“The Sofrito Manifesto” Highlights Kitchens Of Puerto Rican Grandmothers
“The Sofrito Manifesto,” a book by the artist Bernardo Medina, is showing as an exhibition of over sixty photographs that highlight the colors and flavors of the kitchen of Puerto Rican grandmothers at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. “We focus on highlighting Puerto Rican culture and traditions, and it seems natural to us to be able to bring, in addition to the artist along with the book, a photographic exhibition,” says CEO Billy Ocasio in a a release. “We celebrate gastronomy through art while people will be able to take that little piece of tradition when they acquire the book.” Among the photographs on display are a six-foot-long bodegón that celebrates Puerto Rican table traditions during Christmas celebrations as well as depictions of ingredients of the traditional sofrito, arroz con gandules, drinks such as teas and coquito and fried delicacies of the island. “I want to bring a little of this tradition and culture that characterizes us, through these photographs that scream Puerto Rico everywhere,” Bernardo Medina, author of the book says. More here.
Wrightwood 659 Extends Exhibits Through July
The three exhibitions on view at Wrightwood 659 will extend through Saturday, July 30. The three exhibitions are: “AMERICAN FRAMING,” a reinstallation of the U.S. entry in the seventeenth Venice Architecture Biennale that features a monumental wood frame installation in Wrightwood 659’s three-story atrium; “Rirkrit Tiravanija: (who’s afraid of red, yellow, and green),” an exhibition organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., that “blends curry and community in a unique, ever-changing art experience”; and “Moga: Modern Women & Daughters in 1930s Japan,” a selection of rarely seen paintings of women and children from 1930s Japan. In addition, “We Shall Defy: Shahidul Alam,” an exhibition of images and texts illuminating the life and work of the renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist and activist, remains on view. Tickets online only, here.
DESIGN
Water, Water Anywhere?
“Central Arizona Water District predicts ‘almost for certain’ that even larger Tier 3 cuts—another 720,000 acre-feet—could affect the state as early as 2024. State lost 512,000 acre-feet this year. Together equals twenty percent of annual water demand,” notes New York Times writer Keith Schneider. (Schneider is referring to the report, “The Biggest Dry: Arizona” here.) Plus, the Times reports the Great Salt Lake is drying up. “In theory, the fix is simple: Let more water from melting snowpack reach the lake, by sending less toward homes, businesses and farms. But metropolitan Salt Lake City has barely enough water to support its current population. And it is expected to grow almost 50 percent by 2060.” “This is a disaster,” Kevin Perry, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah tells the paper, “And the consequences for the ecosystem are absolutely, insanely bad.”
Canadian Chicago Skyway Investors Seek A Billion Dollars
“Investors are seeking a sale that could value the Chicago Skyway lease at $4 billion,” reports David Roeder at the Sun-Times. “Canadian pension plans that control the Chicago Skyway reportedly are looking to sell their stakes for a handsome profit, courtesy of drivers forking over tolls that have risen steadily since the city let private operators lease it in 2005… the firms were hoping for a deal valuing the ninety-nine-year Skyway lease at $4 billion.”
IRS Orders Venmo, Paypal And Other Services To Report Users’ Income Starting At $600
“Small business owners who use services like PayPal and Venmo for payments previously could, in theory, avoid paying taxes on money earned there if they made less than $20,000. But a new IRS rule is changing all of that,” reports Bloomberg Business Week. “Until this year, anyone with less than $20,000 in total payments typically didn’t get a 1099-K—and thus, in theory, could avoid paying taxes on money earned on such platforms. But since January 1, those companies have been required to report gross payments of more than $600 directly to the Internal Revenue Service. That means small-business owners—as well as people who periodically empty their closets on eBay—will receive a 1099-K from any service provider where their income exceeds that amount… Tech companies are coming out in force against the rule, aghast at the prospect of collecting tax ID numbers for millions of clients and serving as enforcers against noncompliant customers. EBay Inc., Etsy Inc., and five other players have created what they call the Coalition for 1099-K Fairness to combat the new rules, saying they want to protect ‘casual online sellers and microbusinesses from unfair tax and privacy burdens.’ If the rule remains in place, Stephens suggests entrepreneurs acquire an employer identification number to avoid having to disclose their Social Security number to every new platform they use.”
China Manufacturer Delivers First of 400 Subway Cars To Chicago
“CRRC Sifang America Inc, an Illinois-based subsidiary of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, announced it has started delivery of subway cars to Chicago,” reports China Daily (via Streetsblog Chicago). “The company sent the first of its 400 subway cars to its client, the Chicago Transit Authority earlier this week, after the CTA completed operational tests on the ten passenger rail car prototypes.”
More Electric Scooters Should Arrive Next Week
“Electric scooters could be authorized in Chicago’s neighborhoods as soon as next week, after delays in a plan to roll out scooters outside the central part of the city,” reports Sarah Freishtat at the Trib. “Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian were set to operate outside the broader downtown area to start, while the Divvy bike-share system, operated by Lyft, was allowed sole operation of scooters in the center of the city for the first months of the program. Because Divvy is operated under a separate contract, its scooters have already hit the streets and are available south of Armitage, east of Damen and north of Pershing.”
DINING & DRINKING
Violet Hour Book For Home Cocktails
“When the Violet Hour opened fifteen years ago, it was one of the first spots in Chicago to serve craft cocktails (and really good ones at that),” reports Chicago magazine. “Its head mixologist, Toby Maloney, has published ‘The Bartender’s Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro,’ which aims to share the tricks and secrets that make the Violet Hour’s drinks so quaffable. A collaboration with the Violet Hour bartenders and area cocktail writer Emma Janzen, the book is about ‘understanding what makes a good drink and then using that knowledge to create drinks of your own,’ Maloney says.”
Intelligentsia Employees File To Unionize; Hyde Park Starbucks Gets Representation
“Workers at Intelligentsia Coffee have filed a petition for union elections with the NLRB, joining a still-growing wave of labor organizing among employees at coffee companies locally and across the U.S.,” reports Eater Chicago. “Pro-union staff at Intelligentsia’s six city cafes and its Chicago Roasting Works warehouse in the West Loop submitted the petition in late May, calling for representation from Local 1220 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers—the same union that now represents workers at Colectivo Coffee, the Wisconsin chain with five Chicago-area locations.” Reports Hyde Park Herald: “Workers at the Starbucks located at 55th and Woodlawn voted Tuesday to become the fourth unionized Starbucks in Chicago. The first union of the chain’s South Side cafes, Hyde Park workers join the more than 130 unionized Starbucks stores nationwide.”
Chili Pepper Shortage Burns Sriracha
“Unfortunately, this is out of our control and without this essential ingredient, we are unable to produce any of our products (Chili Garlic, Sambal Oelek, and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce),” Huy Fong Foods said in a letter to customers, reports Axios. “The California-based company, known for its sriracha sauces with a rooster on the bottle, confirmed… that it is ‘experiencing a shortage which is affecting our production supply’ because of ‘weather conditions affecting the quality of chili peppers.'”
j-hope, member of twenty-first-century pop icons BTS, will headline Lollapalooza 2022 with a festival-closing performance on the main stage Sunday, July 31, Lollapalooza relays. “His performance will make history, cementing him as the first South Korean artist to ever headline a main stage at a major U.S. music festival.” Tickets here.
Prosecutors Call For At Least Twenty-Five Years For R. Kelly
R. Kelly “deserves at least twenty-five years behind bars for sexually abusing women and girls, prosecutors said in a memo filed in advance of his sentencing later this month,” reports AP (via WGN-TV).
STAGE
Mercury Theater Chicago Names Managing Director
Mercury Theater Chicago announces Kristi J. Martens as its new managing director. Martens, who has been the production stage manager at Mercury Theater Chicago for the past ten years, joins the leadership team of Artistic Director Christopher Chase Carter and Executive Producers L. Walter Stearns and Eugene Dizon. “My theatrical home for the past ten years, Mercury Theater Chicago is an integral part of Chicago’s vital theater scene. I am proud to work with Walter, Eugene, Christopher and the entire company in this new capacity,” Martens says in a release. “As a stage manager, I have been working side-by-side with the countless artists and administrators through the years and I look forward to supporting them with the administrative leadership needed to continue the artistry and community at Mercury Theater Chicago.” More on Mercury here.
American Theatre Highlights Court Theatre
“This year’s Regional Tony Award winner, nestled on the campus of the University of Chicago, takes an approach to the classics that isn’t merely academic,” writes American Theatre magazine in an email exchange with its principals. Artistic director Charles Newell on how plays are selected: “We’re a company based in classic texts, texts where the creators tapped into something unique and specific, yet the complexity and shared humanity still carry meaning today. As an artistic leader, the one thing a play must have is questions that provoke me, make me laugh, have me in sobbing tears—without me quite understanding why. Doing the production can perhaps, but not always, answer those questions and help us see why we need to tell this story in this moment.”
ARTS & CULTURE
Ten Awarded Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago Nod
The Field Foundation has named ten “Leaders for a New Chicago” for the fourth year. “This award recognizes past accomplishments in the fields of Justice, Art or Media & Storytelling and promotes and advances a range of leaders whose influence will inform decision making across the city of Chicago. Each leader will receive a $25,000 cash award in recognition of past accomplishments, and their affiliated non-profit organizations will each receive an additional $25,000 general operating grant.” The winners are Tanya Watkins, executive director of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation; Kevin Iega Jeff, co-founder of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and executive director of Deeply Rooted Productions; Trina Reynolds-Tyler, director of data for Invisible Institute; Scheherazade Tillet, co-founder and executive director of A Long Walk Home; avery r. young, teaching artist with Urban Gateways; Dorene Wiese, chief executive officer of the American Indian Association of Illinois; Emily Blum, executive director of Disability Lead; Irene Romulo, development and community engagement coordinator and co-founder of Cicero Independiente; Dixon Romeo, leader of Not Me We; Antonio Gutierrez, strategic coordinator and co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations.
Aurora Police Revoke Permit For Pride Parade
The third annual Aurora Pride Parade was scheduled for noon on Sunday. “The controversy started in May when organizers told the police department they did not want uniformed officers marching in the parade, citing what they call a violent and oppressive history with the LGBTQ community,” reports WGN-TV. “They instead suggested officers wear soft uniforms such as a polo T-shirt, patch or logo. The suggestion did not sit well with police or Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who is running as a Republican for Illinois governor and has taken a very pro-police stance… Police said the department is about 20 volunteer officers short.” The Tribune: “The Pride Parade is a privately sponsored event, so officers have to volunteer to be on the security detail on their own time. The city cannot force them to do it. The city revoked the parade permit after the recommendation from the police department.”
What To Do In Chicago If You Read The New York Times
“Resilience is a point of pride in Chicago, which was nearly erased by the Great Fire in 1871. In 2020, the pandemic chased residents out of the downtown Loop and into their homes, and though many offices remain dark, locals are now returning to reopened clubs, theaters, restaurants and cultural attractions.” The New York Times offers tips in town: “For those making the art, the food and the entertainment, introspection mingles with celebration. ‘During the pandemic, artists couldn’t help but create and we’re seeing new, exciting shows,’ said Katie Tuten, a co-owner of the eclectic performance space Hideout, fresh from a weekend of back-to-back sellout shows. ‘Plus, who wants to come out of the pandemic and not have a place to dance?'”
