Issue Date Saturday, September 1st, 2007
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For poet and publisher Haki Madhubuti, success has been hard-earned

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September 1st, 2007

“The arts saved my life,” says Haki Madhubuti as he takes a visitor past original paintings on the walls of the Third World Press, located in a former rectory on Chicago’s South Side. He pauses before a painting of Malcolm X. “He was one of my mentors even though we never met. He freed me intellectually,” says Madhubuti, 65, who keeps in touch with Malcolm X’s family. “Real art transcends time.” Equally ...

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Is Andersonville becoming Mandersonville?

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September 1st, 2007

If you attended this year’s Midsommarfest, you might have noticed something strange at play. Andersonville’s predominantly lesbian festival was brimming with gay men. While scanning the crowd for my friends, I was blinded by the sheer density of faux hawks and pectorals peeking through tank tops. They seemed to be trumping us 10 to one, thickening the streets with the smell of sweaty cologne. It felt a little overwhelming, the populous ...

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Meeting of Styles dresses up Kedzie Avenue

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September 1st, 2007

On a mid-September weekend, passengers riding the “L” near Brighton Park on Chicago’s near South Side were confronted with a rainbow of color. Young people held aerosol cans and sketchbooks filled with extraordinary art as they decorated the walls. It was a weekend celebration where graffiti got the recognition and respect it deserves. Called the Meeting of Styles, the 4th annual International Graffiti and Hip Hop Festival drew graffiti artists from across ...

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How to help when a friend’s partying has gotten out of control

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September 1st, 2007

When the rich and famous party too excessively, they make headlines. They also face real-life consequences. Celebrity “it girls” Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton have been court ordered to seek substance abuse treatment after drug- or alcohol-related incidents. Lohan was also required to complete a drug-treatment program. Non-celebrity offenders often face stricter penalties. Students whose partying gets out of hand can suffer consequences ranging from loss of financial aid to ...

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An overcrowded school for students with disabilities makes do with less

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September 1st, 2007

South of the storefront Baptist churches, fish and chicken shacks, and the yellow and red signs of block-to-block currency exchanges, Southside Occupational Academy sits nestled on the 7000 block of Hoyne Avenue. Near Lindblom Park, where geese play in abandoned football fields, the yards are overgrown and homes with boarded-up windows have “Mallory for alderman” spray painted across the plywood. The blinking blue lights of police surveillance cameras and handwritten “We ...

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A school on the southwest side struggles with neighborhood violence

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September 1st, 2007

Soft jazz music floats through the checkered hall of Little Village Lawndale High School Campus to signify the few minutes left before classes begin. On a cool Monday morning in October, students pass through the vast glass entranceway, take off their bags and walk through a metal detector. Police officers in navy blue uniforms stand by, cautiously watching the students fill the campus. The students branch off into the four separate high ...

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What every artist should know about intellectual property law

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September 1st, 2007

David Thomas and Laurel Legler’s film, MC5: A True Testimonial, is rich in provocative images. The 2002 documentary explores a brilliant Detroit band that came close to making it big but never did. The film includes surveillance footage of the band’s afro-sporting, leather-clad lead singer and his band mates gyrating beneath the bellies of Army helicopters at the 1968 Democratic Convention. In another scene, the manic heat of Detroit’s 1967 riots smolders ...

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Jen Marlowe builds awareness of a war in Africa

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September 1st, 2007

For the past three years, Jen Marlowe has traveled to war-torn Sudan to give the world more than 30-second sound bites about the lives of its people. Her past documentary work focused on the Darfur Crisis in Western Sudan. Her current focus is on the rebuilding of Southern Sudan. This past summer, Marlowe captured on video the first return visit of three men separated from their families 20 years ago. They are ...

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