Into the inferno. In go the orange earplugs, and we step into the belly of the beast. The guide shouts to us over the roar of the furnace, but even with our ear protection in the place is clamorous—a coal plant is a noisy place. More than anything else, though, the heat is intolerable. Our guide wears heavy long pants and boots with a shirt and work jacket and appears perfectly comfortable. The furnace itself is 1000 degrees Fahrenheit; that we can stand a few feet away from it and survive is incredible and uncomfortable.

On a chilly spring day, a group from the University of Chicago went to tour the Crawford Coal Plant at 36th and Pulaski in the working-class neighborhood of Little Village. We hoped to find out what a coal plant looks like, how it works, and what it does in the world besides generate electricity. Read the rest of this entry »

In May 2008, when the University of Chicago completed the $6.5 million purchase of Harper Court, President Robert Zimmer heralded the moment as an opportunity. “Ideally,” he said in a public statement on the purchase, “this project will be reflective of the distinctive nature of Hyde Park and represent the best of Chicago’s mid-South Side.” This January, after Vermilion Development was selected by the University to redevelop Harper Court, its CEO, David J. Cocagne, was quoted by the Chicago Maroon echoing the same sentiment. “We’re very excited to be undertaking this project,” Cocagne said. “We think it will be very transformative for the commercial core of Hyde Park and will really celebrate all that Hyde Park is.” Read the rest of this entry »

“Doov, doov, doov, doov. You know that sound? We grew up on that sound,” says Jasson Perez, beat-boxing a juke beat. He is sitting next to fellow band members Michael “Illekt”, Rich “Epic,” and DJ Esquire in the basement of the University of Chicago’s Reynolds Club, where they are waiting to perform at the UofC’s Festival of the Arts. Collectively the Chicago natives form “Bin Laden Blowin’ Up,” better known by the acronym BBU.

The group’s surprise hit “Chi Don’t Dance” pays homage to both juke music and the dance form that has evolved with it—an equally fast-paced combination of steps and upper body shaking. This is footwork, often referred to by Chicago natives as juking. Footwork isn’t new to Chicago, but thanks to recent exposure by BBU and other Chicago talent, juke culture could soon be getting mainstream attention. At the forefront of this will be a generation of high schoolers, who are bringing fresh energy to the music and steps. Read the rest of this entry »

“Let me tell you something: if this were the Wild West, Jesse James and all, we wouldn’t have problems with gun violence.” The smell of hard liquor heavy on his breath, a patch of stubbly white hairs hanging off his lower chin, the man proceeded out of the basement of St. Sabina Catholic Church with $75 fresh in hand. Having voluntarily relinquished his gun minutes before, this seemed like a strange sentiment to be voicing. Even more so considering he gave it to the Chicago Police Department as part of a program to get guns off of the streets of Chicago. But the apparent contradictions of this response aren’t an anomaly; they reflect much broader ambiguities in Chicago’s approach to gun control. Read the rest of this entry »

“Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up.”

–Bob Lemon, Hall of famer, White Sox manager 1977-78

On Sunday, May 2nd, the players and parents of the Canaryville Little League gathered on the corner of 42nd Street and Union Avenue to begin marching in the annual season-opening parade through their neighborhood. Boys’ and girls’ teams gathered amid clouds of red, white, and blue balloons, and SUVs painted with such slogans as “Let’s Go Thunder” and “Brewers Rock.” With the exception of the addition of the University of Chicago pep band, the traditional opening day parade looked much the same as it has for the past 50 years. This year, however, the Little Leaguers had more to celebrate than usual, for the players were marching to a newly restored baseball field, rehabilitated after years of neglect. Read the rest of this entry »

by Harry Backlund, Anna Fixsen, and Rachel Wiseman
The sun is setting through the stained glass windows of the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel, named for the famous oil tycoon, and for two blocks up to the chapel’s front doors, a line of anxious students is hoping to see another of the world’s famous wealthy. Inside, the vast, vaulted nave is full of noise as a crowd of about 1700 slowly files into the pews. In the center of the stage is a huge projection screen. White letters on a maroon background read, “THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Presents Bill Gates.” Read the rest of this entry »

Art on the South Side isn’t easy and it isn’t glamorous. Chicago isn’t New York, and there is no Wicker Park on the South Side. But art gives us more than glamour. In a 2008 interview, Nat Soti of the Chicago Art Department gave us a beautiful summary of Chicago art.

“Art matters because at its core, art does not matter. That’s what I love about it. Our lives are full of things that “matter,” be it our jobs, our family and friends, the things going on in our city, not to mention the country and the world. Art is an oasis. It is the open and empty space we can fill with whatever we want. Chicago’s artistic culture is infused with a spirit of “it does not matter.” It is a city in which artists can feel free to explore, develop, and find their artistic voices while testing that voice in the arena of a great city. And while we lament that our artists often leave Chicago for greener pastures, I know that these same artists take pride in saying they are from Chicago—even going so far as to still call it home. I’d like to think that, like home, it is that place of comfort. It is that place you can always return to. To create art that does not matter. It’s not that Chicago needs art. Art needs Chicago.”

We present this special visual arts issue not to suggest a single definition of what art on the South Side means, but to demonstrate how impossible it is to find one, and how fascinating it can be to keep looking. We hope that our selection of interviews and gallery profiles shows how many different possibilities there are for art on the South Side, and how important those possibilities are to communities across the South Side and to the people who live in them. Read the rest of this entry »

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