Glenwood Art Fest was this weekend, and I could not make it there until today. On Friday and Saturday, the rain randomly stopped and started, and when it started, it would pour! I got completely wet at least six times during these days!
But today, the rain finally stopped, so I took my mom and went there. Yesterday, when I was exporting, one of my fellow escorts told me that there will be “The Twelve Night” performed at 2-30. so I planned to be at the fest before that, and the timing was perfect.
OMG, they are so good!!! That’s how you should do Shakespeare – on the market, with no mics, with very simple props and costumes. Loudly. Over-expressive. Almost vulgar, but not. To the lough and joy of the audience.
Also, I really liked how they decorated the underpass under the CTA tracks!
That was something incredible! A Japanese female film director, Naomi Kawase, is almost unknown in the USA despite the impressive body of work she produced and multiple international awards, and that was the first exposure to her work for most of the audience.
For me, the plot of the film was very emotionally resonating: the famous photographer gradually losing his vision, hanging to whatever vision he has left, trying to be independent. Masatoshi Nagase, who plays the main male character, displays all the typical gestures and movements of visually impaired people (the way they check their phones, work on large screens, walk around) with frightening accuracy. I can’t describe how I felt. Also, the typical reactions of others around… One person in the audience mentioned during the after-screening discussion that she worked with visually impaired people and how she was grateful for this movie… It’s amazing. The trailer does not do the movie a justice.
August is officially a Ukraine Month in Chicago, and I only learned about it on August 1, and only because I went to the Daley Plaza Marked and saw the ceremony of the official proclamation of Ukraine Month:
Igor said he learned about this even at the last minute, but I didn’t know anything at all. It was very heart-warming to hear the words of solidarity and support for Ukraine, especially now when people’s attention is mostly focused on elections, and the war seems far away and irrelevant to way too many people…
It’s a very hot week! Boris tried to choose a week with less chance of a heat wave when we planned his coming, but it ended up being a week with several extremely hot and humid days.
I had three good-seat tickets for a “Broadway Rocks!” concert at Millennium Park, and Boris and I agreed we could go (the tickets were originally for my French friend and her daughter, who were going to visit me but had to cancel). Retrospectively, I should have returned these tickets and gone to the indoor Bruckner concert on Friday, but it was hard to tell in advance: even when you know the weather forecast, it’s hard to say how it will feel.
It was definitely too hot, and also the music was not what I was hoping for (and not Boris’ thing) so it was almost a disaster. My neighbor to whom I gave the third ticket said she enjoyed it, but maybe she was just polite. I felt like I ruined the evening for all of us, but I finally agreed with Boris that it was impossible to tell in advance.
For this visit, I tried to minimize the outings and just come home after work – partially because of the weather and partially because I felt like we were not doing it enough – just two of us being together, not on a mission.
On the other hand, we had one unexpectedly positive experience: going swimming in the evening. I never went to Fargo Beach to swim before (technically speaking, it is not allowed 🤷🏻♀️), but it is a three-minute walk from our building, and – well, it’s the same lake, and it’s getting deep pretty fast.
Boris arrived on Friday night, and on Sunday morning, we were on our way to visit Anna and her Family in Milwaukee. That weekend was an Air and Water Show weekend, the same show that came to Chicago a couple weeks later.
My last two attempts to watch it in Chicago were not very enjoyable because you could hardly see things from the northern beaches, and getting closer takes time, and you end up in a huge crowd. In Milwaukee, it turned to be a way better!
Yesterday was very hot, but today’s weather was going to be wild, so I tried to squeeze in as many out-of-the-house activities as possible. Some of my house guests objected, saying that they wouldn’t survive and that it would be even worse, so whatever I wanted to do with my guests this weekend had to be done on Saturday. It was great to spend Saturday doing fun stuff in the city instead of catching up with life as I do too often these days.
Here is how it went. As always, I started the day with a bike ride (a relatively short one, just an hour). Then I made breakfast: a baked apple pancake, scrambled eggs, and breakfast patties. Then we went on the Architectural cruise. It was already burning hot by 10 AM, and Sonia could not possibly sit on the top deck for the whole duration of the tour, so I spent most of it sitting with her downstairs:). The rest of the party was entirely exhausted by the heat, but they still loved the views.
After the cruise, we cooled down in the Architectural Center
And then walked to the Art Institute because the Rayan Center was closed last week, and Sonia didn’t get a chance to do art.
As it often happens, parents do not mind doing the art either 🙂Sonia drew Rogest Park BeachAdults took turn to see the actual art exhibits.Taking the bridge to Maggie Daley Park
And after that came Maggie Daley Park, and no matter how hot it was, those who wanted to do the climbing wall climbed, and those who wanted to explore Ship did so, and those who wanted to splash in the fountain, did so as well.
We finished the day at Acanto, and my highlight was a new dessert called lemoni. From the first glance, it looked like a lemon:
Yesterday, I took my friends to see “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” at the Goodman Theater. Goodman rarely stages musicals, and when it does, they are priced way more reasonably than Broadway shows. I had four tickets left on my “Whenever Goodman” subscription, which gave me very good mezzanine seats – I do not think you can have the stage view as good as that in any of the Broadway theaters!
The show was spectacular! I always enjoy seeing the reaction of people experiencing an American musical live for the first time! I remember my own experience of feeling never-ending happiness following the perfect movements of the dances and enjoying every bit of music.
The pictures below are official photos of the show from the Goodman Theater website- enjoy!
On Wednesday, Igor and I attended one more WTTW event in the FIRSTHAND: Homeless series. This event was dedicated to the migrant crisis. I was extremely disappointed with it. I had to leave to return to my guests, but Igor stayed to talk to the participants., soI might have more updates from him when we talk. My disappointment was mostly because I do not think this event achieved its purpose.
The purpose, as I see it, was to make more people aware of migrants’ challenges: why things are so difficult for them, what obstacles they never thought about, and why they are fleeing their countries in the first place. None of these questions were answered. To be honest, I do not even think the documentary covered “homelessness” specifically. There are multiple (too many) challenges these people face, and my feeling was that the questions of getting work permits and enrolling kids in schools took preference, and the horrific housing crisis was sort of left on the back burner. (Waiting for Igor’s comments on that).
Today, we visited the Aquarium. I love this museum, and I reserved the tickets immediately after knowing my friends were coming. This was a great idea since the Aquarium was sold out for the day!
What I completely forgot (or ignored) was that this weekend is a NASCAR weekend. Although the races are happening during the weekend, the street closures started a week before (and would still be there the week after). Last night, I tried to figure out what exactly would be opened and closed, but without any luck.
That being said, getting there was quite an adventure, and Sonia (the youngest child and my goddaughter) was screaming that she couldn’t go anymore, but when we finally got to the Aquarium, all the hardships were forgotten! I love when people love the Aquarium and when they not just quickly browse the exhibits but actually pay attention to all of them, so it was a real joy!
We spent five hours in the Aquarium, and that’s only because we skipped the show and a big portion of it is closed for renovation. And a way back seemed not as bad!
My feelings towards Independence Day are now more complex than they used to be. i am not ready for the in-depth analysis yet, but let me just say that I can understand people who do not want to celebrate this day. It does not mean that I do not want to celebrate – I do, and this day means a lot to me.
We do not have any Independence Day parades in Rogers Park, and we do not have official fireworks (although I can hear the illegal ones right now, and very loud!). Instead, my guests and I went to Millennium Park’s Independence Day Salute concert. I got us close-up seats, and it was amazing! I have gone to this concert every year since I moved to Rogers Park, and I love how Christopher Bell conducts them! My guests liked it as well 🙂
I will try to add more pictures tomorrow when there will be something in the media
Hettie's Reflections 