Author: Ashvini Kartik-Narayan

Lit Issue 2018 | Stage & Screen

Opening Up

As Young Chicago Authors ages, a new generation of open mics emerges on the South and West Sides

by and 11 months ago

Adjua Pryor

One Tuesday evening last month, a group of about twenty gathered under a sculpture made of neon lights to listen to stories and tell their own in turn. This was the July meeting of Story Club South Side, held at Bridgeport’s Co-Prosperity Sphere, a community gallery and gathering space. The group is composed of writers, bloggers, poets, and some who identify as none of the above, but they’re united by a fascination with live performance. Yvette Piña, one attendee, said, “Every time I’m telling a story, I relive it so much I get goosebumps. It’s like, I remember how that felt, I remember that moment. There’s something cathartic about that.”

Activism | Features | Police | Politics

The Fight Over Chicago’s Largest Private Police Force

Organizers return to challenging the University of Chicago Police Department's practices—this time with a more radical agenda

by 11 months ago 1 Comment

#CareNotCops organizers march to the occupation site (milo bosh)

On the night of April 3, an officer of the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) shot a student in the grips of a mental health crisis. Charles Thomas, who had been wielding a metal pole and smashing windows, and who the officer identified as undergoing a mental health crisis before shooting him in the shoulder, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville to receive treatment. Over the following two weeks, he was charged with eight felonies, including assaulting a police officer.

Education | Media

Don’t Stop the Presses

Teachers are fighting to keep journalism education alive—despite the odds

by 1 year ago

Lizzie Smith

Kids are already doing [journalism], but we’re not talking to them about how to do it correctly or how to do it really great,” explained Liz Winfield, who runs the journalism program at Benito Juarez Community Academy in Pilsen.

Music

Fresh Terrain

A review of The Flashbulb’s Piety of Ashes

by 2 years ago

When the Weekly profiled Benn Jordan (aka The Flashbulb) in July, he explained that he was always most eager to share new music that sounds nothing like  his audience had heard before—and Jordan’s new album Piety of Ashes, out September 1, does not disappoint. Every track is its own musical journey, but each transitions seamlessly into the next to create a cohesive album that covers sounds from the crunching of leaves and the blowing wind to metallic, electronic beats, all contributing to a complex narrative of transitions and loss.

Music

Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard Before

Englewood native Benn Jordan, aka “The Flashbulb,” refuses to be tied down to one genre

by 2 years ago 1 Comment

Courtesy of Benn Jordan

Right now, Benn Jordan, aka The Flashbulb, lives just outside of Atlanta. But that doesn’t stop him from repping Chicago: he continues to be influenced by his South Side upbringing in his performance style and experimental artistry. Using everything from acoustic guitar to ambient sound recordings, no track of Jordan’s is quite the same.

Arts Issue 2017 | Music | South Chicago

Sounds in South Chicago

JoVia Armstrong brings music education to her neighborhood

by 2 years ago 1 Comment

Ellen Hao

Like many musicians, JoVia Armstrong’s journey began early: she went from playing on pots and pans as a kid to becoming an accomplished percussionist, as member of the band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, and an experienced teaching artist. JoVia is now onto her latest project: a music school that she runs out of her own apartment called Sounds About Write, which she started last September. Students can take lessons in a variety of instruments and sound technology, both in groups and one-on-one sessions. With different lessons taught by different teaching artists, the lessons range from guitar to songwriting to conga drums, and nearly anything in between. The school aims to make music education more accessible, and to instill a passion for the arts in every household.

Visual Arts

Two Artists Fighting in a White Cube

“Intermissions” brings performance art to an empty Renaissance Society

by 2 years ago 1 Comment

Xavier Cha, In The News. Image courtesy of the artist and the Renaissance Society. Photo by On The Real Film.

As the audience first walked into Xavier Cha’s event for The Renaissance Society’s “Intermissions” series, what they saw was less important than what they didn’t see: the space was completely empty, awaiting a live performance, and invited curiosity with its high ceilings, bright white walls, and overall expansiveness. The Renaissance Society, housed on the fourth floor of Cobb Hall at the University of Chicago, is no stranger to the international art scene. It has hosted contemporary art exhibitions since 1915, but starting this year its curators decided to try something different: the “Intermissions” series, which held its inaugural performance on January 28, attempts to celebrate live performance works in a space that artist Xavier Cha and “Intermissions” curator Karsten Lund agree looks “like a sci-fi cathedral.”