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| What Chicago's Talking About |
| | | CPS Grads Break Records in Biliteracy Seals | Last year, over 3,500 Chicago Public Schools students earned a seal of biliteracy, a state award that recognizes students who can read, write, and speak in English and another language. Graduates mostly speak Spanish in addition to English, but dozens of other languages are also represented. [WBEZ] | | Ex-Warlord Employee: ‘It Was Assault’ | A former Warlord employee says former chef Trevor Fleming assaulted her after she tried to end their relationship. Fleming has denied the allegation and those of other employees who have said they were mistreated for years. He has been ousted from the restaurant and charged with sharing an explicit image of a woman without her consent. [Block Club] | | | | CPS May Day Plans. Plus, Silver Room Block Party is Back! | CPS CEO Macquline King says schools will remain open May 1 after teachers and students voiced support for canceling in light of planned national protests. On today’s podcast, we discuss the latest news, including the return of the Silver Room Block Party. [City Cast Chicago 🎧] | | Will Illinois’ BUILD Plan Increase Affordable Housing? | Gov. JB Pritzker says his suite of housing bills would cut red tape for developers, expand multifamily homes, speed up inspections, and cut parking requirements to increase housing development. But some local officials are calling the plans an overreach and not right for their communities. [Tribune 🔒] | | ‘Operation Dildo Blitz’ | Protesters wielding hundreds of dildos gathered outside the immigration facility in Broadview over the weekend. The sex toys were donated for demonstrations across the country by a Minneapolis shop that went out of business. At one point in Broadview, it appeared to be raining dildos. (Pics NSFW?) [Block Club] |
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| | | Ever notice how the best part of anything is right in the middle? Come see for yourself in Illinois, where you can hit the trails in breathtaking state parks. Experience classic Americana on Route 66. And even kayak through a glistening canyon of skyscrapers. It’s all right here in Illinois. |
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| 3 Questions With Chicago’s Poet Laureate |
|  | Mayda del Valle is Chicago's poet laureate. (Courtesy of Seed Lynn)
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| It’s National Poetry Month, and while you can find a variety of workshops and open mics in April, poets call Chicago home all year round. | | Mayda del Valle is a poet, artist, and educator born and raised on the South Side. She is also Chicago’s poet laureate who began her two-year tenure in January. | | We talked to del Valle to learn more about how her upbringing in Chicago impacts her work and what makes Chicago’s poetry scene special. | | The following has been edited for length and clarity. | | How does your South Side experience inspire your work? | “My earliest experiences as an artist happened in the house I'm in right now, and down the street from here. Even while I was living away from home, when I left for school, and as my career took me to NYC and LA, I always returned to many of the same themes, moments, and memories. I was gone for so long, but was always coming back, physically and metaphorically. It's just cooked into me! … I think a lot about that young woman who was running up and down 63rd St in the 90's and the things she was looking for. The way she wanted to see herself reflected in something. So I think I write for her a lot of the time.” | | What sets Chicago's poetry scene apart? | “I think there's a sense of community and a commitment to activism here in Chicago that you don't find in many other places. There's an underlying sense here that poetry is meant to be written and shared for a greater good, and people who do this work either know each other or know of each other, because of the level of commitment to building a better world that poetry asks of us. It's an art form that demands truth from the audience as well as the writer, and I think Chicago's scene exemplifies that in a way you don't find in many places. … It's done from a place of love for people, for the city, and from a place of "passing it on" and contributing to the lineage of poetry as a truth-telling tool. I love that.” | | What is your favorite poem about Chicago, and why? | “I have to go with ‘Chicago’ by Carl Sandburg. It's just amazing to think it was written in 1914, and it remains one of the best portraits of Chicago. It's beautiful to think that what made the city so special and real back then still stands today. It's unapologetically rough, raw, never pretentious, and always defiant.” | | | | For more poetry events and to learn more about Chicago’s poet laureate program, check out the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). |
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Also, we know ... it might get cold again, but try not to be the guy who has to bring that up. |
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