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REPLY HAZY,
TRY AGAIN
FREE AND FREAKY SINCE 1971 | JANUARY 6, 2022
THIS WEEK C H I C AG O R E A D E R | JA N UA RY 6 , 2 02 2 | VO LU M E 5 1 , N U M B E R 7
IN THIS ISSUE TO CONTACT ANY READER
EMPLOYEE, E-MAIL:
(FIRST INITIAL)(LAST NAME)
FILM Hana Vu, Neal Francis with Dos
@CHICAGOREADER.COM
24 Review Parallel Mothers carries Santos, and the Save the Rock PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT TRACY BAIM
Pedro Almodóvar’s distinct style ’n’ Roll Festival, plus reviews PUBLISHER AND EDITOR IN CHIEF KAREN HAWKINS
EDITOR IN CHIEF SUJAY KUMAR
and affinity for the taboo, but it’s of releases by Boris, Jessica PRODUCTION MANAGER KIRK WILLIAMSON
not his best. Pavone, Michael Rother & Vittoria SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER AMBER HUFF
25 Movies of Note Don’t Look Maccabruni, and more MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO
THEATER AND DANCE EDITOR KERRY REID
Up is a scathing satire about 38 Early Warnings Rescheduled CULTURE EDITOR SALEM COLLO-JULIN
climate change, The King’s Man concerts and other updated listings ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAMIE LUDWIG
12 Rhodes | Huff Huff On poppers, is a glorious mess of a film, and 38 Gossip Wolf Tireless SENIOR WRITERS LEOR GALIL, DEANNA
ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, MIKE SULA
policy, and policing queer sex Licorice Pizza is carried by two collaborator Reno Cruz steps STAFF WRITERS ADAM M. RHODES,
CITY LIFE 14 Prout | Profile A brief history of people who’ve basically never out with his debut solo album, KATIE PROUT, KELLY GARCIA
04 Shop Local The story of a my 91-year-old neighbor, who has acted before. Chicago house legend Boo AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
YASMIN ZACARIA MIKHAIEL
unique Chicago embroidery shop lived in this building since before I Williams releases a collection of his EDITORIAL ASSOCIATES TARYN
was born. best tracks, and prog-metal band ALLEN, JANAYA GREENE
Mechina share the latest stories in LISTINGS COORDINATOR MICCO CAPORALE
ARTS & CULTURE their saga of intergalactic war.
----------------------------------------------------------------
18 Art Review Barbara Kruger VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS
captures the zeitgeist of the present ANN SCHOLHAMER
moment with her exhibition at the DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY
Art Institute of Chicago.
STRATEGIC INNOVATION DIRECTOR
20 Comic Books Chicago Comics MARIAH NEUROTH
and Quimby’s acquired a stash DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING
of treasures from Dan Clowes’s ASSOCIATE CHINYERE FARR-DOUGLAS
adolescence. MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS COORDINATOR YAZMIN
DOMINGUEZ
21 Collo-Julin | Lit Book 26 Galil | Obit Parker Lee Williams EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT SANDRA L. KLEIN
FOOD & DRINK discussions, poetry, and other threw the city’s first recurring hip- SPECIAL PROJECTS ASSOCIATE SHAWNEE DAY
CIMA SUPPORT SPECIALIST SAVANNAH HUGUELEY
06 Sula | Review Moonwalker upcoming Chicago literary world hop party, worked with the likes of
Cafe is the scratch kitchen every events Grandmaster Caz and Jamal- OPINION ADVERTISING
neighborhood deserves. Ski, and built commercial music 39 Savage Love Dan Savage 312-392-2970, ADS@CHICAGOREADER.COM
THEATER libraries that support local artists. offers advice for the vaxxed and
CLASSIFIEDS:
CLASSIFIED-ADS@CHICAGOREADER.COM
NEWS & POLITICS 22 Reid | Preview Black Button 32 Chicagoans of Note Karen confused.
08 Joravsky | Politics There will be Eyes turns an unsung J.M. Barrie Valencia, aka Karennoid of VP OF SALES AND BUSINESS
nothing civil about the war between play into a musical. reggaeton DJ collective Agua de CLASSIFIEDS DEVELOPMENT AMBER NETTLES
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AMY MATHENY
Miller and Davis. 23 Next Generation The Young Rosas 40 Jobs SALES TEAM LENI MANAA-HOPPENWORTH,
10 Isaacs | Culture Arts folk: what Playwrights Festival tackles big 34 Shows and Records of Note 40 Apartments & Spaces TIM OGDEN, TED PIEKARZ, WILL
ROGERS, LISA SOLOMON
would you do with $20 million? issues in short plays. Previews of concerts including 40 Matches DIGITAL SALES ASSOCIATE AYANA ROLLING
NATIONAL ADVERTISING
ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY MELINDA FRIES. FOR MORE OF FRIES’S WORK, GO TO MELINDAFRIES.ORG. VOICE MEDIA GROUP 1-888-278-9866
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JOE LARKIN AND SUE BELAIR
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DISTRIBUTION CONCERNS
A NOTE ON THIS WEEK’S COVER there are some questions in the universe that distributionissues@chicagoreader.com
humans are perhaps here to worry about for 312-392-2970
OUR COVER THIS week was born out of a reassurance, be it mystic or medical. the course of our days. Even though we man- CHICAGO READER L3C
BOARD PRESIDENT DOROTHY R. LEAVELL
sense of uncertainty, something most of us It’s a tough thing to pay attention to the aged to find a Magic 8-Ball, a grade-school- TREASURER EILEEN RHODES
have been feeling for about 22 months now. news these days, but hey, when has it ever style paper fortune-teller (I know some of you AT-LARGE SLADJANA VUCKOVIC
While it’s true that some of us (ahem, espe- been an easy time to pay attention? A friend used to call it a “cootie catcher,” and you can READER INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY
cially some of us on the editorial side of this is fond of reminding me that at least we don’t keep that to yourselves), a mini slot machine, JOURNALISM, INC.
CHAIRWOMAN EILEEN RHODES
newspaper) like to periodically check in with live in the Stone Age and have to spend our various books on alchemy and chaos, tarot TREASURER CAROL BELL
prognosticators and astrologists (or even hours hunting deer and bison with homemade cards, and a good luck pig drawing from a DIRECTORS ALISON CUDDY, VANESSA FERNANDEZ,
KIM L. HUNT, JACKIE KAPLAN-PERKINS, DOROTHY R.
that guy who sells flowers outside the Jewels axes, but sheesh—at least Paleolithic people friend’s daughter, we still can’t predict what LEAVELL, SLADJANA VUCKOVIC
on Archer who will shout your weight at you didn’t have to deal with property taxes and this year will bring. While we’re all waiting for ----------------------------------------------------------------
with aggravating accuracy), the beginning of wrangling streaming services, AM I RIGHT? a sign, at least we’ll continue to bring you the READER (ISSN 1096-6919) IS PUBLISHED BIWEEKLY
the COVID-19 age in March 2020 pushed the No, I’m wrong. It’s true that the blessings of best of Chicago’s stories that we can muster. BY CHICAGO READER L3C
2930 S. MICHIGAN, SUITE 102 CHICAGO, IL 60616
great majority of us to look out for any kind of our modern age come with some curses, and — SALEM COLLO-JULIN, CULTURE EDITOR 312-392-2934, CHICAGOREADER.COM
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2 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 ll
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ll JANUARY 6, 2022 - CHICAGO READER 3
CITY LIFE MAYDEL
maydel.com
Embroidery pattern by Ciara LeRoy of Pretty you think about it, the fact that I could turn
Strange Design COURTESY MAYDEL something as crazy as a stuffed ham hock into
rent and groceries is equally unbelievable.
In terms of accessibility, could you give me
an idea of what you offer for people with
physical impairments? Is it also a core
weeks and way more than I’d budgeted to get value in your business?
the supplies for the project. I was so frustrated
Shop local I almost didn’t want to do it anymore. On the product side, Maydel carries hypoaller-
“Why wouldn’t the artist sell full kits for this genic and metal-free needles in every type and
A needle in a haystack project when the supplies are so hard to get size, including needles with ballpoint tips that
The story of a unique Chicago ahold of?” I wondered. Then I thought back to automatically fall into place when stitching
embroidery shop my own craft business days and remembered on canvas. We also carry nonslip embroidery
how difficult and expensive it was to try to put hoops with large wing nuts that are easy to
By ISA GIALLORENZO kits together. The markup was almost never twist, squeezable snips, and flat-strip thread-
worth the labor, and the purchase minimums ers that are more visible than fine wires. Every
needed to take advantage of price breaks were pattern and chart is audited for legibility and
way too steep for an independent artist to clarity, and several are available in large print,
afford. That’s when it hit me—a company that peel-and-stick, or color-separated formats,
made and sold supply kits on behalf of craft- with more being added every month. The
ers would be a win-win-win: a win for artists website and search are navigable by both key-
and designers wanting to make more money board and mouse/trackpad, and can be read by
without spending any additional time on oper- a screen reader.
ations, a win for customers who could finally Our Pony Black needles, which are hypo-
get everything they needed in one place, and a allergenic, sustainably packaged, and made
win for the supply company, which could build using the world’s highest labor standards,
an unlimited product catalog from a single, have been extremely popular and are difficult
W
ho knew finding all the materials to can be found at chicagoreader.com. limited set of craft supplies. to find elsewhere in the U.S. I’m also very
make one cross-stitch pattern for a proud of the projects we carry by our partner
kid’s room would be so hard? Lauren Isa Giallorenzo: When and why did you start Why did you choose Chicago? artists: patterns for gorgeous Palestinian
Venell, 41, learned it the hard way—she almost Maydel? Could you tell me about the whole tatreez by Elian Aboudi, ingenious paper em-
gave up on the project given how difficult process you went through while moving My husband is originally from Chicagoland, broidery by Yuka Hoshino, and bold text art by
her search was. And that’s a lot to say since away from Silicon Valley? When was your and we still have lots of family in and around Ciara LeRoy.
Venell does not seem easily intimidated by a “aha” moment? the city. Over the many years that we visited I The idea for color-separated patterns came
challenge. fell in love with Chicago and frequently looked about when the artist Yuka Hoshino and I were
A crafter since her early years, Venell tried Lauren Venell: Maydel has been open since for jobs or transfer opportunities so we could trying to devise a way for people to distinguish
all she could to stay in the field, including April 13, 2021. In the mid 2000s, I was a pro- move here. As a born-and-bred Brooklynite, between similar colors in a paper embroidery
learning how to set up her own online shop fessional crafter specializing in soft goods. Chicago has always felt like the best of New design. What resulted was a new, technolo-
pre-Etsy. Her tech proficiency landed her a My work sold well but I couldn’t find a way to York without the pretension. gy-driven way to make all types of cross-stitch
lucrative job in Silicon Valley, but her heart scale my business to a sustainable level. I tried and needlepoint patterns more readable that I
wasn’t in it. With a deep-seated love for both outsourcing my manufacturing, consulting for You are a 20-year veteran crafter, teacher, hope will be adopted throughout the industry.
business and craft, Venell would find herself clients, making kits, and editorial production, and designer. I wanna know about your
dreaming about her very own company, to be but none of those options allowed me to create background. You donate 1 percent of your revenue (not
managed in a very different way. my own new work. profit) to charitable organizations.
One of the many times she got laid off One day, wanting to get back to making I’ve been fascinated by both craft and business
(a common occurrence in the volatile tech something with my hands after spending all my whole life, from when I was a kid selling This year I donated about 6 percent of my prof-
world), Venell decided that she’d had enough, day at the computer, I purchased a cross-stitch friendship bracelets and tiny clay animals on it to the Little Village Environmental Justice
and moved to Chicago to found Maydel pattern to make for my daughter’s room. The my front stoop, to my early 20s, when I had Organization and the Chicago Neighborhood
(rhymes with “ladle”). Maydel is the only on- pattern called for 30 colors of embroidery a side gig making bizarre plush objects like Initiatives Micro Finance Group (Greenwood
line needlework shop that offers every single floss, plus needles, fabric, and a hoop of a giant burritos and cuts of meat. Archer Capital). Economic and environmental
shade of DMC floss (a premium thread) and particular size. I found about half of what I I’ve always found craft really powerful—the justice are very important to me, as is support-
fabric by the square inch. The shop also stands needed at one big-box store, another 25 per- fact that you can take a length of string and ing my local community, so I wanted to make
out due to its commitment to inclusion, acces- cent at a second big-box store, and all but one weave it around itself to make a sweater, a sure that Maydel is contributing to a more
sibility, and sustainability. The Reader recent- color of floss at a few different stores online. basket, a lace doily, or a fishing net is pretty equitable Chicago where everyone is able to
ly interviewed Venell about her business and I finally found the last color (DMC 917—I will mind-blowing. Creating something out of thrive. v
inspiring trajectory. Here are some highlights remember it forever) in a box of 12 that I had nothing with your own two hands feels like a
from that interview, and the full conversation to order from the UK. All in all it took six entire magical superpower. But so does business. If @chicagolooks
4 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 ll
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ll JANUARY 6, 2022 - CHICAGO READER 5
FOOD & DRINK
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Moonwalker Cafe is the scratch kitchen every
neighborhood deserves
A cafe expands its orbit beyond Avondale.
By MIKE SULA
W
hen Arlene Luna moved back to Chica- ing, selling products, or doing research and a stop to that.
go in December 2020 she discovered development.” A family visit home to Avondale convinced
that all of her old classmates from the Luna hadn’t. She’d spent the previous 15 her it was time to move back, and she con-
now-defunct Cooking and Hospitality Insti- years cooking in southern California in the vinced her boyfriend, John “Jack” Blue, a
tute of Chicago had left the life. country club, fine dining, and catering kitch- recent accounting school graduate, to join
Clockwise from left : chopped brisket sandwich,
Moonwalker breakfast sandwich, Unicorn Blood “Everyone that I knew from back then is no ens of Palm Springs, and later Long Beach. In her. Her sister happened to own an empty loft
pink latte COURTESY MOONWALKER CAFE; J. KIRBY TORRES longer in the business,” she says. “I came back June 2020 she’d been clocking five hours a day across the street from where she’d attended
and started looking up a few people, and they on the 405, commuting to a private chef gig 30 Madonna High School, and they planned to
were all either retired and no longer cook- miles away in Beverly Hills. The pandemic put settle in. As they prepared to move, her sister
6 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 ll
MOONWALKER CAFE
R
FOOD & DRINK
4101 W. Belmont
773-628-7945
moonwalkerchicago.com
Filipendula Rubra By Ananda Lima
These days when people fall in love with me I know
it’s a dream those who love me love me
in a different way when I see my face
letting go of its shape I think
who cares about my face
when I was
a child somebody
said I was beautiful
noticed that an abandoned taqueria just 300 happen,” says Blue. This impulsive approach my mother
feet away was available for lease. extends to the daytime menu, which is ever corrected them
“Thirty years ago when I was a freshman I changing in line with the seasons and an in- charming in her own way my boy
was always thinking, ‘If I want to eat some- creasing influx of new, word-of-mouth visitors is the most beautiful thing I have ever
thing really good I have to go further east,’” coming from outside the neighborhood; the seen when I tell him
she says. “Everything was east of Western.” turkey sandwich is temporarily 86’d in con- he says all mothers
Even now, there’s a couple of diners and a sideration of holiday oversaturation (but back think that and I
bunch of fast-food joints within the immediate next week). say
orbit, but no one’s offering the fresh, local, Tomato or split pea soup bread bowls are nothing
made-to-order food she knew the neighbor- currently having a moment, as is an off-menu and keep
hood needed. breakfast burrito, and the coquito latte, based writing
“‘You’ll be able to moonwalk to work,’” her on the eggnog-like Puerto Rican holiday drink a prairie
brother told her, and since luna is Spanish that’s been given an extended run. poem
for moon, Moonwalker Cafe seemed like the “People keep coming in specifically for
right name. Luna already knew she wanted to that drink,” says Luna, who makes her own
source her bread from Evanston’s Hewn Bak- evaporated and condensed coconut milk for Ananda Lima is the author of Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the
ery, and she wanted to serve Dark Matter Cof- it. “In southern California it’s something that Hudson Prize. She is also the author of the chapbooks Vigil (Get Fresh Books, 2021), Tropicália
fee, but with few remaining industry contacts, almost nobody knows. When I was out there (Newfound, 2021, winner of the Newfound Prose Prize), Amblyopia (Bull City Press, 2020), and
she took to Instagram to discover the other I always made it for different holiday events. Translation (Paper Nautilus, 2019, winner of the Vella Chapbook Prize). Her work has appeared
products she needed: kombucha from Vargo Growing up in Chicago you either had a friend in The American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review Online, Gulf Coast, Poet Lore,
Brother Ferments; syrups from Jo Snow; or neighbor that would bring your family a Poetry Northwest, Pleiades, and elsewhere. She has an MA in Linguistics from UCLA and an
MFA in Creative Writing in Fiction from Rutgers University, Newark.
Berkshire ham and sausage for breakfast sand- bottle. We’re definitely keeping that on the
wiches from Catalpa Grove Farm; and Hewn menu through the winter months.”
Poem curated by Natasha Mijares: Natasha is an artist, writer, curator, and educator. Her
pastries and Do-Rite Donuts to supplement Neighborhood support has allowed them debut collection of poetry, violent wave, is forthcoming from PANK Books. She received her
Luna’s croissants. to hire two employees, including Kelsey Sum- MFA in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited at various
Blue, who’d had relatively little restaurant mers, a neighborhood home baker who started international and national galleries. Her work has appeared in Gravity of the Thing, Hypertext
experience, submitted to a few days of basic Gold Dust Bakery during the pandemic and Review, Calamity, Vinyl Poetry, and more.
barista training at Dark Matter HQ and began was looking for professional kitchen expe-
to develop what would become a number of rience. Luna is planning to teach her how to A biweekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.
signature drinks: the mocha, coconut milk, make bagels in house.
and almond milk Almond Joyous latte; Jarri- They’re also planning to restart and expand
tos tamarind soda matcha; Unicorn Blood latte their evening pop-ups after a holiday hiatus,
spiked with beet juice. perhaps inviting other chefs into the kitchen FREE online programming from the Poetry Foundation
Moonwalker opened its doors in early Au- to cook for the neighbors, who just seem excit-
gust with the first of what would become many ed that outsiders are taking notice of this once Open Door Reading Series: Kofi Antwi, Jesse K Baer,
of Luna’s own popular signatures: a house- overlooked pocket of Avondale. A recent blurb Louise Akers, & Tariq Shah
smoked, hand-carved turkey sandwich on in Chicago caused a stir. “People were just Highlighting outstanding Midwest writers and poetic
Hewn country loaf, with lettuce, tomato, and coming in like, ‘Wow, you guys made this list.’ partnerships
a choice of chili and/or garlic aioli. Available They felt like it was for them—and that’s kind Thursday, January 13, 2022, 7:00 PM
only on Wednesdays, it sold out each week. of what we hoped for; that people would think
Mostly open for breakfast and lunch, Luna that it’s a place that belongs to them.” v Celebrating the Visiting Teaching Artists of Forms
and Blue tried to meet more of the neighbor- & Features
hood’s demand for thoughtful, real food with On January 31, Luna and Blue will be expand- A reading of the diverse voices, rich experiences, and
Sunday morning biscuits and gravy, and sold ing their orbit further when they arrive at powerful words of six extraordinary poet-educators
out Friday night pop-ups featuring “whatever the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park as part of the
Thursday, January 20, 2022, 6:00 PM
Jack craves”: smoked brisket sandwiches, second season of Monday Night Foodball, the
chicken parmesan, boeuf bourguignon, and Reader’s weekly chef pop-up series. Watch this Learn more about resources and opportunities at
west coast In-N-Out-style burgers. “Jack was space for details.
PoetryFoundation.org
having withdrawals,” she says.
“I tell her what I want, and she makes it @MikeSula
ll JANUARY 6, 2022 - CHICAGO READER 7
NEWS & POLITICS
Let’s watch Mary Miller and Rodney Davis try to
out-Trump each other this June. U.S. CONGRESS
managed to get through life without ever de-
claring, “Hitler was right.” Man, the bar really
is low for Republicans these days.
The Democratic congressional mapmak-
ers more or less created the 15th district to
benefit Davis, hoping he’d run for reelection
as opposed to running against Governor J.B.
Pritzker.
It worked. And so J.B. still doesn’t have a
“moderate” Republican running against him.
POLITICS But then Miller decided to run in the 15th
district—as opposed to the 12th district,
Good news, Dems where she now lives. (A congressperson need
not live in the district they represent.)
Whoever wins the June 28 primary will
There will be nothing civil about the war between Mary “Hitler was right” Miller and Rodney Davis. undoubtedly win November’s general election.
So who will win in June?
By BEN JORAVSKY Well, Davis has more campaign money than
Miller. But Miller has Trump’s endorsement.
I
’m happy to report a little good news as we Dems are finally catching on, doing to Repub- In her speech at the rally, Congresswoman That gives her the upper hand on the MAGA
head off into the new year—Donald Trump licans what Republicans have been doing to Miller got specific: “Fill your children’s minds vote. And he or she who owns MAGA, gains the
has endorsed Mary Miller in her race Dems in Texas, Indiana, Wisconsin, Florida, with what is true, and right, and noble. And future—as you-know-who might put it.
against Rodney Miller in the 15th Congressio- etc. That is, trying to gerrymander them out of then they can overcome evil with good. Be- Obviously, Trump is still mad at Davis for
nal District. existence. cause they can actually discern between what voting to certify the presidential election.
I know you must be wondering why I think a OK, enough of the preamble—time to get is evil and what is good.” After meeting with Congresswoman Miller at
Trump endorsement is good news. down to the particulars, starting with Con- Remember, her speech came at a Save the Mar-a-Lago, Trump gave her his blessing.
It’s because Davis and Miller are incumbent gresswoman Miller. Republic rally dedicated to promoting a lie. In In his endorsement message, Trump
congresspeople running against each other As you may recall, she is the MAGA partisan this case the lie being that Trump won, even praised Miller for fighting against “the radical
in a Republican primary. Meaning no matter who made a name for herself by showing up at though he lost the presidential election to Joe indoctrination of our children.”
what—a Republican will lose. Hooray! a Moms for America rally in Washington, D.C., Biden. So, we’re sorta back to Miller’s Hitler quote.
Moreover, Trump’s endorsement promises on January 5 of last year. Apparently, it doesn’t matter to Miller if you In the aftermath of Trump’s endorsement,
to turn up the heat in a race that will undoubt- At the rally, Congresswoman Miller gave a fill your children’s minds with lies. Davis is walking that fine line all “moderate”
edly be a Republican civil war. And it’s always speech declaring, “Hitler was right.” A decla- In the aftermath, Miller sorta apologized, Republicans must tread.
better for MAGA to be fighting each other as ration that you’d think even a MAGA follower blaming lefties for twisting her words. But she He brags about his work “with President
opposed to fighting the rest of us. would know not to make, even if they believed hasn’t backed down from her assertion that Trump during his time in office.”
So, yes—more hooray! it. Trump really won the election—which, one And then in a roundabout way suggests he’s
Though, upon reflection, I’m not sure I used Her basic point is that America is locked in a more time—he actually lost. even Trumpier than Miller ’cause—follow me,
the correct word. As there will be nothing civil battle for the future, which will be won by the She voted against certifying Biden as the folks—she is supporting the “never Trumper”
about this toxic showdown between Miller side that most successfully brainwashes the winner. And voted against impeaching Trump ticket for governor.
and Davis. children. Here’s her full quote . . . for stirring up the invasion of the Capitol. And That would be the ticket of Darren Bailey
At this point, I’d like to give a shout-out to “Each generation has the responsibility to voted against creating the select committee and Stephanie Trussell.
the Democratic legislative map drawers who teach and train the next generation. You know, to investigate the insurrection. And she wants State senator Bailey, who’s running for gov-
had the foresight to redraw the congressional if we win a few elections, we’re still going to to essentially kick Congresspeople Liz Cheney ernor, is hard-core MAGA. Trussell, his run-
districts in such a way as to more or less force be losing, unless we win the hearts and minds and Adam Kinzinger out of the Republican ning mate, is newer to the Trump cult, having
Miller to run against Davis. of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was Party ’cause they’re participating in the con- declared in 2016 she’d never vote for Trump.
Though, upon even more reflection, I wish right on one thing: he said, ‘Whoever has the gressional investigation. It looks as though the June 28 primary
the Dems had figured out how to draw all five youth, has the future.’ Our children are being In short, her mind is filled with blind alle- will come down to whose head is further up
Republican congressional incumbents into propagandized.” giance to Trump. Trump’s big, old behind. May the best brown-
one giant MAGA district where they’d run Apparently, she was alluding to a speech In contrast, Davis is what currently passes noser win. v
against each other. Maybe next time, Dems. Hitler made in 1935 where he said: “He alone, for a “moderate” Republican. As he voted to
What they did was slick enough, as the who owns the youth, gains the future.” certify the presidential election. Plus, he’s @bennyjshow
8 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 ll
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NEWS & POLITICS
DCASE commissioner Erin Harkey at the says DCASE needs to assess existing programs,
Chicago Cultural Center PATRICK PYSZKA/CITY OF
CHICAGO
and also to set up new programs for arts orga-
CULTURE nizations, “especially those providing services
in neighborhoods that have traditionally been
Arts folk: what Which underscores a point the arts leaders
made in their op-eds. Here’s AAI board chair
underserved,” individual creative workers of
all kinds, and small arts businesses. Keep an
eye on chicagoculturalgrants.org for current
would you Michelle Boone and executive director Claire
Rice: “The truth is, the issues facing creatives
today existed long before COVID-19. Despite
opportunities (with immediate deadlines)
and others that will be coming up in the near
future.
do with $20 the incredible value the arts-and-culture
sector brings to our city and state, the arts
have always struggled with lack of funding
This month, in collaboration with Arts Alli-
ance Illinois and the Chicago Cultural Alliance,
DCASE is hosting “Chicago Arts and Culture:
million? . . . Creatives have long stitched together gig
work and lived paycheck to paycheck, often
without basics like health insurance or stable
Funding and Futures,” which consists of two
informational webinars with Harkey (January
11 and 21), and four “deep dive” online focus
DCASE wants to know. housing.” groups (January 5, 14, 18, and 19).
Like the problems facing movie theaters, They’re also inviting the arts community to
By DEANNA ISAACS starving artists predated the pandemic. take a brief online survey aimed at identifying
Still, as DCASE’s new commissioner Erin the efficacy of DCASE’s current funding pro-
Harkey wrote, “Revitalizing our city’s arts grams and the challenges arts workers, arts
and culture scene is essential to [the city’s] organizations, and small arts businesses are
post-pandemic recovery.” facing. Register for the online meetings and
H
ow bad is COVID-19 damage to the arts Are we going back to normal anytime soon? Harkey, who was officially appointed to her find the survey at artsalliance.org/chicago-
sector? Or ever? storied job just last month but has been on fundingandfutures. Focus groups will be kept
Arts Alliance Illinois says it’s been re- Just before the holiday break, I put those the DCASE staff since 2016, told me last week, small, with reservations accepted on a first-
searching that question and will be releasing questions to someone who’s thought a lot “The good news is that while we have been come basis.
the results any day now. I didn’t have them by about the future of city centers, University devastated, the cultural sector has definitely Three of the four focus groups were al-
press time, but it’s safe to assume they’ll be of Michigan professor of urban and regional shown its resilience. Our talented artists and ready taking names for a waiting list when I
brutal. planning Mark Rosentraub. Too soon for a our venues, as we continue to navigate this attempted to register Monday. That reminded
The heads of both the AAI and Chicago’s definitive answer, he said, but “normal is not and try to safely reopen, really give us re- me that Chicago’s seen its share of pro forma
Department of Cultural Affairs and Special likely something that’s going to occur as fast newed hope for better times ahead.” public input sessions, designed and managed
Events published recent op-eds in Crain’s de- as we had hoped.” Here’s more good news: thanks to $10 mil- to validate whatever’s already been decided. I
scribing the situation as “a horror movie,” and He also said that catastrophes “don’t really lion from the city’s 2022 corporate budget don’t think this will be one of those, but even
the arts landscape as “devastated.” institute new trends. They simply accelerate (itself bolstered by nearly $2 billion in federal if it were, the amount of money in play sug-
And that was before Omicron began shut- existing trends.” recovery funds), and $16 million from the gests that it’ll be worthwhile to participate.
ting down holiday shows in venues that had so Movie theaters, for example, have been American Rescue Plan (to be spread over two As Mayor Lori Lightfoot put it in her year-
recently reopened. under siege for a while, Rosentraub said. “You years), the DCASE grants program, which puts end message, these are “once-in-a-lifetime
How much of this damage might be per- can blame Samsung and Sony for that. With cash directly into the hands of artists and arts resources.”
manent? Will we see once-great city centers or without a pandemic, movie theaters have organizations, is getting a mega bump-up this So step up, starving (or formerly thriving)
turned to hulking ghost towns, their offices, a problem.” Ditto for the decentralization of year, going from $2.7 million to $20.7 million. artists: there’s a big pot to split here. v
theaters, museums, shops, and concert halls populations and jobs: it was already happen- And they’re looking for advice from the public
forever emptied out? ing. COVID just stepped on the accelerator. on how to spread that cash around. Harkey @DeannaIsaacs
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10 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 llDon’t miss the newest Chicago Reader
“Best of” book, a collection of pieces
from more than two decades of work by Introducing Our Cannabis and Mental Health Series
In recent years, the conversation cannabis and cannabis users, but we also
senior writer Mike Sula. surrounding mental health has been hope to help foster a sense of community
itching to escape within the confines of our and to provide accessible mental health
minds. And reasonably so; it’s not often education.
that we feel comfortable or safe enough to Our initiative leaders, Alia Reichert and
discuss these topics openly within our own Cynthia Guzman, have been at the
families, friends, and close ones. So far, forefront of this initiative since its
we’ve done a great job of embracing this inception in 2020 and have since focused
awareness via social media as we #selfcare on organized outreach efforts to dispensa-
our way into acknowledging this long- ries throughout Illinois in efforts to spark
ignored and important aspect of our more conversations within the cannabis
health. community. If you’d like to know more
Most importantly, doing this has created about their roles, experiences, and insights
an opportunity for unified introspection as as a result of these efforts, we have
we now have the spaces for more of these featured an interview here in the Chicago
conversations via self-help, therapy, or Reader as the first in our new series, which
initiatives that help further establish this we hope is a valuable extension of our
awareness. In the spirit of these efforts, efforts to make this information available
Nature’s Grace and Wellness has taken to all cannabis users, industry members,
initiative within the cannabis industry to and readers alike.
help “Spark the Conversation” surrounding TO CONTINUE READING:
mental health awareness. Not only do we CHICAGOREADER.COM/NGWSPARK
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ll JANUARY 6, 2022 - CHICAGO READER 11NEWS & POLITICS
A selection of poppers at Leather 64TEN in
Rogers Park. KIRK WILLIAMSON
deep euphoria.
Using poppers isn’t isolated to fucking.
Many like to enjoy the head rush during a cir-
cuit party, on a nightclub dance floor, or other
such social affairs. Celebrities like Sam Smith
and Nicole Scherzinger have been seen using
poppers, and rumor has it that John F. Ken-
nedy was a fan himself. I gave one friend her
fi rst huff in my Upper West Side apartment
over dinner.
On the outside, poppers may seem like a
simple but niche sex enhancement. But Adam
Zmith writes in recently published Deep Sniff,
which details the history of poppers, that the
brown bottles have a storied life that almost
mirrors the criminalization and stigmatiza-
tion of queerness and queer sex themselves.
After originating as a Victorian-era treat-
ment for chest pain, poppers since at least
QUEER CULTURE the 1960s have been popular among gay men
for the head rush that came with a huff of
Huff, huff, pass the vapors. In their early iteration, poppers
were sold in small glass ampoules that made
a popping noise when they were broken in
Poppers, public policy, and policing queer sex order to release the vapors. (Hence the name
“poppers.”)
By ADAM M. RHODES The Stonewall Riots cemented the perma-
nence and the resilience of the queer iden-
tity, and the rise of queer culture after that
moment in turn increased the popularity of
I
remember the first time I tried poppers. sniff rather than the required seconds-long grained part of queer culture, so much so that poppers. Over-the-top homoerotic ads selling
It was with my first serious boyfriend huff. they feel almost out of the FDA’s reach, and poppers appeared in the decades following
during my sophomore year of college in Initial fumbles aside, poppers have become certainly out of the agency’s consciousness. Stonewall, promising explosive orgasms,
Orlando, Florida. He was older, sweeter than a staple of the sex lives of myself and so many I’d love to meet the gay intern who reminded hard fucking, and beautiful, muscle-toned
I deserved, and graciously showed me the queers like me. Brands like Jungle Juice, Blue them about poppers in 2021. men. Poppers had attained their status as a
proverbial and literal ins and outs of gay sex. Boy, and (my personal favorite) Rush are Let’s step backward a bit. For those not fa- gay sex staple.
It was one of those sweet, brief relationships ubiquitous at adult or adult-adjacent queer miliar, to put it bluntly, poppers make it easi- But the hard-fought sexual freedom en-
that is more meaningful years down the road retailers across the U.S. Some well-known er for bottoms to get fucked, though tops use joyed in the 1970s was cut short by reports
than in the moment. leather and fetish retailers make their own the products too, certainly. Moments after a of a rare cancer soon seen among a small but
But I digress. The fi rst time he brought out versions of the products, while homemade short, roughly four-second huff, your blood growing number of gay men.
a little brown bottle from his backpack, he brands have taken queer culture by storm. I vessels dilate and your muscles relax. (That Years into the AIDS crisis, two gay activists
was wearing only a jockstrap and we were in saw a poppers vending machine on Twitter a goes for your bootyhole muscle too, in case in the U.S. published a book in the mid-1980s
the limbo between foreplay and actual fuck- few weeks ago. you haven’t caught on.) A head rush, flushed warning that poppers could cause or were at
ing. He told me to cover my left nostril with So when the U.S. Food and Drug Admin- cheeks, and some would say voracious libido least a cofactor for AIDS, though their argu-
a fi nger and inhale briefly through my right. istration this past June warned about the are soon to follow. ments were later entirely discredited. U.S.
He explained it poorly, and I was skeptical. dangers of inhaling or otherwise consuming But the key to poppers is that huff. It’s al- lawmakers banned butyl nitrate, a common
I don’t remember feeling anything but can poppers, chemically known as alkyl nitrites, most ritualistic. Bottles pass from one part- substance in poppers, in 1988 and two years
confidently say today that I was absolutely I wasn’t the only confused queer. Though ner to the next almost like an offering. After later banned the broad class of chemicals
fucking it up somehow. I think I took a quick certainly not for everyone, poppers are an in- deep breaths come deep sighs, followed by known as alkyl nitrites in the Crime Control
12 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 llNEWS & POLITICS
Act of 1990, a bill sponsored by then-Senator ergy shot, I was met with similar caterwauls records request, only nine of those have come sex-craven bathroom chemists that the
Joe Biden. Prosecutors at one point also of horror and nausea. Nearly everyone I told in the past decade. Those numbers seem FDA would like you to believe are crafting
charged two men for selling poppers in 1996, asked: “Who the fuck drinks poppers?” exponentially too small to warrant an FDA poppers, most of the production is done by
though sentences were minor. It felt like a piece of institutional queer disclaimer during a pandemic (in which the everyday, blue-collar types making an honest
But the products have faced harder atten- knowledge: how to use poppers, what they agency is tasked with approving vaccines). dollar.
tion abroad. were for, not to drink them ohmygod. But it’s Some people about whom the complaints As the article states, many of the most
As Zmith writes, UK gay bars were raided important to remember that not everyone were made were mixing poppers with a lit- recognizable poppers brands are made in a
repeatedly by police who were hunting pop- has access to such knowledge, even in the any of other recreational drugs (no shade!), Pennsylvania factory, by Pac-West Distribut-
pers and using the arm of the law to stamp age of the Internet, and these fumbles might so singling out poppers specifically feels ing, staffed by workers who either don’t know
out queer sexuality in the mid-1980s. A stark be like mine in sophomore year of college, inaccurate. Some of the reports center on pa- what poppers are or don’t want to.
symbol of the stigma gay men endured during but with more severe consequences than un- tients who ingested poppers oftentimes not The article also explains in greater detail
the AIDS crisis, Zmith writes that some offi- flushed cheeks and a still-tight butthole. understanding how to use the product. Most the complicated relationship between the
cers wore rubber gloves during the gay bar The FDA collects voluntary reports of confused the product with an energy shot, government and poppers makers, dating
raids, apprently to protect themselves from complaints from consumers, health-care which calls into question the labeling more back to 1974 in Los Angeles, just a year after
the virus. professionals, and product makers under than the products themselves. the American Psychiatric Association re-
Both the UK and Australia have tried to its adverse event reporting system, and an But Zmith says the labeling is its own moved homosexuality from the Diagnostic
ban poppers, and products containing alkyl FDA spokesperson told me that six reports, tangled web that relies on a strange pact and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
nitrites are considered drugs in Canada and including two deaths, had been made to the between retailers and the government: re- According to BuzzFeed, that year in 1974, a
require a prescription. agency between 2020 and 2021. tailers agree to not label their products as medical student trademarked one poppers
And to echo some of Zmith’s writing, the But there’s a glaring disconnect between being for human consumption, mainly queer product. And two years later, the massively
crackdown on the brown bottles feels like a the severity of the “increase in serious sex, and regulators allow the products to be popular Rush product hit the shelves, made
proxy for state-sponsored efforts to crush or adverse event reports” cited by the agency sold, albeit with labeling that doesn’t tell by PWD, in fact.
at least antagonize queerness itself. and the half-dozen reports necessitating the the whole story. They’re sold as solvents and The unspoken pact between regulators
That includes the FDA’s recent disclaimer. alert. According to an FDA spokesperson, cleaners, not butthole looseners. and poppers makers reeks of how the agency
When I saw the disclaimer—which men- the agency has only ever received 20 adverse Despite what feels like an endless list of has historically thought of queer people:
tioned ingesting the chemical—nauseous event reports about poppers, and according poppers brands, a recent BuzzFeed inves- dirty, unhealthy sex fiends. We see that in the
waves, horror, and confusion fi lled the room to documents obtained as part of a public tigation reveals that instead of the sleazy, agency’s fi rst responses to the AIDS crisis; in
like vapors from a Rush bottle. Nauseous be- its delays in approving HIV drugs, leading to
cause if you’ve ever used poppers, it is likely a historic takeover of its headquarters by the
impossible to imagine actually drinking the activist group ACT UP; in the ways the agency
chemical. previously policed poppers; and in the way
As any regular poppers user will tell you, Two popular the FDA still bars gay men from most blood
even a brush of the bottle around the nostrils brands of donation. As long as poppers makers don’t
or on your lip will have you reaching for a rag. poppers explicitly mention the use of poppers for gay
at Leather
And I know more than a few folks who have sex, the FDA keeps its hands off their product.
64TEN. Many
ruined a set of sheets by spilling a bottle in of the most The relationship between queer sex and
the throes of passion. One friend who I spoke recognizable the FDA is illustrated in one friend’s response
to for the article, whose friends call him a brands are to my fi ndings. His skepticism turned to out-
made by
“poppers papa” thanks to his generosity with Pac-West right disdain when I told him that just nine
a brown bottle, said he sports a chemical Distributing in reports had been made to the FDA in the past
burn on his chest from a spilled bottle. Pennsylvania. decade. Almost as if he were readying a nos-
KIRK WILLIAMSON
A harm reduction group based on New tril for a whiff, he turned up his nose.
York City’s Lower East Side recently posted His eye roll was legendary and as he
a guide to safe poppers use on Instagram, shifted his weight between his hips, he said
with advice ranging from how to safely store matter-of-factly, “I’ll probably use them more
poppers to which pharmaceutical recreation- now.”
al drugs to avoid mixing with the vapors. Over their lifetime, poppers have served
According to the group, mixing poppers as a near proxy for queer sex, met with much
with other stimulants like meth, speed, co- of the hand-wringing, “family oriented,”
caine, and MDMA may increase your risk of decency concerns lobbed at queerness itself.
fainting, a heart attack, or stroke, and using But the story of poppers and queer sex is one
erectile dysfunction drugs with poppers can of survival, of resilience. For nearly centu-
also cause a heart attack or passing out. ries, police and health officials have tried to
So the caustic, volatile nature of the chem- criminalize them into extinction. But in back
ical is certainly well known among actual rooms, in dive bars, on dance floors, and in
poppers users. the heat of passion, they survive. v
When I shared with friends and sources
that people had ingested a bottle like an en- @byadamrhodes
ll JANUARY 6, 2022 - CHICAGO READER 13NEWS & POLITICS
What my hand
telephone doesn’t
know about Ann
My 91-year-old neighbor on hardtack, comradery,
and the possibilities of outer space
By KATIE PROUT
A
nna May Swanson goes by Ann generally, unless it’s the govern- from childhood to age 45, when, in the shortest move I’ve ever heard How long have you lived here?
ment or the doctor calling; then it’s Anna May. She lives alone on of, she relocated all her belongings across the alley to the place she
the top floor of our three-story apartment and takes the stairs lives now. Our building was and remains decidedly unfancy—Ann and It’s about 48, 47 years here [on Victoria
two to three times a day for exercise. She reuses bits of recycling for I have talked a bit before this about starting a tenants union to get our Street], and 34 on Ardmore [the building next
her own PPE. This is how I met her when we moved in June 2020, management company to fix literally anything—but she’s made it her door to ours]. Something like that.
coming down the back porch stairs as my boyfriend and I huffed and home for 47 years, meaning Ann, who will be 92 this spring, has lived
sweated our furniture through the alley gate, a bit of faded silk scarf on our street for the better part of a century. And where did you live before that?
over her mouth and nose, biscotti wrappers repurposed into gloves I asked Ann if I could interview her because I’m interested in what
and merrily crinkling on each waving hand. it’s like to live somewhere so specific for so long, and because I like Various places on the north side, always the
“Jack was saying how much [information] you can get from your to hear the stories she tells me in the stairwell. As Omicron spiked, north side.
telephone. Well, not from your telephone, from your hand telephone,” we decided chatting face-to-face was out, but as her landline and my
she explains to me from the other side of her locked apartment door. cell phone don’t get along, so was a phone call. Instead, I listen to her What was this building like when you
Jack, her stepson, helped her prep for this interview: I could hear his drag a chair in from another room to her entryway while I sit down first moved in?
voice on Ann’s landline speakerphone while climbing the stairs to her on her doormat. I feed two copies of the Reader with my name in the
place, sharing some data he’d found about our little crook of Edgewa- masthead under the door, so she knows I’m for real, and watch them There was no fence in the backyard. There
ter. For example, the building right next door to ours recently sold for wriggle and disappear as she tugs on them from the other side. Her were no washing machines. The sidewalk was
a large sum and is “fancy now.” It wasn’t fancy when Ann lived there door between us and our masks on, we begin. cracked in the backyard.
14 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 6, 2022 llNEWS & POLITICS
Does the inside of your apartment look I used to drink water at the fountain there, at time, there were more kids to play with. They down the safety switch and trembling with
different from then? Sullivan’s. You should find out about Sullivan’s were always in the alley jumping rope, playing the effort to do so. Carter is quietly alarmed,
on your telephone! hide-and-go-seek in the gangways, which and offers to light her stove for her, but Ann
No, no. Except they decorated [recently], are not there anymore, except that they’re waves him away. “I’ve got it this time!” she
painted the kitchen and the bathroom. They’ve I’ll look it up. [I do look it up, but am boarded up. And we would roller-skate on the says, and then, to our cat Poe, who is a kitten
done that before. I got new linoleum. unsuccessful, so I e-mail the experts. tar part—[that’s] where the sewers are in the at this point and who has crept to the doorway
“There was a drug store named Sulli- middle of the street. That was smooth skat- to watch a human only slightly larger than him
One time this summer, when I bring her some van’s Pharmacy at 5759 N. Broadway ing on that. And then in the street, we would wave around some fire, “Hello, bunny! You
mail, Ann invites me in. Everywhere in her from at least 1922 through at least play red rover, red rover, and so we would be have a rabbit!”
kitchen, there are sticky notes, with names and 1965. Would be interested in reading the standing on the curbs and running across the Definitely alarmed now, we both offer to
numbers written in cursive; I see mine among story. Best, LeRoy Blommaert, Edgewater street, there and back. Then we used to go to come light her stove, but Ann assures us that
them, along with the magnifying glass she uses Historical Society.”] the Armory and go roller-skating there. she’ll have no trouble lighting the pilot light
these days to read. Her stove is in the same now, her eyes are just a little bad at night. She
place as ours, but it’s much smaller, much Then we would go to another neighbor’s On the phone yesterday, you told me disappears again, and we brace ourselves for
older, and looks like it’s made of porcelain. garage, which was on the parking lot of Wal- about a big snowstorm on Outer Drive an explosion. Minutes tick by, and then here is
Above it, the corner of the ceiling leaks when it greens now, at Ridge and Broadway. We’d [an earlier name for Lake Shore Drive Ann again: red-cheeked, shining blue eyes, the
rains, she tells me, and gets in her soup. use his bathroom. There were four of us who that Ann still uses], where you had to long lighter held up in her hand like a sword. “I
The apartments on our side of the building would go in there [laughing] when we were crawl on your hands and knees to see got it!” she says triumphantly, and thanks us.
come with weird little almost-porches that out shopping at the dime store on Bryn Mawr. the lake.
face the street—not quite three seasons, not We were always shopping at the dime store. What do you do during the day lately?
quite a room. Some residents use theirs as Oh yeah, that was one year when there’s no How do you spend your time?
precious storage space. I’ve filled mine with What did you used to get? cars on the Outer Drive, and I remember
plants. Inside her place, I see Ann has done thinking, “Oh boy, this is the first time I’ve Trying to keep up with everything.
the same, only some of her plants are decades I used to always get colored sewing thread, really been able to walk on the Outer Drive!”
old. She has the usual household pothos, green because I loved to do cross-stitch and I did it as much as I could until I got past the What is “everything?”
and veiny, except there is nothing usual about embroidery. buildings, and then I crawled on the top of the
hers: there are so many vines it’s become a snow like I was swimming to reach the water, Well, reading information. I like to read about
huge riotous bush, new leaves cascading down What kind of colors did you like? which was frozen and had ice caves—frozen health . . . I think it’s important to exercise the
over years of yellowing and dead brethren. waves that were just real high near the edge of joints. The legs and the arms, the toes and
She too has a Christmas cactus, only hers Oh, anything that was unusual. Off-reds, off- the lake. the ankles—anything that bends that doesn’t
looks less domesticated and more like the real blues, off-yellows. I’d get up, have a box full of wanna bend. And even exercising the scalp, by
thing: a strong, fuchsia-tipped desert tree. Her different colors. Why did you want to go see it? brushing. A stiff hairbrush, a hundred strokes
Christmas lilies have thick, heavy stalks—she a day.
stopped putting the bulbs to bed a long time While I’m transcribing this interview, Ann Oh, I figured I’d never get that chance again!
ago, and now they bloom and grow year round. knocks on the door. “Mailman!” she sings out How do you get the news?
Everywhere in this little room are heavy old through her mask. Ann has had many jobs in Were you a teenager, were you a kid, were
bags of dirt and half-full gallons of distilled her life, one of which was as a preschool teach- you in your 20s? When the TV is working, I get it through there.
water; everywhere are the husks and dust of er. I love her voice: it’s bright and scratchy and
things long dead, and life creeping over. exactly right for reading to a bunch of squirmy Well, that wasn’t that long ago. Probably 1985. A week or two after the pilot light episode,
three-year-olds. It’s the kind of voice that I’m not sure. [This places Ann in her mid 60s.] there’s another knock, only this time I don’t
Have you always lived alone? Or did any- wants to play. think it’s a knock, I think it’s the apartment
one else live with you? Today, Ann’s wearing a blue cardigan, gray Do you have advice for other women in settling. A moment later, I hear a rustle, and
trousers, and drugstore glasses. Her hair is the city who are living independently, as find a sheet of paper slipped under our door.
My mother for a while. white and flossy and sticks up in excited little you have lived? It’s a note from Ann. “Hi Katie, Carter & Poe,” it
exclamation marks all over her head, making begins. “I hope you can all enjoy the ‘Meow-a-
Did you move in with Jack and Jack’s dad, her look, to my imagination, a bit like a nona- Just do everything that you wanna do! thon,’ on Ch. 9, today, Thurs. and have a Happy
or were you alone when you moved in? genarian Joan of Arc. She’s windswept and Enjoyable Halowen [sic]. Ann #3.” On the top
eager, as always, even though I know it’s been Sometime in the fall of 2020, there’s a soft right corner, there’s a carefully inked face of a
I don’t wanna bring that up. a long time since she’s properly been outside. knock on our door. On the other side is Ann. little cat.
She hands me a letter that was delivered to her Her pilot light’s gone out, and she needs to
Gotcha. Thank you for telling me. by mistake. We talk for a bit about how messed borrow a lighter to spark it again, but the only You’re someone who has seen a lot of
up our mail has been, but how much better it’s one we have is one of those long ones meant history and has lived through quite a
Mhm. gotten since we started calling the local post for grills or, in my case, half-burned novena bit. What do you think the next year will
office together to fix it. candles, and she’s never used anything like it be like?
What was the neighborhood like when before. She takes it, but is back again shortly,
you first lived here? How has the neighborhood changed? asking my boyfriend, Carter, to show her once Oh, I think we’ll be in outer space more and
more how to use it. She practices for a minute more. There’s gonna be plenty of real estate up
I went to the beach a lot, with my girlfriends. I don’t know that many people now. At that in our doorway, using both her thumbs to pull in the sky there [laughs].
ll JANUARY 6, 2022 - CHICAGO READER 15You can also read
