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Arts & Culture, Health & Fitness, Lifelong Learning

It’s all about Brain Health! Laugh Lines: A Storytelling Event

June 12, 2016·0 comments

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration on Community Living (ACL) is presenting a storytelling event series featuring local, amateur older adult storytellers.

The series is sponsored by HHS ACL as part of the national “What is Brain Health?” Campaign.

Laugh Lines: A Storytelling Event about the Experience of Getting Older will be held on June 25 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at the Center on Halsted (3656 N. Halsted Street).

It is a free event that will feature six amateur older adult storytellers ( age 60+), each of whom will be selected from a previously held storytelling workshop. These storytellers will engage in a friendly storytelling competition, sharing their personal narratives and humorous stories on the topic of growing older in front of an audience of their peers. The event will be hosted by a local celebrity emcee, kicked off by a professional storyteller, and a panel of judges will determine the winner.

While the event is free and open to the public, registration is required.

Arts & Culture, Forward Chicago Activities

Live Theater Enthusiasts: Join Us for The House That Will Not Stand

June 9, 2016·0 comments

Theater Update: Single show tickets available for upcoming date

Members LOVE the experience of going to theater together. What a nice way to get together and enjoy live entertainment!

We already have a Forward Chicago group attending this play on June 29 as part of a series, and now we are also offering you a chance to attend just this show for $35.

The House That Will Not Stand continues a string of well-regarded plays attended by our fellow Forward Chicago enthusiasts. We hope you can join us at the Victory Gardens “Biograph” Theater on Lincoln (near Fullerton) on Wednesday, June 29, at 2 p.m.

The Midwest Premiere!
by Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley
directed by Chay Yew

Victory Gardens’ Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley (An Issue of Blood, The Gospel of Lovingkindness) returns with another stirring portrait of historic America. This time Gardley unearths a story of 1836 New Orleans where free women of color are permitted to enter into common-law marriages with wealthy white men. The home and life that Beartrice has built for herself and three daughters, on a foundation of money, freedom and secrets, threatens to collapse after her husband mysteriously dies. Told through Gardley’s signature poetic voice and directed by Chay Yew, The House That Will Not Stand is a powerful and bewitching family drama filled with desire, jealousy, murder and voodoo.

Ticket for the June 29 show can be purchased online until June 24. Tickets are selling fast – click here to buy tickets!

Uncategorized

Report from the Field: A New Face on Lawrence The Surpless & Dunn Building

May 25, 2016·1 comment

Thanks to Pat McParland for this excellent report and update!

A New “face” will be appearing at the corner of Lawrence and Leavitt Avenues with the closing and proposed reuse of the Surpless & Dunn, Inc. building (2150 W. Lawrence). The Surpless family is leaving and considering a development company’s proposal to convert to 56 rental units with parking. On May 16, Alderman Ameya Pawar, neighbors and the contractor held a community meeting at Borelli’s Pizza to see these new ideas and discuss concerns. Everyone present expressed their hopes and concerns for the project.

Some ideas discussed are listed below with differing responses:

Appearance:
– green space landscaping on walls and roof
(Looks really good: not enough green space)
– change in height of building
(Fits in with the neighborhood: 5 floors overwhelm area)
– size and number of rental units
(Right balance to attract young renters: too congested)
– usage of parking space
(Sounds more than adequate: can public use parking spaces)

Logistics:
– placement of parking entrances
(Okay since it’s off street in alley: too much congestion in alley with trucks)
– normal street traffic
(It can be handled: will add to new restaurant traffic and be congested)

While other topics were discussed, the above questions seem to come up frequently. A member of the Surpless owner’s family expressed her confidence that this contractor and his company’s ideas would continue her family’s concern for and interest in the neighborhood.

The meeting seemed to answer some questions and create some new ones. Sounds like more discussions may be coming.

Here is a link to the architect’s drawings

Community Events, Health & Fitness

FREE: National Senior Health & Fitness Day

May 23, 2016·0 comments

Our friends at Swedish Covenant Hospital’s Galter LifeCenter are hosting National Senior Health and Fitness Day on Wednesday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The entire program is free and includes lectures, classes, raffles, exhibitors, refreshments and goodie bags. Cholesterol and blood pressure screenings will be offered from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and from 1 to 3 p.m.

The full schedule is available here. All events take place at 5157 N. Francisco Ave.

To register for this super FREE event, call 773-878-9936 ext. 5660 or go to the Galter Life Center website.

Local Programs & Services

Is Your Voice Heard?

May 20, 2016·0 comments

by Jean I. Anderson

How do you find your voice if it’s been stilled by screaming, hushed by abuse, threats, or self-doubt, inaudible because of tears, or disregarded and ignored?

You find it when someone is listening, someone is asking questions about your questions.

Such an opportunity was created over two decades ago with the Evanston-based organization Literature for All of Us. Thousands of young people who have struggled to find their voice through positive connections have done so through this organization.

Connections are made with group leaders, trained to engage young people in works of literature that, in the written word, express what they have been unable or reluctant to articulate. What has come forth is powerful verse.

Literature for All of Us works through The Night Ministry‘s services with a book group called The Crib, which provides “urgent and essential literacy and social-emotional support (these young people) so desperately need.”

The Crib reaches out to detention centers, alternative high schools, teen parenting facilities, and to adults in workforce development programs. Find out more about the outstanding contribution of this organization by visiting LiteratureForAllofUs.org.

From the most recent focus of this year’s curriculum, Transforming Justice, comes the work of a young poet who names herself “princess”:

Free for Life

Instead of prisons, give me guidance
Instead of punishing us, teach us
Instead of hating us, love us
Instead of watching us fail, help us succeed
Instead of killing us, help us live

Give us love and protection

Forward Chicago Activities, Lifelong Learning

Join Us for Great Decisions World Affairs Discussion Program

May 10, 2016·0 comments

We are so excited to begin a new nine-week course to learn about and discuss world events, stimulate thinking and rediscover the art of discourse.

The course is called Great Decisions, and it’s billed as America’s largest discussion program on world affairs.

Starting in June, our group will meet every second and fourth Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Sulzer Library (4455 N. Lincoln Ave). Join people across the country in a shared learning experience!

Dates include: June 13 & 27; July 11 & 25; Aug. 8 & 22; Sept 12 & 26; and Oct. 3.

The Foreign Policy Association provides background information and policy options and stimulates discussion on eight critical issues facing America today. The 2016 topics include:

Middle East Alliances
The Rise of ISIS
The Future of Kurdistan
Migration
The Koreas
The United Nations
Climate Change
Cuba and the U.S.

Sign up today at Eventbrite to take part. Registration is limited to 20 participants, and the cost is approximately $30 for materials, which will be provided.

Scholarships are available. Please email info@forwardchicago.org if you or someone you know needs assistance.

The series is convened by the League of Women Voters, Alderman Ameya Pawar, Chicago Public Library and Forward Chicago.

Here’s the trailer for this year’s discussion topics. We hope you’ll join us!

Forward Chicago Activities, Health & Fitness, Lifelong Learning

Speaker Series Begins with Brain Health & The Smart Food Approach

May 1, 2016·0 comments

Forward Chicago is thrilled to launch a Speaker Series as a follow-up to last summer’s Aging 2.0 conference. From May through July, seminars covering a range of topics will be held twice a month (first and third Mondays) at Sulzer Public Library from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Here’s the schedule:

May 2 Brain Health: The Smart Food Approach – Randi Kant, MS, MPH, CHES
May 16 Chicago: The City that Works – Jim Poole, Chief of Staff, 47th Ward
June 6 Pets: How they Help Us All
June 20 Mental Health & Aging – Kate Krajci, LCSW
July 18 Mindfulness & Meditation

You can download and print the schedule here.

Please join us as we launch this series with a presentation by Randi Kant about Brain Health and the Smart Food Approach!

Arts & Culture, Forward Chicago Activities

Attention Live-Theater Enthusiasts!

April 11, 2016·0 comments

Victory Gardens Theater has joined us again to offer theater-goers two compelling new shows at a terrific package price.

With our agreed attendance to the following plays (and matinee dates), we’ll see both shows for only $50. The ticket price will include free coffee and tea. Register at Eventbrite.

The dates are in mid-April and late June, so we are hopeful the schedule gives you the opportunity to commit to and attend both shows.

Wednesday, April 20 @ 2 p.m.

World Premiere of

HILLARY AND CLINTON
(running April 1 – May 1, 2016)
by Lucas Hnath
directed by Chay Yew

Imagine that in an alternate universe, very much like our own, is another world where a woman named Hillary is trying to become president of a country called the United States of America. In a hotel room in New Hampshire in 2008, Hillary is poised to lose her last primary election.

When her husband, Bill, arrives in the middle of the night to offer support, he turns the campaign upside down. Fresh from the IGNITION Festival of New Plays, Lucas Hnath’s Hillary and Clinton is a fast-paced, no-holds-barred glimpse into a political storm of another world. Chay Yew directs Hnath’s 2008 primary election fantasy, exploring the extraordinary sacrifices one is willing to make in order to gain ultimate power.

“[Hnath is] one of the BRIGHTEST new voices of his generation…a wonderfully inventive theatrical mind.”-The New York Times

*and*

Wednesday, June 29 @ 2 p.m.

The Midwest Premiere
THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND
(running June 10 – July 10, 2016)
by Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley
directed by Chay Yew

Victory Gardens’ Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley (An Issue of Blood, The Gospel of Lovingkindness) returns with another stirring portrait of historic America. This time, Gardley unearths a story of 1836 New Orleans where free women of color are permitted to enter into common-law marriages with wealthy white men. The home and life that Beartrice has built for herself and three daughters, on a foundation of money, freedom and secrets, threatens to collapse after her husband mysteriously dies.

Told through Gardley’s signature poetic voice and directed by Chay Yew, The House That Will Not Stand is a powerful and bewitching family drama filled with desire, jealousy, murder and voodoo.

Join us for a couple of great events! Register at Eventbrite for tickets.

Arts & Culture, Chicago History

Edgewater Historical Society-Private Tour

April 6, 2016·0 comments

Calling local history buffs!

Visit the Edgewater Historical Society museum on Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m., and check out the current exhibit, Voices of Edgewater. Learn how the migration of immigrants and refugees made this area the most diverse in Chicago.

Listen to oral histories of why they left their homelands, view what they brought and why they settled here. Watch Charlie Chaplin in “The Immigrant,” and try on costumes from the old country. Complete your visit with tea at First Slice Pie Shop across the street, and peruse Andersonville’s Clark Street shops.

The museum is housed in an old firehouse at 5358 N. Ashland Ave. (Balmoral corner). No reservations necessary. Come when you can and leave when you must. Forward Chicago member and docent Karen Minturn will be on hand to welcome you.

View a virtual tour of the Voices of Edgewater exhibit, which runs through May 28:

Aging in Community, Forward Chicago Activities, Health & Fitness, Lifelong Learning

Dr. Michael Ison: More About Boosters – The Covid-19 Pandemic

April 5, 2016·0 comments

Join our continuing series with Dr. Ison and learn more about the vaccine booster shot, including who needs it, why you need it, and how and where you can get it.

Question and answer session follows presentation
Please submit questions in advance (with “Dr. Ison” in the subject line) to: info@skylinevillagechicago.org