T H E I ND E P END EN T VO I C E O F T H E UN I V E R S I T Y O F CH I C AGO

Numero Group’s box of failuresA heavy metal rockumentryThe finest pie on the South SideThe South Loop’s sweetest cafe +

C H I C A G OW E E K L Y . N E T NOVEMBER21,2012

T H E I ND E P END EN T VO I C E O F T H E UN I V E R S I T Y O F CH I C AGO

C H I C A G OW E E K L Y . N E T

INSIDE

2 C H I C A G O W E E K L Y | N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2

South Side stories

Thoughts on engagementIn a sparse room on Halsted Street in Englewood, exactly one week before the Presidential election, a small

group, leaning inward from a ring of swivel chairs, talked enthusiastically about participation and progress inAmerica.

The open discussion was aimed at exploring engagement in democracy—the meeting was the second ofthree talks across the city crafted by Chicago Public Media, Mikva Challenge, and the Project on Civic Reflectionheld during the weeks before Election Day. The common theme of the series was: “Beyond the Vote: a CommunityDiscussion on Voice, Power, and Participation.”

The event had started late, as a facilitator delayed locking the front door in the hope that stragglers wouldfind their way in. Through barred windows, the group of eight watched for latecomers, speculating on whetheror not people had gotten lost on their way to WBEZ’s Southside Bureau.

Beneath posters of Zora Neale Hurston and John Coltrane, the multiracial, multigenerational gatheringengaged in freely flowing conversation, looking at participation through a gamut of lenses.

The initial inspiration was an excerpt from a popular speech of Frederick Douglass. Questions from two facil-itators served as guideposts—Is struggle required for progress? Could drastic change happen here and now, asit has half a world away, and in our own past?

Textual citations of Douglass’s speech cropped up throughout the conversation, even amid thoroughly mod-ern references. Speaking about the Chicago Public School system, one Teach for America member quoted, “Findout just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found the exact measure of injustice and wrongwhich will be imposed upon them.”

Though often punctuated by laughter, the dominant tone of the discussion was one of earnest frustrationwith what many saw as popular disengagement and an abandonment of the cause of progress.

The room held up education and violence as issues that deserved a struggle for reform, and wondered aboutthe roadblocks to that popular action: Apathy? A fragmented nation? Participants wondered aloud, “What couldspark a true upheaval?” As one woman wryly put it, “Things get really, really bad, and someone gets really, real-ly loud.”

The discussion closed with personal reflections on the duties of a citizen. All agreed that voting was a min-imum benchmark: “Because we have a democracy, leadership at any level is a direct reflection on us,” pointedout a facilitator. Another argued that voting is only one of many courses of involvement: “I think we don’t valuethe non-traditional means of participating as much as traditional ones.” The individual insights capped a con-versation that covered participation, or the lack thereof, from a multitude of angles.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress,” reads Douglass’s speech. Over the course of the talk, onlyone more person walked through the door. (Hannah Nyhart)

A happy, healthy soulThere’s nothing like food and laughter to strengthen communities and heal maladies. The basement audito-

rium of the UofC’s Logan Center was peppered with plenty of both on Sunday afternoon for the premiere Chicagoscreening of “Soul Food Junkies,” a new documentary about a tasty, filling, and possibly damaging food cultureby filmmaker Byron Hurt.

The lights dimmed, babies cried, toddlers whined, and let’s be honest, some university students sent a textmessage or two. But, overwhelmingly, the audience was fully engrossed in the film as they followed Hurt on anundeniably moving journey into the heart of soul food: as culture and comfort, as a means of family bonding,and, most poignantly, as a source of disease.

If Hurt never questioned what or how much he ate as a boy at Sunday morning breakfast with his Pops, hehas just the opposite relationship with food systems today. The film probes the relationship between AfricanAmerican communities and their food at all levels. Promoting healthy eating, Hurt argues, is a question of bet-ter education, eliminating food deserts, and developing a will to change the long-standing culture of familiesand communities

The panelists seated next to him brought all of those issues back home to the South Side. From urban farm-ing in Bridgeport, to online mapping of fast food outlets versus fresh food vendors in Woodlawn, the discussantsencouraged a responsive audience to engage in this national issue on a local level. They prod the audience toturn this day of contemplation into enduring action in our very own community.

The hugs exchanged between speakers as they traded positions at the mic resulted in an atmosphere thatwas light-hearted and jovial, one characteristic of a family reunion enjoying a feast. Panelists such as DaraCooper, a passionate and animated community health worker, worked to weaken any perceived divide betweenthe realms of health and social justice. “Soul Food Junkies” made it clear that such questions aimed toward thestatus quo are essential, especially if communities are going to find a way to move forward at a healthy clipwithout forgetting where they came from. (Jeanne Lieberman)

Catching a breakDespite all the news about unemployed college grads living in their child-hood basements, no one can seriously suggest that getting a degree is atotally bad idea. That's why we're tipping our hats this week to the UofC.Their new program, UChicago Promise, is making it easier for kids from thecity to afford one of their coveted diplomas. Under this new initiative, allfinancial aid packages awarded to city residents will be loan-free. Instead,all aid will come in the form of a handsome grant. That means local kidswill graduate with no debt. In addition, the UofC will be waiving its appli-cation fee and rolling out a new array of mentoring programs for local highschoolers. No word yet on whether Northwestern plans to launch a sim-ilar program for the down-and-out rascals of Evanston.

Spirited citizensIt’s hard to come up with a more stereotypically Irish moniker than thename Matthew O’Shea. Nevertheless, the Alderman of the 19th wardappears determined to take the piss out of St. Patrick’s Day. LastWednesday, O’Shea made concrete steps to make sure that the iconicdebauchery of recent years, in which 300,000 Chicagoans flocked to inhaleand expel liquid all over the far South Side, would never again sow dis-quiet through Beverly’s staid streets. He introduced a bill doubling thepenalty for having an open container or urinating within 200 feet of aparade. Meanwhile, sozzled minors found anywhere near the festivitiescould soon face a steep fine or 25 hours of community service. WhileO'Shea admits that last year’s fete was relatively subdued compared toyears past, he recently assured the Tribune that “the idiots will come backin '13, '14 or '15. It's just a matter of time.”

Fur is back inWell, dust off that old snare and head for the river bank, it’s time forsome otter trapping—for the first year since 1929, the state of Illinoishas sanctioned an otter season. At one point, the state’s river otterpopulation was estimated to be as low as 100, but after the state rec-ognized the critters as endangered and undertook an intensive restora-tion program in the 90s, the sly and slippery creatures are thrivingonce again. The wily animals now teem through rivers up and downthe state, to the point that they are considered a nuisance. While itpains us to think of our adorable animal friends under wholesaleslaughter, not all is lost: otter-pelt coats will be hitting MichiganAvenue just in time for the first snows.

Farewell, PrenticeWith an Emmanuelian condemnation running in the Tribune, down-town’s Prentice Women’s Hospital didn't stand a chance. The buildinghas been slated for demolition since 2011 to make way for a cuttingedge Northwestern research hospital. A controversy erupted, however,due to the building’s status as an icon of brutalism, the movementwhose creative ingenuity gave the University of Chicago its RegensteinLibrary and the Soviet Union its prisons. A movement to earn the struc-ture landmark status was recently killed in a dramatic landmark com-mission meeting. Stalin probably dreamed of Gulags with walls likePrentice, but many say that the hospital’s cylindrical cloverleaf struc-ture inspires more awe than terror. Some have even considered givingit a kind of plastic surgery to ensure its survival. One proposal, featuredin the New York Times, called for a glass skyscraper to be added ontothe building as an implant to accommodate the planned facility. Inspite of these potential adornments, the concrete curtain will still fall.

CW Notes showcases a week’s worth of developing sto-ries, odd events, and signs of the times, culled from thedesks, inboxes, and wandering eyes of the editors.

N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2 | C H I C A G O W E E K L Y 3

page 3

DogEatDog

WorldSSeeccoonnddaarryy hheeaaddlliinnee

ggooeess hheerree

by Josh Kovensky

ON THE WAY TO THE TWILIGHT ZONE, IT’S POSSIBLE THATyou’ll find two identical hot dog stands adjacent to one anoth-er, each offering the exact same meals for the exact sameprices. You may feel an odd sense of déjà vu, walking past oneshop and seeing an immediate copy, down to the price of eachitem on the virtually identical menus. However, this is not anillusion. Rather, it’s Jim’s Original Hot Dogs and the ExpressGrill, two competing Polish sausage stands just south ofRoosevelt Road next to the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Each shop has signs facing toward the other screaming itsrespective superiority. “Chicago’s ORIGINAL Maxwell Street HotDog!” reads Jim’s. “Chicago’s BEST #1 Polish Sausage!” readsthe Express Grill’s. Like dueling pretenders to a lard-encrustedthrone, both stores claim direct provenance from the originalMaxwell Street Hot Dog, and both claim to produce Chicago’stastiest dog. The stakes are high. Who is the true heir to theMaxwell Street legend? Whose shop gave greasy birth to theMaxwell Polish? Who has the rightful claim to the flush andfatty throne?

Maxwell Street’s past as a local melting pot has made it aChicago icon. Since the area’s junk shops and outdoor bluesbands have long since disappeared, Maxwell Street’s mostenduring legacy may be the city’s numerous Polish hot dogstands. For the unenlightened, the “Polish” is made up of sixinches of Kielbasa covered in fried onions and drenched inmustard. The Polish has become one of the enduring culinarysymbols of Chicago, while having the unintended effect oflabeling a large ethnic group with connotations of grease andprocessed meat. To be fair, though, the Poles weren’t the onlyChicago ethnic group to be tarred with such a grease-soakedbrush. The Italian beef, sometimes just called an Italian, is

made up of thinly sliced roast beef and served on a roll thathas been steeped in au jus.

The first Chicago Polish stand was founded in 1941by a man named Jim Stefanovic, the namesake of Jim’sOriginal. Stefanovic had been working in his aunt’s hot dogplace on Maxwell for a few years before he decided to buy theshop and secure his own place in the culinary mythology. Thispurveyor of plump quickly became a local favorite.

At some point in the mid-1950s, Stefanovic’snephew, Tom Lazarevski, quit and founded his own hot dogstand, Express Grill. The owners of Jim’s Original, that is,Stefanovic’s descendants, claim that Express’s hot dogs are pre-pared from a bastardized version of the original recipe, where-as the Lazarevskis insist that Express’s sausage is top dog.

Initially, both stores were safely set apart on differ-ent blocks of Maxwell Street. Fate, however, decided to play acruel joke upon the family through one of Mayor Daley’s citydevelopment projects. In the early 90s, Daley 2.0 (LittleRichie) zoned for University of Illinois-Chicago expansionalong Maxwell. Numerous businesses were forced to relocate,and the two feuding eateries were forced to become neighborsin their current location along Dan Ryan.

It’s a difficult case to figure, especially given thatJim’s Original serves as a blueprint for many other Chicago hotdog stands, often to a legally questionable extent. In fact, in2011 the owners of Jim’s Original filed a federal lawsuitagainst other Chicago hot dog stands and foodstuffs bearingnames ranging from “Jim’s Original Chicago” to “Jim’s Originalof Joliet” to “Jim’s Original Pork Chops.” Jimmy boy has clear-ly been dealing with much competition over the years.

Sitting in the dead man's land between the two

restaurants, I held an Express wiener in my left hand and aJimmy dog in my right. I cast any prejudices I may have asideand began to taste my way through the chaos. Where theExpress Grill failed to deliver in flavor, Jimbo succeeded in sub-stance. Although the dogs had the same Vienna beef prove-nance, Jim’s onions seemed to be fried in the sweat of Godhimself. Although the Express Grill’s pork chop made me oinkfor more, its fries were distinctly lackluster compared to whatJimmy had to offer.

His fries had been soaked and cooked in a kind of lique-fied rind, leaving a distinctly animal taste on my tongue. Thiswas not the kind of taste that dissipates with the next wash ofsaliva. Rather, it was a reflection of the evolutionary process—the culmination of those millennia of struggle and gnashing ofteeth that led to the tasty genetic victor whose fat now cours-es through my bloodstream. I recognized that I was an arro-gant salivating speck before Jimmy’s Original eternity; animmortal recipe whose French fries far surpassed the blandExpress wedges next door. To the faint of heart: you may wantto bypass this one.

Some say that there is truth in wine, but here itseems that the truth is in the grease. In this family feud friedout of control, it seems that Jim’s Original wins on bothcounts. His shop is in fact the original, and his wieners aresuperior in sublimity and style. And on go the two warring hotdog stands, attracting unwitting customers with a façade oforiginality and a tale of family gone foul. After all, a sausageby any other name would taste as sweet.

4 C H I C A G O W E E K L Y | N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2

For parents, the strike meant time off of work or shellingout for extra childcare—sometimes even improvised homeschooling. For students, it meant valuable class time lost, orfor the less studious, surprise no school days. For teachers, itmeant their livelihood. The strike clawed into the heart of thecity, even for those with no immediate ties to schools. As ittook over our airwaves, newspapers, and streets, a nervouselectricity seemed to pervade Chicago from root to tip.

But when the strike was finally suspended on September19th, the collective sigh was a muddled mixture of relief anddisappointment. The fight wasn't, and still isn't, over—the newcontract was given the OK by teachers on October 4th, but theeffort to stop school closings is just heating up. The larger ide-ological debates about nonunionized charter schools, class-room funding, scheduling, and administrative policy remainunresolved, and it’s clear that Chicago has a lot of work to doin order to get the public school system on its feet.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Edward Hershey,who graduated from the University of Chicago in 2001 with anAB in physics and math, and again in 2003 with a masters fromthe Physical Science Division. Hershey is an honors and APphysics teacher at Lindblom Math and Science Academy in WestEnglewood, one of nine selective enrollment high schools in

the Chicago Public Schools system. For our conversation, we settled down next to a window

in a quiet nook on the second floor of the UofC’s Reynolds Club.With his back to the window and the evening sun pouring in,I could only make out his silhouette, his posture casual as hepassed a glass bottle of Coke between his hands. He neededlittle prompting; he knew what he wanted to say.

Where are you from originally? Have you taught in otherpublic school systems?

Originally I'm from Buffalo. I've had other small teachingsjobs, but this has been my first full teaching job. I don't workfull-time now; I worked full-time for my first three years andthen I went part-time three years ago. I was a TA for summerprograms [at the UofC] for five years; I taught French at an ele-mentary school for a few months as a side job, and I was in theNeighborhood Schools Program as an undergrad here. But myfirst certified teaching job was at Lindbloom.

What is the most rewarding part of being a CPS teacher?Seeing students learn and grow—I mean, the nice part

about CPS is that you feel like you make more of a difference,that the effort you make matters. I feel like if I was in a pros-

perous suburb, the kids' success would be kind of, not guaran-teed, but a lot more laid out for them. In a way you have towork harder, but it's also more rewarding.

How involved were you in the strike, and how did youbecome involved in the first place?

Well by virtue of being a union teacher you're involved. Imean, I was the most active person in the union at myschool—I'm one of the more active people in the city as far asthat goes. Things changed last year—first when Wisconsinhappened, and then when Rahm Emanuel got elected, and thatsort of ended up catapulting me into doing stuff at my school.

The things I was doing originally were more citywide andusually involved one or two teachers at different schools, andnot every school was represented. At my school, before thestrike, part of the reason I hadn't been doing stuff was that weare a selective enrollment school—students test in, we havemore resources that we need, and we were able to establish asuccessful environment already. When Emanuel got elected andstarted attacking the union, everybody started paying atten-tion—we may be a little bit better off than some schools, butyou know, they're talking about really eliminating quite a bitabout what makes teaching attractive.

Which SideAre You On?

N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2 | C H I C A G O W E E K L Y 5

ad

At first the things we were losing werethings that were just nice, that other schoolsdidn't have, like professional development. Whenthose things got cut back it wasn't that palpable,but then our class sizes started going up, we hadmore of a crunch on our supply budget—thoseproblems in the last two years you really startedto notice at our school. It's still functional, butit's definitely worse in that way.

When it became more apparent that a strikemight happen, we didn't even really have anactive delegate at our school, so I arrangedthat—I didn't become the delegate myself,because as a part-time teacher you don't havetenure protection. But I found someone to do it,set up a meeting, and they got elected.

As this was going on, more and more peoplewere beginning to pay attention—beginning oflast year, people were paying attention a littlebit, but starting last winter everybody was pay-ing attention. When we had the strike vote, wehad no "no" votes, and we had almost everybodyvote.

What were the main grievances that teacherswere trying to communicate?

Working a longer day without getting paidfor it was the biggest thing. Close behind wasmerit pay, not getting paid accordingly for steps[seniority] and lanes [additional degrees andeducation]. Those were the main ones, but theywere talking about increasing the pension,health care costs. We can't have teachers laid offat our school, and our school is not likely to beclosed, but a lot of people had been at other

schools that had been closed and we under-stood that things could change and wecould end up in the same boat even if thatdidn't seem immediate.

One complaint we had was that we hadno professional development time otherthan at the beginning and the end of theyear. All the time in the teachers' week waseither prep or teaching—no time built infor faculty meetings because there was notime when everybody was free. With thestrike settlement there are now a number ofhalf-days built in, and I assume a lot ofthat extra time will be given over to facul-ty meetings. We didn't have them weekly byany means, but we did often have them alittle more than once a month, and it's aproblem if you can't schedule those whenyou need to. They said that if we weregoing to have them they'd have to be onour own time and therefore they can't bemandatory.

Originally they'd also proposed forreport card pickups to be half-days...a lot ofthe things didn't make sense. Those half-days for report card pickups meant therewas less time available to meet with par-ents, and the half-day was just politics soEmanuel could say that we had more schooldays. A half-day does not at all have thevalue of a full day, or even 50 percent of theeducational value of a full day, because stu-dents treat half-days very differently. Notonly are we cutting in time with parents,we're basically doing it for show. That was

6 C H I C A G O W E E K L Y | N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2

neighborhood happeningsSTAGE & SCREEN

Antifragile: Things That Gain from DisorderIf you’re hankering for some wide-ranging sociopolitical the-ory, Nassim Taleb’s second book, Antifragile: Things ThatGain from Disorder may be your fix. Taleb holds that theworld that we live in is unpredictable and chaotic and thatbeing able to prosper within that mess is something of anart form. He is of the opinion that in order for something tobe strong, it needs to withstand hardships, just as humanbones are fortified as a result of tension. Bringing in inspi-ration from both ancient philosophers and modern streetprophets, Taleb’s book is a guide for how to live and thriveunder pressure. Maybe we should grill him with tough ques-tions at his talk? International House, 1414 E. 59th St.November 30, 6pm. (773)684-1300. Free. semcoop.com(Olivia Dorow Hovland)

Ceremonies in Dark Old MenA struggling Harlem barbershop is the backdrop for an explo-ration of race, family, and manhood in Ceremonies in DarkOld Men, Lonne Elder III’s 1969 classic. Russell Parker, theplay’s central figure, is an aging barber self-insulated fromincreasingly fractious racial politics by his threadbare ritualsand recollections of a rosily-rendered past. The reproach ofhis breadwinning daughter Adele convinces him to take onprofitable employment with sons Theodore and Bobby,enterprising criminals who’ve managed to thwart racism andfind success on the other side of the law. Soon, tragedythreatens to dissolve family bonds entirely as the charactersseek security in self-interest and self-deception.Throughout, the audience confronts a vexing question: Whatis the meaning of an African-American community? The etaCreative Arts Foundation’s Mainstage, a gem of the SouthSide’s arts scene for 40+ years, is perhaps the best imagin-able place to seek an answer. eta Creative Arts FoundationMainstage, 7558 S. Chicago Ave. Through December 23. Thurs(opening night only), 8pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun 3 & 7pm. $30;$15 student; $10 opening night special. (773)752-3955.etacreativearts.org (Osita Nwanevu)

ForeverlandIt’s been over a hundred years since the debut of Peter Pan,or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, and in that time J.M.Barrie’s famed story has served as the inspiration for a widerange of theatrics, ranging from the suave (Corey Feldman’sLost Boys) to the kitsch (sorry Robin Williams). But whenJeremy Menekseoglu’s Peter Pan’s Shadow trilogy, of whichForeverland, the third installment, premieres on November29th, it will probably earn the title as the weirdest and dark-est of them all. Menekseoglu, who has a knack for pervert-ing favorite childhood stories (see: The Grisly/GloriousAdventure of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, and BillyMoon), offers up a decidedly murkier Neverland that’s prob-ably more indebted to Mr. Freud than your typical adaption.The standard characters are all there—Peter Pan, Tinker Bell,Hook—but this is less about fantasy than it is about thetrauma of childhood. Now, relive yours. Second star to theright and straight on ‘til morning. Dream Theatre Company.556 W. 18th St. November 29th through December 16th.(773)552-8616. dreamtheatrecompany.com. (JamisonPfeifer)

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon ToomeyWith November here, it's finally socially acceptable to startplanning for Christmas. Celebrate by attending "TheChristmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey." Based on a chil-dren's book, the play revolves around the blooming connec-tion between a lonely little boy and the grumpy old mancommissioned to replace the nativity the boy's deceasedfather gave him. Sound a little sappy? Perhaps. But the showis returning this year due to its popularity at its premierelast November, so don't dismiss it too quickly. Both thepoignant character interactions and the bluegrass score werewell-received. Besides, 'tis the season for sentimentality, sopack your tissues and revel in the feeling of your heart grow-ing three sizes. Provision Theater, 1001 W. Roosevelt Rd.Through December 23. Sunday, 3pm; Wednesday, 2pm; Fridayand Saturday, 8pm. (312)455-0065. $10 children; $15 stu-dents; $25-32 adults. provisiontheater.org (Hanna Petroski)

MUSIC

Oodles and Oodles of DJs, You Know

Simone's offers a new outlook on the Pilsen bar scene. Thelarge, open space features a DJ station made from recycledpinball machines that, well, succeeds mostly by not look-ing like a DJ station made from recycled pinball machines.As part of that focus on sustainability (or cost-effective-ness), Simone's will be featuring a selection of local DJ'sover the next few weeks. On November 15th, Rocabillywith Rico and Kiko will be performing that "savage 50'srock and roll" that you have come to know and love. The16th of November heralds the surprisingly thought-provok-ing mixes of Shazam Bangles, which start by creating asimple repetitive backdrop and use it to communicate amessage that does not often get play in a bar setting.Ghetto Division, known for taking up-tempo beats fromfamous tracks and mashing them together, could make the17th a danceable night in word and deed. On the 21st, DJForm will likely provide a similar show with his take on aclassic house music sound mixed with some of today's top40 soundbites. DJ Mama Bear (11/23), DJ Pickle (11/24),and Jesse DeLaPena (11/29) round out the month.Simone's, 960 W. 18th St. November 15-17, 21, 23-24, 29,Monday-Saturday 11am-10pm, Sunday 11am-8pm. 21+.(312) 666-8601 (Ben Geraci)

World/Inferno Friendship Society, O’Death,Wild YaksIf you had to pick one band to help you build a functionalsociety on a desert island, which would it be? Logistically oraesthetically, there’s no easy answer. Would you enjoy thepresence of all 360 members of the Mormon TabernacleChoir, or would you prefer to be assisted by Jack and MegWhite armed with a hatchet and a compass? Now that theyare divorced, that may be a bad idea, unless food runs out.One of the better worlds might be created by all thirty cur-rent and former members of Brooklyn’s World/InfernoFriendship Society. They’ll play any kind of music you pleaseon any instrument you can fashion out of coconuts and palmfronds. Barring the apocalypse, you’ll be able to hear themon November 29th at Reggies Rock Club. The Society is per-forming with alt-country boys O’Death and untamed bovinesWild Yaks. Reggies Rock Club, 2109 S. State St. November 29.Thursday, 8pm. $15. 17+. (312) 949-0120. reggieslive.com(Nathan Worcester)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth Pete Rock & CL Smooth first made their mark with 1992’s“They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.),” which remains a stan-dard-bearer for nostalgic hip-hop joints. The two scored afew more hits during their heyday, but in 1995, mountingcreative differences led to a breakup. Rock has since collab-orated with dozens upon dozens of other musicians; justunder the letter “T,” he’s worked with Talib Kweli, TommyTee, A Tribe Called Quest, and Tupac Shakur, among others.After their initial split, Pete and CL had a rocky but inter-mittently productive relationship. In 2010, they finallyburied the hatchet and reformed, beginning work on a newalbum. On November 30th, they’ll be playing the cuts fromtheir first album, the acclaimed Mecca & The Soul Brother.Think of it as an early Christmas present from some leadersof the old school. The Shrine, 2109 S. Wabash Ave. November30. Friday, 9pm. Free. 21+. theshrinechicago.com (NathanWorcester)

The Four Tops Before members of the counterculture started tuning uptheir guitars, the sound of the sixties was that of pop vocalgroups. There was a lot of talent out there, enough that TheFour Tops could have easily faded into the woodwork. Butafter the four signed with Motown and topped the chartswith “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” thegroup’s smooth, dramatically orchestrated songs were allover the radio. Originally anchored by baritone Levi Stubbs,the group only has one original Top, Abdul “Duke” Fakir.Still, even with the passage of time and change of members,you won’t hear a better live version of “Bernadette,” “If IWere a Carpenter,” or the mildly terrifying “Standing in theShadows of Love” than those which may reverberate throughthe UIC Forum on November 30th. This specific performanceis part of a holiday gala sponsored by the Chicago Defender,UPTOWN Magazine, and other local businesses to fund therestoration of Celia Gregg AME Church. UIC Forum, 725 W.Roosevelt Road. November 30. Friday, 8pm. $35-$75. (312)413-9875. fourtopsforceliagregg.com (Nathan Worcester)

Tiësto w/ZEDD One thing keeping arena-scale popular music from the South

taken off out of the strike, but we shouldn't have to have a strike for them to do some-thing that's reasonable.

A majority of CPS teachers voted in favor of the new contract. Did you vote? If so, wereyou in support of or opposition to it?

I did vote, and I voted against it because I think—we were going take concessions inthe contract, and we did—the union cut the strike short. I think a lot of the membershipand union apparatus itself believed the hype in the media that the public was going to turnagainst us.

What we saw in the streets was not what you'd be led to believe by the media. I'msure there were parents who were annoyed, who wanted their kids back in school, but theproportions of who those were and how they felt. We could have stayed out. One parentsaid, “I would have supported you if you'd stayed out; I think you guys should get whatyou deserve.” I don't think we were going to win a whole lot more than we did, but wecould have pushed further.

What is your stance on REACH (Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago's Students)and its policies regarding teacher evaluations and standardized test scores?

I'm not against the kind of tests we're doing, and actually the one we gave for physicswasn't that bad as far as making sense and being designed thoughtfully. I'm against usingit in teacher evaluations.

They're going to use “gains” or “growth” in those scores, but I don't buy that.Everything I read about that—it's not a very stable number for a teacher from year to year.If it's not stable, it's not characteristic of a teacher's performance. The students in the poorneighborhoods are going to have lower growth also, so you're penalizing people for work-ing in poor neighborhoods. It's going to make people easier to fire at poor-performingschools, which are already targeted for closure and harder to staff. If you were at two orthree schools that got closed, you might have been a good teacher but you're basicallyplaced on a metaphorical “do not hire" list.

What's annoying is that there are effective models of education. The countries that dobest in education are not doing what we're doing, all this data-driven BS that comes outof the private sector. What they do in Finland is they give people small class sizes, profes-sional autonomy, hold students to high standards and I think that's the way to do it. Ofcourse, it costs a lot of money and requires a lot of investment.

What about the idea that laid off teachers should be automatically “recalled” for posi-tions when or if they open up, especially since Emanuel has said that layoffs shouldfocus on teachers who perform the worst?

Part of it is that principals will play with evaluations--in certain instances they canrate a good teacher low in order to lay them off. If we're talking about layoffs, the princi-pals should be going by the idea of "last in, first out." I think the problem is that a lot ofthose ratings are still subjective, and any time they have wiggle room the board people usethese things to do things that aren't as advertised.

They're blaming all the problems in education on "bad teachers," and there are schoolswhere you have bad culture among the teachers, but it's the responsibility of the adminis-tration to discipline their work force. If they want to fire someone, they should have to firesomeone. The administration, it's their task to fire people who aren't performing. There'sthis myth that tenure means a job for life. Given everything that's happened, tenure onlyreally applies to you in your building, and even that isn't secure.

Are there any issues that weren't addressed that you think should have been?The union and a lot of teachers pushed the TIF issue very hard, and the media was

having a blackout on that. Somehow that didn't get into the papers. There's a huge pot ofmoney that could go to the schools, that came out of the schools, going to PennyPritzker...she could shake five million dollars out of her couch if she wanted to, I don'tknow why she needs it. All this money is money that should be going to the schools. Themoney they spent on advertising against us, they probably could have used to air condi-tion most of the schools that don't have it right now. And class size—we talked about it,we didn't get anything on it. We actually got the art and music and other things becausethe mayor I guess didn't want to look bad.

That's the thing, all those things cost money and we're not exactly allowed to bargainover them. We have to pretend we're not bargaining. The first couple days of the strike thepeople thought it was just money, and we didn't get as much money as the day is longer—that was one of the concessions but those things, we raised them in the public conscious-ness but we didn't get anything on them. The class size language we have now is weak, butthey didn't get rid of it.

I think what we showed with the strike is that there was an aura of inevitability aboutall these reforms, and I think we burst the bubble on that by having the strike. At leastasking whether this all makes sense, this market logic that they use, it gave us a platformto say we know what works, and what works is giving the people the ability and means toactually teach.

What do you think is the "next step" in improving CPS?Convincing—no, they're not going to be convinced—forcing the ruling class to pay

more for all the things I talked about. Social services, smaller class sizes, having our art-science-language programming at every school. One of the next steps—they're doing thisa little bit—the TIF money, even if all of it went back into schools, it wouldn't solve all ofthe problems. There is enough money that we could get a lot of what we need with exist-ing funds but it's sort of mustering the will to tear that out of the hands of the people thathave it.

Concretely, the next step is asking, "How are we going make this city not destroy pub-lic education?" What they're doing, opening charters, more private schools--work on push-ing that off. That's the next big fight coming up. It's a defensive fight, maintaining schoolsand keeping them open, keeping public schools from being dismantled and such. I meanpeople are a lot more aware now. The union, before, was moderately organized and couldpull off some things, but since the strike every school is organized. They're going to be ableto get a lot more people, parents, and students out there.

N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2 | C H I C A G O W E E K L Y 7

5706 S. University Ave.Reynolds Club 018Chicago, IL 60637tylerleeds@uchicago.eduisaacd@uchicago.educhicagoweekly.net

For advertising inquiries contact:

47 W. Polk, Suite 100-223Chicago, IL 60605Tel(312)243-8786advertising@newcity.com

Editor-in-Chief Tyler LeedsExecutive Editor Isaac DalkeManaging Editor Claire WithycombeSenior Editor Nandini Ramakrishnan

Features Editor Christopher RiehlePhoto Editor Temple ShipleyHead Photographer Ethan TateScreen & Stage Editor Bea MalskyMusic Editor Nathan WorcesterLayout Editor Sasha Tycko

Associate Editors Sharon Lurye, Katryce Lassle, Joy Crane,Patrick Leow, Josh Kovensky, Zack Goldhammer, HannahNyhart

Side is the scarcity of suitable arenas. Fortunately, since2001, the renovated UIC Pavilion has expanded on its func-tion as a college basketball and ice hockey stadium to serveas a venue for shows attracting up to 10,000 fans. Electroinferno and one-time trance producer Tiësto is just the kindof act that the Pavilion is meant for. His show, part of theDutch DJ’s Club Life College Invasion Tour 2012, was origi-nally scheduled for October, but due to a back injury, hedelayed the tour and his appearance in Chicago until now.Here’s hoping that he and his co-performer, German DJ Zedd,stay in good health until they invade UIC on December 7th.UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave. December 7. Friday, 7pm.$52. (312) 413-5700. uicpavilion.com (Nathan Worcester)

VISUAL ARTS

Marketing BeautyThe Smart Museum of Art will be holding a lunchtime lectureon Japanese ukiyo-e prints and how they contributed to themarketing of Edo’s (Tokyo’s) red-light district next Friday,November 30. The talk, a part of the museum current “Awashin Color” exhibition of Japanese and French prints, will begiven by the expert Julie Nelson Davis, a University ofPennsylvania Professor whose primary focus is ukiyo-eprints. Davis will discuss how the images that depict the cel-ebrated Yoshiwara courtesans of the period were used toteach, to entertain, and to bring in wealth into the enig-matic pleasure district of old Tokyo. Smart Museum of Art,5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Friday, November 30, 2012 12:00pm. Free, but space limited. Register in advance at smartmu-seum.uchicago.edu/calendar/register. (773) 702-0200.Smartmuseum.uchicago.edu (Lauren Gurley)

Capacity of VoidsIt's art that describes how insomniacs feel just before thesunrise and how the world looks when you have just wokenup. Seth Sher and Michael Vallera, two Chicago-basedartists, collaborated on Capacity of Voids, a collection ofphotographs of landscapes. The artists used misty morningas a backdrop in which to explore the alienation of the indi-vidual and the monotony of social conventions. Lines oftrees and hills blur into the backgrounds of the pictures.Through their blurred perception they ask, can you trustyour own? Wander through these dreamlike scenes andexplore their emptiness as a way to delve into the void with-in. There's a lot of nothing for you to discuss. The PlainesProject, 1822 S. Desplaines St. December 1-7. Hours byappointment, e-mail theplainesproject@gmail.com. Free.plainesproject.wordpress.com (Hanna Petroski)

Beverly Art Center’s 36th Annual JuriedExhibition The Beverly Art Center, an institution dedicated to increas-ing cultural awareness and participation in the visual andperforming arts, recently wrapped up their 36th annualjuried art competition. The competition, judged by Chicagoartists Larry Lee and Bernard Williams, was open to anyartists living within a 100-mile radius of Chicago. One hun-dred twelve artists submitted pieces to compete for the$5000 cash prize that was up for grabs. Finalists and win-ners were recently announced and their work will be on dis-

play in the Beverly Art Center’s East and Bridge Galleriesthrough January 2. Prizes were awarded in eight categoriesincluding photography, sculpture, painting, and print.Beverly Art Center, 2407 W. 111th St. Through January 2.Monday-Friday, 9am-pm; Saturday, 10am-6pm; Sunday 1-5pm. Free. 773.445.3838. beverlyartcenter.org (Olivia DorowHovland)

Chaz Bojorquez: From the Streets to the CloudIf the distinction between graffiti and art seems clear toyou, Chaz Bojorquez would like to blur those lines, and notin free-wheelin’, vandalizin’, loosey-goosey script like thoseNew York whippersnappers. Bojorquez came of age in L.A. inthe sixties and seventies, where he nurtured a personal stylesteeped in the cholo tradition with a distinct intellectualtwist. In cholo, placas, or plaques, denote gang territories instaunch, orderly letterheads, creating the effect of a spray-painted Rosetta Stone. No need to decipher hieroglyphshere: though Senor Suerte, Bojorquez’s iconic skeletal por-trait, may wear an Indiana Jonesesque chapeau, the artistseeks to both question and uplift the graffiti format in plainSpanish. National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St.Through June 30, 2013. Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. Free.(312) 738-1503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org (ClaireWithycombe)

The Fish BowlRusted surfaces, digital works, and abstract “mash-ups”would make for a hazardous aquarium, but at 33Contemporary, a gallery within the Zhou B. Arts Center, col-lections from three artists come together to form “The FishBowl.” Terry Adams, whose photographs traverse the inti-mate and the surreal, offers a series of works around theshow’s namesake. Art professor Steve Sherrell, who worksacross mediums from acrylic to digital, has put forward acollection of “mash-ups.” The third contributor, AmberKarge, presents photographs on rust. The gallery’s promo-tions have thus far swum in ambiguity, but early photos,vibrant and enigmatic, are enough to wet one’s appetite. 33Contemporary Gallery , Zhou B. Art Center, First Floor, 1029 W.35th Street. Through December 10. Monday-Friday, 10am to5pm. 708-837-4534. www.33collective.com (Hannah Nyhart)

EPIC SOMETHINGThe Hyde Park Art Center closes the show with EPIC SOME-THING, the final exhibition of Twelve Galleries Project’sQuarterly Site Series. The Twelve Galleries Project began in2008 as a roving exhibition series. The Quarterly Site seriesis their second transitory adventure. Every quarter over thespace of three years, three curators collectively organize athemed exhibition at a Chicago gallery. EPIC SOMETHINGexamines the collision of story and image: personal mytholo-gies, narrative architectures, hidden religions, and the limi-nal spaces between these systems. EPIC SOMETHING’s twelveartists move between text and image. This journey of story-telling and image-making ranges from drawing and anima-tion, to installation and writing—creating both tension anddialogue between media. Hyde Park Art Center. 5020 S.Cornell Ave. Exhibit runs Nov. 18 to Feb. 24, opening recep-tion Dec. 2, 3-5pm. Free and open to the public.773.324.5520. hydeparkart.org (Meaghan Murphy)

The atmosphere inside Bridgeport Art Gallery's fourth floor showroom was disconcertinglyupbeat for an exhibit titled "Anxious Object." Guests bounced from sculpture to sculpture at theopening reception, nibbling on chunks of cheese and sipping cups of wine as they gawked andgabbed. The exhibit features the work of eight different artists whose sculptures, while made outof driftwood, oil barrels, and other bits of what is ostensibly trash, are meant to raise powerfulquestions of the nature of art and the politics of our time..

The artists themselves, identified by the stickers on their shirts, moved around the space,interacting with patrons. Sharon Gilmore's works lined the wall at the far right of the galleryspace. Brass met copper met shells in her chimerical creatures, all arranged to appear to bebreaching the edge of the white wall in lieu of a sea.

In contrast to the bold lines of her work, Gilmore herself was a study in subtlety, from herclose-cropped white hair to her thick black turtleneck. Soft-spoken and slight, she hoveredaround her works, discussing the inspiration she found in Native American spirituality and thesurprises that come from working with found objects. Though her collection had an oceanictheme, she hadn't intentionally set out to do so; "I usually use birds instead of fish, but theseseemed to work."

Incorporating found objects could be uncomfortable in some ways, she realized. One pieceincorporated the shards of a blue bottle. When the pieces she had on hand proved insufficient,Gilmore found herself trolling liquor stores for bottles on a Sunday morning. "I explained to theclerk what I needed it for, and she looked at me like, 'sure, lady,'" Gilmore said, and shrugged.

Past Gilmore, Matt Runfola, his blue jeans embodying the casual mood, declared the supe-riority of his art over Mike Helbing's. "Yours doesn't even work," he said, pointing to Helbing'sunplugged fountain, then, glancing at my notebook and grinning he announced, "Don't writethat down.”

Both Helbing and Runfola work with metal, though with different types. Runfola's con-tribution to the show, a twenty-two piece series titled "self-absorption," used denser, darkersteel, with vaguely humanoid figures arranged so that their featureless faces never look at eachother. Helbing, on the other hand, takes a more playful approach, and tends to use shinier met-als.

"I like stainless steel," he said, raising one pointed eyebrow in the direction of a foun-tain made primarily of silverware. "It doesn't go away unless someone steals it."

Not all the sculptures were metal. Rita Grendze worked entirely with books, includinga pile of paint-spattered tomes in various languages and a line of books attached along an entirewall, those at the right closed and tied shut and those to the left coverless and spineless,reduced to collections of pages scattering upwards to the ceiling. Lisa Lima's works, in the farcorner, used thread and cloth to make delicate organic shapes. Sara Barnhart Fields incorporat-ed the remains of a chair into her female figure. The chair was adorned with painted rainbowknee socks that cheerfully clashed with the diamond-patterned socks Fields herself sported.

The most blatantly political of the works were the plastic bag creations of Mary EllenCroteau. "I want to make people think about plastic," she said, pointing to the 227-foot longbraid of plastic bags she had found just in her home. She had been told that the pile of plasticbags at the braid’s roots made her work look messy.

"That's kind of the point! Plastic's made out of petroleum. That's why we're going to Iraqto kill people, so we can have oil to throw away." She paused in her emphatic hand gestures toglance sheepishly at the plastic cup in her hand. "We don't even think about it."

The objects of the exhibit title—weird to whimsical to wry—were on full display, but theanxiety was somewhat lacking. While many of the works were intended to create unease, manyothers celebrated the bizarre union of artist intention and serendipitous discovery. Helbing ges-tured to his giant turtle-shaped fountain made from half the bowl of a steam cooker. "I could-n't make that by myself. It evolved in the making."

Civilization and itsMalcontents

by Hanna Petroski

8 C H I C A G O W E E K L Y | N O V E M B E R 2 1 2 0 1 2

ad