June 30, 2022

JUNE 30, 2022

ARTS, CULTURE, POLITICS

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‘This is Not For Us’

Parents struggle to enroll kids in Park District programs Q&A WITH PHOTOGRAPHER AKILAH TOWNSEND, CITY BUILDING CODE, INTERVIEW WITH CENO AND MORE

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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.

Editor-in-Chief

Volume 9, Issue 21 Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor

Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors Christopher Good Olivia Stovicek Sam Stecklow Martha Bayne Arts Editor Education Editor Housing Editor Community Organizing Editor Immigration Editor

Isabel Nieves Madeleine Parrish Malik Jackson Chima Ikoro Alma Campos

Contributing Editors Lucia Geng Matt Moore

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo Jocelyn Vega Scott Pemberton Staff Writers Kiran Misra Yiwen Lu Director of Fact Checking: Kate Gallagher Fact Checkers: Ella Beiser, Savannah Hugueley, Phan Le, Kate Linderman, Yiwen Lu, Bry Moore, Sky Patterson, Grace Vaughn, and Grace Del Vecchio Visuals Editor Bridget Killian Deputy Visuals Editors Shane Tolentino Mell Montezuma Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma Shane Tolentino Layout Editors Colleen Hogan Shane Tolentino Webmaster Pat Sier Managing Director Jason Schumer Director of Operations Brigid Maniates 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.

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IN CHICAGO Park pools to reopen After the great majority of the seventy-seven pools managed by the Chicago Park District were closed during the hottest days of June, this week the agency announced that it would reopen thirty-seven of them starting July 5. In response to public pressure, the new parks superintendent, Rosa Escareño, said a national lifeguard shortage was the reason for the closures and that it would divert two dozen lifeguards from beaches to indoor and outdoor pools in the South and West sides. She said the Park District has only been able to fill half of the seasonal lifeguard vacancies despite adjusting their hiring process by waiving the residency requirement and offering applicants the “equivalent” of $17.08 an hour through bonuses. South Side Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) didn’t buy it and speculated that the Park District’s mishandling of the lifeguard sexual abuse scandal had something to do with it. An announcement on the Park District’s Facebook page had mixed reactions, with some parents upset that their neighborhood pool wasn’t included.

IN THIS ISSUE public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level. documenters, and scott pemberton....4 south side parents struggle to get their kids enrolled in park district programs

Opaque registration and language barriers leave parents with few options. alma campos.............................................5 padres del sur de chicago batallan para inscribir a sus hijos en programas de verano en los parques

La dificultad de inscripción y las barreras lingüísticas son algunos de los obstáculos que dejan a los padres con pocas durante las vacaciones. alma campos.............................................7 la contienda por el nuevo distrito

Infants now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines Babies and children between six months and five years of age can now get safely vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective at preventing severe disease from the coronavirus in children and decrease the risk of contracting the virus and spreading it to others. The CDC recommends everyone six months and older get vaccinated, even if they’ve already had COVID-19, to protect themselves and those around them. The vaccine dosage for children is lower than that for adults, and side effects in several studies, which included thousands of children in this age range, were mild to moderate after the second dose but faded quickly. Parents and guardians can sign up for v-safe, a post-vaccination health tracker, to help inform the CDC how people feel after getting the vaccine and report any negative effects. The vaccine will be available at various locations throughout the city, including City Colleges, family health clinics, and select pharmacies. Go to bit.ly/chibabyvaccine to view the full list of providers.

Another South Side grocery store abruptly closed The Aldi grocery store on 76th and Ashland in Auburn Gresham reportedly closed without warning on June 12. According to multiple sources, residents of the predominantly Black neighborhood say they were not informed of the closing; they did not discover its closure until they visited the now boarded-up store. A spokesperson from Aldi stated that declining sales and burglary were among the reasons for the closure. A sign on the building directs patrons to the Aldi in Englewood some three miles away, another predominantly Black and low-income neighborhood where a Whole Foods was recently closed. Several other stores in Auburn Gresham have closed recently, including CVS and Save-A-Lot, making it more and more difficult for residents of the neighborhood to buy groceries. One effort to combat the food apartheid in these areas is an upcoming drive-up food pantry event hosted by the Ada S. McKinley Community Services, which will take place at 6033 S. Wentworth Ave. on Wednesday, July 13 from 10am-2pm.

Cover Illustration By Saadia Pervaiz

congresional de mayoría latina en illinois

Los datos del censo de 2020 confirmaron que este grupo multiétnico creció por más de dos millones de residentes en Illinois durante la década anterior. jacqueline serrato..................................9 south side photographer akilah townsend captures the palette of the city

Index: Townsend talks about color, not going to art school, and her latest project. reema saleh............................................11 op-ed: what’s wrong with chicago’s building code

Why the current system to address unsafe housing structures isn’t cutting it. robin bartram........................................14 stoopin’ with lloyd brodnax king

A Twitter project turned book chronicles the gentrifying Bronzeville of the 2010s. benjamin ginzky......................................15 ceno still bringing people together, solo

The former Sicko Mobb member on his new solo music and collaborating with others. bobby vanecko.........................................18 the exchange

The Weekly's poetry corner offers our thoughts in exchange for yours. chima ikoro............................................21 calendar

Bulletin and events. south side weekly staff........................22

Public Meetings Report

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD

June 9 At a subject matter hearing the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations: Subcommittee on Reparations heard an extensive report by a nationally known author and expert on Reparations, Kamm Howard. It also learned that record-keeping required by the Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance enacted by the City Council in 2002 may not be meeting its goal of keeping alderpersons informed about slaveholding connections of entities seeking to do business with the City. The Department of Procurement Services is responsible for collecting and cataloging economic disclosure statements (EDS). Aileen Velazquez, the department’s chief procurement officer, appointed last September, assured the subcommittee that the department has the resources to perform its duties and maintains a database of documents related to its function. The next EDS report by the procurement office was scheduled to be delivered on June 22. In the past, the Mayor’s Office has submitted similar reports. Subcommittee Chair Stephanie Coleman (16th Ward) urged Velazquez to correct this “misstep,” emphasizing that “procurement should possibly take leadership.” Of some twenty annual reports mandated by the ordinance since 2002, Velazquez reported that she has only one and will deliver the other nineteen to the committee if she can locate them.

June 13 The City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate learned at its meeting that hearings will be scheduled into the apparent heat exhaustion deaths of three women residents—ages 76, 72, and 68—at the James Sneider Apartments in the North Side.

The bodies were found on May 14 after residents had complained to the landlord, Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, about a lack of air conditioning during Chicago’s heat wave last month. The committee approved a proposal for the City to forgive a $2.7 million loan to Center on Halsted for the previously City-owned land it occupies in Lakeview. The center’s website describes its activities as “dedicated to advancing community and securing the health” of LGBTQ individuals in Chicagoland.

The site reports that more than one thousand people visit the center each day. The committee also approved the sales of seven City-owned properties, including two vacant lots, to Natashee Scott, who is married to recently resigned Alderman Michael Scott, Jr., (24th Ward).

Five Board of Education members and public attendees heard details of the system’s $9.5 billion fiscal 2023 budget at a hybrid Chicago Public Schools Budget Public Hearing. Michael Sitkowski, a deputy chief in the CPS budget department, highlighted the budget’s three main components: $8 billion for the district’s day-to-day expenses; $765 million for buildings and infrastructure; and $769 million for the debt service budget, which includes principal and interest on bonds. He also reported a shortfall of $1.8 billion. Just over seventy-five percent of day-to-day expenses (operations) goes for salaries and pensions for employees of whom ninety-seven percent support schools directly. Funding comes from federal COVID-19 relief ($730 million); local taxes and TIF funds (fifty-four percent); the State of Illinois (twenty-four percent); and other federal funding (twenty-two percent). Money is budgeted to fill school counselor and nurses’ spots and the Board is confident that goal will be reached. Public commenters urged that a so-called rainy-day fund be spent now to serve immediate student needs and that violence prevention receive more attention.

4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level for the June 30 issue.

BY DOCUMENTERS, AND SCOTT PEMBERTON

June 16 A series of technical issues, including faulty microphones, didn’t slow down the Cook County Board of Commissioners at its nearly three-hour meeting during which it spent little or no time on 201 items in an eighty-three-page agenda. Six public commenters and recognition of several individuals for community contributions and other actions were heard as each agenda item received less than fifty-four seconds of consideration on average. Public comments supported the Healthy Homes program, designed to prevent bed bugs and identify potential lead issues; improved education about HIV; an investigation on pumping station “noise and vibration issues” affecting residences; a statement of no confidence in the board for ignoring a proposal regarding registered nurses; and a union representative’s statement that alleged that Board President Toni Preckwinkle is not supporting essential workers. Individuals recognized by the board included Greg Harris, who was praised for helping to secure marriage equality in Illinois and is now honored by Greg Harris Day in Cook County ( June 5); Abraham Bolden, the first Black person to work for the US Secret Service (1960); and Buddy Bear Car Wash’s fiftieth anniversary, whose founder was credited with establishing Chicago’s first car wash in 1982 on the West Side.

The extension of death benefits to families of first responders who have died by suicide was passed unanimously at the City Council Committee on Finance meeting. Several council members backed a similar move for families of first responders who died of COVID-19. About $87 million in TIF funding was approved, including $50.5 million for public building improvements such as the redevelopment of the Henry Horner Homes and LeClaire Courts and $37 million for CTA upgrades on the Blue, Green, and Brown lines. Extensive discussion about a proposed amendment to the City’s controversial speeding enforcement cameras was postponed until June 21.

The amendment would essentially reverse a 2021 change that lowered the minimum speeding threshold to six miles over the limit instead of eleven. Arguments against a lower speeding threshold cited the disproportionate impact on communities of color, the dramatic increase in revenue from the ticketing system since the new threshold was adopted, and its ineffectiveness at improving safety. Since its initial implementation via a two-tiered ticketing system, annual speeding ticket revenue has increased more than forty percent to $69 million from $39 million. Interesting points made by experts included: 1) no child has been struck near a school or park in forty years, 2) lower-income Black and poor communities are ticketed at twice the rate of white communities, and 3) a large disparity in fines exists: for example, one camera out of 162 is responsible for five percent of the total revenue, probably because it’s near a hospital.

CPD Superintendent David Brown reported at the Chicago Police Board meeting that homicides are down ten percent and shootings are down eighteen percent citywide.

In the fifty-five beats with the highest crime rates, homicides are down twenty-five percent and shootings are down thirty-three percent. Two police officers were shot in early June and are recovering. CPD held a gun turn-in event at St. Sabina Church, receiving 400 guns and thirteen assault weapons with the church offering $100 extra for each assault weapon. A total of 5,500 guns have been taken off the streets this year, Brown reported. Adam Gross, executive director of the new Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) gave a brief update on how the newly created citywide commission and district commissions will interact with residents and CPD policy.

This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.

South Side Parents Struggle to Get Their Kids Enrolled in Park District Programs EDUCATION

ILLUSTRATION BY SAADIA PERVAIZ

Opaque registration and language barriers are among the obstacles that leave parents with few summer options for their children.

BY ALMA CAMPOS

P

arents waited in line for hours.

Some had brought folding lawn chairs and placed their kids in wagons, giving them water and snacks to ride out the long wait. Others came alone or in large groups with friends, speaking amongst themselves in Spanish, English, and Mandarin. Some parents had camped out since 4:30am. Others had taken the day off work to come.

They were gathered outside the McKinley Park Fieldhouse on a Saturday morning in May to sign their kids up for one of Chicago Park District’s most sought out programs—summer day camps.

Running from July 5 to August 12, the programs provide around six hours of care every weekday starting at $110 over the course of the program—a great deal compared to similar camps at places like the YMCA, which can run up to $210 per week. But by the end of the day, many

parents were turned away.

One of the Park District’s core values is “Children First,” which their website describes as “[to] bring children and families into our parks and give them great reasons to stay and play for a lifetime.” In their budget appropriations document, the Park District states they “ensure that all families and children have access to affordable programming where they can play, learn and grow.”

Yet year after year, many parents who want to enroll their children in day camps and other programs are turned away.

Obstacles like language barriers and lack of internet access alongside insufficient programming seem to especially affect South Side parents, some of whom feel like the park activities are not meant for them and their families.

Maria Negrete, who has lived in McKinley Park with her husband and two daughters for ten years, said that on three

different occasions she tried to register her two daughters at the McKinley Park spring and summer programs, but that every time she tried, she was not able to.

Negrete, who doesn’t speak English, said she once showed up to the fieldhouse in McKinley Park to register her daughters into the swimming program and when she inquired to a staff member about registration, she was handed a flier in English with instructions to go home and sign up online.

Negrete said she doesn’t use a computer very much and the information on the website was in English, so she struggled to understand the information and wasn’t able to register her daughters into swimming. Another time, she visited the fieldhouse in early spring to register her daughters for summer classes because she learned that spots fill quickly, but she was turned away because slots were full.

One of Negrete’s daughters, Maritza,

who is a teenager now, said she remembers wanting to learn how to swim and not being able to get into the swimming program. “I felt bad because I would see other kids able to get in,” she said.

Both Negrete and her daughter said the children they saw outside didn’t appear like they were from the area. “In reality, the programs here are not only for the people who live here, rather they are for those who come from outside areas.

I see how they are giving preference to white people because they speak the language, because they are from here, and well, we are last.”

“This is not for me,” Negrete said. “Even if the services are in my neighborhood, I feel that it isn’t for us.

Because you can’t speak the language, you can’t defend yourself, you can’t say how you feel.”

Negrete also remembers when Maritza was ten, they’d show up in JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5

EDUCATION person to the McKinley Park Field House to inquire about programs and her daughter would attempt to translate for her because no one spoke Spanish. It was not easy.

Five of the most commonly spoken languages in Chicago after the English language are Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Tagalog, and Chinese yet the Park District Summer 2022 Programs page on the website is only available in English.

Some parts can be translated into Spanish and French through the website’s translation button at the top right corner.

But even so, not everything is translated on the programs page. Only headers are translated and important COVID-19 information is only available in English.

The Park District’s reliance on online registration and information also comes into conflict with fundamental disparities in internet access and connectivity throughout Chicago. According to The Internet Equity Initiative, nearly forty percent of certain South and West Side neighborhoods don’t have reliable internet, putting these communities at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing parks and other community services.

Burnside, West Englewood, Fuller Park, Englewood, and West Garfield Park are at the bottom of the list.

Negrete said she met other parents with similar problems when Maritza was a student at the local elementary school, Nathanael Greene Elementary.

“A lot of parents were not able to [register their children] and the majority worked and wanted to have their children in a program,” she said.

While Negrete’s main obstacles are that she doesn’t speak or read English and that she doesn’t use a computer, parents who do speak English and do use a computer also find the registration process difficult.

Fiona Cook, also a resident of McKinley Park with two school-aged children, said she found out about in-person registration by calling the fieldhouse after all the spots were gone online. “[The website] said there were sixty spots available online, out of eighty total spots, leaving twenty for in-person,” she said.

Cook said she prepared for online registration by setting her alarm for 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

8:55am and watching the counter in the website tick down. “Once it was live, I clicked ‘enroll’ immediately. I was sent to a virtual waiting room for about two minutes. Then it said ‘sorry, all online spots have been filled.’”

Since all slots had been filled online, Cook decided that she’d try to register her children in person a week later on May 14. Doors opened at 9am, but she got there early because only twenty spots would be available and because there might be a long line.

“Parents brought chairs and everything,” she said. She said one parent even slept in his car. “And talking to a dad I recognized from last year, he said he got there at 4:30am. I laughed, thinking he was joking, and thinking what a surreal experience…what intense effort we had to put in just to get our kids into summer camp.”

A staff member opened the doors around 9am. In a loud voice, they told the line that there were only twelve spots left and not twenty. When parents inquired about the change, the staff member directed them to email the field supervisor, Briana Soria. Some spoke amongst themselves stating that the process was disorganized, and speculated whether the slots were given to friends.

When the Weekly reached out to Soria to inquire about the change in slot availability and about how the park prepares for registration, Soria replied that in-person registration would no longer be available due to “certain situations.”

When pressed for more details, Soria directed the remaining questions to the communications department.

The director of communications, Michele Lemons, did not respond to comments after several attempts.

Hours went by in line. Cook was able to get two spots for her children.

“As the line got longer, I started to feel really bad,” she said. “What will they all do? There needs to be more openings.”

Those who lingered at the end until almost noon were told by a staff member they could get on a waitlist, but had to continue waiting in line to do that.

When Cook learned that, according to Soria, in-person registration would no longer be available at the park, she said, “I do think there needs to continue to be in-

person registration in addition to online for people who can’t navigate the park website.“ Additionally she said the park website needs to be in more languages to reflect the diversity of the city.

But the long lines, the confusion, and messy process isn’t new. Philip Cantor, a Chicago Public Schools teacher remembers the long lines at the fieldhouse in Millenium Park from twelve years ago.

He said he and his children would often arrive at 6 a.m.

“It was a lot of hoops to jump through. There were definitely people there before us. The lines were quite long, probably over 100 families. I don’t know if anybody spent the night there but people definitely had blankets and folding chairs and things like that.”

Cantor, who is a resident of Logan Square, said that unlike others, he was lucky to have the time and the resources to navigate the process. And like other parents the Weekly spoke to, he said the way to improve would be to have more spots for more kids. “Any system where there is way more demand than there is supply will cause some kind of rationing.

Since the costs are relatively low, it is rationed through waiting in line, or now being the first one to log in to the system. If there were more spaces people wouldn’t have to rush to be the first in line or online.”

Cantor said he and his family eventually switched to a private day camp for his children.

But many South and West Side families can’t afford a private day camp or expensive swimming classes. When Negrete’s daughters couldn’t find programming at the park, they’d stay busy by going to keep cool at a small concrete splash pad in Kucinski Murphy Park on 33rd St. and Ashland Ave. or waiting in line to get into the public pool at McKinley Park—sometimes up to three times a day.

A Pilsen resident who preferred to remain unnamed said that when she visited several park districts to enroll her toddler into programs, such as Harrison Park, she would get unclear information about the availability of slots. And when she tried online registration, she said “the process is…very cumbersome. It is not as user responsive as other systems I’ve used

for private/non Park District classes.”

Like Cook, she said she sat in front of the computer for online registration at the minute mark. “When I click to register a lot of the classes would say ‘full’ almost immediately. It just goes to show that there is a high need for affordable development/extracurricular options for families and their children.”

The difficulty in enrolling kids in the programs is especially troubling given the recent curfew restrictions, following an incident at Millennium Park last month in which a 17-year-old fatally shot a 16-year-old. It prompted Mayor Lori Lightfoot to enforce a 10 p.m. curfew downtown for unaccompanied youth and a 6 p.m. curfew at Millennium Park.

Community groups spoke out against the curfew, stating that they want the city to look at programs to stop the shooting rather than strict curfews and more policing.

The mayor had stern words for parents following the incident too: “I want our kids to enjoy safe spaces all over this city. I want us to continue to work to create those safe spaces all over our city.

But it starts in the home. And it starts with the responsibility of the parents, the guardians and the caring adults.” She also told young people and parents to download an app–My Chi My Future– app to find “hundreds” of opportunities.

Negrete thinks part of the reason why many young people go downtown in the summer is because there isn’t much to do in their own neighborhoods. “There’s nothing in the neighborhood,” she said.

“Look, everything is a chain reaction. For parents who work so hard there are not many resources to put their children in care. And if there are, they put up a lot of obstacles.

“Then they blame the parents.” Alma Campos is the Weekly’s immigration editor. She last wrote about ​​ICE targeting Illinois families despite not being priorities for deportation.

EDUCACIÓN

Padres del sur de Chicago batallan para inscribir a sus hijos en programas de verano en los parques

La dificultad de inscripción y las barreras lingüísticas son algunos de los obstáculos que dejan a los padres con pocas opciones para sus hijos durante las vacaciones.

POR ALMA CAMPOS

L

os padres de familia esperaron en fila durante horas. Algunos habían traído sillas plegables y otros colocaron a sus hijos en carritos, dándoles agua y golosinas para aguantar la larga espera. Unos vinieron solos o en grupos de amigos, hablando español, inglés y mandarín entre sí. Algunos padres madrugaron desde las 4:30 de la mañana.

Otros se tomaron el día libre para venir.

Estaban reunidos frente a la casa de campo del Parque McKinley un sábado en la mañana en mayo para inscribir a sus hijos a uno de los programas más solicitados del Distrito de Parques de Chicago: los campamentos de verano.

Del 5 de julio al 12 de agosto, los programas ofrecen alrededor de seis horas de cuidado cada día de la semana empezando a un costo de $110, una buena oferta comparada con los campamentos similares de lugares como el YMCA, que pueden costar hasta $210 a la semana. Sin embargo, al final del día, muchos padres no lograron inscribir a sus hijos.

Uno de los valores del Distrito de Parques es “Los niños primero”, lo cual su sitio web describe como “atraer a los niños y las familias a nuestros parques y darles razones para quedarse y jugar de por vida".

En un documento presupuestario, el Distrito de Parques afirma que “garantiza que todas las familias y los niños tengan acceso a una programación asequible donde puedan jugar, aprender y crecer”.

Pero, año tras año, muchos padres que quieren inscribir a sus hijos en campamentos y otros programas son rechazados. Obstáculos como las barreras

del idioma y la falta de acceso al internet, junto con una programación insuficiente, parecen afectar especialmente a los padres del lado sur, algunos de los cuales sienten que las actividades del parque no están diseñados para ellos y sus familias.

María Negrete, que vive en McKinley Park con su marido y sus dos hijas desde hace diez años, dijo que en tres ocasiones diferentes intentó inscribir a sus dos hijas en los programas de primavera y verano de McKinley Park, pero que cada vez que lo intentó, no pudo hacerlo.

Negrete dijo que una vez se presentó en la casa de campo de McKinley Park para inscribir a sus hijas en el programa de natación y cuando le preguntó a un miembro del personal sobre la inscripción, le entregaron un folleto en inglés con instrucciones para que se fuera a casa y se inscribiera por internet.

Negrete dijo que no utiliza mucho la computadora y que la información del sitio web estaba en inglés, por lo que le costó entender la información y no pudo inscribir a sus hijas en natación. En otra ocasión, visitó el parque a principios de la primavera para inscribir a sus hijas en las clases de verano porque se enteró que los espacios se llenan rápidamente, pero no la atendieron porque ya estaba lleno.

Una de las hijas de Negrete, Maritza, que ahora es una adolescente, dijo que recuerda que quería aprender a nadar y no pudo entrar en el programa de natación.

“Me sentí mal porque veía que otros niños sí podían entrar”, dijo.

Tanto Negrete como su hija dijeron que los niños que vieron afuera no

FOTO POR ALMA CAMPOS

parecían ser del área. “En realidad, los programas de aquí no son sólo para la gente que vive aquí, sino que son para los que vienen de fuera. Veo cómo les dan preferencia a los blancos porque hablan el idioma, porque son de aquí, y bueno, nosotros somos los últimos”.

“Esto no es para mí”, dijo Negrete.

“Aunque los servicios estén en mi barrio, siento que no son para nosotros.

Porque no puedes hablar el idioma, no puedes defenderte, no puedes decir lo que sientes”.

Negrete también recuerda que cuando Maritza tenía diez años, se presentaban en persona a la casa de campo de McKinley para preguntar de los programas y su hija intentaba traducirle porque nadie hablaba español. No era fácil.

Cinco de los idiomas más comunes JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7

EDUCACIÓN que se hablan en Chicago después del inglés son español, polaco, árabe, tagalo y chino, pero la página de los programas de verano 2022 del Distrito de Parques sólo está disponible en inglés. Algunas partes pueden traducirse al español y al francés con el botón de traducción del sitio web situado en la esquina de arriba a la derecha. Pero aun así, no todo está traducido en la página de programación.

Sólo se traducen los títulos, y la información sobre COVID-19 sólo está disponible en inglés.

La dependencia del Distrito de Parques en la inscripción en línea también contribuye a las disparidades fundamentales en el acceso al internet y la conectividad en todo Chicago. Según la Iniciativa de Equidad en Internet, casi el cuarenta por ciento de algunos barrios del sur y del oeste no tienen buen internet, lo que pone a estas comunidades en desventaja a la hora de acceder a los servicios del parque y comunitarios.

Los vecindarios de Burnside, West Englewood, Fuller Park, Englewood y West Garfield Park se encuentran al final de la lista.

Negrete dijo que conoció a otros padres con problemas similares cuando Maritza era una estudiante en la escuela primaria, Nathanael Greene. “Muchos padres no podían [inscribir a sus hijos] y la mayoría trabajaba y quería tener a sus hijos en un programa”, dijo.

Mientras que los principales obstáculos de Negrete son que no habla ni lee inglés y que casi no usa una computadora, los padres que sí hablan inglés y utilizan la computadora también encuentran difícil el proceso de inscripción.

Fiona Cook, también residente de McKinley Park y madre de dos niños de edad escolar, dijo que se enteró de la inscripción en persona al llamar al parque después de que se agotaran los lugares en línea. “[El sitio web] decía que había sesenta plazas disponibles en línea, de un total de ochenta, lo que dejaba veinte para la inscripción en persona”, dijo Cook.

Cook se preparó para la inscripción en línea poniendo su alarma para las 8:55am y observando el conteo en el sitio web. "Una vez que [las inscripciones] estaban en vivo, hice clic en ‘inscribirse’ inmediatamente. Me enviaron a una sala de espera virtual por unos dos minutos.

8 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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Luego decía 'disculpe, todas las plazas online se han llenado’”.

Como los lugares se habían llenado en línea, Cook decidió que intentaría inscribir a sus hijos en persona una semana después, el 14 de mayo. Las puertas abrían a las 9am, pero ella llegó antes porque sólo había veinte lugares disponibles y podría haber una larga fila.

“Los padres trajeron sillas y todo”, dijo. Uno de los padres incluso se durmió en el carro, dijo. “Y hablando con un padre que reconocí del año pasado, me dijo que había llegado a las 4:30 de la mañana. Me reí, pensando que estaba bromeando y en qué experiencia tan surreal... qué esfuerzo tan grande tuvimos que hacer para que nuestros hijos entraran en el campamento de verano”.

Un empleado abrió las puertas alrededor de las 9am. En voz alta, dijo que sólo quedaban doce lugares y no veinte. Cuando los padres preguntaron a qué se debía el cambio, la empleada les indicó que enviaran un correo electrónico a la supervisora del campo, Briana Soria.

Algunos hablaron entre ellos diciendo que el proceso era desorganizado, y especularon si los lugares se los habían dado a sus amigos.

Cuando el Weekly se puso en contacto con Soria para preguntarle sobre el cambio en la disponibilidad de los programas y las inscripciones, Soria respondió que en el futuro no habrá inscripciones en persona debido a "ciertas situaciones." Cuando se le pidió más detalles, Soria dirigió el resto de las preguntas al departamento de comunicaciones.

La directora de comunicaciones, Michele Lemons, no respondió a comentarios luego de varios intentos.

Los padres pasaron horas en la fila.

Cook pudo conseguir dos plazas para sus hijos. "A medida que la fila se hacía más larga, empecé a molestarme", dijo. “¿Qué van a hacer todos? Tiene que haber más lugar”. A los que se quedaron hasta casi el mediodía, un miembro del personal les dijo que podían ser agregados a una lista de espera, pero que tenían que seguir esperando en la fila para hacerlo.

“Creo que tiene que seguir habiendo una inscripción en persona, además de en línea, para las personas que no pueden navegar por el sitio web del parque”.

Además, dijo que el sitio web debería estar en más idiomas para reflejar la

diversidad de la ciudad.

Pero la espera, la confusión y el proceso desordenado no son nuevos.

Philip Cantor, un maestro de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, recuerda las largas esperas en la casa de campo de Millenium Park de hace doce años. Dice que él y sus hijos solían llegar a las 6am.

“Había que pasar por muchos obstáculos. Había gente que llegó antes que nosotros. Las filas eran bastante largas, probablemente más de 100 familias. No sé si alguien pasó la noche ahí, pero la gente definitivamente llevaba cobijas y sillas plegables y cosas así”.

Cantor, que reside en Logan Square, dijo que, a diferencia de otros, él tuvo la suerte de contar con el tiempo y los recursos para pasar por ese proceso. Y al igual que otros padres con los que habló el Weekly, dijo que la forma de mejorar las cosas sería tener más plazas para más niños.

“Cualquier sistema en donde haya más demanda que suministros provocará algún tipo de racionamiento. Como los costos son relativamente bajos, se raciona a través de la espera, o ahora siendo el primero en entrar al internet. Si hubiera más espacios, la gente no tendría que apresurarse para ser la primera en la fila o en línea”.

Cantor dijo que él y su familia acabaron optando por un campamento privado para sus hijos.

Pero muchas familias del sur y oeste no pueden pagar un campamento privado o por costosas clases de natación. Cuando las hijas de Negrete no encontraban programación en el parque, se mantenían ocupadas yendo a refrescarse en el Parque Kucinski Murphy, en la calle 33th y Avenida Ashland, que tiene una pequeña fuente de agua. También iban a la piscina pública de McKinley —a veces hasta tres veces al día.

Una residente de Pilsen que prefirió no ser identificada dijo que cuando visitaba varios parques para inscribir a su hijo pequeño en programas, como Harrison Park, recibía información poco clara sobre la disponibilidad de plazas. Y cuando intentó inscribirse por internet, dijo que “el proceso es... muy difícil. No es tan receptivo al usuario como otros sistemas que he utilizado para clases privadas/no del Distrito de Parques”.

Al igual que Cook, dijo que se sentó

frente a la computadora para estar lista cuando abriera la inscripción en línea.

“Cuando hice clic para inscribirme, muchas de las clases decían ‘lleno’ casi inmediatamente. Esto demuestra que hay una gran necesidad de opciones de desarrollo/extracurriculares asequibles para las familias y sus hijos”.

La dificultad para inscribir a los niños en los programas de verano es especialmente preocupante dadas las recientes restricciones de toque de queda tras un incidente en Millennium Park el mes pasado en el que un joven de 17 años le disparó fatalmente a otro de 16.

Esto llevó a la alcaldesa Lori Lightfoot a imponer un toque de queda a las 10pm en el centro de la ciudad para los jóvenes no acompañados y un toque de queda a las 6pm en Millennium Park específicamente. Los grupos comunitarios protestaron en contra, pidiendo que la Municipalidad busque programas para prevenir los tiroteos en lugar de establecer toques de queda estrictos y aumentar la vigilancia policial.

La alcaldesa también se dirigió a los padres tras el incidente: “Quiero que nuestros hijos disfruten de espacios seguros en toda la ciudad. Quiero que sigamos trabajando para crear esos espacios seguros en toda la ciudad. Pero esto empieza en el hogar. Y empieza con la responsabilidad de los padres, los cuidadores y los adultos que se preocupan”. También le dijo a los jóvenes y a los padres que descarguen la aplicación de teléfono —My Chi My Future— para encontrar “cientos” de oportunidades.

Negrete cree que una razón por la que muchos jóvenes van al centro en el verano es porque no hay mucho que hacer en sus propios vecindarios. “No hay nada en el barrio”, dijo. “Todo es una reacción en cadena. Para los padres que trabajan tanto, no hay muchos recursos de cuidado para poner a sus hijos. Y si los hay, ponen muchas barreras.

“Luego culpan a los padres”. Alma Campos es la editora de Inmigración del Weekly. Escribió previamente sobre familias de Illinois que siguen siendo perseguidas por ICE a pesar de no ser prioridades para la deportación.

La contienda por el nuevo distrito congresional de mayoría latina en Illinois Los datos del censo de 2020 confirmaron que este grupo multiétnico creció por más de dos millones de residentes en Illinois durante la década anterior.

POR JACQUELINE SERRATO

E

n las elecciones primarias de este mes por primera vez se votará por un distrito congresional rediseñado por legisladores estatales para mejor representar el crecimiento y expansión de la población latina del área de Chicago.

El aumento de la población en el Condado de Cook y los condados circundantes ha pasado desapercibida en gran medida hasta que los datos del censo de 2020 confirmaron que este grupo multiétnico creció por más de dos millones de residentes en Illinois durante la década anterior, y su presencia se extiende mucho más allá de la ciudad y el condado.

El nuevo 3er Distrito congresional (su versión anterior estuvo representada por la representante Marie Newman, que ahora se postula para el 6º Distrito también rediseñado) cambió durante el proceso de redistribución de distritos

que ocurre cada diez años para tomar en cuenta los cambios en la población.

Antes de ese proceso, solo había un distrito congresional en Illinois que era mayoritariamente latina: el Distrito 4, representado actualmente por el representante de origen mexicano, Jesús "Chuy" García.

Los nuevos límites del 3er Distrito ya no cubren los suburbios del suroeste, sino que se extienden hacia el norte hasta Albany Park y se extienden al oeste a poblados diversos, como Addison, Rosemont, Elgin, Bensenville y West Chicago. El 4to Distrito también se rediseñó para abarcar las áreas suburbanas del suroeste que anteriormente eran representadas por el 3.

El nuevo distrito es 47.35% latinx, 39.08% anglosajón, 6.12% asiático y 4.61% negro. El puesto recién generado tiene el potencial de fortalecer los intereses de los latinos de Illinois en

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POLÍTICA Washington, D.C. en el futuro, y la carrera se ha calentado entre dos funcionarios electos actuales que compiten por el escaño federal.

Un total de cuatro candidatos se están postulando en las primarias demócratas para el escaño vacante, pero Delia Ramírez, una funcionaria latina electa que representa partes de Hermosa, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, y West Town en el lado norte ha tomado la delantera en encuestas recientes y ha obtenido un notable apoyo local y nacional.

También en la carrera está el actual concejal puertorriqueño del Distrito 36 y el exlíder de piso de la alcaldesa Lori Lightfoot, Gilbert Villegas.

Ramírez, quien tiene experiencia en trabajo comunitario, habló con el Weekly sobre sus logros en Springfield durante su primer mandato como representante estatal. Se postuló en base a una plataforma de vivienda asequible en un distrito que ha visto una gran cantidad de personas sin hogar y gentrificación en comparación con el resto de la ciudad.

Uno de sus primeros objetivos fue ayudar a la Asamblea General de Illinois a crear un comité de vivienda. “Teníamos otros cuarenta comités, pero nada relacionado con la vivienda”, dijo. “En enero de 2021, establecimos un Comité de Vivienda legislativo… Hemos tenido más de veinte leyes aprobadas, incluyendo mi proyecto de ley para mantener a las personas en sus hogares en medio de la pandemia”.

Ramírez reunió a los republicanos estatales y sus colegas demócratas para aprobar una legislación integral de vivienda de emergencia que incluía asistencia para la renta y una moratoria de desalojo.

Considerada la primera guatemalteca estadounidense elegida en Springfield, cree que puede llevar las preocupaciones de las familias trabajadoras de Illinois a Washington, D.C. Trabajar con miembros de ambos partidos es una de las cosas que Ramírez dijo que la preparó para el Congreso.

Durante el proceso para reemplazar al deshonrado Mike Madigan como presidente de la Cámara de Representantes de Illinois, ella ayudó a reunir al Caucus Progresista y al Caucus Latino para apoyar a Emanuel “Chris” Welch. Ella lo nominó el día de la inauguración y fue 10 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

nombrada por Welch a líder asistente de la mayoría en la Cámara.

El concejal Villegas es un demócrata moderado que puede atraer a votantes más conservadores en partes más distantes del 3er Distrito, dicen los analistas. Sus posturas políticas han sido menos que progresistas; normalmente vota de acuerdo con la alcaldesa y ha votado a favor de medidas controversiales en las comunidades negras y latinas, como ampliar la vigilancia policial y apoyar los mega desarrollos de bienes raíces como Lincoln Yards.

Los registros muestran que desde 2015, Villegas recibió $64,800 en donaciones políticas de Purple PAC, un PAC financiado por Howard Labkon, dueño de la trituradora de metal, General Iron, que también contribuye al Partido Republicano.

Cabe mencionar que como presidente del Caucus Latino del Concejo Municipal, Villegas ha presionado para una mayor representación latina, cuestionando repetidamente por qué hay tan pocos latinos en los puestos de la Ciudad. Recientemente, obstaculizó un esfuerzo colectivo para elaborar entre los concejales de los caucus negro y latino un nuevo mapa de distritos, presionando sin éxito al Concejo Municipal para agregar dos distritos con pluralidad latina, debido a su creciente población, a costa de distritos predominantemente negros.

Ramírez está criticando a Villegas en anuncios políticos por el trabajo que él ha desempeñado como cabildero estatal.

La campaña afirma que la empresa de Villegas, Stratagem, cabildeó a favor de clientes vinculados con el sistema correccional, así como varias empresas de energía, incluyendo ComEd durante un período en el que la empresa admitió haber sobornado a funcionarios electos en Illinois. ComEd contrató su empresa de 2018 a 2019, aunque Villegas le dijo a WBEZ que no participó personalmente en el cabildeo.

Villegas también ha sido criticado por asociarse con el ex representante estatal Luis Arroyo, a quien muchos consideran su mentor político. Arroyo fue sentenciado por sobornar a funcionarios electos en Springfield sobre una legislación de sorteos; Villegas introdujo una legislación similar en la Ciudad de

Chicago y recibió alrededor de $40,000 en contribuciones de campaña de Arroyo.

Villegas no respondió a las preguntas del Weekly al cierre de

esta edición.

García respaldó a Ramírez en febrero y poco después recibió el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago por su papel en ayudar a aprobar una junta escolar electa. Otros grandes nombres como el senador Bernie Sanders, la senadora Elizabeth Warren y la representante Jan Schakowsky también la respaldan.

Ramírez le dijo al Weekly que se visualiza trabajando con líderes políticos como Schakowsky sobre el derecho al aborto, con la representante Cori Bush y con Julián Castro sobre temas de vivienda, las representantes Verónica Escobar y Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sobre inmigración, y con quienes trabajen por un Puerto Rico libre.

“Veo esto como una oportunidad y una continuación del trabajo que he hecho en Springfield, y llevar ese trabajo al Congreso… al lugar donde nos sentimos más desconectados de Washington”, dijo.

Además, cuenta con el respaldo de los sindicatos SEIU Healthcare, SEIU 73, la Federación de Maestros de Illinois; y Mijente, End Citizens United, United Working Families y Working Families Party.

Villegas ha recibido el respaldo del exrepresentante Luis Gutiérrez, el secretario de estado de Illinois Jesse White, la contralora estatal de Illinois

Susana Mendoza, la exsenadora estatal Iris Martínez y concejales como Susan Sadlowski-Garza, Ariel Reboyras y Chris Taliaferro.

ILUSTRACIÓN POR SHANE TOLENTINO

Villegas también cuenta con el apoyo de los sindicatos SEIU Local 1, Teamsters Joint Council 25, Chicago Firefighters Local 2 y Chicago Police Sargentos’ Association.

También postulándose, pero rezagados en las encuestas y la recaudación de fondos, están Iymen Chehade, profesora de Columbia College y directora de política exterior para la campaña de Newman, y Juan Enrique Aguirre, enfermero registrado y dueño de negocio.

Dado que se anticipa que la mayoría de los votos sean emitidos por los residentes de la ciudad, la contienda representa las diferencias que a menudo dividen al electorado latino local y la necesidad de una mayor representación a nivel federal que luche por los intereses de este creciente bloque de votantes. Jacqueline Serrato es la editora-en-jefe del Weekly.

ARTS

South Side Photographer Akilah Townsend Captures the Palette of the City

In a Q&A, the photographer and art director talks about color, not going to art school, and her latest project with the MCA and Color Factory.

BY REEMA SALEH

A

kilah Townsend is a self-taught South Side photographer.

Born and raised in Chicago in the Bronzeville and Grand Crossing neighborhoods, she is a photographer and art director who focuses on Black beauty representation. Her portraits feature warm, saturated colors, using storytelling and place to empower her subjects and make them feel seen.

This summer, her work will be featured in an exclusive collection with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and Color Factory Chicago. They are partnering to include an exclusive product collection celebrating Chicago and featuring art from and inspired by Color Factory artists.

Collaborating with local and international artists, her photography will serve as a color palette for immersive and interactive art exhibits.

South Side Weekly spoke with Townsend about her creative process and the inspiration behind this exhibit, which opened to the public on June 17. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

When did you first become an artist?

When did you know you wanted to start creating things?

Definitely my whole life. I think my mom was an artist that didn’t really realize her potential, and she inspired me.

I just remember at a young age drawing just like she was and painting. I found my creative outlet of photography three years ago.

What usually inspires your work?

It really switches up. Sometimes I am inspired by a story. Sometimes I’m thinking about a connection between people or how I’m feeling. I’ve created projects where I just had something that was nagging me in my mind, and I wanted to create something, to get that out there and express it.

What’s funny, too, is I always start with color. It’s what has always inspired and been a really important part of my work.

So I start with color. I have an idea and color, and those go hand in hand.

How do you describe your art style?

I feel like you use a lot of warm color tones in your work.

I like warmth. I like the sun, and sometimes, I have to imitate it. A lot of times, we’ll play off that orange and think about what complements it.

What goes into telling stories with

photography for you?

For me, I just start with where I’ve been and where I come from. My experiences as a Black woman on the South Side inform a lot of the stories that I want to tell and the thinking about narratives that need to be told. So when it comes to personal projects, when it comes to casting and thinking about those sorts of things—I’m thinking about what connects the most to me.

You spend a lot of time photographing

PHOTO BY AKILAH TOWNSEND

Black beauty and Black features. How is that important for you and other people?

We have come so far when it comes to representation. It’s amazing. I think about media and what we see in our different channels, it’s incredible.

I think we still have a long way to go, and being someone who creates images, I have a lot of responsibility when people are viewing my work in those different channels. So I think about colorism, I JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11

ARTS

think about shade-ism, I think about body representation.

A lot of times when it comes to casting, I think about those things, and the representation that I think we’re lacking in and what I want to see more of. I feel like, as artists, we have such a responsibility to be conscious of what we’re doing, and so I try to think about these things.

So you’re a self-taught photographer.

How do you think that that’s shaped your work and your style?

I think it’s led me to experiment a lot and do a lot of trial and error and play with things until things feel right. Because I’m not classically taught, I just have to experiment until things resonate. I feel like I go off of feeling more so because I don’t have categories, or I don’t have rules.

I’ve heard that from other photographers who’ve gone to school—they’ve told me that a benefit of me not going to school is that I don’t think within the bounds of what you’re taught what makes a good image.

I think that’s also cool, too, because I think your art should be personal. If I’m coming about it in a way that’s like, “this is what I like,” and it also gives me a lot of freedom because I can release that feeling of wanting other people to like my work, because it kind of starts and ends with me; like the option of the idea, the plans, the editing process, and if I’m happy with it, then someone out there is gonna like it.

But most importantly, I’m happy with it.

I think that’s how me not going to school has affected the way that I work.

Can I ask how your artistic process works?

If it’s a personal project, it’s probably a story that I’m trying to tell. And so, I start there, and I literally will write out a story, like I’ll write out the narrative. And then, I’m thinking about what colors, what scenes, what places, what people.

I just map out from there, like, how that can be told when it comes to client work. A lot of times, I’m given a lot of freedom, which is amazing. It’s kind of the same thing where I’m given a

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¬ JUNE 30, 2022

COURTESY OF COLOR FACTORY

category, I’m given a bounds of thinking in wherever the subject I’m shooting, and then I start to think about how do I accomplish it, how do I put my spin on it and make something I think that I can be happy with.

How is your work going to be featured in the Color Factory?

I created the imagery that Color Factory has used to create a color palette or a color story for the City of Chicago. It was amazing. I got to travel all around the City of Chicago and take so many photos, thousands of photos, and just like get inspired by the colors of the city.

Then they took all those photos and my favorites and narrowed them down to a list. And through those images, they picked out a nice color in each of those images and created a color palette.

That color palette is going to be used throughout the exhibit, and throughout the installations for the different artists who are creating their pieces around that color.

So it’s a nice symbiosis for collaborative work. It’s really cool. I can’t wait to see how the collaborative process turns out. I can’t wait to see that my images come to life in that way.

What brought this partnership together between artists and the MCA and the Color Factory?

I believe they found me because they were looking for a local artist. They wanted someone who was in the art community, so a wonderful producer that I know linked me with the Color Factory. It was magic how that happened.

How does your work in the Color Factory represent Chicago and the South Side?

I think inherently because I am who I am, and as a Black woman from the South Side, everything I do just has to—the images that I make—they come through my lens. And so, they speak to who I am and how I see the city that has inspired so much of my work and literally me becoming an artist.

ARTS

Ever since I was really young in high school, I remember I used to live on Lake Park Avenue and just walking to the lake every day and being able to get that peace and serenity and inspiration by being at and seeing those colors of the beautiful blues and the beiges—so that had to be included in our color palette. It’s things like that, just being born and raised here and making those images, making sure that they speak to me and the beautiful city that I love, you know?

What inspires you about Chicago so much?

It’s cool because, growing up, I was absolutely enamored by the South Side.

I lived on 79th Street, and so, places like the lake were a really big part of my upbringing. Also the parks, the Regal Theater. There’s so much history in Bronzeville, but also, every weekend, we would travel to Navy Pier, and I would go to [the] Children’s Museum and just also knowing other parts of the city was really cool.

Being from a place, it really has an imprint on you and who you are, at least in the way that I grew up, because I was very much a city kid, like taking the buses at a young age and going all around the

What locations inspired this color palate? How did you decide which to use?

You know, now it’s funny, it’s kind of hard to say because ever since I’ve become a photographer, I have had a folder in my cellphone of locations. Whenever I’m around, like driving around, I will see something beautiful and colorful. I literally slow down and take a picture and just save so there’s a folder of locations.

COURTESY OF COLOR FACTORY

city. I feel like that has to play a part in how I see things, and maybe the way that locations really inform my work, too. That is one of the primary factors that goes into creating a project in the beginning.

I think place is probably something I didn’t really articulate. But it grounds me, and it can inform so much of my work.

I don’t like to really shoot in studio or on backdrops. Sometimes I have to, but I think that place has a quality about it that just forms so much. When I shoot in-studio, I feel like there’s a bit of a void, you know?

How do you describe your photography style?

I really feel like the best description is informed by color because I’m not always

SHADES OF CHI-TOWN BY EDRA SOTO AND AKILAH TOWNSEND, PHOTOGRAPH BY MATT HASS

shooting people. Sometimes I’m shooting locations. And a lot of times, like when I’m on some of the projects that I love, I’m capturing people and places. If I do a story—I’ve done a couple of stories where I’m capturing people, and then, I also go around photographing the place and including that in the story and that being a more full picture of the place in the story through the images.

What are you most proud of with your work?

I think I’m just most proud that I’ve done it. I really never thought that I would be where I am. I didn’t know that you could be an artist. I thought that you had to have resources and money and rich parents. But coming from a place of lacking resources, I didn’t think that I could be freelance and do it on my own and be successful in my own way. I’m just really proud of the fact that I have had the courage and the bravery to actually put my work out there and let that sustain me. It’s such a blessing to be able to create, and the fact that I get to do that is so fulfilling. So

that’s what I’m most proud of.

What would you tell someone that was getting into visual art for the first time?

What would you tell a younger version of you?

I think I would say be brave. Be brave and explore who you are and what you want to say and what makes you happy and what resonates with you. And be courageous.

Make it and put it out there because it’s not easy, it’s not comfortable—but it’s rewarding.Reema Saleh is a journalist and graduate student at University of Chicago studying public policy. She can be followed on Twitter or Instagram at @reemasabrina. She last wrote about visual artist Hailey Losselyang of HML Design and her Leave Me Alone art series inspired by unsolicited interactions with men.

JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 13

HOUSING

Op-Ed: What’s Wrong With Chicago’s Building Code Why the current system to address unsafe housing structures isn’t cutting it, from the author of a new book on the subject.

BY ROBIN BARTRAM

C

hicago has a big problem with unsafe housing, especially on the South and West Sides. This problem has proved to be deadly: fires and collapses have killed and injured dozens of residents in recent years. And in Chicago, as elsewhere in the US, deadly house fires are concentrated in the poorest neighborhoods: Austin, Back of the Yards, Englewood, Humboldt Park, Roseland, and West Englewood have the highest risk for house fires in Chicago.

But my seven years of research in the city—shadowing building inspectors and interviewing homeowners— has uncovered an additional hidden worrying reality: the current strategy to address unsafe housing might only be making things worse for already vulnerable homeowners.

Until the City's system of code enforcement provides subsidies for fixing up buildings to maintain values and meet building codes, we have little hope of effectively ensuring safe and decent housing. Without resources to make repairs, many homeowners—especially seniors of color and owner-occupiers of two and four flats—are forced from their homes, into debt, or left to live in dangerous conditions.

To be sure, the cultural and legal framework in the US treats homeownership as a private affair.

Individual homeowners are held responsible for maintaining their property.

But this ignores the history of race, gender, and the housing industry, in which—as demonstrated by scholars such as Beryl Satter, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Rea Zaimi and documented by activistartist Tonika Lewis Johnson—mortgage 14 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

lenders and others explicitly targeted Black residents, and Black women, for predatory loans for homes in disrepair.

Black women were disproportionately sold homes they could not afford and that cost more money to maintain, which lined the pockets of mostly white realtors, lenders, and others.

The racist and sexist history of the housing market, along with other forms of wealth extraction, has long lasting effects. Black women who are now seniors are more likely to have been targeted for inadequate housing and loans. And because they have been denied the resources to fix their properties, they are disproportionately dealing with unsafe and dilapidated homes today. This history also means that there is a case to be made that the government-backed housing industry has a responsibility to these homeowners to make amends. But this is not the way most cities deal with repairs.

Building code inspections and housing court is the system in place in most cities, including Chicago, to deal with housing in disrepair. Inspectors decide which buildings need repair work and send owners to court if conditions are dangerous. I shadowed Chicago's inspectors, sat in on housing court, and uncovered a disconcerting fact. Inspectors are stuck in a catch-22: if they mandate repairs, this adds to the financial struggles of low-income homeowners; but if they overlook issues, homes become even less safe.

“It’s a tough issue,” one Chicago building inspector told me. “I mean, let’s face it, as people have become poor and it’s harder to maintain housing, there’s no question that the quality of the housing is

deteriorated. Then you have to decide… now what do we do? That’s a nightmare.”

I joined another inspector at a single-family building in Englewood. The rickety front porch caught the inspector’s eye immediately. He wiggled the handrail and bounced up and down on the porch a few times to demonstrate its creaks and instability. “This is going to be a court case,” he said. “I can’t walk away from this.” In the current system, inspectors often have no other choice but to send property owners to court, especially when they find issues relating to exterior walls and porches.

Housing court judges can give compassionate rulings, but compassionate code enforcement doesn’t cut it either because people lack resources to make repairs. I regularly saw inspectors and housing court judges trying to help lowincome seniors in Chicago. They extend court cases, give homeowners more time to make repairs, and do not levy fines

ILLUSTRATION BY KEVIN MOORE JR.

or fees.

To be sure, extra time—to fix repairs, to come up with funds to make repairs, or to find an affordable architect or contractor—is likely a welcome relief to many homeowners. But this is not enough. Compassion toward lowincome homeowners does not prevent costly outcomes.

Cheryl lives with her friend and granddaughter in Englewood. She retired years ago but recently went back to work to try to pay off her $40,000 credit card balance. She owns her house outright, but had to pay out of pocket to fix the damage to her basement after it flooded a few years earlier. “I have to pay all this stuff back,” she told us, “So, financially it’s not good…That’s why I’m working another job.”

Other homeowners my research team and I spoke to had remortgaged their homes or taken out high interest loans to pay for repairs. Repair work can

mean that housing is unaffordable even for homeowners who have long paid off mortgages or inherited their homes.

The decisions homeowners like Cheryl make to take on debt are necessary to fund the costs of repair work.

But the logic of the housing market may mean homeowners do not get returns on their investments, particularly because of the racism undergirding assessment of properties in many neighborhoods of color. As scholars Elizabeth KorverGlenn and Junia Howell show, homes in Black neighborhoods like Englewood around the country are over-assessed and undervalued.

Common wisdom holds that improvements and investments in property pay off in the long term, but neighborhood location outweighs property condition in property appraisals.

As such, land values can cancel out any effect that repairs might have on a property, meaning that homeowners in low-valued neighborhoods may not recoup the money they invest into their homes.

Maintenance work often makes homes safer and more pleasant places to live, but should we really expect homeowners to spend money on their homes for repairs, if we cannot guarantee they have a pathway out of debt because their neighborhoods are earmarked by racist reputations and appraisals? Or does the government-backed housing market have a responsibility to step in?

Cities like Chicago do set aside funds to cover costs of emergency repairs of roofs and porches for lowincome homeowners. My research team interviewed homeowners who had

applied for the program and saw firsthand that the repair work they provide is critical.

Unfortunately, help from the City is often too little, too late. In fact, Cheryl was selected in Chicago’s emergency repair lottery. The City repaired her roof at no cost. But this is just not enough— she’s still paying off the credit card debt for her basement.

The city’s Department of Housing is inundated with applications for the emergency repair program and there are not enough resources to go around.

We need to expand these programs and allocate more funds: homes should not need to be in a state of emergency to get the attention of local governments.

Providing adequate resources for repairs could also help to prevent developers and others profiting from

HOUSING dilapidation. Property in disrepair is frequently used as justification for demolition or redevelopment, from which existing homeowners are not guaranteed to benefit while developers and others profit.

But, until code enforcement goes hand in hand with widespread subsidies for fixing up buildings, we have little hope of effectively ensuring safe and decent housing or protecting our most vulnerable residents.Robin Bartram is a sociology professor at Tulane University and author of the upcoming book Stacked Decks: Building Inspectors and the Reproduction of Urban Inequality, which will be published this August (it can be ordered from the University of Chicago Press).

Stoopin’ with Lloyd Brodnax King

A Twitter project turned book chronicles the gentrifying Bronzeville of the 2010s

BY BENJAMIN GINZKY

S

toopin’ with Lloyd Brodnax King on a mild Monday in May, his Bronzeville block of gingerbread houses seems bucolic and secluded.

Sitting on his porch, his curly gray hair perpetually held up by a bandana, King showed me the vistas of Berkeley Avenue and 41st Place, streets that once played host to the action-packed scenes from his book Stoopin: A Bronzeville Twitter Project.

Stoopin is an assemblage of tweets King, a teacher, musician, and multimedia artist, wrote from 2010–2017. They depict slices of life on a rapidly gentrifying block. Often these vignettes are urban curiosities and feats of skill or wit: 6/19/11 Stoopin. Man walks pit bull off leash, holds a 40 in a paper bag. Dog runs ahead. Chases cat. Man follows. Bad dog!

BAD! Grabs pit bull without spilling a drop. Carries both home.

Looking around, I have to ask “ubi sunt,” or “where are they now,” about the heroes of King’s book. Just as I am hearing

about Bogdan and the gut renovations, the suit served on Willie after Babs moved, a man in a loud kente cloth coat comes up that quiet street.

“Well, this is Lionel, who was here during the Stoopin years, grew up here,” King said. “What’s up, Brother El?” Lionel and King barter over candy, coffee beans, and homemade hummus.

Lionel, it’s explained, is one of the few young people from the Stoopin years still around the neighborhood. Invitations are exchanged: Brother El has an upcoming “Sandbox Symphony” at Oak Street Beach, and King is once again planning a Juneteenth block party and concert.

Street life continues, despite my initial impression.

The book was published in 2022

by It Came From Beyond Pulp, a small sci-fi and fantasy book press run out of a basement in Hyde Park, with illustrations by local comics artist Daimon Hampton.

Assembled by editor and publisher Mike Phillips, it is a little “Iliad” (or “Omeros”) of an intersection in Bronzeville. King’s tweets (now verses of

STOOPIN

A BRONZEVILLE

TWITTER PROJECT by

LLOYD BRODNAX KING Illustrated by

DAIMON HAMPTON JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15

MUSIC this narrative poem) capture the moments of ambiguity between beauty and terror, between violence and joy, giving glimpses of what life meant at a certain place and time with densely packed intensity.

King’s watchword in his various projects is the search for the “beautiful, shocking, and awe-inspiring.”

Sometimes the images are mysterious: 7/19/10 Stoopin. Kids find a zebra-striped suitcase. Zip a kid in, all but his arm.

Screams. Let him out. But it’s fun.

Count to 10, then let him out. Next?

7/19/10 Stoopin. Kids zooming down 41st with a zebra-striped suitcase in tow. A muffled scream comes from inside.

7/20/10 Stoopin. The zooming suitcase stops.

10... 9... 8... unzips. Kid is freed.

Dazed. Will he ever be the same?

Violence

is

often

ambiguously

suggested by children’s play, as when some kids grabbed “weapons” (sticks).

But they are soon seen marching home, “heads hung against the weather... We was gettin tough, then it started raining.”

And it is conjured or averted in the stupid games of adults as well: 12/11/11 Stoopin. Argument escalates. Big dude takes off shirt. Let’s box! Small dude pulls down pants and waves cock.

Aw man, put that back! Fight over.

The book records heroes of old, most vivid in the saga of D’Angelo, a “church boy with a mohawk.” Most dramatically, he emerges as a protector, when one day (while stoopin’, of course) King saw: Junior thugs beating down a kid.

D’Angelo, babysitting, leaves his charges and rescues the kid. Thugs turn on D, who grabs his toddlers, one in each arm, and splits!

D’Angelo returns with “a chain wrapped around his hand,” but soon becomes the victim of police attention.

Cops begin to taunt him; one does a “sissy walk.” But King, stoopin’, perceives

that here “D is Shane. Or Milk.” King told me that D’Angelo eventually went to Lincoln University, an HBCU in Missouri, to study forensic science, but was shot and killed in 2018 under unclear circumstances.

King’s house occupies a perch on a T-shaped intersection, with a sight line down Berkeley toward the busier 43rd Street, as well as views of the lakefront and Lake Park Avenue. There are parks both ways, an alley and stoops or decks on three sides of King’s house, making the whole thing a complex deer stand for urban reality, or “the action,” as King calls it.

From his rear deck you can see the old Kenwood rail tracks, the blue pedestrian bridge at 41st Street, and the lake. On the other side, a porch floats amid the abstract wooden sculptures of the Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art, which the late Milton Mizenberg carved with a chainsaw to invest the immediate neighborhood with visible cultural wealth and give a boost to the block during tough times.

“This sculpture is dedicated to the

men and women who remained in the Oakland community during difficult times and worked hard to restore its former beauty,” an inscription on one sculpture reads. King, also a musician, used to jam with his neighbor Mizenberg, and found out eventually that the city considered one of the lots making up the museum part of King’s property. He has since become a custodian for some of the pieces.

King has the requisite sense of utopia and urban engineering. He mused about his childhood fascination with the sci-fi domes of space age designer and futurist Buckminster Fuller when I said I was from Carbondale, where Fuller lived and worked. This patch of the South Side could be viewed as an experimental utopian operation itself.

The block was designed by architect and builder Cicero Hine in the 1880s and attracted elites of Chicago’s business and legal communities. Now, in the pandemic, King has built a stage on the north side of the house, overlooking Mizenberg’s sculptures. It served as practice rental space for bands who could not get

CHOIR BOY NOW THROUGH JULY 24

By ensemble member Tarell

Alvin McCraney Gash

Directed by Kent

Threaded throughout with soul-stirring a cappella gospel hymns, Choir Boy is the story of a young gay Black man and his battle between identity and community.

Tickets, show and discount info at steppenwolf.org | 312-335-1650

16 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

2021/22 GRAND BENEFACTORS

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

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MUSIC

LLOYD BRODNAX KING, STOOPIN’ ON HIS OAKLAND FRONT PORCH ON A NOT-VERY-SUNNY BUT NOT-VERY-CLOUDY, NOT-VERY-WARM BUT NOT-VERY-COOL MAY DAY IN 2022. PHOTO BY BENJAMIN GINZKY

together indoors pre-vaccine, and was the mainstage for his Juneteenth block party.

King described the vibe of his block’s summer gathering in a nearby vacant lot as a Sesame Street. “It’s so interracial and everyone brings a quart of...something.”

Though he plays an active role in the life of his neighborhood, in Stoopin, King is a narrator whose character only comes through in his observations of others, 7/30/10 Stoopin. Holy shit. A motorcycle gang in front of realtor John’s. Leather and studs. Turquoise gas tank. John in a black bandana flashes the peace sign. what he notices around him,

5/14/11 Stoopin. Ofrenda for the kid who was shot in the head last week. Candles.

Flowers. Teddy bears. Scrawled: RIP

Tim, love A-L. Box of Thin Mints.and what he brings out in the interactions he records.

6/20/11 Stoopin. Mercedes. Cruising. Slowly.

Is that an 11-year-old driving? Kid blushes. Man in passenger seat says, gotta teach him how.

There is a rich tradition of this kind of urban bard and, in fact, King said that Chicago’s immortal storyteller and broadcaster Studs Terkel taught him how to make a vodka martini as a kid.

This Studsian approach was carried through King’s projects in radio and music education. King said his parents were Marxists, or at least his father was enough of a Black nationalist that he would support “the devil if he was going to do something for Black people,” which at the time meant the Communist Party.

This left King with a sense of wanting to control the “means of production,” which for him have been the technologies and practices of music, radio, and sound.

His path from musician to scribe (he was trained on jazz flute) led him to becoming an early adopter of the podcast.

In 2007, King was a relatively successful performer gigging weddings and bar mitzvahs and thought he could take his extensive knowledge of music production into the podcast world.

So he did. He began a project called The Obscure News, which featured slice-of-life interviews he conducted in unconventional places, trying to let individuals shine in a light that balanced everyman universality and off-the-wall unpredictability.

The program was ahead of its time in terms of production value, creative editing, and mastery of the audio format for a podcast. “I know sound,” King said. This led to his being brought on as content director for Vocalo, Chicago Public Media’s urban alternative radio.

Despite King’s being a self-described luddite, attached to old analog technology like bikes and radio, the #Stoopin project emerged on Twitter in the summer of 2010. He had learned to use the platform during his time at Vocalo, and when he and his wife first moved to Bronzeville, they made an end-of-day ritual of cocktails on the front porch while she did the New York Times crossword. This left him free to apply the observational style of The Obscure News on a new platform.

From King’s back deck, we can see the Williams-Davis Park, formerly known as Park No. 532: 9/29/11 Stoopin.

Park 532 naming controversy continues. Dead Scrappy Activist’s people vs. Dead Super PTA Mom. Activist’s folks tell moving stories.

PTA Mom’s folks say, If we don’t win, we’ll sue.

Eventually it got the hyphenated name. Also visible is the berm of the former Kenwood train line, soon to be a 606-style walking trail for the South Side. Neighborhood change was apparent in the book. At the start, there’s some resistance:

8/29/11 Stoopin. Bloods move out. Neighbors relieved. Rehabbers come. Drywall. Nice doors. Security cams. Bloods return!

What, they couldn’t flip it?

When he first moved to the neighborhood, King was told his house was apparently a drug den in the nineties.

His bandmate’s car’s radiator was once riddled with bullets during a practice. The week King moved to the block, he opened the door to receive a pizza delivery and saw a shooting and police foot chase.

King and his wife moved to Bronzeville when she quit her job as dean at a north suburban college. When she planned to quit her job, King said he told her, “Okay, honey, but if you quit, we are moving to the city. And we are moving to an all-Black neighborhood, where racism is going to get us a lake view.”

Toward the end of Stoopin, a “perky flipper” who doesn’t even know she’s in Oakland becomes a recurring character.

The Black cowboys of Chicago’s Broken Arrow Horseback Riding Club, founded thirty years ago by a South Sider known only as Murdock, also emerge. The cowboys, more recently in the spotlight since the summer of Old Town Road and protests throughout 2020, show up as a defensive brigade on the day of Trump’s inauguration, evocatively drawn by illustrator Hampton. The era of Stoopin’s denouement and the transition from the lost recent past to our present day is also heralded by the arrival of U-Hauls and joggers in Lululemon traversing the block.

Now, things have moved on, but King’s book stands as a testament to what came before, a witty lament.

Maybe if I had to create a #Stoopin tweet to narrate my own visit, it would go: #Stoopin. Hyde Park white boy rolls up to see the scene. He doesn’t know, the scene’s been scawn.

Lloyd Brodnax King, Stoopin: A Bronzeville Twitter Project. $13. It Came From Beyond Pulp.

27 pages.This story is co-published with the Hyde Park Herald.

JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 17

MUSIC

C

eno, born Maurice Larry in North Lawndale, has been a Chicago music legend since 2013. By then, he was one of the originators of a whole new Chicago music genre: bop music.

Alongside Lil Trav (Delon Sneed) in the group Sicko Mobb, Ceno helped forge a new sound that combined fast, almost footwork-like tempos, high-pitched synthesizers, and endlessly replayable melodies to create some of the best party music ever invented. But Ceno doesn’t want to talk about any of that. He only wants to look to the future, and justifiably so. Ceno is still making great rap music, such as the recent singles “Trench Babies” and “From the Raq,” which reflect on struggling through poverty and violence while growing up in Chicago, with lines like “coming out that jungle, all my n****s had to hustle / remember days I couldn’t sleep, my stomach royal rumble” and “I’m tryna make it so lil sis don’t grow up in these streets / its like you can’t get on Facebook without no Rest In Peace.”

Ceno’s also got plans to release multiple tapes this summer. He agreed to a conversation with the Weekly to talk about the new music and his plans for 2022 and beyond.

Would you rather talk a little bit about Sicko Mobb or would you rather talk about the new stuff that you’ve been doing and what you’ve got for this year?

I’d really rather talk about the new stuff cause the Sicko Mobb stuff…that shit like ten years ago so I ain’t really trying to dwell on the past. I got a lot of new music and shit finna drop though.

Ceno Still Bringing People Together, Solo

That’s fair. Two of my favorite [newer] songs…are “Goin Insane” and then “Trench Babies.”

Good lookin bro. That’s what’s up.

The former Sicko Mobb member and Chicago rapper on his new solo music and collaborating with others.

BY BOBBY VANECKO

18 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

COURTESY OF RICK DAWG

I’ve seen the couple videos you’ve released in the past couple of months [for songs like From the Raq, In My Bag, and Know Dat]. Those have been great. So are you planning a new tape or anything for this year? What are your plans for this year?

MUSIC Yeah, I’ma drop like two more tapes. I’ma prolly drop one in like July or August.

That’s exciting. Are there any like producers or people that you’re excited to be working with for that?

Yeah. Pronto of Pronto?

Spazzout…you

heard

Oh yeah, I’ve heard of him. He’s great.

Yeah Pronto Spazzout, you heard of JR007 [from] TrenchMobb?

Yeah, for sure.

We got a song, we’re going to drop the shit. We’re gonna shoot the video on

Not right now that I know of. I got like two upcoming shows but ain’t nothing been confirmed yet so I don’t even want to put that out there.

Okay. I’m excited for the new music.

Can you explain a little more like what you mean though, just by trying to bring people together and stuff ?

Like, how Chicago is…it’s fucked up. A lot of people don’t like working together because everybody from different areas and different hoods or whatever. So I feel like I got mutual respect to a lot of people. So I just really just be trying to put certain people on tracks together and just bring all this shit together because

“For all my fans looking for me, tell them it is no longer…Sicko Mobb is not a group no more. We don’t kick it. For the people that was wondering, we don’t talk, none of that shit. We both solo.”

Monday. I’m finna drop a song with bro ’nem. I got some shit coming with 10k Kobee, you familiar with him?

Yeah, 10k, for sure.

Yeah, I’m just working right now. This new project, you know, I’m just trying to bring the city together on some shit.

That’s awesome. That’s really important to bring different people together and show it can be done, for sure. So I know you’re from the West Side, from North Lawndale, are you still living out there or where are you located now?

Nah, I don’t live over there no more, but, you know, I still rotate through the city.

Yeah, for sure. Are there any shows that you’re going to be playing in the city or anything?

Yeah, from the police? Hell yeah. I’m fighting a case right now cause they know my face. So like no matter, any time I get pulled over, no matter what area I’m in, I don’t gotta be in my area, the police see me, they already know me because of the music shit. That shit definitely draws a lot of attention.

Yeah. That’s where I’ve been dropping a lot of new music that I’ve been doing. I’m finna start dropping a lot more music on there though. It’s a brand new YouTube.

Okay, awesome. Sounds good. I just subscribed.

“A lot of people don’t like working together because everybody from different areas and different hoods or whatever…I’m just trying to play my part and just bring certain people together on tracks that I think will sound good.”

That’s horrible… I’m not a fan of CPD either. I work for, actually, First Defense Legal Aid, which is a civil rights legal aid place where we just sue CPD all the time. So if you ever think your rights have been violated…

a lot of people look at me like a legend in Chicago music, so…I’m just trying to play my part and just bring certain people together on tracks that I think will sound good. Just so our city…like certain [people], I feel more comfortable bringing people together on tracks. A lot of people be selfish and just like…I won’t even call them selfish, because it’s just like a lot of people, how the city is, people can’t really kick it with each other like that.

Too much going on. You’ll get caught up in some other shit that you ain’t really got nothing to do with it, fucking with the wrong people.

Yeah, I need to sue they ass right now!

I had another article in South Side Weekly where I was talking with this professor Forrest Stuart and he wrote this book on rap music in Chicago and how it gets policed really heavily.

As a rapper, do you get extra attention from police?

What’s the YouTube?

Well…that’s a separate conversation.

We can have that conversation. But is there anything else that you wanna discuss or that I didn’t cover?

I got a new Instagram. My instagram been hacked, so I got a new Instagram. @cenoselfmade1. For all my fans looking for me, tell them it is no longer…Sicko Mobb is not a group no more. We don’t kick it. For the people that was wondering, we don’t talk, none of that shit. We both solo.

And for anybody looking up my new music, tell they ass don’t type Sicko Mobb at all, like, no affiliation…Type Ceno, that’s it.

For sure, I respect that. I’m just a big fan of both [Sicko Mobb and Ceno]. So yeah, like you are definitely a Chicago legend, so I appreciate your time, and I appreciate you speaking [with me].

Alright, bet. Thanks a lot bro, thanks for your time too. You can check out Ceno’s upcoming music on his Youtube, Ceno Bugass, and updates from his Instagram which can be found at @ cenoselfmade1.

Bobby Vanecko is a contributor to the Weekly.

He last wrote about finding the connections between Chicago bop music and today’s hyperpop music.

I just got a new YouTube, [it’s] Ceno Bugass.

Okay. Got it. And that’s where you’ll be dropping stuff ?

JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 19

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HEALTH

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Our thoughts in exchange for yours.

he 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.

THIS WEEK'S PROMPT: “WRITE A PIECE SHOWING GRATITUDE TO WHATEVER ASPECT OF LIFE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY TO BE HERE.” THIS COULD BE A POEM 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.

This section publishes creative writing submissions from the public that do not necessarily reflect the views of the Weekly or its editors.

The Bright Side

BY CHIMA “NAIRA” IKORO One time—or every time, whichever time— I was rushing to get out of the house, I hesitated for a split second, considered bringing a jacket, and decided not to.

Later as I ate lunch with my sister, or walked through the park with my friends, or traveled from parking spot to destination I discovered it’s much too cool for comfort in the shade and I was cold.

Not cold enough to complain, just chilly, the kind that forced me to rub my arms as if to comfort them, and I kept moving.

At some point, there is a break in the building, or a gap between the trees—a sunny spot

that made the sidewalk hot.

The warmth illuminated the standing hairs on my arms and told them to rest and I lingered there, finally warm. So grateful for the break from shivering, I almost forgot I was even cold.

As I move on, reintroducing myself to the cool breeze, my shivering and I come to an understanding.

Even though I had to part ways with this slice of heaven, I return from the shade with new knowledge; It is cold right now, but the sun is somewhere back there behind the trees, and, if given the chance, Warmth is a guarantee, eventually.

JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 21

BULLETIN Free Summer Lunch!

A CPS school near you, Through August 12, 10:00am–12:00pm. Free.

Chicago Public Schools summer lunch program started this week. You do not need to be a CPS student to be eligible.

All children under 18 years old can eat on weekdays at one of the dozens of schools across the city. To find the closest site, text FOODIL to 877877 or visit cps.edu/mealsites. The program runs until the week before Back to School. ( Jackie Serrato)

Chicago Black Pride

DuSable Museum of African-American History, 740 E 56th Pl. Friday, July 1, 6:00pm–11:30pm. Free. pridesouthside.org The annual festival will take place over three days during the July 4 weekend.

Not all details have been finalized, but on July 2, a party featuring performers such as DJ Zolita and DJ Dapper, as well as vendors and a sponsored bar will take place at the DuSable Museum.

Check the website for more parties and events taking place that weekend. (Adam Przybyl)

Big Marsh Madness Race Training Series

how to race mountain bikes. Helmets are required and those 17 and under must have a parent/guardian signed event waiver. There are sections for different ages and experience levels, starting at 5:45pm for those who are just learning to race. 6:15 is for Juniors (15-18) and Youth (9-14), 6:40 is for beginners, 7:10 for intermediate, and 7:45 for experts.

Expert and intermediate costs $15, everyone else can attend for free. Next dates are June 1, June 15, June 29, July 13, and July 27. Races will take place after training. (Adam Przybyl)

Fiesta del Sol 50th Anniversary

1000-1600 W Cermak Rd. Thursday, July 28-Sunday, July 31, Free. fiestadelsol.org Dubbed "the largest Latino festival of its kind in the country," this will be the 50th anniversary of Fiesta del Sol, taking place from July 28 to 31. It will take up several blocks along Cermak Road and feature music, carnival rides, dancing, and more. There will also be a lot of food, everything from tacos and pambazos to enchiladas and elotes. Those who want access to unlimited carnival rides can buy a megapass ahead of the festival for $60.

(Adam Przybyl)

EDUCATION

Big Marsh Park, 11559 S. Stony Island Ave. Wednesday, July 13, 5:45pm. $0-15. instagram.com/bigmarshchicago/

Museum Discounts for Link and WIC Card Holders

Friends of Big Marsh's new Wednesday night series will help bikers of all ages and experience levels learn and train

Through Museums for All, a national program, people receiving food assistance can gain free or reduced

22 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 30, 2022

Free - $3. museums4all.org

admission to a list of museums in Chicago and throughout the country simply by presenting their SNAP EBT or WIC card. Admission ranges from free to $3.00 per family, depending on the museum. Some participating local museums are the Adler Planetarium, the Art Institute, the Field Museum, the Botanic Garden, Shedd Aquarium, the DuSable Museum, and the Museum of Science and Industry. ( Jackie Serrato)

Inaugural Words of Wonder Literary Festival

Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center, 10201 S Cottage Grove Ave. Saturday, July 30, 11:00am–5:00pm. Free. bit. ly/3Ovvdbn Designed with readers and writers of all ages in mind, the W.O.W. (Words of Wonder) literary festival will feature "interactive literacy and art programming, opportunities for youth and families to connect with community resources, animated storytelling by Black authors and illustrators, a diverse group of book vendors and installations for all ages, story-based dance, interactive writing workshops, Indigenous and African styled drumming" as well as live music, food, giveaways, and more. This year's author headliner is Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming, Miracle's Boys, After Tupac and D Foster, and the illustration workshops will be taught by E.B. Lewis.

Event organized by Burst Into Books.

Free but register in advance online.

(Adam Przybyl)

FOOD & LAND

ILLUSTRATION BY THUMY PHAN

Wooded Island Bird Walk

Wooded Island, Stony Island Ave and 59th St. Saturday, July 2, 8:00am. Free.

Weekly, every Saturday, year round, weather permitting. The Walks are free and open to one and all. Newcomers are warmly welcomed. Please wear masks if you have not been fully vaccinated and respect everyone’s physical distance.

Bring binoculars, field guides, and dress for the weather. The walks cover a distance of two miles, walking through Wooded Island and Bobolink Meadow.

In the winter the group also drives to the Outer Harbor near La Rabida Hospital to check the lakefront and the harbor for wintering ducks. Meet on the west side of the Columbia Basin (north lagoon) at 8am. Park on Stony Island, near 59th street, walk east across the parkland area, then cross Cornell Drive to reach the spot. (Kate Gallagher)

Plant Sale at Garfield Conservatory

Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N Central Park Ave. Saturday, July 9, 10:00am–12:00pm. Free to attend. garfieldconservatory.org/event/plant-sale/ Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance is raising money to renovate the indoor Elizabeth Morse Genius Children’s Garden and have potted up noncollection plants ahead of construction this summer. They're inviting people to "take a piece of the garden home" and support the Conservatory. Plants will range in size from 4" to 7-gallon pots, and include cast iron plants, crotons,

walking irises, elephant ears, calatheas, and spider plants, among others. The sale will happen rain or shine in the Sensory Garden, just south of the main entrance.

GPCA members get a 10% discount with their member card. If you want to visit the Conservatory before or after the sale, make sure to register online. (Adam Przybyl)

ARTS Origami Open House

Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N Central Ave. Saturday, July 9, 12:00pm– 3:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3u9scW8 Every second Saturday of the month, the Chicago Area Origami Society presents a free Origami Open House for kids and adults of all experience levels. Attendees can turn ordinary pieces of paper into dinosaurs, flowers, decorative boxes, and more. The event is free and registration is not required. (Adam Przybyl)

D-Composed at Kenwood Gardens

Kenwood Gardens, 6929 S Kenwood Ave. Saturday, July 9, 6:00pm–8:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3nlnUqP The Rebuild Foundation is launching a free concert series at Kenwood Gardens starting with the Black chamber music collective D-Composed. They will create a "soundscape" that centers the contributions of Black women to music and include a meditation led by Asia Jones of Trap Yoga and conclude with a talk by Sista Afya Founder Camesha L. Jones about "integrating Black music into mental wellness care for Black women." The Kenwood Gardens are in a recently reclaimed space and are filled with native flora and fauna. Concerts are free and attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and clothes for chilly evenings. (Adam Przybyl)

Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour Various locations, Friday, July 15, 6:00pm–9:00pm. Free. bit.

ly/2022bronzevillearttour Taking place every third Friday of the month, take a hop on a double-decker bus and tour five Bronzeville art galleries and spaces. The tour will visit Blanc Gallery, Bronzeville Artist Lofts, Gallery Guichard, Faie Afrikan Art, and South Side Community Art Center. Register online for more information. Next tour date is June 17, followed by July 15, August 19, and September 16. (Adam Przybyl)

An Evening of Intergenerational Jazz with Theopilus Reed

Schulz Auditorium, Galvin Tower, Illinois Tech, 10 W 35th St. Saturday, July 16, 7:00pm–9:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3u51qOr Veteran vocalist, pianist, composer and arranger Theophilus Reed will be joined by special guest Thaddeus Tukes, a vibraphonist, composer, arranger and bandleader, in an evening of jazz that "blends traditional jazz standards with the modern rise and fall of chords that end with freer improvisation." The concert is at Schulz Auditorium in the Michael Paul Galvin Tower at Illinois Tech. Parking is available in the visitor lot on State St between 33rd and 35th streets. Masking is required during the concert. Register online. (Adam Przybyl)

Music Under Glass with Shawnee Dez

Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N Central Park Ave. Wednesday, July 20, 6:00pm–7:00pm. bit.ly/3u4akMs As part of Garfield Park Conservatory's Music Under Glass series, Shawnee Dez will be performing Moody Umbra: There’s Solace in the Shadows, a work that "explores the unconscious mind as a means of piecing together the true memories, repressed desires and unspoken secrets which make us whole." Get ready for active listening, as attendees will be asked to reflect on "fragments of themselves that may be hidden or repressed," an experience

that is sure to get interesting while surrounded by green ferns and fragrant flowers. You must buy tickets ahead of time via the website. Contact Mattie Wilson at mwilson@garfieldpark.org at least 72 hours before the concert if you need any accommodations. (Adam Przybyl)

House of Sol

to 8:45pm; on Friday and Saturday from 11am-9:45pm, and on Sunday from 11am-9pm. (Adam Przybyl)

SCAN TO READ ONLINE

1400 W Cermak Rd. Thursday, July 28-Sunday, July 31, 5:00pm–9:00pm.

Free. fiestadelsol.org/2022/06/hos/ The 16th annual House of Sol will take place over four days in conjunction with Fiesta del Sol. It is a live DJ event that is free and for all ages, and like the Fiesta, is a non-alcohol and non-smoking event. Over two dozen DJs will play sets, including DJ Alfred, Adonis Childs, DJ Gant-Man, Butler, Curator Kitty. On

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Thursday July 28, sets will start at 5pm

JUNE 30, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 23