Oscar de la LeoDiCap

I'll live blog the Academy Awards as I'm writing this.

For a class assignment, I had to eat some food and then write about it.

I can't remember if that was before or after we made posters about ourselves.

For such sophisticated projects, you'd never know I'm a mere 22-year-old college senior!

I did lots of art stuff this week. DANG IT WAS HOPING BLUE JASMINE WOULD GET THAT ONE BUT WAY TO GO SPIKE. 'HER' WAS A GOOD MOVIE, THAT'S WHY YOU WON. I KNOW SOMEONE IN REAL LIFE NAMED SPIKE.

That's some art that was in this one gallery. I think it's a rock inside a glass box.

Nope, not enough funds for a rock. It's a flat thing.

Shout-out to Anna for her new haircut. What a babe.

GO CATE BLANCHETT I LOVE BLUE JASMINE AND WOODY ALLEN AND BLUE AND JASMINE TEA AND WAIT J.LAW IS NOW ON SHE'S DEF TOP 5 BEST DRESSED

AWWW NAWWW IT'S GOTTA GO TO LEO PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ NOOOOOOOO MATTHEW MCCONAWHO NO WTF WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I'll talk for a minute about my week and then Best Picture will be announced. I haven't seen all the movies yet because I'm afraid to illegally download movies online. HAVEN'T SEEN TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE BUT IT SOUNDS PRETTY GOOD TO ME, NOT BEING A SLAVE FOR TWELVE YEARS BUT JUST THE MOVIE LOOKS GOOD YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

Another gallery I went to had pie, and one of the artists was there. He gave us advice on how not to jump off a cliff after we graduate college. 

  ART

I listened to another politician guy go bla bla bla, and THEN I went to this place called Jesus People USA. Naturally, I thought this place would be weird, and weird religious yada yada is not a good way to follow political bla bla. However, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised.

We walked into Jesus People USA (JPUSA), and a man yelled, "Hey did you hear about the kidnapping?" As a member of the anxiety-meds club, I had to find out about the kidnapping. The man then said, "We couldn't wake him up. The kid was sound asleep!" Oh. It's a joke. Or maybe he really was just talking about a kid who was napping, and now I can stop worrying about all the kidnappings I hear about on the news because they're probably just talking about kids napping and not being able to wake them up like maybe during nap time.

JPUSA served our group grilled cheese and tomato soup. They serve a lot of people food when they're hungry, which is an amazing thing to do. A woman told us all about the charity work this group does, including counseling for adults undergoing divorce. I don't think it has to be adults though. They don't really discriminate ever. They provide housing and resource services, they run a coffee shop, and they're opening a hip skate shop. Their members are typically Christian, but not always. Some atheists join just because the organization is so freaking charitable and kind of like a commune in that they all live together. It's like college dorms, which is obvi what we all dream of for our life-long living arrangements. They are some of the only people I've ever known to practice what they preach. Respect.

We saw a play called "Clybourne Park" at the UIC Theater, which was amaze.

AND THEN I REENACTED THE MOVIE 'DRINKING BUDDIES.'  I constructed a Saturday in which I would no-doubt be standing where my hero Olivia Wilde once stood. 'Drinking Buddies' is a movie with no script, meaning all dialogue is improvised. It's a feel-good movie that I've seen about 5 times (so far). It's on Netflix so you have no excuse.

Anyway, the movie was filmed in Revolution Brewing, which conveniently is in Chicago. So roommate Emma, fellow-Hanoverian Brooke, and I had dinner and drinks there on Saturday night. The food was great and the lights were very dim, so you know it was a cool place. But I was that girl who took a picture with the flash.

Once we demolished that meal, we went to the Empty Bottle, which is where other scenes in the movie were filmed. Pretty sure I sat on the same toilet as Olivia, just saying. Some bands played there that night.

The b-room stall me and Olivia Wilde share->->->->->->->->->

Brooke gave her number to a guy in a band, and then we waited in a laundry mat for the bus. We bought ninjas so that we'd be "using the place of business" and not just loitering.

By the way, this was Katie. And these people who live by my apartment have a chandelier for their driveway:

Friday 2/28

So let's backtrack a bit to last Friday. Friday's are our core course days. This one was unique because we split up into different groups. The Hyde Parkers got to stay in Hyde Park and meet Ms. Dorothy (teacher, quilt maker, power walker, Chicago connoisseur, and overall inspiration) at UC's social service center. The way I see it, though, Friday's split into 4 chunks:
1. Hyde Park art center
2. Du Sable history museum
3. Clybourne Park performance
4. UC Mardi Gras festivity

1. Hyde Park Art Center. It's current exhibition challenged the notion of high art by intermingling well-known artist's works with lesser known local artists. I peeked into a room and saw a bunch of elderly women from the community making pottery together. So cute! My phone was being silly, but David (roomie, football player, German accent, die-hard sea hawks fan) took some pictures.

Oh hey there's Brooke and I!

Oh hey its Liane, Silvia (me), and lil' Brookey

#candid

Heya Jake! David took a creeper pic of you!

2. Du Sable Museum of African-American History. Notables: A great start to the museum with some fascinating masks from different parts of Africa. The "endangered species" exhibit featuring visual, graphic art exploring the role of race and masculinity in society. Knock yourself out.
I don't have any pics from this. Sorry, you'll have to use your imagination. Or, I know, DO THE ACM PROGRAM! (shameless plug. Shameless b/c this entire blog site is a plug).

3. Clybourne Park performance. A great play based off of book Raising in the Sun. Explored gender, race, sexuality, "politically correct" terminology, all through the set up of one house owned by different generations and demographics over time. Wish we could've had an audience-based discussion with the cast/crew afterwards.

4. Mardi Gras at UC. If you're an ACMer who lives in Hyde Park, likes free food, and is interested in networking, then you are probably inflitrating UC whenever possible. I have crashed a handful of their events already. I really recommend it. This time, me and 3 other Hyde Parkers went to their Mardi Gras event in Ida Noyes hall. Brooke and I got to see the last part of a performance of Second City... FOR FREE.

UC Mardi Gras

Second City

 ...Sorry not as great of pictures as David's. I'm just kindof impatient.

So there's a slice of life blogpost for ya. Or rather, chunks of Friday. Ew.

Anyway, until next time!

--Silvia

Exploring my new "backyard" - The Museum of Science and Industry

Hi Everyone, Liane here.

For the core course component of the ACM Chicago Program students have Neighborhood Explorations. The assignments require us to visit a work of public art, a community meeting, a restaurant, and a business strip; and then to write about our experience and what we discovered there.
For my public art exploration in Hyde Park I chose the Caryatids at The Museum of Science and Industry.

The intention I have for this post is to share with you all some of photographs I took while wandering around the Museum's grounds to emphasize just how incredible my new "backyard" is.

Welcome to the Museum of Science and Industry, my new neighbor.

A view of the Museum's Caryatids as you walk up the stairs.

The entrance way to the museum, I was memorized by the intricate detailing in the stone.

 



SOLVED 1 STRESS!

Progress, my friends! Did you read my previous post? Then you'll know why this video is SO EXCITING.

---Silvia
Email silvia.foster.frau@gmail.com for questions/comments

My Bank Account and Other Complaints

While life is all well and dandy here, with all this learning and growing and experiencing and stuff, this is not to say that stresses don't exist. Not to be an utter Debbie-downer (have you ever wondered who Debbie is and feel bad for her? No? Ehem, anyway), but this is what's going on in my mind, so to write a post about anything otherwise would just be dishonest! Here is a list of the current stresses in the life of me. This is in no particular order.

1.     My bank account

2.     What am I making for dinner tonight? (COOKING IS HARD).

3.     My bank account

4.     How the * beep* do I get there? (I say while I squint at google maps in middle of street, sucking up my limited cell phone data)

5.     What’s that one editor at my internship’s name again? SHE’S TOLD ME 3 TIMES ALREADY.

6.     Grocery shopping decisions: should I get this cereal, or one of the other 2938539870 options? Can I afford this? And do I even like tea that much or do I just like the idea of it?

7.     Being a coffee addict without a coffee maker

8.     Am I trying to do too much at once? Or not enough?

9.     ISP. What am I going to do.

10.  My bank account

After seeing my stresses visually represented, I suppooooose you could say these stresses aren't just a separate entity from the program, but are just another integral part of the learning and growing and experiencing and stuff. 

Either way, I reserve the right to keep complaining. With these stresses, I'll continue searching for answers and with enough time they'll sort of solve themselves. 

Either that, or I'll end up homeless on the street. 

It's a cruel world out there folks. Just think of poor Debbie. She started complaining about her stresses, trying to mentally cope with them as I have done, and she got a colloquial expression named after her and her woes. Poor Debbie.

--Silvia

 

It's all about the food!

Hi Everyone! Liane here to share my recent experiences with Chicago's food systems.

A component of the Chicago Program is an Independent Study Project (ISP). Before the students get turned loose on the city to do their independent projects, we meet twice a week for a class. Typically these sessions are "off-campus" to give us the chance to network with local Chicago organizations. For the students in the Urban Studies track we are exploring the topic of food justice.

What is food justice you ask?

There are many different ways to define food justice. However, I find the definition provided by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi from their book Food Justice to be the best. The authors explain,
"Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly. Food justice represents a transformation of the current food system, including but not limited to eliminating disparities and inequities."

(See more at: http://www.foodjusticebook.org/?page_id=6#sthash.ysiemUAL.dpuf)

Perhaps you have heard about the trend of Urban Gardening or Urban Farming? These are perfect examples of a actions being taken within the Food Justice Movement!

For one of our ISP class sessions we visited Growing Power. A non-profit urban farming organization, founded in Milwaukee and since spread to Chicago, that is doing excellent work within Chicago's Food Justice Movement.  Take a look at the pictures below from our visit with Growing Power:

The entrance way to Growing Power.



On our way into the building which is home to the organization.
 

Learning about how challenging it is for a large portion urban residents to get access to healthy fresh foods is quite upsetting. Food security is not something most people think  about until they are facing food insecurity. In areas struggling with poverty, access to nutritional food is very limited and sometimes even absent. This is primarily because food stores hesitate to invest in opening in areas of poverty. Growing Power's mission is to help bring produce back into areas with food scarcity by developing partnerships with local corner stores. Growing Power provides fresh produce to their partners so people have easier access to these foods.  The organization also delivers their produce around to local neighborhoods via food stands and bikes.

The foundation of Growing Power's success is high quality soil, which they produce on their own through very well tended compost bins. Here is one located in their entrance way:

One of Growing Power's many compost bins.

 

So next time you think about Chicago's food scene, don't just focus on the restaurants! Pay attention to all of the work being done promote food justice in this great city.

A quilt hanging in the stairwell of Growing Power's building.

Jerome

ALL MY SINGLE FEMALES. (Didn't want to have to call Beyonce for permission)

Girl, I hope he told Kim. If not, here is a "wikiHow" page with 4 ways to get your crush to like you: 

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Your-Crush-(for-Boys-and-Girls)

That letter is a piece I saw this week in the Museum of Contemporary Photography. If you're a boy who's received a love letter from me, please don't send it to a museum for display. It's bad enough that you didn't write back or even tell Kim.

I found out at this museum that there's an artist within us all.

Make sure you watch until the end, which is when he...well, you'll see. (SPOILER: He smells his lil' cupcakes burning.)

I started my internship at ComedySportz this week, and during lunch one day I found time to tan my ankles.

I threw a selfie in there for my fans anxious for Flag Day 2014. Yes, I read all your letters!

This week I also went to Jan Tichy's exhibition aroundcenter at the Chicago Cultural Center, which has nice ceilings.

Then I went to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Okay so my roommates are currently playing really sad music (Ed Sheeran, one of my favorite reds), so the rest of this post might get emotional.

That's a picture I took during a self-publishing distribution tour led by a cool guy named Alex Nall. It's this thing where anyone can create stuff like comics and books and whatever, and then they can sell it for money at different bookstores.

<- Found out the title of my upcoming autobio is already taken.










Went to a tarot card reading. Found out about the future. The exact plot of 'Her' is what happens, so if you're not Joaquin Pheonix or Scarlett Johansson, you're just one of those background characters.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: BLAM!

Bonnaroo lineup was released. I found a BLAM! location in Chicago, so all Chicagoan Roo'ers got together to recreate that feeling of being on the farm. If you haven't gone to Bonnaroo, cry a good long cry, and then go to Bonnaroo this year.

On the way to the event, I met two guys on the train who were going too. I took a creeper photo of them.

I actually ran into a few Bonnaroo performers the other day. I guess they were hanging out? Idk it was weird I was just trying to cross the street.

I'm going to end with a picture of this cute kid who ate all the frosting off her doughnut then told her mom, "K I'm done."

By the way, this was Katie.

AM Exploration

Saturday, Feb. 22nd.

I woke up at 9:30am with lines from my sheets on my cheek. It was early for a Saturday but I was ready to get my day started--maybe it had to do with the square of light on my pillow. There's a window in my room that is right at the level of my bed, and my pillow rests right next to the sill, so when it's sunny the light streams right onto my bed. I got up to find my roommate David also up, and planning to go to an indoor farmer's market. One of our homework assignments for core course is called hte Neighborhood Learning Summary. We're supposed to attend 3 locations in our neighborhood and reflect on them. The farmer's market is one of David's assigned locations, and I went with. It was 47 degrees, with clear, cold, calm air. The market was hidden along this small road. We found our way there by people clues--we saw couples walking from it with bags full of apples and bread, and a trail of people ahead of us with empty cloth bags and pushing strollers. A heavy, nondescript door marked the entrance. We bought market dollars and explored three rooms of food stands. I put a dollar in a jar for a mug of coffee to take with me as I wandered. I saw stands with cute little packets of soup ingredients, homemade breads and pastries, an apple stand, an icecream stand with flavors like "sweet potato and brown sugar", and stands with stacks of jams and preserves. The vendors were eager to talk to me about their products and describe how this food fit into their lives. I bought a jar of salsa and David bought a loaf of bread and some jam. We headed back home.

My second neighborhood exploration ocurred shortly after, when I took my first run outside in Chicago. After so much treadmill jogging, I had forgotten how much just being outside is a part of the running experience. My route was simple: up the lake coast, took the bridge west, and a wandering path back South. I could see the city from my trail on the lakeside. I'd never looked at downtown Chicago from that perspective. The lake was so serene and little old men, gazing and reading, dotted the benches along the path. In the silence between songs from my ipod, I could hear cars and birds. I felt like I was in a movie.

The run in the neighborhood gave me the chance to really admire the architecture of some of the old houses. I also got a good look at Kenwood neighborhood and ran through parts of Hyde Park that I'd never been to, discovering some new shopping areas and stores. After a few wrong turns and looping back, I got a better map in my head of how my neighborhood is laid out. I came back to the neighborhood feeling completely refreshed. "MY RUN WAS BALLIN'!!" I announced upon my arrival to the apartment, incorrectly using Ebonics I most likely picked up from a hip-hop song I heard omce. But, I assure you, the words came straight from the heart.

--Silvia

Restorative Practices in the City

Hi everyone! Liane here to talk to you about this week's Urban Studies Seminar topic of Restorative Justice.

For those of you who do not know what Restorative Justice is, like me before this week of classes, it is a new and holistic approach to the traditional justice system. The practice involves the victim, offender, and community members coming together to discuss everyone's needs after the crime was committed. Often times, victims of crimes do not feel like their needs are fully addressed by our traditional justice system. This practice also helps to teach offenders to hold themselves accountable for their actions. Usually people with repeated offenses feel like no one cares about them, and therefore it doesn't matter what they do. The primary role of the community is to provide support for both the victim and the offender.

Restorative Justice utilizes Peace Circles lead by a person trained in keeping the peace within the circle. Their duty involves creating a safe space for everyone to come together in, ensuring that order is maintained in the circle so voices are heard, and assisting to resolve conflicts when they arise.

In the center of a Peace Circle are talking pieces, and other meaningful memorabilia specific to each circle. Below is a photo from the center of a Peace Circle that the Urban Studies Seminar participated in.

 

Having the opportunity to meet with community leaders involved in promoting the practice of Restorative Justice was a very eye opening experience. This practice holds so much potential for rebuilding the lives of individuals hurt by crime, and their communities!