Queer Exclusions at CHM - Performance 15; The Closet - Place 35

Last week we met up with our friend Karen to hear a lecture on Queer Exclusions: Sexuality and U.S. Citizenship at the Chicago History Museum, given by Siobhan Sommerville of English Department at the University of Illinois. Sommerville wrote a great book called Queering the Color Line a few years back, and is now at work on queering citizenship. We were expected a small crowd of maybe 50 or so people, so you can imagine how surprised we were to walk into a sold out room of 450! Her talk was part of the "Out at CHM" series. Famed transgender activist Susan Stryker is the next speaker in the series so stay tuned. She has a new film out that will be shown the Sunday before her talk.

After the talk we went out to eat at Adesso, an Italian place on Broadway in Boystown, and then to The Closet, a gay bar across the street for nightcap. A DJ in there was trying to get people to do Karioke, but we escaped unscathed!

yo yo ma / Chicago Symphony - Performances 13 and 14

The week before I went to San Diego I saw two great perfomances at Symphony Hall here in Chicago. First, I went with my friend Karen to listen to Yo Yo Ma play Bach and he was truly amazing. The house was packed and we were way up in the "cheap" seats, but the sound was so great - it was like we were right there next to him. I'm glad we had the opportunity to see him play solo rather than with the whole symphony - it was quite dramatic. Later in the week I went with Kate's step-father Ted to hear the CSO and they were also marvelous, playing Verdi, St. Soens, and Strauss, again to a packed house. We had much better seats for this show and were treated to a lecture about Strauss before the event in which I learned just how gendered classical music can be!

Surfing in San Diego - Experience 34

I was in San Diego last week for a political science convention in which I was particpating in an all day feminist theory workshop, presenting a paper on YouTube versions of the Founding Fathers, and serving as a discussant for a panel of law as a vehicle of redress and reform. Amidst all of that, I was able to get away for a few hours to try out surfing with my feminist theory friends Hawley and Cricket. They had both surfed before and very graciously explained to me what was required while we were still on dry land. It turned out to be enormously fun (as you can tell from the pictures -- how happy do we look?), but also very difficult! I was not able to get up on my feet, but did enjoy riding the huge waves in while on my belly and knees on the board. (Once I had a bit of a bad spill I lost a little bit of my nerve for standing up). It was so much fun that we are already plotting what our next time-out activity will be at the conference next year! Don't you think that wetsuits should be required attire at the conference next year?

River - Herbie Hancock CD 20

Have you listened to this Grammy award winning cd of the year yet? If not, you really should because it is amazing. The first jazz cd to be given that award in 43 years, Hancock's River reworks several Joni Mitchell songs including the well known Court and Spark, Both Sides Now, and River, as well as lesser known gems such as The Jungle Line, Tea Leaf Prophecy, and Amelia. Guest vocalists include Norah Jones, Tina Turner and Joni Mitchell herself. The interplay of the piano, sax and vocals in each song is original and stunning, yet accessible. Even if you're not into jazz, you just might want to check this one out.

Shout, Sister, Shout - Book 33

This book would be worth the price for the intro alone. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a lesser known gospel singer who crossed over into r&b was one of the first rockers, long before Elvis was ever a gleam in Sam Phillips' eye. She was an amazing guitarist, an incredible singer, and a hell of a woman making her way through segregated and sexist America with gusto. Apart from having three marriages, she also was rumored to have a relationship with sometime singing partner Marie Knight. You can check out some clips of her on YouTube if you want to get a taste of Sr. Rosetta's truly remarkable performance style.

Girls Rock! Movie 26

Last summer I visited Girls Rock! Chicago, a week long camp for girls teaching them how to be in a rock band and culminating in a concert at a local bar. Now comes Girls Rock: The Movie, focussed on a similiar camp located in Portland, Oregon, the first of its kind. The movie does a great job of showing how the camp gives girls an alternative to the standard skinny, quiet, withdrawn girl often promoted in the media, but most of all it's just great fun to see the kids figuring out who they are and how to translate that into performance. Can't wait to show it in my Women and Rock class next year!

Preaster - Experience 33

Remember Pre, the pre-Thanks-giving dinner we attended last fall? Last week we followed up with Preaster, a pre-Easter dinner put together by our friends Cyndy and Terri. About 25 of the girls were in attendance for an amazing sit-down dinner which was topped only by the scrumptious desserts and the fabulous company at the event. Can't wait for the next holiday. . . Pre-Fourth of July anyone?

Beers 38-40 Moose Drool, Lone Mountain, and Alaskan Amber

While on vacation in Montana, we sampled three new beers, Alaskan Amber, Lone Mountain Pale Ale, and Moose Drool, all particularly apt names for Western brewed beers.

Needless to say, Moose Drool wins the prize for the best name, and as an added bonus it is brewed in Big Sky, Montana, where we were staying. It's a great brown ale, but neither of us are as partial to browns. Lone Mountain beer is named after the mountain we were skiing on and you know it tasted particularly good after a day of cross country skiing! The Alaskan Amber was also quite good, but without a direct regional connection to report on. With these three beers we have reached our goal of forty in our second category several months in advance of the end of our time in Chicago. Hmmm, restaurants were first and beers second. What does this say about us?

The Power of Forgiveness - Movie 25; Siskel Film Center - Place 34

Last week we saw "The Power of Forgiveness" at the Gene Siskel Film Center, located in downtown Chicago. The Siskel Center is associated with the School of the Art Institute named after the popular movie critic of Siskel and Ebert fame who died of cancer some years back. The Center shows tons of arty movies in fabulously comfortable theatres. The director of this film, Martin Doblmeir, directed one of our favorite docs of all time, "Bonhoeffer," an account of this Lutheran ministers complex coming to terms with what it means to live in Germany during the Nazi reign.

In The Power of Forgiveness, Doblmeir addresses the concept of forgiveness, in part by visiting several locales / events that seem to many to defy forgiveness -- 9/11 families, folks in Northern Ireland who have had family members killed by the British army, an Amish community in which schoolchildren were shot, Holocaust survivors, and a number of other. Though the film raises some interesting issues, it is sometimes facile in its conclusions and has some weird production values which include an unfortunate reenactment scene reminiscent of a show one might see on the Discovery Channel. If Gene were still around, we think he would say thumbs down on this one -- but check out Bonhoeffer (2003) which is on netflix if you are a subscriber ("two thumbs up, way up" - Kate and Susan)

Superdawg: Restaurant 40; Fun Fact 38

How great is it that our 40th restaurant is the fabulous Superdawg?! Located at the northern edge of the city on Milwaukee, Nagel, and Devon, this drive-in / walk-up stand features enormous Chicago style hot dogs and greasy accordian fries. Susan occasionally visited this place as a kid, so it was only fitting that we stopped in on the way to visit her aunt's grave a few weeks ago. Kate highly recommends the cheeseburger, while Susan stuck with the traditional Chicago dog. Fun fact: those weiners at the top of the building are representations of Maurie and Flo, who opened Superdawg in 1948 after Maurie came home from the war and married Flo, his high school sweetheart.