perez, whose mural appears on the side of an Edgewater diner; and Anthony Lewellen, whose work appears on the side of a pub in west suburban Forest Park—were recruited by the Shedd to first view the exhibit in its entirety, and pick an animal that stood out to them for their mural. The spotted sea jelly, weedy seadragon, and ribbon eel all made the pick. Jo-Elle Mogerman, the Shedd’s vice president of learning and community, talked with the Weekly about this process, and how allowing the artists to choose what animals they represent in their murals helped them connect the idea of beauty to what residents are already familiar with. Mogerman said the Shedd wanted artists to go through the exhibit and take away “this notion that…[these animals are] so beautiful that [they’re] worth saving” and then “translating [that] in their own artistic way and through their own cultures, to put that back out to the city,” she said.

EACH SIGN IS CRAFTED TO GIVE YOU A VISUAL IDEA OF THE DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF SPECIES IN THE ROOM.

ROD SAWYER

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ROD SAWYER

VISUAL ARTS

RAVEN PAINTING HIS MURAL IN BRONZEVILLE.

ROD SAWYER

avie Raven is a Chicago native, artist, and educator at North Lawndale College Prep, a charter school. On a quiet morning, I rolled up to a wall on 35th and Calumet to find Raven with an already completed background of misted yellow, pink, and white colors, settled nicely on a blue background. Almost complete was the face of a girl with braids that started to flow into the background. Raven told me that he had tried to sleep the night before, but in his excitement had ended up getting to the wall around 5:30 that morning. How he managed to paint an entire production wall almost completely by himself with only a few hours of sleep is still a mystery, yet it’s an accomplishment that wouldn’t be a first for Raven. He showed me his sketch, done on paper with color paper with attachable drawings, containing coral reefs, small fish made up of words of empowerment such as “Black boy you can pick flowers don’t mind the other kids black boy…” and electric eels swimming by the little girl on top of the phrase “Beauty Worth Saving.” RAVEN'S MOCK-UP SKETCH TITLED "BEAUTY WORTH SAVING".

ROD SAWYER

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VISUAL ARTS

As Raven painted, people and cars going by began to interact with the new work in different ways. One man stopped his car to get out and take a picture with Raven; others asked Raven questions about his technique and other murals; still others praised the ongoing work. The community’s engagement with the art, especially in such a direct manner with the artist as the work was going up, chimed well with the Shedd’s vision for the murals as places for public engagement, and is part of what makes the process of creating a mural so important for the artist and community.

RAVEN AND A PASSERBY POSE FOR IMPROMPTU PICTURES

Kirk created her own perspective of the underwater beauty exhibit in West Englewood. Like Raven’s mural, there was a lot of community interaction between the artists and the mural despite the chain linked fence that separated the paint stations for the kids and the mural being created. Mural projects like this are especially important to Kirk because there tends to be a lack of investment in art in communities of color. “A lot of my murals happen to be in working class communities,” she told the Weekly. “The biggest difference is when you’re working in a [working-class] community, people are more curious and ask more questions, which I appreciate because then you understand how your work is impacting people that walk past.” It can also help spark a conversation around the perception of public art as a sign of gentrification—a way to paint a community as culturally rich, but only so developers can attract wealthy buyers, displacing residents in the process. Kirk, for her part, defended murals, saying, “A lot of times as artists since this is what is seen right away, we get pulled into that conversation…we should be able to live in neighborhoods where public art is a regular thing without artists being blamed that they’re adding to gentrification.” She continued, “To me it’s a question more to the alderman and to the city, and

ROD SAWYER

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ROD SAWYER

VISUAL ARTS

KIRK AND Q. AT WORK

ROD SAWYER

the city government, as far as what are they doing to make sure that neighborhoods are being invested in and people aren’t being pushed out at the same time.” But while conversation happens, Kirk also said that it’s sometimes hard to tell how an artwork is being received. This lack of conversation isn’t always a bad thing—it allows the community to soak in a work before having to give their opinion, an important technique for communities that primarily associate public art with gentrification. For Kirk, that means practicing patience. “Sometimes you gotta sit back and watch people’s reaction,” she said. “Because there’s not a lot of conversation.”

“Underwater Beauty.” The Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore Dr. Exhibit runs through 2019. Open on weekdays from 9am–5pm, and 9am–6pm on weekends. Regular admission for Chicago residents $14.95–$19.95; free for Illinois residents October 10. (312) 9392438. sheddaquarium.org Rod Sawyer is a photojournalist based on the South Side, focusing mainly on covering graffiti and mural-art. He last wrote for the Weekly in May about HPAC’s tribute to the Wall of Respect.

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NATURE

Avian Oasis Restoration at Indian Ridge Marsh has turned a wasteland into an important home for wildlife BY SAM JOYCE

LIZZIE SMITH

ndian Ridge Marsh is not one of the Chicago Park District’s flashiest properties. It doesn’t have a basketball court, a field house, or any of the other features that draw people to parks like Marquette or Calumet. While a small gravel lot provides a few parking spots, no sidewalks lead to the park, and the nearest bus stop is nearly a mile away. Indian Ridge is a new type of park, focused on restoring the natural areas that once covered this part of Chicago. To a driver passing on Torrence Avenue, the marsh is barely noticeable, just a vacant lot

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sandwiched between rail yards and factories. This seemingly insignificant patch of green, however, plays an essential role in the lives of countless native birds. Chicago sits along the Mississippi flyway, the second-largest north-south route for migrating birds on the continent. Between acres of farmland to the west and Lake Michigan to the east, Chicago’s green spaces serve as an oasis for birds traveling between Canada and New Orleans. Indian Ridge Marsh, along with several other wetlands in the region, is a vital stop for marsh birds like herons, terns, and egrets.

NATURE

During the city’s early history, wetlands blanketed southeast Chicago, providing hundreds of acres of habitat for those birds—and making the marshes an attractive hunting destination for city residents. The growth of industry during the 1900s steadily converted much of those wetlands, along with nearly ninety percent of all wetlands in Illinois, into steel mills and landfills. Today, much of that industry is gone, with the 2001 closure of Acme Steel’s coke plant marking the last of Chicago’s major steel producers. Many of those sites now sit empty, with U.S. Steel’s 589-acre South Works site winning the dubious distinction of “Chicago’s largest vacant lot.” This industrial heritage is still visible today. The skeleton of the Acme plant looms just north of Indian Ridge, while eighteen-wheelers still make up most of the traffic on Torrence. The Calumet obeys what geographer Mark Bouman calls a “cubist logic,” where seemingly disparate pieces of land are placed next to each other. The relationship between industry and nature, however, is not so separate. Many of the sites now targeted for restoration, including Indian Ridge and adjacent Big Marsh, were used as slag dumping sites by nearby steel mills and bear that legacy of pollution in the soil as well as in the scenery. At Big Marsh, iron-rich slag dumped in a portion of the site has stained the ground red, with the result that its soil more closely resembles the surface of Mars than typical garden dirt.

n March 2016, the Park District set an ambitious goal of creating 2,020 acres of protected natural areas in the city by 2020. Key to that goal is taking sites like Indian Ridge and Big Marsh, which still bear the scars of the region’s industrial heritage, and recreating functional wetland ecosystems. The Army Corps of Engineers, which had previously dumped dredging spoil rich in heavy metals from the Calumet River at the site, began an extensive program of restoration at Indian Ridge in April 2011. This program involved the removal of

invasive species, the introduction of native plants, and the removal of an estimated 480 tons of debris. Their work won widespread acclaim, including a 2014 award from the conservation group Chicago Wilderness that recognized the Army Corps’ “exemplary” restoration. One major highlight was the increase in great blue heron and egret nests: after the first year of work, the number of nests increased from three to twenty-five. The site also provides an essential refuge for one state endangered species, the Blanding’s turtle. The Corps’ work, while extensive, did not cover the entire site. Indian Ridge Marsh was previously important as one of the largest nesting areas in the Upper Midwest for black-crowned night herons, an endangered species in Illinois. Around 1990, more than a thousand birds nested in the marsh. While the population had declined significantly by the time the Corps began their work, there was still concern in the local birding community that the Corps would disturb the herons. As a result, the Corps designated thirty-two acres near the north end of the site as a black-crowned night heron exclusion zone and did not conduct any restoration work in the area. Ironically, a lack of suitable nesting trees meant the night heron population departed the site during the course of the work. While some herons have been spotted foraging at the site in recent years, the breeding colony has moved to the red wolf exhibit at Lincoln Park Zoo. Two Chicago-based environmental groups, The Wetlands Initiative and Audubon Great Lakes, created a proposal to finish up the Corps’ work by restoring the night heron exclusion zone. They applied for funding from the Chi-Cal Rivers Fund, a public-private partnership managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and won funding for the project in November 2015. Following the transfer of the Indian Ridge Marsh parcel from city ownership to the Park District, work began in fall of 2016, and a grant proposal for a second stage of restoration work across the entire north end of the marsh is currently in the works.

Their work has been focused on the restoration of hemi-marsh, a type of marsh structure characterized by a relatively even mix of aquatic plants and open water. This composition, which historically dominated the Calumet region, makes for an ideal habitat for wetland-dependent wildlife. But in the Calumet, this habitat has been sharply reduced since the 1970s as a result of two invasive species: phragmites and carp. Phragmites is a tall reed that chokes out other wetland plants, while carp burrow into lake bottoms and uproot aquatic vegetation in the process. This is a problem for wildlife: a 2010 study from the Illinois Natural History Survey and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources found that the decline of hemi-marsh in northeastern Illinois is the most likely cause of significant population declines among several wetland-dependent bird species. The main task for restoration work, at Indian Ridge and throughout the region, is reversing that trend and re-developing the hemi-marsh habitat.

ne key to hemi-marsh restoration is varying water levels. The mixture of water and vegetation that characterizes successful hemi-marsh is created through years of fluctuation. Dr. Gary Sullivan, a restoration ecologist with the Wetlands Initiative, explained that, in a dry year, many plants may germinate in shallow or exposed areas where standing water would otherwise prohibit any plant growth. After germinating, these plants can usually grow enough to survive subsequent wet years. Animals like beavers, muskrats, and geese also take a toll on plant populations, creating openings that may be filled by new plants in later years. While a healthy hemi-marsh system will tend to stay around a fifty-fifty split between vegetation and water, it is a dynamic system characterized by the constant growth and decline of vegetation. Sullivan describes static water levels as “short-circuiting” the marsh. If marsh vegetation lacks periodic opportunities to regenerate itself, it eventually dies off—as

has happened in the Calumet region over the past several decades. Changing water levels may be ideal for wetland plants, but for a factory or developer they are nothing more than a nuisance, another variable that requires monitoring. As a result, intense effort has been invested in regulating exactly where the water goes. At Indian Ridge, for example, water enters the marsh as runoff through four culverts from the Paxton Landfill and Lake Calumet Cluster Superfund site to the west. That water flows through another culvert under 122nd Street, then through a channel down to the Calumet River. Audubon Great Lakes is currently evaluating bids for a new system of “collars” that would be placed around the pipe that allows water to flow under 122nd Street between the north and south sections of the marsh. These collars, funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Climate Adaptation Fund, would allow wetland managers to restrict or expand the flow of water as the need arises, giving them control over the water levels in the marsh. In an email, Audubon Great Lakes Director of Conservation Nathaniel Miller highlighted the increasing importance of this tool in a time of climate change, when “longer periods of drought, heavier storms and rapidly changing Great Lakes’ water levels are all adding complexity to marsh management.” An additional system of fences in the southwest corner of the site, funded by the Sustain Our Great Lakes program, will help prevent common carp from entering the marsh from the Calumet River. Both control structures are expected to be constructed in September or October, and offer land managers a new set of tools with which to manage the marsh ecosystem. Control over water levels is important for mimicking natural marsh hydrology, but also carries with it several practical benefits. One is access: in the event of an invasive species infestation, water levels can be artificially lowered to allow restoration technicians to target the problem more effectively. Audubon is also currently studying the effect of water levels on marsh bird populations with a system of

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NATURE

water gauges. Data from these gauges will be used in combination with Audubon’s regular surveys of marsh bird populations to evaluate the impact of varying water levels, and determine how water levels can be best managed to promote healthy bird populations. Another challenge is the history of the marsh as a dumping site, which has resulted in conditions that vary significantly between different parts of the site. Audubon Stewardship Coordinator Teri Valenzuela says that figuring out which plants are capable of growing in different areas of the site has required “constant experimentation,” involving both different seed mixes and different planting techniques. Even efforts to transplant certain plants from one part of the park to another have a mixed record. Restoration, however, doesn’t always

happen just through building a few dams and pulling out invasive plants. At Big Marsh, on the other side of the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, the lingering presence of toxic industrial byproducts posed such a threat to people and wildlife that EPA regulations required 44 acres of the site to be covered by a thick layer of clay. Recreating the original wetland on top of this clay would be prohibitively difficult; instead, the park district used some excess clay to create the hills and trails that became the bike park. Not all of the site was so badly contaminated, and restoration efforts have progressed in the northern part of the site. This model, with part of the site designated as a natural area and the rest used for more active recreation, is found at several other parks like Nichols and Rainbow.

etland restoration is a gradual process, but work at Indian Ridge has already shown some signs of improvement. Valenzuela said that the number of species of milkweed at the site had doubled after just a year of restoration work, from three to six. As another example, Sullivan mentioned that more than 1,500 golden plovers had been seen migrating through the area around Big Marsh this spring. The golden plover is a species of concern in Illinois, so to spot such a large population in the Chicago region is exceptionally unusual. Sullivan suggests that this sighting is an example of what wetland restoration can achieve. “The only reason they’re found there,” she said, “is because the habitat quality has improved to the point where it’s really paying the dividends we hoped to see when we began.”

In turn, the effort at Indian Ridge is paying dividends for restoration sites throughout the Calumet. Once every couple months, ecologists from across the region gather to tour a particular restoration site and discuss recent successes and failures, with the goal of building collaboration between the different organizations. Valenzuela mentioned that she’s implemented some new practices she learned at Indian Ridge during this growing season. Improvements in marshland quality are benefiting people as well. Much of the water running off the Superfund site contains elevated levels of harsh chemicals. A healthy population of marsh vegetation can act as a natural filter through phytoremediation, a process where plants pull nutrients like nitrates and phosphates out of the water before it flows into the Calumet River.

The Wetlands of Calumet Indian Ridge Marsh

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JASMINE MITHANI

Wetlands also slow water movement, which can help to limit flooding by holding water in the wetland rather than discharging it into flood-prone areas. In a 2001 evaluation of the site, the Army Corps made note of Indian Ridge’s high water retention time, which increases its ability to both filter contaminants and retain floodwater. Sullivan believes that the future of the region must involve connecting the current parcels of wetland. Indian Ridge sits almost catty-corner to Big Marsh, but traveling from one to the other requires crossing a Norfolk Southern rail line. The line is highly active, accommodating an estimated fifty trains per day, making it unsafe for pedestrian crossing. Eventually, planners hope to connect the trail system at Indian Ridge with trails at Big Marsh, which will require some sort of crossing of the railroad. In the long run, the Ford Calumet Environmental Center at Big Marsh could become the center of a broader natural area stretching across the Calumet, with proposals like 2005’s Calumet Open Space Reserve Plans envisioning a network of parks stretching from 95th Street south into suburban Calumet City. But Valenzuela explained that the stewardship events Audubon has hosted at the park are not only aimed at pulling invasive species, collecting seeds, or expanding the terrain: there is also a focus on bringing out people from the surrounding community to

learn about the site. An event in June, co-hosted with the Illinois Soybean Association, drew around a hundred people to plant wetland species at the northernmost end of the marsh. Valenzuela says that several people from that event have returned to the site for Audubon’s monthly stewardship events, including a number of people from nearby neighborhoods like Hegewisch. Valenzuela says she hopes the site provides a place to experience Chicago’s incredible native wildlife, beyond the Brookfield and Lincoln Park Zoos and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. As Valenzuela put it, the site is “not just for our intern programs or for us to study the birds — it’s for everyone.” Audubon Great Lakes holds volunteer stewardship events at Indian Ridge Marsh from 10am to 12pm on the third Saturday of every month. Through December, these events will focus on seed collection. All are welcome to attend. Sam Joyce is a student majoring in environmental studies at the University of Chicago. He loves urban ecology in general and the Calumet in particular.

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EVENTS

BULLETIN Illinois Black Laws in a City of Refuge Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted Ave. Saturday, October 6, 10am–11am. Free. bit.ly/BlackLaws In 1819, Illinois passed the first of its Black Codes, a series of laws that harshly restricted the rights of Black Illinoisans. In this presentation, Chicago Public Library archivist Beth Loch will recount the history of the laws and Chicago’s role in the Underground Railroad. She will also share some archival manuscripts from the lives of African-Americans in the 1800s. (Christian Belanger)

Pilsen Community First Annual Fair

Books

Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S. Morgan St. Friday, October 5, 5pm–midnight; Saturday, October 6, noon–midnight; Sunday, October 7, noon–4pm. $4/book, three books for $10. Friday and Saturday, music beginning at 8pm. bit.ly/PilsenBookFair Pilsen Community Books, the stillnewish bookshop on 18th Street, will take a weekend trip south to Bridgeport for its first book fair, a three-day event at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. The fair will feature local literary art, local live music, and over 7,500 used books—we recommend bringing a box. (Christian Belanger)

The Get Down and Vote Block Party La Michoacana Premium, 10533 S. Ewing Ave. Sunday, October 7, 1pm– 6 PM. Free. bit.ly/GetDownVote Combine family fun with civic duty at this East Side party brought to you by Vocalo and the South East Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke. The event has all the things you expect from a block party (DJ, bouncy castle, face painting) and a few things you don’t: voter registration, haircuts,

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and updates from local community organizers about what’s going down in the neighborhood. And, of course, there will be paletas courtesy of La Michoacana. (Ellen Mayer)

An Introduction to Disability Justice and Allyship: Infusing Accessibility into your Art, Cultural, and Activist Spaces Gallery 400, 400 S. Peoria St. Wednesday, October 10, 6pm–8pm. Free. Accompanying exhibit will run through October 20. bit.ly/DisabilityJustice UIC’s Gallery 400 is hosting this twohour talk and dialogue in conjunction with their current exhibit, “Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today.” The event will delve into the idea of Disability Justice and ask participants to consider ways they can “infuse accessibility into our art, cultural, and activist settings.” The event is intended both for nondisabled allies and for disabled people who want to learn more about Disability Justice and accessibility. It’s moderated by Alison Kopit, a queer and disabled activist-scholar who is a doctoral candidate in Disability Studies at UIC. (Ellen Mayer)

What is a Consent Decree Anyway? Chicago Torture Justice Center, 641 W. 63rd St. Saturday, October 13, 10am– noon. bit.ly/LearnConsentDecree You might have heard that the City of Chicago recently agreed to a consent decree for police reform in Chicago. But do you know that that means? If you don’t, head over to the Chicago Torture Justice Center for an explanation of the consent decree and a discussion about how community members can make their voices recognized in the process. You’ll hear from lawyers and family members who have been on the forefront of the fight to end police violence. And don’t worry, there will be coffee. (Ellen Mayer)

Hieroglyphic Being & J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl

MUSIC Chicago Stories: The Bach & Beethoven Experience Armour Square Park, 3309 S. Shields Ave. Saturday, October 6, 6:30pm. Free, all ages. (312) 742-7529. bbexperience. org The Bach & Beethoven Experience, an ensemble devoted to telling new stories through classical music, will perform “Wild Onion Blues Suite,” a new work by local composer Regina Harris Baiocchi. The suite draws inspiration from Lifting as They Climbed, Essence McDowell and Mariame Kaba’s history of Black women on the South Side. McDowell will discuss her book at the show. (Christopher Good)

Otro Ritmo: Anniversary

One

Year

One City Tap, 3115 S. Archer Ave. Saturday, October 6, 8pm–3am. 21+. (773) 565-4777. onecitytap.com To celebrate 365 days in the punk business, Otro Ritmo will throw its crunchiest night to date. Expect performances from riot grrrl locals Primitive Teeth, hardcore outfit Riesgo, and Sydney, Australia’s Orion, plus DJ sets from Otro Ritmo residents and a cavalcade of raffles and giveaways. To sweeten the deal: $3 PBR tallboys (and more specials) all night. (Christopher Good)

The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave. Saturday, October 6, 9pm. $12. (773) 227-4433. hideoutchicago.com As Hieroglyphic Being—and IAMTHATIAM, The Sun God, Africans With Mainframes—Jamal Moss has pushed house music to overblown, tape-saturated highs. Here at the Weekly, we’re loath to recommend an event on the North Side—but this performance from a Far South Side legend deserves your attention. (Christopher Good)

AACM GBME CD Release with Makaya McCraven Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. Sunday, October 7 (and every first Sunday), 5pm–7pm. (312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org Don’t let the abbreviations turn you away from this concert/party, copresented by Ernest Dawkins’s Great Black Music Ensemble and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. The performers intend to revitalize Black folk musical traditions—and with support from p e rc u s s i o n i s t - p o l y g l o t - M a k a y a McCraven, they’re sure to deliver. (Christopher Good)

South Rhodes Records PopUp Shop Build Coffee, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Saturday, October 13, 10am–2pm. southrhodesrecords.com When Grant Crusor was unable to find a LP of Solange’s A Seat at the Table on the South Side, he took matters into his own hands. The result: South Rhodes, which promises to “[curate] your record collection one gem at a time.” With choice wax from Whitney Houston to Wayne Shorter, it’s all the fun of crate-digging with none of the filler. (Christopher Good)

EVENTS

FOOD & LAND Fresh Beats and Eats Farmer’s Market Inner-City Muslim Action Network, 2744 W. 63rd St. Fridays through end of October, 2pm–6pm. Free. imancentral.org Every Friday afternoon for the rest of the month, join IMAN at their Chicago Lawn farmer’s market—recently named the Best Musical Farmers Market by the Weekly—for fresh produce, affordable meals, a drum circle class, cooking demos, and arts and crafts for kids. As always, LINK purchases will be matched up to twenty-five dollars. (Emeline Posner)

If I Can’t Call It Mezcal, What Do I Call It? National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Wednesday, October 10, 6pm– 8pm. $25 per person, with proceeds going to NMMA and Mezcalistas. 21+. (312) 7381503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org Agave plants are at the root, so to speak, of many different kinds of spirits: mezcal, maguey, pulque, bacanora, sotol. So what is it, exactly, that sets the everpopular smoky mezcal apart from the others? Eduardo Belaunzarán of Wahaka Mezcal and Max Garrone of Mezcalistas will bring their expertise and strong opinions about what makes mezcal mezcal together at the NMMA for a conversation on the matter—and, of course, a tasting of certified mezcal alongside other, agave-derived spirits. (Emeline Posner)

Public Newsroom: Let’s Take a Soundwalk around Woodlawn Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Thursday, October 11, 5:30pm–8pm. Free. bit.ly/SouthSideSoundwalk South

Side

sound

artist

Norman

Long has previously explored the intersection of noise and landscape, crafting interactive installations at Lake Michigan, Big Marsh Park, and the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Now, at this free Public Newsroom, he’ll lead participants on a “soundwalk” around Woodlawn, and discuss the connections between his own practice and journalism. If you can’t make this, Long will be leading another “soundwalk” on October 6, leaving from the Experimental Station at 6pm. (Christian Belanger)

Plant Your Fears Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Saturday, October 13, 11am–1pm. Free. bit.ly/FearGarden At the 61st Street Farmers Market, floraenthusiastic art collective Cream Co. will host an “exchange station,” where visitors can come to write down their fears, attach them to an allium bulb, and take home a spider plantlet as “proof of release.” The fear-allium hybrids will be planted in artist William Hill’s nearby sculpture garden (named Best Corridor Gateway by the Weekly), in hopes that they’ll bloom the following spring. (Christian Belanger)

STAGE & SCREEN Radio Golf Court Theater, 5535 S Ellis Ave. Closing October 6. Wednesday–Friday, 7:30pm; Saturday, 2pm and 7:30pm. Matinee for High School student groups at 10:30am on Wednesday, October 3 and Thursday, October 4. $38-$74. bit.ly/RadioGolfCourt Radio Golf, directed by Ron OJ Parson, is the tenth and last play of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle series and is a timely and heartfelt story that examines the issues of blight and renewal facing many major metropolitan cities. (Nicole Bond)

(In)Justice For All International Film Festival Various locations: Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 W. 95th St; Sanctuary Café, 5655 S. University Ave.; South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr., and more. October 4 –13. Free. Registration and RSVP required. injusticeforallff.com A consortium of faith-based organizations, social justice groups, and universities will screen nearly sixty films in twenty-six locations around the city focusing on three themes: the criminal justice system, racism and white supremacy, and human rights. Now in its fifth year, the festival also includes workshops, panel discussions, and forums, ending with an award ceremony on October 13. (Nicole Bond)

Magnitude and Bond: Three Generations of Gwendolyn Brooks’s Legacy Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. Thursday, October 11, 7–9pm. Free. rebuild-foundation.org Three generations of Chicago women writers, Angela Jackson, Dr. Tara Betts, and Ciara Miller, will share their work and reflections on the life and legacy of the incomparable Gwendolyn Brooks. The event is named for Brooks’s quote: “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” Guild Literary Complex and the Rebuild Foundation will host. (Nicole Bond)

Sip N Cope Free Street’s Storyfront, 4346 S. Ashland Ave. Thursday, October 11, 8pm–11pm. Free. bit.ly/SipNCope

Every month, stand-up comedians and improv artists gather at Free Street Theater’s Back of the Yards space to crack jokes and tell stories. This month, the show features Jackie Herrera and Omari Ferrell (who once came up with a semicontroversial sketch featuring Rahm Emanuel as Kanye West, in case you’re wondering what to expect). The event is free, and so are the tacos and tamales on offer. (Christian Belanger)

2018 Africa Forum and Film Series: Fatal Assistance Carruthers Center of Inner City Studies, 700 E. Oakwood Blvd. Friday October 12. 6–9pm. Free. bit.ly/AfricaForumFilm The Kemetic Institute invites you to the next screening in their 2018 Africa Forum and Film Series. This month’s documentary Fatal Assistance delves into the failed efforts to rebuild Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. A discussion with Journal of Haitian Studies contributing author William Leslie Balan-Gaubert immediately follows the film. (Nicole Bond)

Nancy Wilson Salute Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave. Saturday, October 13, 7:30–9:30pm. $35– $45. chicagojazzorchestra.org The Chicago Jazz Orchestra kicks off its fortieth anniversary season with a salute to the renowned song stylist Nancy Wilson. Wilson’s distinct vocal agility has contributed to more than seventy albums and won three Grammy Awards, earning her the moniker The Girl with the Honey Coated Voice. The evening will feature guest vocalists Roberta Gambarini, Bobbi Wilsyn, and Sarah Marie Young along with an expanded forty-piece orchestra in celebration of this most soulful Jazz icon. (Nicole Bond)

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Made in Vietnam Chinese American Museum of Chicago, 238 W. 23rd St. Saturday, October 27, 2–4pm. $5 suggested donation. bit.ly/MadeInVietnam In 2013, Canadian-Vietnamese filmmaker Thi Vo traveled to Vietnam to connect with his biological father, armed with only a picture and the name and address of an old family friend. He wound up finding more than forty family members across the country. Was one of them his dad? You’ll have to attend this screening to find out. (Christian Belanger)

VISUAL ARTS Tricontinental ’66 and Other Acts of Liberation Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. Opening Thursday, October 4, 6pm-8pm; exhibit open through Sunday, January 6. (312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org Produced by the nonprofit organization HotHouse in collaboration with Rebuild Foundation, Chicago Filmmakers and CASA O.S.P.A.A.A.L. (Organización de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina), this exhibition will display original copies of the Tricontinental Journals and posters that examine different acts of liberation from imperialism/ colonialism during the revolutionary

eras of the 60s and 70s. These artifacts represent important times in our history

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when social movements came together to challenge regimes or empires, especially that of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba. (Roderick Sawyer)

A City to Wear 2.0___Paintings beyond Painting The Research House for Asian Art, 3217 S. Morgan St. Exhibit open Saturdays, October 6 and 13, 1pm-4pm. (312) 3613208. researchhouseforasianart.org. “A City To Wear 2.0,” a sequel to a 2014 show at the Research House for Asian Art, argues that instead of the traditional method of painting as a representation for context, the art of painting now lies within the “act on the painting” which we’re assuming points more towards the experience or performative act of painting than the actual result itself. In the case that we’re wrong or that your still confused, make sure to visit the Research House for Asian Art for this event that will surely expand the conceptual framework behind painting. This show will feature emerging artists such as Decheng Cui, Zhaohui Zhang, Kevin Wolff, and more. (Roderick Sawyer)

Afrofuturism Symposium Day one: the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, 1155 E 58th St. Sunday, October 7, 1pm-4pm; Day two: the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago, 929 E. 60th St. Wednesday, October 10, 6pm-8pm. Free. graycenter.uchicago.edu. Moderated and organized by AfroFuturism: The World of Black SciFi and Fantasy Culture author Ytasha Womack, this Afrofuturism Symposium will be open to the public for two days. Both days aim to create and continue conversation around the ideas that connect Afrofuturism to science and will include panel presentations by professor and artist D. Denenge Akpem, Dr. Stanford Carpenter, Dr. Bruce Williams, and more. Learn about everything from the formation of Nubian and Egyptian identity to time travel as a mode of liberation. (Roderick Sawyer) Block Building Weinberg/Newton Gallery, 300 W. Superior St. Opening Friday, October 12, 5pm–8pm; exhibit open through Saturday, December 8. (312) 529-5090. weinbergnewtongallery.com Presented in partnership with My Block, My Hood, My City, Weinberg/Newton Gallery’s “Block Building” explores the history and future of Chicago’s famous

block club signs—both ones from the streets of Chicago, and others designed by student apprentices. The exhibit also features works from the South Side Home Movie Project. (Sam Stecklow) Complex II C.C.'s Art Garage & Gallery, 2727 S. Mary St. Friday, October 19, 6pm-10pm. (312) 371-8629. bit.ly/ComplexIICCs Complex II is a showcase of some of Chicago’s freshest artists. The show’s roster includes creatives such as Amuse 126, Vivian Le, Goosenek, Pizza in the Rain, and Conrad Javier. This show aims to display a diverse pallet of talent including portraiture, digital design, or graffiti-art. Come through and kick back while you absorb the work and take the chance to talk to these local artists. This event is sponsored by Revolution Brewery, so make sure to crack a cold one while you’re at it. (Roderick Sawyer)

Blackstone Bicycle Works

South Side Pride The first and only specialty coffee chain with multiple locations, a roastery and direct importing of fine coffees on the South Side of Chicago. Weekly Bike Sale Every Saturday at 12pm Wide selection of refurbished bikes! (most bikes are between $120 & $250)

ORIGINAL BRIDGEPORT HYDE PARK ART CENTER SOUTH LOOP ROOSEVELT COLLECTION MICHIGAN & JACKSON NEW! bridgeportcoﬀee.net

Blackstone Bicycle Works is a bustling community bike shop that each year empowers over 200 boys and girls from Chicago’s south side—teaching them mechanical skills, job skills, business literacy and how to become responsible community members. In our year-round ‘earn and learn’ youth program, participants earn bicycles and accessories for their work in the shop. In addition, our youths receive after-school tutoring, mentoring, internships and externships, college and career advising, and scholarships. Hours Tuesday - Friday 1pm - 6pm 12pm - 5pm Saturday

773 241 5458 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637

A PROGRAM OF

LEO S. GUTHMAN FUND