Tag Archive
Best of the South Side 2010
Literally the crossing of two major railroad lines—the Illinois Central Railroad and the Lake Shore & Michigan Railroad—this historic community area has seen better days. In the second half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, the rails ruled the city (and the nation) and Grand Crossing was king of the South... »
Beats and Eats
“Why not put food and entertainment all under one bun?” Taylor Mallory asks, reciting the slogan of his new food and music webshow, “Music Burger.” Wearing a smart sport jacket and his signature black baseball cap backwards, Mallory doesn’t look stressed, but the musician and teacher has a lot on his plate. »
After the Flood: eta production takes on post-Katrina family ties
“The Man Who Saved New Orleans” is the latest play at eta Creative Arts Foundation. Written by Thomas Meloncon, it returns the narrative of New Orleans to the people who were kicked out of the city when Katrina moved in. It tells the story of the Prejeans, an African American family from the Lower... »
Creative Ecology: Environmental artist Nancy Klehm tries to keep up with her own work
“My work is context specific. It’s about social context. It’s about place. Place refers to more than land; place is about land that has history. It feels more alive,” explains Nance Klehm, an artist and activist based on the South Side. This particular morning, Klehm is in a motel room in Tucson, Arizona. It’s... »
Moving in Circles: When does a new home lead to a new life?
Movement is part of the American dream. Across an ocean to the new world, west to the last frontier, then up the social ladder, out to the suburbs—or so they say it goes. Social mobility and housing mobility are inextricably linked in the national psyche. But there is a darker, less public story about... »
New Beginning from Lands’ End: What happens when you give a troubled neighborhood $100 million?
Twelve years ago, when the late Gary Comer visited his former elementary school, he was brought to a room where ten new computers sat unused because the school lacked the funds to power them. Today, Paul Revere Elementary is outfitted with a wireless network, new software programs, and a $10 million investment. Comer, the... »
Ghosts of Fathers Past: Fathers and sons butt heads at eta
“You think six feet of dirt means something?” quips the ghost of Leon Goldwater’s trumpet-toting father in eta’s new production of “Fathers and Sons.” The essence of the story is encapsulated in this sentence. Although the show is not a remake of the original Russian classic, it does explore much of the same emotional... »
Best of the South Side 2009: Grand Crossing and Chatham
In the early 1850s, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway was one of several connecting Chicago to parts south, and competition was fierce. When the Illinois Central Railroad lost a court battle to cross the LS&MSR tracks with its own, it responded in true Chicago style, kidnapping a guard and laying an intersecting... »
