April 6 - 12, 2020

April 6 - 12, 2020 Vol. 28 No. 14

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Supporting your vendor and StreetWise as we navigate the COVID-19 outbreak - A letter from StreetWise's CEO Our team at StreetWise and our vendors are monitoring the news of closures, supply shortages and the rise of telecommuting as it impacts our services and their livelihood.

With fewer people leaving their homes to purchase magazines, vendors in housing will struggle to make rent and will face eviction, while those on the streets will be unable to meet their basic needs. We need your help to continue to support our hardworking StreetWise vendors who rely on the sale of StreetWise Magazine.

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Stay healthy and safe, Julie Youngquist CEO

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SportsWise

The SportsWise team remembers their visit to the Women's NCAA Big East tournament with DePaul.

Arts & (Home) Entertainment

As all Chicago events and gatherings are cancelled until further notice, we are replacing our usual calendar with recommendations from StreetWise vendors, readers and staff to keep yourself entertained at home!

Cover Story: Margaret Atwood

Since becoming a TV smash, Booker Prize-winner Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has garnered a massive following, even greater than that which grew out of popularity of the source novel. After she released its follow-up, The Testaments, we look at the cult of Gilead, how the Canadian writer’s stature has grown in recent years, and how her writing has frighteningly reflected social and political events.

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In addition, Atwood reflects on her introduction to writing, teenage anxieties and the memory she'd love to revisit.

From the Streets

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The Playground

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Chicago organizations, nonprofits and neighbors work to find support and funding during the coronavirus pandemic. Also, the American Hotel and Lodging Association launches the "No Room for Trafficking" campaign, which trains employees about the signs of human trafficking and what to do when they believe someone is a victim of it.

ON THE COVER: The Handmaid's Tale promotional image provided by Hulu.

THIS PAGE: Author Margaret Atwood waves as she reads an excerrpt during the launch of her new novel "The Testaments" at a book store in London, Sept. 9, 2019.

(REUTERS / Dylan Martinez photo.)

Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher

dhamilton@streetwise.org

Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief

suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com

Amanda Jones, Director of programs

ajones@streetwise.org

Julie Youngquist, CEO

jyoungquist@streetwise.org

Office: 2009 S. State St., Chicago, IL 60616

StreetWiseChicago @StreetWise_CHI LEARN MORE AT streetwise.org

Vendors Russ Adams and Donald Morris chat about the world of sports.

Women's NCAA DePaul Big East

Donald: Welcome to the latest edition of SportsWise, everybody. This week, we will be talking about the Women’s Big East basketball tournament. Particularly, we will be discussing DePaul and their third straight conference title.

Russell and I had the chance to attend the tournament and take in some spectacular basketball.

Donald: Held was locked in for sure. She was Michael Jordan for the Blue Demons out there. Not only did she show us some outstanding shooting and ball handling skills, but she displayed some dominant defense as well. The difference between DePaul and

Marquette in that championship was that DePaul was on fire from the first second of the tournament to the last.

It’s easy to say that Held was the spark to that fire, but I also want to shout out Sonya Morris. Morris is an auxiliary player who makes a difference with her presence and assists, who I think goes underappreciated.

Russell: They were on fire for sure. In fact, it was the first time in Big East history that the same two teams squared off in the championship game. After this game, DePaul has won the last three tournaments. That is simply domination. I had such a great time watching these athletes demonstrate what

makes them great. It was a great time this weekend and I wsa looking forward to even more basketball excitement as March rolled in.

Donald: I really enjoyed it. It was a great time and I would love to do it again. Women’s NCAA is good if you’re looking for high quality basketball. Looking ahead, it's sad that the NCAA canceled March Madness this year for both men and women.

If these Big East games we were lucky enough to attend are any indication, this would have been a fun year for college basketball as a whole.

Until next time, this has been Donald and Russell with SportsWise.

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SPORTSWISE

Russell: You said it, Donald. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made it possible for us to see these games in person. If you don’t watch Women’s NCAA basketball, you absolutely must start. The atmosphere was so great, it really made us feel like a part of the whole thing. On top of that, those players were

amazing. DePaul looked like they were playing angry out there. Marquette beat them badly not too long ago, but the Blue Demons came out prepared in the championship, making sure not to lose again. DePaul went off from beyond the arc for 14 threepointers. One player, Lexi Held, was really in the zone.

She scored a career-high 31 points in 32 minutes! What are your thoughts, Donald?

memories

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ARTS & (HOME) ENTERTAINMENT Since we are stuck inside, which shows have you been watching? Which movies?

Have you read any good books lately? Any new music releases have you dancing in your living room? StreetWise vendors, readers, and staff are sharing what is occupying their attention during this unprecedented time.

RE-WATCH THIS .

To be featured in a future edition, send your recommendations and why you love them to Creative Director / Publisher Dave Hamilton at dhamilton@streetwise.org

WATCH THIS

(HOME) ENTERTAINMENT

Avengers: Endgame W hen Marvel’s Iron-Man hit the theaters in 2008, Donald wasted no time getting his ticket. He watched more than 20 movies showing the journeys of each Avenger. Finally, his perseverance paid off. On April 26, 2019, Avengers: Endgame premiered in theaters, and Donald had his ticket in hand. After waiting 11 years for cinematic closure and more than 50 years to see his comics come to life, Donald refused to wait a second longer. In the first two weeks since the film’s release, he saw it three times. "Thanos was about doing it his way and to hell with everybody else. The same as Hitler: you’re going to do it my way or I’m going to wipe your country off the face of this Earth.

This is the reality: World War. I’m glad Marvel told the story. I’m sorry to say it, but this is the kind of attitude I bet the next dictator we see will have." "Avengers: Endgame" is now streaming on Disney+ and available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime, Vudu, YouTube and more from $2.99.

- Recommended by Donald Morris, StreetWise vendor

Aladdin (2019) "Calling all Disney fans - have you seen all the live actions on Disney Plus? You could watch them for days. One of my absolute favorites was Aladdin. I may be a little biased, because that movie was my favorite when I was a kid, but I think they did a phenomenal job recreating it. Will Smith added so much life and vitality to the film, and the colorful animation style was captivating and magical. Naomi Scott (Jasmine) and Mena Massoud (Aladdin) both do great work acting and singing, and don’t disappoint in their roles. Movie makers were able to preserve the things we all love about this story while also adding more things audiences can fall in love with. This is a great family-friendly movie to watch when you’re all stuck in the house together! Plus, since you have more time on your hands, the 1992 version is also on Disney Plus, so you can compare and remember why you loved the story years ago!" "Aladdin" is now streaming on Disney+ and available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime, Vudu, YouTube and more from $2.99.

- Recommended by Rachel Koertner, StreetWise editorial intern

BINGE THIS

Tiger King "A friend told me about Tiger King and all I heard was multiple cat prints and I was in! Little did I know what was in store for me. The true crime show is mostly about Joe Exotic who is a sequin-laden, tattooed eyeliner-wearing, multiple husbandhaving, gun-toting politician, country music-performing, large cat owner who is in a long-standing fight with an animal rights activist whom he (and others) suspect killed her own husband. The show is filled with ridiculous energy that has caught on like wildfire over quarantiners everywhere. It is full of twists and turns, and you don't know who to root for. It is full of manipulation, money, sex, greed, tigers and expired meat from Walmart. I love watching the show because there isn't a shot that doesn’t have a cat print in it or a full cat stuffed animal. It's reality, it's murder, it's crime, it's documentary, it is the correct amount of turning your brain off at the moment. The story is a mess and jumps all over the place and the characters you meet throughout are full of ridiculousness, and it is all in one show! You have surely never seen anything like this before. My friend Jeff summed it up nicely: 'W hen a one-armed lesbian is the most forgettable detail, you know you are watching greatness.'" Tiger King is now streaming on Netflix.

- Recommended by Alyssa Barton, StreetWise reader .

- Compiled by Dave Hamilton

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MARGARET ATWOOD

A LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF Interview by Jane Graham / The Big Issue UK / courtesy of www.INSP.ngo

I was 16 in November 1955, living in Canada. This was a time of Elvis Presley, rock ’n’ roll, circle skirts, penny loafers, formal school dances with strapless dresses – though I never went that far. In grade 12, it might surprise you to know, along with my partner Sally, I was our school’s entry in the Consumers’ Gas Miss Homemaker contest. We had to make a baked potato in a gas stove. And iron a shirt with a gas iron. We didn’t win but we got some very nice charm bracelets.

One thing I would advise my younger self would be to take secretarial studies to learn touch-typing. I still can’t type. Career advisers had a short list of possible careers for girls. Primary school teacher, nurse, airline stewardess and home economist, which meant something along the lines of a nutritionist or dressmaker. I didn’t want to do any of those things but looked at all the salaries, being a mercenary child, and home economists made the most. So I took those classes and learned how to fasten a zipper, but I never learned to type.

I would tell the 16-year-old Margaret to stop worrying about her hair. It is what it is and there’s nothing you can do. Ever. So just forget it. In reality, I didn’t reach that point of acceptance until I was about 30, after some untoward experiments.

Twiggy was a nightmare, I have to say.

If I met the 16-year-old me now I’d think, what planet did you come from? I was not the same as my cohorts. That’s because I grew up in the woods and I wasn’t too concerned about what other people thought. I didn’t grow up in a large extended family or a local community, worrying about what they all thought. I was quite sarcastic, full of smart talk and quips, making fun of things – my friends and I would probably be considered quite harsh these days, but we got that attitude from the movies.

I think some of my independent thinking came from my parents. My mother hadn’t followed the pattern either. She never told me there were things I couldn’t do because I was a girl. My parents weren’t happy about the writing idea because how was I going to make money? I considered being a journalist but my parents brought home a male journalist friend who told me I’d end up writing the ladies pages and obituaries. So they successfully diverted me from that course but not into science, which was where they wanted me to go.

"I'VE GOT TO STOP BEING A COMPULSIVE HELPAHOLIC."

I read a lot as a teenager but I did a lot of other things, too. I made my own clothes. I ran my own puppet show at school. We made the puppets and the stage, and we did all the voices. I was quite entrepreneurial; I made money doing that. We ended up having an agent and putting the shows on for children’s Christmas parties. I also wrote and sang in a home economics-based opera. And I was on the basketball team; you didn’t have to be as tall then. I was very participatory.

I became a more anxious teenager when the serious exams arrived. But not terribly so. I wasn’t that anxious about boys, there always seemed to be a plentiful supply. This was the stage of going steady, serial monogamy, and it was before the pill. So you didn’t have to worry about having sex because you weren’t going to have it. That was understood.

Sixteen was the age at which I started to write. My friend remembers me announcing this in the school cafeteria. She said to me later, you were so brave, saying you were going to be a writer right out loud. That’s because I didn’t know any better, but you weren’t supposed to say that. I don’t know where the inspiration came from. There were no role models.

I knew zero about it.

But I was reading Hemingway and Orwell and lots of science fiction, as well as 19th century classics at school. I went out and bought a book called "Writers’ Markets" – it told you where you could sell your writing, and that true romances made the most money. My plan was to write those to make money, and write my masterpieces in the evening. I was no good at first but I thought I was. So I kept going.

If I was to give the younger Margaret advice, I’d tell her to stop overloading her schedule with too many things. But I’ve been saying that for 50 years. And I’d tell her to do something about being a compulsive helpaholic. I need to find a way of not doing that because it eats up a lot of time. And you can’t help everybody in the world.

It would be hard for me to go back and show off to the young Margaret about my subsequent career. She wasn’t very easy to impress. If I told her about my success she’d say, sure, yeah, so you did it. Of all my novels she would probably like The Handmaid’s Tale best – she was reading Fahrenheit 451, 1984, dark sci-fi.

I’d tell the younger me, forget the melodrama, it’ll be okay. It gets better up until you’re 30. Then it gets even better after you’re 40. When I was 20 I didn’t know what the plot was going to be so I was full of anxieties – will I meet Mr. Right, will my career work out, will I be happy? By the time I got to 40 at least I knew about half of the plot. And you’re more likely to be listened to as a 40-year-old woman, if you’ve made any headway in your career, than you are in your 20s.

When you get to 76 there’s a whole load of people who have died, and who you never got to say everything you wanted to. By the time my parents died they weren’t really capable of those kind of conversations but I’d already had them earlier in our lives. Because you just never know.

If I could go back in time I might revisit one of our trips to the Arctic. It’s actually a fantastic place. We also lived in France for a while in 1991; maybe I’d go back and relive one of those very nice fall days. Or a summer in northern Canada, very beautiful. But what really gets me up in the morning is looking forward to what comes next. Too much time looking at the past, you’re in the rocking chair.

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MARGARET ATWOOD

Thirty-four years after its original publication, The Handmaid’s Tale continues to captivate readers around the world. Now, Margaret Atwood has released the long-awaited sequel to this best-selling novel, The Testaments.

A LOOK BACK AT THE HANDMAID’S TALE The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the near-future dystopian Republic of Gilead, where an extremist patriarchal religious group called the Sons of Jacob has taken control of the U.S. government and established a totalitarian theocracy. Under their rule, all women have been relegated to just a few specific roles within the new society. One such role, the Handmaids, are women who are used solely as reproductive vessels for high-ranking officers and their wives.

The novel follows the story of one handmaid, June/Offred, as she struggles to survive under the new extremist government and deliberates attempting to escape to outlying rebel territories that may have not yet fallen to the Sons of Jacob.

Spoiler alert The end of The Handmaid’s Tale leaves the reader trapped in ambiguity as Offred leaves the compound in a van, signalling that she has either been rescued or betrayed by her clandestine love interest, Nick Blaine.

End spoiler “I would really love to know what happens but I’m not sure we’re going to find that out,” says Munro Books’ Event Coordinator Jessica Paul. “The [new] book makes no mention of June/Offred at all, so it’s hard to know if we’ll actually get her story concluded or not in the future.”

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‘TERRIFYING AND EXHILARATING’ Though it is unclear whether readers will learn what became of Offred, we do know that the sequel will not keep pace with Hulu’s hit TV show based on Atwood’s classic. The show has already surpassed Atwood’s original material and The Testaments shows that Atwood is going in a different direction.

The Testaments centers on the accounts of three women still living in Gilead, 15 years after Atwood last left off in The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Testaments has won the Booker Prize for 2019, and its judges were some of the only people to have laid eyes on the new novel before it was released. The Booker judges released a statement to the press saying only that the book was “terrifying and exhilarating.”

THE NEW GUY FAWKES MASK The Testaments’ release could not have come at a more relevant time. The success of the television series, along with the turbulent global political climate, has seen the handmaid’s uniform taken up by political activists and feminist organizers around the world. The red cloak and white bonnet has appeared in protests in Argentina, Ireland, the United States and elsewhere, and has quickly become a cross-cultural symbol of resistance. An op-ed in Wired has even deemed the handmaid’s uniform “the Guy Fawkes mask of 2019.”

(The Guy Fawkes mask is an anti-establishment symbol that has recently become a recognizable trademark of the online hacktivist group Anonymous).

RETURN TO GILEAD

by Maddi Dellplain / MEGAPHONE / courtesy of www.INSP.ngo

From Left: The original cover of the American release of The Handmaid's Tale. The cover of The Testaments (Penguin Random House photos). Protesters hold a banner reading 'NO! Drive out TrumpPence Fascist Regime' during a July 23, 2018 protest outside the Union League in Philadelphia (Bastiaan Slabbers / Nurphoto photo). Elizabeth Moss in "The Handmaid's Tale" (Elly Dassas / Hulu photo).

The uniform was donned by pro-choice protesters in Ireland during the March 2018 referendum to overturn its eighth amendment, which granted equal rights to life to both mother and unborn child. A letter penned by Atwood was even read in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2017 by women’s rights protesters, also clad in the iconic cloak and bonnet.

Perhaps most notably, the handmaid’s uniform has appeared in countless protests in the United States in recent years. Activists in the U.S. have employed the handmaid’s uniform in opposition to now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanagh’s confirmation hearing, as well as in demonstrations in Alabama where earlier this year the state’s Senate passed Bill 25-6, which effectively outlawed access to abortion services state-wide and set the stage for a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.

“It was a bit like what happened to George Orwell’s 1984.

We are just in that particular phase of history where democracy is swinging back away from us and some of the progress we’ve seen is eroding, particularly in the U.S., where women’s access to abortion is very quickly being taken from us,” says Leslie Hurtig, artistic director at Vancouver Writers Festival. “[Atwood] worried about that and wrote about that a long time ago, [warning us] to never rest too much on our laurels because you never know when a new figure will be in power who will turn the tide. She speaks very well to that.”

In a discussion hosted by Twitter in Toronto last year, Atwood spoke on the political significance of The Handmaid’s Tale, saying, “You write a book like that hoping that it will not come true. ‘Here is a possible future. You are possibly heading towards it. Is that where you want to live?’

“I thought it would diminish, that it would become less true.

Instead it became more true.”

FROM CANADIAN LITERATURE TO A GLOBAL STAGE With more than 50 published works and counting, Atwood has long been hailed as a Canadian literary treasure. With a now global platform, many readers are hoping that, despite her growing fame, she will be able to stay true to the writing style they love.

“I just hope that she’s able to keep the same writing and the same voice that she had since the first book,” says Book Warehouse Manager Mary-Ann Yazedian. “I just wonder if she’s going to manage to really keep the characters the way that we really love them.”

Yazedian adds that, since the popularity of the TV show, she’s seen a notable uptick in customers coming in for Atwood’s novels.

With the increased international attention the series has brought to her writing, Paul hopes that Atwood’s fame will provide opportunities for more Canadian authors to be thrust into the global spotlight.

“I would hope that people who have been introduced to Canadian literature through [Atwood] would then look to others, because there’s so many fantastic Canadian writers. I think Canadian literature has its presence out there across the world now, but there’s still yet more to be discovered.”

According to Hurtig, this is likely far from the last we’ll hear from Atwood.

“I will be curious to know if this is her protest song, if this is her way of speaking out to a broad audience about what is going on right now,” says Hurtig. “She’s incredibly political, she’s incredibly passionate, and she always has been. She’s never been one to shy away from speaking up and sharing her thoughts, and I think this is more of that. She can’t help but keep writing. It’s who she is. She’s not one to retire.”

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Chicago organizations and neighbors navigate life during 'shelter in place' due to the coronavirus pandemic Three days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a “shelter in place” order mandating that Illinoisans stay home in order to help stem the coronavirus pandemic in Illinois, the Chicago Cultural Alliance was one of many agencies feeling the effect of reduced foot traffic.

emergency funding. It is vital that this next bill do more to protect those who need assistance most.”

The Chicago Cultural Alliance, which includes 40 cultural heritage centers, museums and historical societies, sent an email blast March 23 that said “the long term financial stability of these important community-based organizations is in question. Many are still providing resources to their communities such as elder care and food relief. Others are working diligently to engage their constituents who are home under the 'shelter at place' (SIC) ordinance. Continued engagement with their community is not only important to the stability of these organizations, but now more than ever Chicagoans need to be uplifted by cultural enrichment and immersed in an ethos of mutual respect, especially during these divisive times.”

• Accessible and affordable testing for the coronavirus, regardless of income, disability or immigration status;

FROM THE STREETS

The Chicago Cultural Alliance will likely delay its May 12 MOSAIC gala, which is not only a key community event for its members but also crucial to its financial survival. As a result, the email blast, signed by Elspeth Revere, interim executive director, and four other officials, urged people to donate to the new Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund, which was formed by the Chicago Community Trust, the City of Chicago and the United Way of Metro Chicago to support local non-profits. chicagocovid19responsefund.org

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As the COVID-19 Response Fund website notes, many people across the Chicago region will go without paychecks, which can affect their ability to pay rent and buy food. Donations to the response fund will help provide increased access to emergency food and basic supplies, rent and mortgage assistance, utility assistance, direct financial assistance for household supplies, and nonprofit safety and operations assistance.

Except for a small credit card processing fee, 100 percent of the donations will go directly to this general fund, whose list is expected to be published soon. Donor advised funds could work with their sponsors at the United Way.

JCPA urged the following principles in additional legislation:

• Assurance that people can take sick leave for themselves or to care for family members without risking their jobs or pay checks; • Assistance for low-income workers to provide for their families; • Special care for individuals at increased risk of infection, such as those in prison, in immigration detention or long-term care facilities, or who are homeless; • A focus on low-income and vulnerable communities ahead of major businesses and industries. “Such policies also have the strongest economic impact. Any bailouts and emergency assistance for major industries and businesses must be paired with comparable assistance for economically at-risk workers and vulnerable individuals.”

Introduced just a week before its passage, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides supplemental appropriations to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), as well as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). It also suspends work requirements for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.

Families First also requires employers to implement an infectious disease exposure plan that meets temporary Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and it establishes a federal emergency paid leave benefits program.

The Chicago Cultural Alliance also asked that people contact their legislators to let them know that museums need critical support. They urged Congress to provide at least $4 billion emergency relief for nonprofit museums through June.

Senate leaders were continuing to negotiate the third legislative package in response to COVID-19 on March 23, according to an email blast from ONE Northside. However, this largest relief measure still did not include any rent relief for low-income households.

President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act March 18, which the Jewish Council for Public Affairs ( JCPA) said was a “crucial step, but it did not go far enough. Right now, Congress is negotiating on additional

ONE provided a sample letter to House and Senate members that called for $10 billion in assistance using the HOME program and $2.5 billion for the Capital Magnet Fund. “Immediate impacts range from the inability of people to pay their

mortgages or rents because of lost wages and other priority expenses like food and health care,” read the letter.

Established during the 2008 recession, the Capital Magnet Fund is one of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funds. Using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it provides competitively awarded grants to CDFIs and eligible nonprofits to attract private capital for investment in affordable housing for low to extremely low income people, as well as renovation of buildings that will house neighborhood businesses and community service facilities.

While “social distancing” requires that everyone stand at least six feet apart to avoid spreading the virus, ONE Northside also suggested that “we are not distancing ourselves from our relationships, just our physicality.”

“Mutual aid” is the solution, like the Black Panther Party’s free breakfasts and lunches for community members, or “when people band together to meet immediate survival needs because of a shared understanding that the systems in place are not acting fast enough to meet people’s needs,” as ONE Northside quoted Sylvia Rivera Law Fund founder Dean Spade.

“It takes a village, it really does,” Glenview mom Bonnie Kearns said about the mutual aid efforts of her block during the quarantine.

In efforts to limit the spread of the virus, moms on the block have been texting each other about limited trips to the grocery store. Every other day, someone makes a trip for requested supplies. Deliveries are dropped off on porches in plastic bags with a text that food and paper towels have arrived.

Kearns took it a step farther after she received an email from Prairie Grass Café about curbside pickup and Sarah Stegner’s cooking tip hotline (847.920.8437) as well as Rohit Nambiar’s complementary wine list. She texted moms to take a break from cooking with pot roast and wine delivered to their doors in bleach-wiped delivery boxes.

Kearns had also planned a surprise birthday party March 14 for her husband at Kaiser Tiger in the West Loop, which had to be canceled on one day’s notice. “It made me sick to know that servers were depending on the income and the loss to the restaurant would be great,” she said. “I didn’t care about the deposits or what I was going to be charged.”

The Prairie Grass email, however, gave Kearns an idea. “Surely, the EMTs, firefighters, urgent care workers and hospitals in the West Loop had people that needed to eat. Since I have no idea when we would be able to reschedule the party, I asked the restaurant to use the money for better, more worthwhile causes and did not ask for a refund.”

People need to think about how their lost deposits on parties can be used for good, whether a credit to that restaurant in gift cards or catered lunches for the less fortunate or for workers at essential businesses staying open, she said.

“Anything to let these restaurants keep that revenue and perhaps put it towards the people that need it now,” Kearns said. “Not in five months. Now.” -Suzanne Hanney, from emailed materials

From the top: Chicago Cultural Alliance courtesy photo. Bonnie and Patrick Kearns and family of Glenview. Chef Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe. Both photos provided by Kurman Communications.

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American Hotel & Lodging Association launches 'No room for Trafficking' campaign in Chicago

by Mary Bonnett

It was standing room only at the Sheraton Grand Chicago as the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) launched its “No Room For Trafficking” campaign.

The campaign supports the new Illinois law, which will take effect this summer, making it mandatory for hotel and motel owners to train employees on spotting signs of human trafficking. The session included training for area hotel workers.

The January 31 event came just ahead of the Super Bowl in Miami and two weeks ahead of the NBA All Star game in Chicago.

According to Michael Jacobson, CEO and president of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association (IHLA), “Reported cases of human trafficking spike during these large-scale events. Traffickers rely on legitimate hotels to carry out their crimes.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said poverty is the main cause of trafficking. “I look forward to working with industry leaders, elected officials, community organizations and law enforcement agencies in doing all we can to reach every exploited individual.”

Poverty is only part of the problem, according to a 2018 state task force report, which described a hypothetical 14-year-old victim who worked after school to support her family of six and who spent a great deal of time on social media. She met a young man on the internet and then in person who worked to earn her trust, bought her new clothes, a backpack, a tennis racket. After six months, he asked her to sell drugs for him. When she hesitated, he threatened to stop seeing her. Confused, she wanted to do better next time. The next day when he picked her up, he had another task: she was forced to have sex with men who paid money to him.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker echoed the task force report when he warned that “all of the work we do at the state level is only truly effective if everyday Illinoisans are alert and report any signs of human trafficking, and nowhere is that more true than with members of the hotel industry.” Meanwhile, the Lodging Services Human Trafficking Recognition Training Act, passed last June, will require the Illinois Department of Human Services to establish a 20-minute curriculum that defines human trafficking and commercial exploitation of children. Commercial establishments will also be allowed to develop their own training materials.

“Human trafficking is a deplorable crime that damages and destroys millions of lives,” AHLA President Chip Rogers said.

“It is critical to organize our entire industry…and build partner-

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ships with law enforcement officers and leaders. We must know the signs."

For hotel workers, those signs include: a customer paid cash, an older man with dazed and afraid younger women, multiple men checking in with one woman, no luggage, two room rentals and women prevented from moving about freely.

“If you see something, say something,” IHLA President Jacobson said.

Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul reiterated, “law From Top: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot; Asian American Hotel enforcement and the pri- Owner's Association(AAHOA) President & CEO Dr. Cecil Staton, IHLA & CEO Michael Jacobson, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, AHLA vate sector” must work President President & CEO Chip Rogers; FBI Representatives, Chicago Police Department representatives, Illinois Atty Gen. Kwame Raoul, AHLA together “to identify and properly report” suspects. President & CEO Chip Rogers. Photos provided by AHLA. “The hotel industry’s leadership through training and streamlining reporting mechanisms will help turn the tide in this important fight.”

The sex trafficking business is a triangle—trafficker, enslaved person and buyer. Children and women from all economic levels are trafficked, although the greater number are poor. According to the Polaris Project, which operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888), nearly 25 million people worldwide are engaged in “modern slavery:” defrauded into selling sex or working under inhumane labor conditions.

Based on supply and demand, if buyers stopped purchasing humans, the illegal business of sex trafficking would end.

From 2010-2015, the Chicago Alliance of Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), among other notable organizations, created the “End Demand Illinois” campaign, targeted at buyers (97 percent of whom are men), pimps and traffickers. With awareness raised, numerous anti-trafficking laws were passed.

Yet, demand increases. Cell phones and online access allow buyers to order a person, like pizza, to be delivered in 30 minutes.

Streetwise 3/16/20 Crossword To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 1 to 9.

Sudoku

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8 Masseur’s 34 Uvula, for one workplace, 35 Dynamic start maybe 36 Police action 9 November 37 Bottom line birthstone 40 Purge 10 Name for an 41 Word on all U.S. Irish lass coins 11 Bell curve figure 43 Hit the slopes 12 Progresso 44 In ___ of product 45 Chinese truth 15 Some trial 46 Opportune evidence 49 Sound system 20 Teased 50 Chubby mercilessly 51 Winery process wn 22 Peacock’s pride 52 Duck 26 Via Fancy home 53 Beat (out) 28 Irish Sea feeder 54 Henna and others Guinness and Baldwin 29 Babysitter’s 55 Egg cells handful Theater section 56 Jewelry item 30 Smidgen “Gunsmoke” 57 Coloratura’s piece bartender 31 Get-out-of-jail 59 Croupier’s tool money Dried plums 61 Sign gas Copyright PuzzleJunction.com 32 ©2020 Lunar trench Kind of wrench 63 Behold Stocking stuffers 33 Wistful word 65 Survey choice Representative Computer woe Well-ventilated Comfort Japanese cartoon art Spoon-playing site Keatsian works Rubberneck Self-images Aussie outlaw Kelly

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Solution Puzzle Answers Last Week’s

Solution

Sudoku Solution

Find your nearest StreetWise Vendor at www.streetwise.org

Crossword Across 1 City on the Yamuna River 5 Religious figure 9 One who puts you in your place 14 Apothecary’s weight 15 Like hen’s teeth 16 Steal 17 Extinct bird 18 Entwine 19 West Wing workers 20 Spin 22 Sleeveless garment 24 Pedal pushers 25 Singer Yoko 26 Like the Sabin vaccine 28 Cereal grain 30 New Mexico art community 56 Miami-___ 31 Troublemaker County 32 007, for one 59 Roundish 35 Wandering 61 Bonus 38 Pound, e.g.

63 High society 39 Portfolio part, 65 Cutting the in brief mustard 40 Toot 67 Chess piece 41 Pink lady 68 Cacophony ingredient 69 Any day now 42 Kind of bomb 70 Diva Gluck 43 Affleck of 71 Iron Mike “Gigli” 72 Drags 44 Pool division 73 Wine label info 46 Means of escape Down 48 “Roses ___ red 1 Supplement ...”

2 Mature 49 Cousin of an 3 Dashboard ostrich feature 50 Kind of moss 4 Archer of myth 51 Parent 5 Vex 52 Knight fight 6 Sail fabric 53 Pathetic 7 Bay window

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8 Trawling equipment 9 Can. neighbor 10 Fleet 11 Take cover 12 Fencing sword 13 What’s left 21 Goldbrick 23 Heavy reading 27 Flapdoodle 29 Pertinent 30 Overturn 31 Lithium-___ battery 32 Location 33 Mavens 34 Sweet tubers 35 “Dancing Queen” quartet 36 Big game 37 Québec’s Levesque 38 Mincemeat dessert

41 Animal with curved horns 42 It’s often left hanging 44 Sign before Virgo 45 Bullets and such 46 Aquarium denizen 47 Box office take 50 Kind of talk 51 Subway 52 Verboten 53 Mink, for one 54 Bouquet 55 Senegal’s capital 56 Obligation 57 Confederate 58 “Buenos ___” 60 Widespread 62 Picture of health?

64 Dusk, to Donne 66 Some dashes

How StreetWise Works

Our Mission

Orientation Participants complete a monthlong orientation, focusing on customer service skills, financial literacy and time management to become a badged vendor.

Finacial Literacy Vendors buy StreetWise for $0.90, and sell it for $2. The profit of $1.10 goes directly to the licensed vendor for them to earn a living.

Supportive Services StreetWise provides referrals, advocacy and other support to assist participants in meeting their basic needs and getting out of crisis.

S.T.E.P. Program StreetWise’s S.T.E.P. Program provides job readiness training and ongoing direct service support to ensure participants’ success in entering the traditional workforce.

THE PLAYGROUND

To empower the entrepreneurial spirit through the dignity of self-employment by providing Chicagoans facing homelessness with a combination of supportive social services, workforce development resources and immediate access to gainful employment.

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THE CHICAGO PREMIERE

THE MOST SPECTACULARLY LAMENTABLE TRIAL OF

MIZ MARTHA WASHINGTON James Ijames Directed by Whitney White By

The recently widowed “Mother of America”—attended to by the very enslaved people who will be free the moment she dies—takes us deep into the ugly and thorny ramifications of America’s original sin.

RADICALLY VULNERABLE, OUTRAGEOUSLY HILARIOUS

APRIL 2 – MAY 17 | steppenwolf.org | 312-335-1650 MAJOR PRODUCTION SPONSOR

2019/20 GRAND BENEFACTORS

2019/20 BENEFACTORS