Jettison Issue4

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ISSUE NO.

4 WINTER 2009

THE IDEAS ISSUE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEWS
Ideas Anyone? Chicago Rethinks Southside Development 8

Meaning detail by Matt Nichols

AROUND TOWN FEATURES

Half Acre : Beer, Chicago Style 10 Hub 51, Sub 51: Dine, Drink, and Dance 12 Chicagos New Bohemians: Jettison Checks out Golden Age 15 The Mad Bomber of American Art: Jettisons interview with Gregory 17 Green From the Heartland to Hollywood: The Midwest Teen Sex Show 25 Weirdsville: A Q&A with photographer Jennifer Greenberg on her new book, The Rockabillies. 30 Is There Anybody Out There? A millennial wonders where her generations passion for change has gone a year later. 37 Down and Derby: A Jettison correspondent delves into the rough and tough world of womens roller derby. 39 Explorations in Installation: A conversation with artist Matt Nichols 43 The Metamorphosis: A conversation with artist James Jankowiak 48 Artist Prole: Russell White 52 Designer Prole: Jason Permenter 60

ESSAY

ART

COMIC MUSIC

Zuckercorn: Amazing comics and occurrences 66 Ready For Sex: The sexy, Chicago-based duo talk music 71 Thowbacks: Albums you might have missed 74 Sunday Dinner with Sybris: The band shares a meal and opens up about their new direction. 76
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Photo by Eric Rejman

FASHION

Blind Mouse: We get an exclusive rst-look at hat designer Coral Gables new line. 80 The Birds: Jettison conjures Hitchcock with these vintage looks. 86 Seamwork: The designer twosome that makes up Veil wraps us up. 92

FOOD

Sustainable Gourmet: A hearty dish to keep you warm this winter. 95 Get Baked: Finish your winter meal with this delicious treat. 98 Wheres the Meat? Great vegan and vegetarian dishes in the city of sausage. 101

WORDS

A Birth of Sorts: A poem by Rachel Koontz 104 Notes from the Underground: Zine Reviews from NYC 107 Quitting Things: A piece of ction on the difculties of cutting yourself off 110

IN THE FUTURE

The Electronic Cigarette: Is the e-smoking the road to the future? 114

TRACKING THE NIGHT SKY


Your Celestial Calendar for winter 115

DISCOVERED
Water on the Moon 124

Pass the Lion Steak, Please: A visit to Czimers Game and Sea Foods 118

PARTING PHOTO

Models: Alice Hanson, Megan Louis (The Birds), Erinn and Meredith, provide by Elite Model Management Chicago (Seamwork), Coral Gable, William Von Vogt(Blind Mouse). Publishers: Emanuel Aguilar, Matthew Hendrickson, Peter Skvara Editor in Chief: Matthew Hendrickson Managing Editor: Peter Skvara Art Direction: Donald OBrien Fashion Editor: Jamie Roelofs Copy Editor: Rebecca Swarte Marketing and Promotions Director: Emanuel Aguilar Website Design and Management: Juan Ceceres Website Technical Support: Tyler Hendrickson Resident Chef: Matthew Andorka Publishing Consultant: Bryan A. Bushemi Contributing Writers: Emanuel Aguilar, Matthew Andorka, Paul Barrett, Jon Bocksel, Gisella Faggi, Ben Gardner, Meredith Gilmore, Stan Golovchuk, Brittany Hayford, Matthew Hendrickson, Stephen Kane, Sean Keenan, Rachel Koontz, Virgil Marsmaker, Ameerah Muhammad, Todd Nief, Peter Skvara, Brittany Sudlow, Rebecca Swarte Contributing Photographers: Yuri Alexander, David Robert Elliott, Brandon Escorcia, Brian Guido, Riley Henderson, Hugh Jernigan, Eric Rejman Contributing Illustrators: Emanuel Aguilar, Ashley Bedore, Adrianne Goodrich, Kyle Harter, Elizabeth Hazel, Rex Overdrive, Peter Skvara Hair: Jennifer Koukola Make up: Jennifer Koukola
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Cover Design: Peter Skvara Parting Photo: Shout-outs and Thanks: A special shout-out to all our contributors and staff. A year deep and still kicking. Thanks to Send submissions for consideration to: info@jettisonquarterly.com Advertising: advertise@jettisonquarterly.com Jettison Quarterly 1716 S. Morgan Street, 3F Chicago, IL 60608 The views expressed in Jettison Quarterly reect the opinions of the contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazines staff or publishers. All contents copyrighted to Jettison Quarterly 2009

EDITORS NOTE

THE IDEAS ISSUE


The 4th issue of Jettison Quarterly marks a milestone for the magazine. Even in this harsh economic environment, the publication is doing well and continues to grow. We at Jettison are incredibly pleased with these successes, and would like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing staff and freelancers for all their hard work, without which, Jettison would not exist. In the past year, weve made it a priority to provide examples of artists, thinkers, and tastemakers from this City of Broad Shoulders who are stepping outside the box and dreaming up new ideas. Chicago isnt just a stop between Los Angeles and New York, its a cultural hub full of new ideas, with a very distinct style and outlook in the world of art and culture. This is why we decided to dedicate our new issue to the study of ideas: big ideas, small ideas, new ideas, and old ones. We at Jettison are obsessed with new ways of thinking and doing, and its something that we hope inhabits all of our pieces. In this issue, we feature a number of stories that detail unique ideas with a connection to the Midwest. We sat down with conceptual terrorist, artist, and general rabble-rouser Gregory Green to talk about building bombs as art, and dealing with the Chicago police. We talked with Jennifer Greenberg about her new book of photographs of Chicago rockabillies; a subculture that is deeply invested in styles and ideas from the 1950s and lives them today. And of course, we are pleased to present our interview with the crew of the Midwest Teen Sex Show, whose ideas on comedy and the sex education of teenagers go hand in hand. In the next year at Jettison we hope to expand our reach to include more content about the greater Midwest region and more voices from all over the U.S. We are also aiming to increase our presence on the Internet, by utilizing more of the possibilities presented by online publishing. We will continue to be a forward thinking and innovative presence on the web. To do this, we will need your help. Jettison is committed to continuing to provide its articles free of charge. Help us out by becoming a subscriber and telling your friends about our publication, so that we can continue to bring you an increasingly better form of media. Thank you for your support. Long live the Tomorrow People. - THE EDITORS
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IDEAS, ANYONE? CHICAGO RETHINKS SOUTHSIDE DEVELOPMENT


by Rebecca Sarwate // Illustrated by Liz Hazel

n October 2, 2009, it was the shot heard round the world. Chicago, backed with the longtime nancial and political capital of Mayor Daley, and the undeniable star power of President Obama, failed to secure the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games. In a heavily watched, and subsequently heavily debated turn of events, the honor of hosting was awarded to Rio de Janeiro, marking the rst time the Olympics will be held in a South American city. Amidst the minor international sting of the decision and the subsequent media fallout, there has been considerable hand wringing from a sub sect of Chicagos citizenry. The Games were ostensibly an opportunity to cast a global light and pour valuable development dollars into crumbling Southside infrastructure. The areas surrounding Washington Park, the proposed site of the 2016 Olympic stadium, were slated to be revitalized in preparation for the Games scads of international visitors. The conventional wisdom appeared to suggest that the end of Chicagos Olympic dreams would mean business as usual in terms of development of Southside neighborhoods - namely, that there wouldnt be any.
8 NEWS

However, for a handful of Chicagos most determined and inuential community activists, The Windy Citys inability to secure the Games presents a valuable opportunity to pick up where the bid left off. Instead of watching the prospects of Southside modernization and beautication fade slowly away, these leaders are seizing every available resource: manpower, time and most critically of all, land, to turn the revitalization of our Southside communities into a sustainable reality. Valencia Hardy, one of the formidable advocates of Housing Bronzeville, fondly remembers a time when her neighborhood was a city within a city. [We] never had to leave for anything. Housing Bronzeville formulated a proposal that they delivered to Mayor Daley and other city ofcials back in June of this year. Bronzeville currently has over 2,000 vacant lots sprinkled throughout its boundaries. Hardy and her colleagues would like Chicago to set aside 500 lots for affordable homes. Now that gentrication has set in, the average Chicagoan cannot afford to buy homes in the area. Housing Bronzeville believes that bringing residential diversity back to the neighborhood will have the same effect as an economic stimulus. Though Mayor Daley has yet to formally acknowledge the proposal, group members are undeterred. Over in Fuller Park, nestled between train tracks and the Dan Ryan at 43rd Place and Shields, the Eden Place Nature Center, founded by community activist Michael Howard in 1997, began as a proactive response to Fuller Parks unenviable position of experiencing the highest

rates of lead poisoning for children in the City. Dubbed a three acre Urban Oasis, the fully functional farm, boasting four complete ecosystems, was a former illegal dumpsite. It took three years and the work of many volunteers to clean up, but Eden Place received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness with The Conservation and Native Landscaping Award in 2004. Michael Howard believes that other communities may look to the Eden Place example as more than an opportunity to grow fresh produce in areas otherwise known as food deserts, a term for urban environments without access to fresh produce and groceries. Keith Dunn, Founder and Director of the Chicago Resource Center, located at 222 East 135th Place believes the timing is ripe for cooperation between Southside residents and city policymakers, in terms of thinking about development outside the Olympic box. Although, Dunn said the plan has, not yet nalized so [locations] can be publicly announced. City Farm, the urban gardening arm of the Chicago Resource Center, may be expanding its farmable landmass shortly, to include what Dunn described as, three more acres on the North, and two more on the Southside. Development of these acres would necessarily result in job creation and an additional inux of fresh produce to the local food supply. The frustration of Chicagos Olympic hopes is the proverbial opening of a window after a closed door. Mixed income housing and district gardens are just some of the forward thinking ways to keep the promise of Olympic urban renewal alive, south of the Loop.

HALF ACRE
by Brittany Hayford // Photos by Brandon Escorcia

he fourth issue of Jettison Quarterly is an exploration into big ideas brewing in Chicago, and the history and current success of Half Acre is no exception. With no prior experience brewing on a large scale, the guys at Half Acre built their knowledge from years of home experimentation. Half Acre is one of the newest breweries to hit the Chicago scene. Their concoctions are pouring from taps in some of the best beer bars in town, and can be found in the liquor department of your local Whole Foods and Jewel stores in Chicago and the northwest suburbs. Half Acre began as the ambitious idea of owner Gabriel Magliaro. Magliaro lived in Colorado where he experienced a vibrant brewing community, that got him excited about beer. He moved to Chicago to attend classes at the School of the Art Institute and noticed that the bars in Chicago, which cater to over 11 million people, were only being serviced by Goose Island and a slim selection of other small breweries for their micro beers. Half Acre did not have a lot of money to get started and needed time to get their brand off the ground, so in 2007, Magliaro and his team turned to the good folks at Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, Wisconsin to get their rst formulas in production. This relationship allowed Half Acre to brew their own recipes in small amounts, more frequently, which permitted
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them to tweak their beers and learn the tricks of the trade. Nearly four years after Half Acre became an idea, the brewery is a reality with some exciting new features. Last year, Half Acre brewery moved into its current location at 4257 N. Lincoln, in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago. An unexpected site for a brewery, the guys at Half Acre have found the neighborhood to be inviting, as well as a prime location for their storefront which opened this fall. The Half Acre has tap lines designed to pour a tasting of their brews, such as the Half Acre Over Ale, Daisy Cutter, Half Acre Lager, and their newest beer, Magnus, a Schwarzbier (German style dark lager). The store also plans to carry a rotating inventory of small specialty lines, such as a Honey Beer, made with local honey gathered from atop a hotel in downtown Chicago. Besides Half Acre beers, the pub will also carry beers produced by a different craft brewery to be featured monthly, as well as other locally made products, such as craft distilled spirits. Beyond their storefront, Half Acre offers another unique treasure for their dedicated customers. By visiting their blog, inyourguts.blogspot.com, you may participate in a scavenger hunt. The team posts cleverly written clues that lead to a hidden capsule. The prize a keg of Half Acre beer! The name for the brewery comes from Devils Half Acre, Pennsylvaniaa small town on the Delaware River that has only one building in it; a bar. As the story goes, the place was erected illegally while the Pennsylvania Canal was being built. The canal workers would frequently get into lethal bar ghts and are said to be buried in shallow graves behind the property. Magliaro has named his brewery in homage to this storied place, however he hopes that he left the Devil back in Pennsylvania. Considering Chicagos own dodgy history, we certainly hope so too.

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AROUND TOWN

HUB51 SUB51
Dine, Drink, and Dance by Meridith Gilmore
Melman, owner of HUB 51, has a full plate. If the launch of the successful HUB 51 less than a year and a half ago wasnt enough to keep him busy, the very recent opening of the restaurant Le Grande Orange in Santa Monica denitely keeps this businessman occupied with establishing quite a reputation for himself. The son of Chicago restaurant mogul Richard Melman Lettuce Entertain You chain, R.J. has literally grown up in the business. From the young age of 12, R.J was bussing tables, serving and eventually managing at various Lettuce Entertain You restaurants. He even ventured out of the Lettuce Company, obtaining a degree with a double major in political science and communications from the University of Kansas, and worked as a line cook at Chilis for a short time. His childhood memories include dining at the nest restaurants, and hanging out at home with top chefs from around the globe who would consult with his father on projects. Our house served as kind of test kitchen, Melman recalled, and allowed me to have experiences no one else has had.

R.J.

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AROUND TOWN

Experiences, he says, that have helped shaped his philosophy of food and dining, and have no doubt have played a role in the success of his restaurant and club HUB 51. R.J. attributes the success of HUB 51 to its familiar and delicious currently American cuisine. With a menu that showcases everything from sushi and miso glazed salmon, to burgers and steak tacos, the Melman brothers really attempted to focus on great food, ambience, and service. It is all at the same time complex, fresh, and approachable. My brother Jerrod and I work really well as partners, Melman said of running the business with his sibling. Since it doesnt sit well with either Melman brother to run an ok restaurant, the brothers always strive for excellence. Not only is HUB 51 a consistently crowded hot spot, but even top Chicago chefs such as Rick Bayless have chosen to dine there. Its not just the food that keeps them coming. Exposed brick and ductwork with chocolate colored tones throughout create a warm, comfortable, and industrially modern interior. The atmosphere lters south to the lower level club, SUB 51, that features great D.J.s, Hub Punch, and a whos who of posh young professionals. The ability to begin an evening with dinner, then move on to drink and dance, offers the opportunity to start and end the night without skipping a trendy beat. The space is truly a hub of social connection. R.J. is often working while hes playing. When not running the show at HUB 51, you can catch him on the softball eld with brother Jerrod and other HUB employees. Or, you might spot him at a new club or popular restaurant, simultaneously scoping out the competition and looking for new inspiration. Any time you create something from scratch, like building your own restaurant, you involve yourself in a creative process that is both challenging and rewarding, Melman said. While he never wants to lose sight of one restaurant, R.J. continues to thrive on creating new projects that maintain his interest and his excitement in the industry. So far, that formula seems to be working well.

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AROUND TOWN

CHICAGOS NEW BOHEMIANS


by Stephen Kane

ith print media slowly going the way of the record industry and instant digital gratication prevailing over the tangible, its comforting to know a place like Golden Age exists. Nestled along 18th street in the thriving art community of Pilsen, lies the 650 square foot concept shop focused on the simple goal of making the work of emerging artists both accessible and affordable. Conceptualized in 2007 by Marco Kane Braunschweiler and Martine Sym, three months after graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the space has played host to a number of events from book readings to in-store music performances, and gallery shows. The space also serves as a home away from home for like-minded musicians and artists. This is all in addition to its day-to-day functionality as a retail space distributing the work of up and coming artists, writers, photographers, musicians and clothing designers. We wanted a place where people could essentially come together and share ideas, books, music, clothing, and small articles are a good way to do that, said Braunschweiler. There was a voice missing from our city at that time.
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A young voice, a very new voice, and a very cutting edge voice that I didnt feel was represented. With those goals in mind, Braunschweiler and Sym set forth to nd a location to suit their vision of an interdisciplinary space, and needed to look no further than their own Lower West Side neighborhood of Pilsen. Though the convenience to their home was the initial motivation to set up shop there, the neighborhoods reputation as an artistic enclave makes it ideal. Weve been very well received by the arts community in Pilsen and being an arts neighborhood, its been really receptive to the project, said Braunschweiler. Within the past year, the space has featured in-store performances by New York band Silk Flowers, Iowa Citys Wet Hair, a screening of Norwegian artist Marianne Hurums lm Sign Rhymes, and an installation and book release for Robin Camerons Mind Maps, just to name a few happenings. Through these events and every new featured work, it seems the original ideology of the space is becoming more and more real. As for the future of Golden Age, Braunschweiler is optimistic about whats on the horizon, Between music shows, lm screenings, art shows, readings, and book launches I feel like thats all I want to be doing. As the old adage goes, If it aint broke, dont x it and it seems Braunschweiler and Sym have a very well oiled machine on their hands.

THE MAD BOMBER OF AMERICAN ART


by Matthew Hendrickson
17 FEATURES

GREGORY GREEN:

regory Green is a bomb-maker. Hes built everything from pipe bombs to quasi-functional nuclear device. Yet, all of his creations lack one major component: the fuel needed to explode. Green isnt a mad bomber, hes an artist, and building bombs is just a small part of what he does. The rst 12 years of Greens life were spent away from U.S. soil, while his family lived abroad in Belgium and France. Greens father was in the Air Force, which meant the family moved around a lot. Green recalls living in Europe as moving in a highly politicized environment where everyone was worried about the threat of nuclear war. Born in 1959, Green was used to duck-and-cover drills in school, and living in such an environment obviously has had a major effect on his work as an artist. I was sure Id be dead before 2000, Green laughed as we spoke. While Greens current works are much more hopeful, his past pieces have garnered the most attention. Gregory Greens work as an artist explores a wide range of themes and utilizes a wide array of materials. While some of his most well-known work have been installations and sculpture, Green also draws and has been working on some video as well as photography. The only thing Green doesnt do is paint. He joked, I just dont understand paint. It was in the late 1980s that he decided to build his rst bomb.
18 FEATURES

In 1987, I decided I needed to make a mechanically correct pipe bomb, Green recalled. I sat down in the studio and after looking at if for awhile, I realized why Id made it. To no longer be a victim. Green considers himself to be a casualty of the times and culture in which he was raised: a time when fear of a distant enemy had overcome the nation, because total annihilation could come at any moment. By building his rst bomb, he was able to transcend that feeling of fear, and the idea really took ight. By 91 I had this whole body of work that explored violence and revolution, Green said. From 1989 to 1994, Green described himself as a bomb nut. In fact, friends even nicknamed him, The Bomb Boy. He built pipe bombs and put them on display in galleries. He put bombs in the Bible and in Louis Vuitton make-up cases, and displayed Molotov cocktails complete with hand-drawn descriptions featuring construction recipes sitting beside them. Such work is ripe for controversy, and Green has been careful as an artist to intentionally feed into that controversy. Several of the projects were created with the specic intent of baiting the authorities. For a lot of the early work I did with bombs, people reacted quite hysterically. Part of that was intentional. Theres nothing that shows whether Im a promoter or a critic, Green said. A good example of this was a show Green did for the Feigen Contemporary

Gallery when it was still active in Chicago. Green created an installation entitled 10,000 Doses of LSD. On display in the gallery were several laboratory jars lled with an amber colored uid, and the directions from the anarchist cookbook for making homemade acid. Yet it wasnt the LSD that initially interested authorities. Chicagos bomb squad was called to the gallery to check out the weapons, which they found to be mechanically correct, except that they lacked the crucial ingredients for detonation. The police were not amused by the show and when they saw the 10,000 Doses of LSD piece, they seized the installation to be brought in for testing. Authorities initially used a simple test to conrm that the beakers were lled with LSD, and arrested the director of the gallery, Lance Kinz for possession and put out a warrant for Green for manufacturing. Their report said that the amount produced was equivalent to 230,000 doses; a quantity which could bring in as much as 1.2 million dollars in street sales. The media seized upon the scandal of the arrest, but later, after further testing, the uid was revealed to be no more than solvants and plant seeds. Greens attempt at baiting the police was successful, and he considers the arrest to be part of his installation. Green had ensured that the uid would initially test positive by adding Morning Glory seeds and Hawaiian Rosewood to his mixture, which would show up as trace amounts of lysergic acid in analysis. It is for this kind of work that Green has been able to make a name for himself. This is a man Jeffery Deitch, the director of
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Deitch Projects in New York once called a, conceptual terrorist in an article he wrote for the Saatchi Gallery in London. And Green takes to this label well. His pieces are meant to invoke a certain amount of fear as well as shed light on the process itself. Im an artist, not an engineer. If I can make these things, anyone can make them. The informations out there, Green said of the work. If you can follow a cookbook, he added, You can build a computer or a nuclear bomb. So much of Greens work is made for the transfer of information and ideas. Its one reason why in past efforts, he routinely included the direction (though slightly inaccurate ones so the bomb would not work) for how to make his bombs alongside his pieces. If you look at it coldly enough, terrorism is a spectacle for media interest. It becomes a stage to state something, Green said. It can be said that Greens work does this same thing in a slightly abstract way. Putting a bomb on display is only part of the installation, Green believes. The rest is seeing peoples reactions to it and the conversations it sparks. It is a method of exposing people to ideas that may seem troubling, because otherwise, in his words, its just masturbating in the studio. But all of that instigating is now in the past for Green as he has begun to work on a series of new projects. If his past work was anarchistic, slightly paranoid, dwelling on themes of revolution and control, his new pieces are a step away from that. At

Clockwise from left: Pipebomb #39, Chicago, 1995; Suspicious Looking Package #1, 1992; Rich Mans Suitcase Bomb #1, 1999; Biblebomb #1854, 2000

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FEATURES

the moment, Green isnt interested in building any more bombs. Instead, his new work contains notes of hope. The change came, strange as it might seem, with an act of terrorism. On September 11th, 2001, Green watched with the rest of New York City, and the world as the twin towers of the World Trade Center burned and eventually crashed to the ground. I watched it happen from the roof of my studio, Green recalled uncomfortably. 9/11 is something that even now, I have trouble reconciling with. It undermined that spirit of hope for me. It also bankrupted him and left him spiraling in a depression. He and his wife separated not long afterwards, and he went through a sort of midlife crisis. Galleries were not particularly interested in demonstrating how to build homemade bombs after 9/11, and the public stopped buying as well. I didnt work in my studio for three years afterwards, Green said of the time. I was still showing some of my older works like the pirate radio stations, but I wasnt able to create anything new. But a few years ago, Green became reanimated and started to work on new material. These new pieces caught him a bit off guard. In Greens mind, he embodies a particular duality. He is either pessimistic or optimistic, but surprisingly, the new work has taken a decidedly more hopeful viewpoint. This new material follows the same
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lines of what he has done for the New Free State of Caroline- the country he helped found and claim in 1996. According to international law, a territory can be claimed and a new state established if there is no record of anyone ever living there, and the area is not already claimed by another nation. Such was the situation with the creation of the New Free State of Caroline, on a small island in the South Pacic, which even has consulates in several European nations. For Green, the New Free State of Caroline represents a new start and a new step forward. He is currently working on a series of photographs of the New Free State, which explore themes of national parody, renaissance, and megalomania. In a soon to be released documentary called How to Start Your Own Country, Green was interviewed about the motivation to start his own nation. Another piece, one which he has been working on for several decades, is an essay on nonviolent strategies for life. It remains incomplete, continuing to grow longer and longer. The writing delves deep into his personal thoughts on anarchism, society, and pacism. Hes also working on a series about 9/11 and the effect it had on him. Green considers his new work to be deeply personal, a great deal more so than his past work. I typically like to play around with several ideas at once. I dont work on one piece at a time, but usually three or four at once. I go through long

periods of exploration and then go into the studio and work on project for a few years sometimes, Green said. Green currently lls his time building new pieces and working as an assistant professor of sculpture and extended media at The University of South Florida. He also has his hands full with work for The New Free State of Caroline, and with mounting shows to display his new peace and love works to the public. He is currently displaying one of his pirated communication stations at a show called Broadcast, at Louis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. The show moves to Colgate University in New York after December. Broadcast features other like-minded artists, whose work is similar to Greens, commenting on technology, communication, and the exchange of information. The show features Greens WCBS Radio Caroline: the Voice of the New Free State of Caroline, 89.3 FM, alongside works by other artists, such as Chris Burden, Christian Jankowski, and Inigo Manglano-Ovalle. WCBS Radio Caroline, is a pirated radio station Green built into a vintage VW bus. Green is currently working out the nal details for a series of solo exhibitions that will take place in the next two years. With these demonstrations, Green will be displaying new work for the rst time in years. He will be shown at the Lightbox Gallery in Los Angeles before moving on to Kinz+Tillou Gallery in New York, and then onto Aeroplastics Contemporary in Brussels, Belgium.
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FR O M THE HEA RTL AN D TO H OL LY WOO D

by Brittany Hayford

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FEATURES

oob and dick jokes with an educational component are the forte of the Chicagoland-based quintet that puts out the popular video podcast series, Midwest Teen Sex Show. This past summer the shows creators were asked to put together a pilot for Comedy Centrals 2009-2010 development slate, which was initially an exciting venture for the group, but as these things typically go, the initial luster of Hollywood fame may have dimmed, creating a scenario better suited for E! True Hollywood Story. While we wont know until December if MTSS will be showing up on the boob tube, one thing we can be sure of is that it will be missing some of the important elements that gave the show its kitschy Midwestern charm. MTSS is the invention of director and producer, Guy Clark. Seeking to create a show for the Midwestern teen that would dispel any desire for the unrealistic adolescence portrayed on shows like The O.C., Clark started work on the project in 2005. The idea became a reality when Clark attended high school pal Nikol Haslers 28th birthday party after they reconnected on Friendster. Hasler was living in Waukesha, Wisconsin working in an ofce because, as she put it, the job was, better than working in fast food. It was that night Clark recognized Hasler as the perfect host for his showthe iconic sarcastic, Midwestern, mother of three who dishes out sex advice. The groups thoughts about the
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mission of the show varies slightly depending upon who you ask. Britney Barber likes to think that MTSS is a sketch group, while Larissa Zageris and Nikol Hasler take their responsibility toward teens more seriously. They all seem to agree that the show is a monthly three to ve minute podcast series that discusses sexual health issues. Each show is structured around one sexual health subject that is introduced by Hasler, and acted out in comedic skits written by and starring Neil Arsenty, Barber, and Zageris. The entire cast concurs that the show is not meant to be a one-stop resource for teens seeking sexual counsel, but a starting point that can facilitate more in-depth conversation among family, educators, and friends. The need for the show is best described by a high school anecdote related by Zageris. During a health class in her Midwestern public high school, she remembers an exercise that was meant to demonstrate the fears one should have about sexual promiscuity. All the students were given a paper heart which they were told to rip parts off and give to others they fell in love with, they never said sex, Zageris recalled. Laughs came from Zageris sister, quietly studying in a nearby bedroom, as she remembered this same exercise in abstinence education. Zageris explained that her sister is a few years younger than her , demonstrating that the same sex education programs are still being run. The students moved among each another, giving varying sizes of their hearts away in

From left to right: Nikol Hasler, Britney Barber, Guy Clark

hile the podcast version of Midwest Teen Sex Show might be over, the episodes are still up on the MTSS website for the multiple viewings they deserve. The crew provided me with a list of their favorite episodes for you to check out.

Midwest Teen Sex crew gives you their favorite episodes:


Orgasms, Older Boyfriend, Parents

Guy Clark

Condoms Control

Larissa Zageris Boobs Neil Arsenty Hook ups, Nikol Hasler Condoms, Birth

a symbolic sexual transaction. After some time, the students were asked to tape their hearts back together to see how much of the was left. The point, supposedly being that every time you have sex with someone, you give away part of yourself. Mockingly, Zageris explained, we were given virginity cards so that we could literally be card carrying virgins. Naiveties aside, these sorts of exercises offer no advice or information for students. Zageris noticed many of these same tactics being used in college, and added, The show exists out of concern. The show serves as a resource for teens to ask the sexual health related questions that might not be openly answered by their teachers and family, or that the teens do not feel comfortable asking. If you think your kids dont have any questions about sex just because they arent asking you, you should spend a day reading my e-mails. They have questions, so start talking, Hasler told viewers in the episode, Parents. While the show has been most successful (Clark estimated 125,000 viewers an episode), it has also received some harsh criticism from the religious right and moms and pops of the Great Plains. Hasler has received a fair amount of hate mail from the not very eloquent mouths of parents, one who labeled her, a slut who is making the whole world sluts. She may also boast of the fact that Bill OReilly once called her a loon. While the groups parents have been supportive of the project, they have also been embarrassed by it. Arsenty provided a convincing imitation of his Midwestern mama, who upon rst viewing said, I watched your

show. Youre just soforwardand blunt about everything. While Arsentys mother may be right, this group knows from experience that it often takes a blunt smack in the face to get through to todays kids, and at least for Hasler this aspect of MTSS has become very personal. When asked if she had any formal experience with sex education she replied, No, but I have the experience of not really having gotten a great sex education. I got pregnant straight out of high school, I was not comfortable with my sexuality and made irresponsible decisions. Haslers sexual irresponsibility is often the butt of jokes, such as the introduction to Birth Control which features her two oldest boys ghting while she looks on speechless. Later in the episode she says on the subject of birth control, The method we dont recommend is the pull and pray. Its the reason I have two of my three children. This is followed by a shot of her two oldest boys, smiling and waiving. Hasler is a good sport about the jokes made about her, but her willingness to put herself out there comes from a desire to help teens receive good information. She jests that in, abstinence only education they talk to kids about sex, demonizing every sexual behavior. If you have sex your penis will fall off and you die. She explains that, Textbooks are good for the basics, like in discussing diseases or the reproductive system, but they never push the limits and address the real issuesAnal sex is never mentioned in high school sex ed class. Hasler said that many of the questions she receives in e-mails are seeking relationship advice, but a great deal involve questions about the body. One concerned teen e-mailed Hasler,

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From left to right: Larissa Zageris, Neil Arsenty, and Diane Flores on the set of the condoms episode.

thinking that if a person masturbated and stuff came out they thought you would get AIDS, if there was no vagina present. Hasler remembers the nervous misunderstandings of youth, and believes that by exposing her own weird, bad experiences she can help others. While Clark, Hasler, and Barber developed the show, Zageris and Arsenty have been with the team for the past year. However, these two were not offered the same input for the Comedy Central pilot as the others. Arsenty was given a small role in the pilot, and Zageris was dropped all together. While this sort of experience may have destroyed the friendships of less genuine people, the crew of MTSS feels like it has bizarrely brought them closer. In fact, Zageris and Arsenty are working on a project called SNAP, a Sesame Street for adults, Mr. Rogers for grownups type of learning show that will explore subjects such as how to do your taxes, how to deal with breakups, self-defense, and how to be a better friend. The crew has put out a series of spin offs as well, including the Midwestern Teenagers Intercourse Program, a 1950s era spoof of the Midwest Teen Sex Show, and Real American Family which focuses on domestic issues with the same sardonic wit as MTSS. Clark has an idea in the works for a new web series, and Hasler has moved out to

L.A. to work on the show, write a sex column for Milwaukee Magazine, and to write the Midwest Teen Sex Show Sex Book About Sex. With all these projects in the pipeline, it would seem that the team is giving less focus to MTSS and more to individual ventures. Given Clarks burnt out take on L.A. and his love for Middle America, Barbers homebody tendencies, Zageris and Arsentys new project, Haslers many individual ventures, and the fact that months have passedthe crew doesnt even recognize the project as it once was. If the show makes it to Comedy Central, it will have a different cast of characters, and while they are hoping it will retain its Midwestern charm, the set will not be the backdrop of Clarks childhood home that die-hard fans are familiar with. 25 solid episodes currently exist online. As my discussion with Zageris and Arsenty moved from MTSS to the tendency for British television shows to run only a few seasons, it became clear that what they were getting at was that MTSS may have run its course. They said the podcast, as it exists today, has the perfect amount of content, just the right amount of energy, and should be left as it is. Viewers will have the opportunity to weigh in if Comedy Central decides to pick up the show for a season.

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by Emanuel Aguilar

Photos by Jennifer Greenberg

W EW I EW RI EW DRI E S D RI SD VILLE R VILLE SD VIL S V

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pon walking into Jennifer Greenburgs home in Rogers Park, you immediately get a hint that the photographer, who has dedicated the last eight years to documenting rockabilly culture, is not only passionate about showing us a dream of the 1950s through her work, but that she also lives it. Greenburg sported a blissful smile on her face that would make anyone feel welcome when I sat down to ask her about her new book of photographs, The Rockabillies. It is this attitude exactly that has driven her to follow a subculture that embodies the glitz and glamour of a fantasy that is modeled on the styles, culture, and music of 1950s American culture. With her new book out in December, she gives us a glimpse of the intimate moments she photographed in the lives of members of the rockabilly scene. We sat down recently with Greenberg to discuss her inuences, her obsession with the weird, and the importance of the right kind of red. Jettison: Dene Weird. Jennifer Greenburg: Dene Weird. I guess it depends on who youre asking and youre asking me. I guess weird to me is doing something that goes against everything else about yourself. So, last night I was teaching a
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class and I have this beautiful, young, fashionable, brunette student in the class, and she works in a tanning salon, and shes very fashionable; and shes THAT girl! Shes the popular girl. And she revealed in class that shes obsessed with going on Craigslist and looking at the missed connections and that shes hoping that some day one will be about her, and thats the weirdest thing Ive ever heard. Because shes the kind of girl that has no social problems and shes seeking out this vary veiled way of communicating with strangers, and Im obsessed with that because its so opposite of everything I know of her. So, I guess when I say weird it means that someone is doing something that goes so far against what I would expect of them. If someone is a very eccentric person and lives in an apartment like a pack-rabbit, they do something and it doesnt seem weird to me, because it goes along with their path in life. So I guess I have a very different denition of weird as opposed to someone like my dad who thinks Im weird and everyone I know is weird, just because we wear stupid clothes and I wear old lady dresses, so he thinks Im weird. J: So your denition of weird, do you use that in your work? Is that something you look for, that unexpectedness?

Greenberg at home in Rodgers Park

JG: Yeah, denitely, it interests me. Im not sure about unexpectedness, because on some level I have some expectations from this population of people that are usually true. Although, some people go far beyond what I could ever conceive in terms of how their homes are beautiful or their design sensibility or anything in their personalities, there is that element. But for me, I think there are enough images in the world about really sad things, and there are enough sad movies, and I think everyday we wake up in the morning and we have to create our own happiness. Your primary full-time job in life is creating your own happiness, and spending all your energy and time working towards being happy. I want to be around people who feel that way; people who are actively pursuing their own happiness, so I want to make pictures about that. Those are the kind of photographs I want to take. J: Is that were the inspiration to get into this rockabilly subculture came from? JG: Well, I went in as an attempt to make myself happy. I wanted to be around a more positive group of people, because I feel that when I was searching for this culture, I was spending time in academia and spending time in the garage rock scene, and I wanted to be around people who were really happy and really positive, you know. [People] who werent into drugs and who werent junkies and who were doing something about their situation. The rockabilly crowd is making themselves happy and pursuing this lifestyle in spite of economics, in spite of education. It doesnt matter how much money you have, or how much education you have etc. None of
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those things matter. Theyre all just pursuing the same type of happy culture. In all groups theres drama and little gossipy things going on, but for the most part its a very positive, happy group of people and its great to be around. I guess thats not entirely what I was looking for, but I was pleasantly surprised when I did nd it and thats what kept me around.

I think there are enough images in the world about really sad things, and there are enough sad movies, and I think everyday we wake up in the morning and we have to create our own happiness.
J: Do you actively Rockabilly culture? participate in the

thing thats different, is that with a 4x5 camera, you are not hiding behind a lens. You go behind your camera, you ddle with all your controls and then you come out from underneath the dark cloth and youre facing the person youre photographing. That in itself is really intimate, because your staring at them and their staring at you, and you cant be in that environment unless you have some trust. So all these pictures are a result from long standing relationships between the subjects and me. J: Is the project over? JG: I probably am not going to be producing new images, because Im sort of starting anew. Im really ready. Ive been working on this project for eight years, and the book has been employed for four years, and I feel nine and a half months pregnant with this work, and I just feel ready for it to get out there in a book form. Another thing is that all but one professional lab in the city of Chicago has closed, prices has gone up, and they discontinued my dark room paper, so Im only outputting images digitally now. Im not sure, at this time in my life, that I have the money, the time, nor the drive to continue working in this format, so I will be going digital, which of course will produce a new result and my work will change. J: One nal topic: The importance of lipstick. JG: The importance of lipstick, rightwhat do you mean?

JG: Yeah, denitely. Im very adamant about not making tourist photographs. I continue to always be in touch with everyone I photographed. I got to know them very well and befriended them and they got to trust me, and I got to trust them, because you cant really take a photograph like what Ive taken without having a lot of trust. One

J: Well you constantly mention how you strive to have lipstick be this real red so I was just wondering what and how much importance does lipstick have in your work? JG: The red lipstick- when I talk about it digitally- is that well, digitally, reds dont read as well as other colors. So, when an image is scanned, the red oftentimes doesnt come out often as well as it should. I am constantly trying to get the right color red of lipstick, because it often comes out a bit too orange. True 1940s or 1950s red is like a blue red, dark color, and thats what everyone wears. An orangey red is a much more modern color and that is not what people are wearing. My obsession with photography period is having color represented in the way that I want it represented, or in the correct way, depending on what the subject is. Partially, my overall obsession with the lipstick is just to get the color right, because there is a certain color palette that is necessary for this work to be accurate, or be appealing, and if you have any kind of modern palette it really doesnt work. Theres a really great quote in my book from someone, Pearl Harbour who is a musician, and she said that, in order for a rockabilly girl to make it in a rockabilly scene
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you have to look perfect all the time. And I think thats really true. The thing is that she was using that as a negative comment, but I look at as the opposite. You know some of us really like putting on make-up, doing our hair, wearing fancy clothes, wearing high heels, and wearing matching handbags. There are women in this world who enjoy all of those things and this culture celebrates that skill and joy that people have. And I would say that for the girl who just wants to wear jeans and t-shirts and stuff, certainly in terms of the music youre always welcome, but in terms of the overall scene, its harder to get any attention or make a splash if your just kind of subdued. Frankly, I dont see many people who are drawn to the culture who are just not visually attuned, or not excited about getting dressed up. There is something about, denitely, feminism and womens studies, which I have a background in that I notice. There is sort of a celebration of being able to be feminine. Thats part of the lipstick thing. You would never go to one of these things and catch a girl without lipstick on. It would never happen. I would never photograph a girl without lipstick on. It would never happen because I would not see them without lipstick on, and thats just
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the way it is. Its not because they think that gender roles dictate that they wear lipstick, its because they legitimately like to wear lipstick and want to wear lipstick. That makes it a very different distinction than any kind of societal, or cultural expectation in this case. One thing that Ive commented on many times is that I dont think anyone in this subculture would want to get in a time machine and go back to 1955. I dont think they would realize what they would be confronted with, such as lack of womens rights, lack of racial rights, and that the womans place was in a home and you had to wear lipstick and you had to be perfect and I dont think anyone wants that. What weve done as a culture is weve taken all the best parts. Weve taken the fantasy and weve made the fantasy come to life. That goes back to what I was saying of creating a culture around your own happiness. Jennifer Greenbergs book, The Rockabillies (The Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago, $50), will be released in December, and is available in stores such as the Museum of Contemporary Art bookstore and online. You can join Jennifer Greenburg at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago) on January 26 at 6:00 PM for her book release and signing.
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IS ANYBODY OUT THERE? A MILLENIAL WONDERS WHERE HER GENERATIONS PASSION FOR CHANGE HAS GONE A YEAR LATER by Ameerah Muhammad // Illustrated by Emanuel Aguilar
here were you on November 4, 2008? I remember where I was like it was yesterday: Hanging out with friends at Fizz, eating sliders, hoping and praying that my guy would win. That our guy would win. That night felt like a miracle to me. I walked around in a fog of happiness and joy for the next month waiting for him to be sworn in, and when he was the question that rang thunderously and unexpectedly in my mind was, Now what? The 2008 Presidential election seemed to herald a tempering of the general political apathy and malaise of American Millennials. Buoyed by the possibility of change, we became a part of the political process and it felt so good. Friends and colleagues bragged about how theyd spent their weekends fundraising and caucusing. We wanted change and we wanted it now. In the aftermath of the largest nancial crisis our generation has seen, the silence is deafening. Fear has gripped us and economic realities have stied our voice. The American Dream has died and what seems to have died with it has been the craving for innovation and ideas. Was change just a buzz word? If so, then we have only ourselves to blame. We feel let down and disappointed in the process all over again, but this is our own fault. Once again, we have relegated ourselves to the role of bystanders and sideline commentators, while the grown-ups make all of the bad decisions.
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Change was what we said we wanted, and we pledged to strive for it, no longer be just a cog in the machine that is America. So where are we? There is no better example than the health care debate. As Congress decides on a health care bill, our generations silence is palpable. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the percentage of people, ages 18-24 that have no health insurance is almost 30 percent. For those aged 25-34 years, the number is 27 percent. So why has the debate been dominated by Baby Boomers who likely to already have insurance? Some of the blame can be laid at our Governments, and specically, our Presidents feet. We can say that the debate hasnt engaged us because we havent been spoken to directly. This is a cop-out. The political events of the last two years have proven that the only way to be heard is to raise your voice. We are non-existent in the debate because we havent chosen to participate. The Town Hall meetings that were blasted all over cable news shows over the summer highlighted this fact. The crowds were lled with middle-aged people and senior citizens going on about Medicare and socialism. What is it about our generation that makes us so uninterested in our own place in society? It is not for a want of imagination and education. We are the information generation. Everything we want is immediately available to us: from information to food to entertainment, and because of this we have developed mass ADD. We dont want to read the paper. Instead well just read Joe Schmoes blog and hell tell us whats up. The Red Eye is valued as well- a newspaper created specically for the distracted

twenty-somethings of Chicago, with articles of 500 words or less discussing who should play Obama in his life story. Friends of mine are more likely to talk about what happened on American Idol the night before than what they read in The New York Times or The Washington Post. Everything is quick, fast, fragmented, distilled, and disposable. Information is like tissue paper- scrapped and thrown away to make room for something else. We refuse to expend energy on anything we deem boring, inconsequential, or just not our problem. The 18-34 demographic is the Holy Grail from everything from advertising to lm and television. We are great consumers. We know how to buy, what to buy, and when the newest products will be released for our purchase. We wait in line for iPhones, discount designer clothing lines, and concert tickets. Just imagine what the world would be like if we expended the same amount of energy and dedication to changing the landscape of not only our country, but the world. By shaking off our selfobsession and our ever-increasing need to consume, we may be able to nally hear our own voices more clearly, and nd ways to merge commerce with civic responsibility. Deciding to be a bystander no longer is not an easy task, I know. However, the future calls for courage, and the willpower not to turn away.
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DOWN & DERBY


by Brittany Hayford // Photos by Eric Rejman

A Jettison Correspondent Delves into the Rough and Tough World of Womens Roller Derby.

ver since Drew Barrymores lm Whip It opened this fall, starring Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat, roller derby leagues across the U.S. have experienced record attendance numbers. The Womens Flat Track Derby Association has 78 ofcial leagues to date, including Chicagos own Windy City Rollers. Although Chicago is the birthplace of the sport, contemporary roller derby with its third-wave feminist aesthetic, found its revival in Austin, Texas. As stated on the WCR website, Chicagos league came into being after Elizabeth Juanna Rumble Gomez mothered the effort here in the heartland. Chicagos roller derby league has been a reality since 2004. Since then the WCR All-Stars have earned second-place status during their 2008 season, and this year are proud to participate in the WFTDA National Tournament, after an impressive season as North Central Regional champs. Relatively uninformed about the sport, I attended the Windy City Rollers All-Stars vs. Portlands Rose City Rollers game in midOctober. I was delighted to see that despite my initial fears, the stands were lled with supportive families, lots of children and not one belligerent jerk. Just about everyone in
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the place was decked out in a Windy City Rollers tee, and the seats were packed. As a lifelong Chicagoan, I have come across the famous WCR skull and cross-skates logo many times, but I never envisioned the level of local support the team enjoys. I showed up half an hour early, enough time to catch the last 15 minutes of the apprentice league. I suggest any rst timers do the same, because I was able to get the gist of the rules at a slower speed. Each spectator is given a handout of when they enter UIC Pavilion, but in a pistachiosized nutshell heres how the game is played.: There are three positions: one jammer indicated by a star helmet cover, one pivot indicated by a striped helmet cover, and three blockers with none. The ladies enter the track and game play starts with one blow of the whistle. The pack pivots and blockerstake off at thewhistle blow. When the last of the pack crosses the front start line, the referee blows a whistle twice releasing the jammers. Each jammer races through the pack trying to be the rst one through. Once a jammer is through, her referee blows the whistle twice and points to her, declaring her lead jammer status. From here on the lead jammer races around the track trying to get past the opposing pivot and blocker as many times as she can in two minutes without the opposing jammer passing her up. For each opponent the lead jammer passes she gains one point for her team. She also has the opportunity to call off the jam at anytime she feels that the opposing jammer may pass her up. I was told I chose a great game to attend because the stakes were highnationals were on the line and the game was closenearly tied at half time. I have never been one to clap or shout at sporting events or concerts, always retaining
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the ultra-cool hipster indifference, but I found myself overwhelmed by the energy of WCRs supportive fans and by the end was cheering and standing in ovation. While the crowd spoke to me in a huge way, the women that make up the WCR All-Stars are an inspiration for feminists everywhere. Female athleticism is often mocked of for a number of silly reasons, but these women are serious about their sport, often practicing three evenings out of the week as well as maintaining full time jobs. In addition, these women are not paid for their performance, but actually pay dues and are expected to upkeep their own equipment as well. In addition to an admirable commitment to the sport, WCR leagues are extremely committed to their community. One of the most awesome things that happened on the track was when a couple of the All-Star players skated past a crowd of young girls and highved the girls hands as they went by. While the sport may be somewhat violent, it was so neat to see the sincere excitement of the young girls. It was reassuring to see them look up to a group of women who demonstrate strength, skill, dedication, and vigor in an arena that is typically dedicated to men. It seems that this is what bonds the women on the team as well. WCR is a close-knit community of badass babes who support one another on and off the track. With their mission to promote athleticism and fraternity among their players while fostering professional, personal and athletic advancement, this is a sport that follows you well off the track and leaves you begging, Talk derby to me.
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EXPLORATIONS IN INSTALLATION
by Matt Hendrickson and Peter Skvara //Portrait by Brian Guido

Jettison sat down with artist Matt Nichols to discuss his new work

Jettison: What are some of the themes in your work? Matt Nichols: I would say that the overarching theme in my work is play vs. intention. Im super invested in being really serious (like to the point of wanting to throw up) about making things that are a bit ridiculous, but well crafted. I use play and intention as a kind of umbrella for informing my concepts and my physical approach to making objects. Under this pretense, I investigate all kinds of other things that I nd humorous, amazing, or endearing in some way. My work often deals with tension, devaluation, and oppositional forces that serve as limitations for one anotherlike aesthetic and utility for example. Language is always something that plays out in my work as well. Jettison: Do you pick the medium or does the medium pick you? MN: This is a tough, loaded question for me. I like to think that concept takes precedence over objectivity, but I dont know if its that simple. The majority of the time, I begin with a concept and work towards a resolution in the physical structure, using form follows function as a guideline. But, I really believe that everyone (myself included) falls into pursuing concepts by making things that are informed by their personal tastes. I think its the relationship between concept and aesthetic and their affect on one another that allows for recognizable features in work to be made.

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Jettison: Being from California, what is different about making work in the Midwest? MN: I feel like there is a huge disparity in the sensibility and approach to art making between California and the Midwest. It could just be the crowd I ran in, but I think that there are a lot more image-makers in California. I mean just look at the viability of the Low Brow (pop surrealist) movement. There is a propensity for favoring skilled, representational drawing and illustration on the west coast. Beyond that, California seems to be very adept to visual culture as a wholeand I dont just mean art wise. Look at the surf scene, the skate scene, the fashion scene, etc. Everyone has their own crowd and language that they speak. I would say that branding plays largely into cultural stratication and the denition of subcultures in Southern California too. The Midwest seems to be a lot less about image making and more about placing a lot of value in experience. Ive found that for the most part, people in the Midwest art scene tend to be well educated and versed in formal approaches to contemporary work. People out here are pretty nice from what I can tell. Jettison: How does you background in printmaking affect the rest of your work? MN: Although I dont really do a lot of traditional edition-ing anymore, I still use a lot of print in my workmainly screen printing on the surface of objects or on fabric that I use to cover the surface of things. Nonetheless, print has really helped me work through a lot of physical and
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conceptual issues in my practice. The technical and process aspects of printmaking have really forced me to approach my work from an analytical perspective and at the same time understand the importance of craft and detail. The printmaking process is very logical, but specic as well which has really demystied a lot of things for me when it comes to the physical construction of objects. In a lot of ways, print making has been a stop gap for my work as well. As an undergrad I focused on conceptual sculpture and in my printmaking Ive been really interested in language and iconography, so I think that the state of my current practice is a pretty logical blend of the twowith the objects existing in a kind of ambiguous space as icons and language made physically manifest. I couldnt make the things I do without my experience in print. Jettison: Talk about your current show at the School of the Art Institute. MN: The title of my upcoming exhibition is LEXiconography and will be on view at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the SUGs LG space from November 19th through December 16th. The show is an investigation in semiotics and the role of symbols in contemporary social constructs. The objects in the exhibition pull from recognizable sources as their point of origin, but are chosen as signiers that have lost, changed, or acquired multiple meanings over time. Through the use of materials and off kilter compositions many of the objects are composed and re-contextualized in ways that deate or question their cultural value. So imagine visual

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and linguistic symbols like a period at the end of a sentence (without the sentence), three sided pyramids, and tally marks with their scale altered, slightly set askew, all mashed together in the gallery space, and constructed out of materials like faux fur, denim, felt, duck tape, and gold spray paint. Its like Foucault meets Pee Wees Playhouse. It can be really serious and steeped in philosophy or completely accessible and whimsical as experience. The exhibition is meant to get people thinking about what happens when learned and implied language is slightly altered, but still recognizable. Im really interested in laying out a loose narrative with the objects and then having people go completely wild with the connotations that they ultimately draw. Although they are all symbols and objects that I have selected and constructed, the conclusions will be up to the viewer and completely selfreexive. Jettison: Your work seems to use humor frequently, what is funny to you? MN: What is funny to me? Bunny rabbits tears. No, but seriously, I think that the ironic and satirical are hilarious. I really like things that are tongue in cheek and make you have a tiny chuckle. You know, things that at rst you laugh at and then you start to wonder why youre laughing. Its great when you laugh and it just gets weird. Jettison: What coming up in the future for Matt Nichols? MN: As far as the future, the only thing Im sure of is that it wont be exactly how I imagine it.
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THE METAMORPHOSIS
by Stan Golovchuk // Photos by Brian Guido ames Jankowiak compares his artistic method to that of a paleontologist: slow and meditative. But unlike a paleontologist who works to uncover dead remnants of the past, Jankowiaks paintings bring dynamic colors to life. Jankowiak is no longer the grafti artist he was 20 years ago, even though certain qualities have survived over the years. His work now is minimal and conceptual; however it still retains his love of colors. I like art that has a wow factor, said Jankowiak. I want to overwhelm the viewer, but when they take a look at it, I want them to settle. The intended reaction stems from the process that goes into making his art. Each painting represents a tug of war between trying to create something beautiful, while letting his subconscious control the brush to create something natural. It is unclear how this struggle would manifest if Jankowiak wasnt a painter, but painting has become necessary to keep him balanced. I think I would be crazy if I wasnt artist, Jankowiak said.

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Jankowiak has always relied on art to keep himself at peace. When he was 10 years old, the neighborhood he lived in began to deteriorate. In an effort to escape the blight, Jankowiak started tagging grafti. Lots of kids turned to gangs and drugs, but grafti was the opposite. Grafti was the coolest shit cuz it got me out of the hood, said Jankowiak. Grafti saved my life. For a while, tagging was just a personal hobby. Then in 1983, not long after PBS aired Style Wars, the historic documentary about grafti culture, some people introduced Jankowiak to the world surrounding the subversive art form. Before then, he was just doing it without knowing it was a part of the culture, said Jankowiak. It was just a natural thing to go towards. Despite all the fun Jankowiak had tagging, he always knew it was just a hobby. The decision was made from a pretty early age that I never wanted to be a grafti artist, said Jankowiak. For Jankowiak, tagging was a temporary vehicle on the road to being a ne artist. However, his reputation for grafti determined the medias perception of him for years to come. People remember you for whats written about you, said Jankowiak. Basically, every journalist whos ever interviewed me wants to know about grafti. I address it all the fuckin time. He isnt upset that people are still fascinated by work from his youth, but grafti is hardly a part of his life anymore. When Im painting in my studio, Im totally separated from grafti, said Jankowiak. I can still do it, but its not what Im trying to push. The transition from tagging to painting began in high school when Jankowiak showed his art teacher some clouds he had done with an airbrush. When his teacher saw this, he bluntly replied, Thats pretty good for a blow job, and challenged him to produce the same thing with paint. Jankowiak was inspired by the crass statement. I learned then that airbrushing was easy but acrylic was not, he said. Although Jankowiak went on to do a lot of publicized work with the Aerosoul Crew, a collection of grafti artists from
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Chicago, Jankowiaks experience with his high school art teacher marked the beginning of his transformation from a tagger to a painter. Ironically, Jankowiak began to reject the grafti culture just as the art community was beginning to recognize his presence as a tagger. His rst few gallery shows were actually promoted as grafti shows. I look at it as a blessing and a curse cuz I learned theres more art than what Im doing, said Jankowiak. [Gallery shows] gave me the opportunity to open my eyes and realize my mistakes. A lot of what Jankowiak knows about painting is self-taught. He took some classes at the Art Institute of Chicago, but never earned a degree. It wasnt until Jankowiak left school that he realized how important education is. Not getting a degree forced me to learn on my own, and when you teach yourself, you make a lot of mistakes, said Jankowiak. Being aware of his weaknesses over the years gave Jankowiak the drive he needed to grow as an artist. Im a better artist now than when I was younger, said Jankowiak. I spent the last 20 years trying to break free, he said. For the rst time, I feel like Im in a place where I do some good work and something to contribute to society. Miguel Cortez owns the Antena
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gallery in Pilsen, which featured Jankowiaks work in the fall. Cortez has known Jankowiak since his days as a grafti artist, and has been following his work throughout the years. I like where [Jankowiak] is going these days, said Cortez. I think hes one to watch. Lately, Jankowiak has been working primarily with acrylic paints, but he also experiments with other materials including candy, tape, and mirrors. Aside from his work on gallery art, Jankowiak is a teaching artist at the Museum of Contemporary art. He is also involved in A.R.T. and Urban Gateways, programs designed to promote creativity in young people. These programs are tailored to youth in distressed neighborhoods. They give Jankowiak the opportunity to work with kids whose surroundings are ones that he is familiar with. The schools I go to are the kind of schools I went to when I was a kid, said Jankowiak. [Teaching] allows me to do work that a lot of kids need, that the city needs. Jankowiak will have several shows next year, including a solo installation at Chicagos Beverly Art Center in March, a group show at the Singer Sweat Shop in Rotterdam, Netherlands in April, and another solo show at The Architrouve in October 2010.

Co-Prosperity
SPHERE

ARTIST PROFILE
Russel White
Photos by Brian Guido

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JASON PERMENTER

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Amazing Comics and Occurences Brought to You by Kyle Harter


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A Sound Education
Your Path to Musical Enlightenment

Located at 9433 Ogden Avenue Brookfield, IL 60513


708.485.5074 www.asoundeducation.com

Instruments / Lessons / Repairs / Old fashioned know-how

READY FOR SEX


by Stan Golovchuk // Photos by Riley Henderson is an audio aphrodisiac, and the only thing sexier than the bands music are its two members. When the bands sound and sight come together on stage, no one is safe. The group is essentially the pet project of Alex Kramer and Rocko Walker Jr., the principle songwriters of Chicagos former up and coming darlings, Welcome to Cambridge. But when that band split up in January of 2009, the two friends decided to experiment with some beats Kramer had produced on his computer. The result was a six song EP of mellow, electronic, soul-pop that drips with bass and smells like sex. Walker moans and howls over synthesizers, sound effects, guest singers, and Kramers guitar riffs.
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A&R

When it came time to play their material for live audiences, nding venues came easy to them. We learned not only about booking shows, but about the Chicago circuit and the process for actually playing successful shows, said Kramer. On top of that, they also learned about the importance of maintaining an image, and appealing to a crowd. We want to infuse the fashion world. Its kind of like, if you found a niche then run with it, said Walker regarding their October 1 concert at a runway show for Chicagos boutique empire, Akira. The fashion world is a huge crowd anyway, so theres innite possibilities to build on that. But for A&R, theresmore to it than just building a fan base. Its also about meeting the ambitious goals they have set for themselves. This is going to sound vain as shit, but I would like to be a sex symbol, said Walker. Vain or not, in A&Rs line of work, its an asset to be a sex symbol in order to achieve lasting success. Sex sells, Kramer said, explaining why past concert posters placedon the A&R blog were usually just nude women, and event details. And yet, the provocative nature of A&Rs marketing isnt just meant to excite men. The newest song were working on, I knew it was going to be awesome when I was playing it for my girlfriend and she climbed on top of me, Kramer said. It wasnt always about sex and fashion for the duo. The desire when we rst started making this was to make real pop. Because what I consider pop is The Beatles, when they were in that Love Me Do era, said Walker. However, if A&R is to be compared to The Beatles, they would actually resemble the latter half of the rock groups career. Theres hardly anything organic about A&Rs approach to writing and performing their songs. As Walker admitted, The computer is 75 percent of our band.
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To maintain A&Rs busy schedule, reliability is key. Yes, the duos techniques reect current song writing attitudes, but their personalities also offer an insight into todays generation of young adults. Aside from the band, the duo have day jobs on the side; Walker in retail and Kramer in graphic design. They text during rehearsal, and wear incredibly hip fedoras. Additionally, the band collaborates with a number of other artists in the City including Jason Gatz of the rap duo Bad Seedz, and R&B singer Ron Bass. At concerts, they invite percussionist Alex Al-Hamdan to play drums. The duos six song EP is available as a free download through their website, www.arsounds.net. The site also has links to the groups MySpace page and blog, where fans can keep up to date with upcoming shows and listen to other free tracks.

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THROWBACKS
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo Wanted: Dead or Alive (1990) Along with Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap revolutionized lyricism in the late 80s and early 90s with his dense and relentless ow of multis. Like Rakim, he raps in a jazzy cadence of swung eighth notes with the offbeat emphasized, which takes on an absolutely pummeling magnitude when the depth and lushness of his world becomes apparent. This type of lyrical environment is where Nas would nd his home a few years later on Illmatic. But the truly appalling thing about Kool G Rap is that, even though he says so many words, an almost ighty effortlessness trademarks his style. The transcendent way in which G Raps brain must process language is unbearably interesting to me. And of course, the several production spots from the notorious Eric B. cannot go unmentioned. He walks a tight line with funky bass lines and sparse, dissonant horn lines that ll each song with tension just below the breaking point. Masters of their craft at the top of their game.

High

Rise

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(1986)

High Rise offers one of Japans most potent takes on damaged and noisy power trio psychedelic rock. Ostensibly simple rock songs exist as major or minor scale progressions of Barre chords, but the distant, reverb-laden vocals create an ethereal realm of textures, while wildly aggressive fuzzed-out

guitar solos present a bad cop counterpoint to the ghostly singing. The guitar is so overdriven that each pick hit creates squealing harmonics and overtones, and overactive drumming thickens the already dense layers. These textures force a synesthetic experience onto listeners, as thick colors and tastes envelop the senses. High Rise carries an upbeat

demeanor throughout, since their connection to a new reality is apparently a gleeful experience for them.
For more throwbacks check out Todds blog Primitive Future

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SUNDAY DINNER WITH

by Matthew Hendrickson // Photos by Brandon Escorcia

SYBRIS

he Chicago-based band, Sybris, nd themselves at a crossroads. With two critically well-received releases under their belt, and coming off a tour with Brand New in promotion of their second release, Into the Trees (Absolutely Kosher), the band should be riding high. Its not that they arent pleased with themselves, its just that its not enough for them. Theyre aiming higher . As the band works on new material for their third release, which is due to come out sometime in spring 2010, theyve found themselves anxiously taking a look in the mirror. The question on their lips: Where do we go from here? It has the band looking back at their roots to nd the answer. Fronted by Angela Mullenhour on guitar and vocals, and backed up by guitarist Phil Naumann, bassist Shawn Podgurski, and Eric Mahle on drums, Sybris sound is closer to 90s rock acts, than anything heard today. The songs probe a world between faint and fury. At times Mullenhours vocals whisper like a sweet lullaby, only to be followed by a hammer of distortion and a full-throated, drug-through-gravel moan. Sybris was founded, like many other Chicago acts, amongst the ashes of former projects. Coming off the breakup of Combo # 3, Naumann and Podgurski were looking to put together a new band, and were touring the citys open mic nights in search of a new female vocal lead. We were going to all these things around town, said Podguski. You have to kiss a lot of frogs and the results werent all that great. Nevertheless, it clicked when Naumann heard Mullenhour played an open mic night at Quenchers Saloon in Logans Square. The rst thing that came out, I was like, oh shit, Naumann remembered. The whole room was like that. It was like the spotlight just focused on her. Mullenhour was there in one of her rst attempts to perform
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publicly. Standing in front of the crowd, playing her Danelectro guitar, she crooned her melodies. You know how it goes in bars. Everyone is friends, Mullenhour described her rst experience meeting Naumann, who asked her to sit in on a rehearsal. The group was inseparable after that and quickly formed the substance of their debut, self-titled album, from a mix of new material and Mullenhours solo work. It received a notable 8.0 rating from Pitchfork, and was praised for its alternative bent, vocals, and the bands completely non-millennial, singular sound. The album is a disheveled mix of soaring, epic crescendos, while still employing minimalistic, dreamy tendencies, alongside great pop hooks. In 2008, the band released Into the Trees, which again received

positive reviews from Pitchfork, as well as from Chicago Sun-Times music columnist Jim Derogatis. A slightly more mature album with a little more pop, Into the Trees was an evolution, but not a major departure from their previous work. Critics embraced this and gave credit to the group for sustaining a sound that went against the grain of the 80s inspired pop, and the awkward self-consciousness of many indie acts. Into the Trees covereda lot of ground, from the beautifully catchy Oh Man!, to the building and haunting Something About a Dark-Horse or Whatever, to the acoustic simplicity of Hurt Hawk. Sybris seems, in person, entirely at ease with itself. Band members are friends rst and co-workers second, and to hear them explain it, it sounds like a love story. The band is a marriage and all members are
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devoutly faithful. The band writes all their songs together, hardly ever bringing prepared material to practices. Songs are instead created in an experimental sort of way, where the pieces are pulled together on the spot. A song for us can start anywhere, Naumann said of their process. He often tapes the practice sessions and edits songs together out of the tapes. Mullenhours vocals are crafted around the melodies of the songs. A former aspiring poet, she nds her inspiration in the decay and fulllment of passing time, by what she calls The wasting of it and the relishing in it. Writing songs is the only time when I feel really good about what Ive done with my time. I can look back and remember what I was doing and how I was feeling. The band now nds itself searching for the next phase. After the release of their second album, they decided to take a break and spend some time apart, in order to regroup fresh when the time came to start working on new material. When asked what the new stuff sounds like, they reply with only a vague sense of it themselves - something about the songs taking the shape of 50s and early 60s inspired pop songs. Its weird for me, Mullenhour tried to explain. The rst record just happened. Now weve all been around each other for so long and we want to challenge each other. Do something different. Its going in its own direction, whether from our own restlessness or progression as musicians. The band seems headed back even deeper into their musical roots . Past sounds come directly from their long involvement in the Chicago music scene. Naumann, Podgurski, and Mahle were all playing in Chicago bands in the 90s. The show that changed Naumanns musical reality was Radioheads 1993 concert at the Metro: A show he stumbled into somewhat accidentally in a daze of post-oral surgery prescription painkillers. Drummer Eric Mahle has been particularly seeped in Chicago music history, having worked sound for years at venues like The Empty Bottle and Subterranean. But its the time he spent in the sound booth (if you can call it that) at the Fireside Bowl in its heyday, when it was the supreme center of all independent music in the city and the shows cost $7, that accounts for his blend of drumming styles. For Mullenhour, her fascination with music comes from living in what she refers to the teaser city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. A town with one good record store, but a tightly knit music scene.

I denitely want us to be accessible, Mahle said of developing Sybris sound, and he says it in a way that shows his condence with the direction of the band. Aa younger, less commercially wise band might be afraid to admit they want to be widely accessible and inviting. I want to do stuff that is new and fresh and I want to see how big we can go. We dont know what [the difference] is going to be with the new material yet. Weve followed a style in the past and you never want to step backwards. This is why Sybris seems on the brink of something exciting. They are sure they want to jump, theyre just not sure where theyll land. Mullenhour, for one, seems like she wants to get away from obvious comparisons to Karen-O. Instead, she would rather be likened to Dolly Parton - someone whos a crooner. The band wants to explore something new, but you can bet that it wont be what everyone else is doing, even if theyre not sure what form it will take. The future seems wide open and hopefully well learn the next phase soon, cause Sybris is in it to win it.
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BLIND MOUSE
by Kelly Kerwin // Hugh Jernigan

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Black Beaver Fur Felt Wide Brim Cloche

oral Gable has one freshly waxed leg while one remains fuzzy. I just got bored, chirped Gable, a freelance designer who specializes in hat making. Dont worry. Im going to shave the rest tomorrow. Although Coral may not care about her asymmetrically shaved legs, she does willingly devote three days to handcrafting one custommade fedora. In an effort to learn the art of making hats, Gable came to New York to work for Rod Keenan, a well-known Big Apple-based milliner. Keenan creates couture mens hats, some of which are worn by such celebrities as Brad Pitt, Yoko Ono, and Q-Tip. Gable, who currently resides in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, will soon be launching her own collection under the name Blind Mouse, which will also include womens hats. Im trying to create hats that explore my own style, noted the curly-haired designer, who donned an argyle sweater and loafers, The best term for my style is granny-chic. I love muted mustards, vintage

shapes, found objects, and embroidery. Unlike the massproduced versions that inhabit Urban Outtters and H&M, all of the hats in Corals collection are handmade, one-of-a-kind, and perfectly sized for the wearers crown. Even though the production of a single hat can take as long as four days, Gables love for the accessory hasnt diminished. I like seeing hats on people. Its classic, its fun, and its people being expressive, declared the affable designer. People used to not leave their house unless they were wearing a hat. Look at Mad Men. Everyone on Mad Men wears a hat. I think thats so cool. Although her collection is in its rst stages, she will soon begin taking custom orders. And I hope to create jobs, Gable joked, You know, spice up the economy. Jettison had the opportunity to take an exclusive rst look at Gables new line, Blind Mouse, and this is what we found.

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Rust Velour Fur Felt Cloche (Gold Broach at back)

Rust Beaver Fur Felt Flat Top (Pleated Brown Band)

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Velour Elongated Brim Fedors with hand braided band and Umbrella embroidery Rust Beaver Fur Felt Flat Top (Pleated Brown Band)

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Navy Velour Fur Felt Fedora (bee Pin)

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THE BIRDS

Jettison conjures Hitchcock with these vintage looks. Photos and Concept by Yuri Alexander // Styled by Dr. Moufon Hansen

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Garments provided by Knee Deep Dovetail Pistol Bazaar

SEAMWORK
Veil wraps us up by Cara Koehler // Photos by Eric Rejman s Jettison documents some of Chicagos brightest ideas for this issue, we prole a pair of inventive designers, Alstaire Delrosario and Laura Thapthimkuna, who make up Veil. The duo has no shortage of inspiration for designs, and theyre already looking as far ahead as Fall 2010. Next year, Delrosario said, if youre young, nineties pieces like printed leggings [will be in]. If youre a little older, think of a sculptural jacket, like a wearable Richard Serra sculpture. Delrosario and Thapthimkuna are also surveying the immediate future of fashion. When asked if the growth of the industry is being stied by the economic downturn, they offer a hopeful outlook. Necessity is the mother of invention, says Delrosario. Designers are challenged more than ever to deliver innovative products, so clothes are more detail oriented and the styles are more varied. Some of the varied styles begotten from this fashion partnership are created as much for exibility as sensibility. The patterns of the garments are uncomplicated and feature raw, dripping edges and voluminous collars. For many consumers, an effective designer (or two) is determined based on his or her ability to make pieces that reach new heights, even when styled by non-professionals. When asked what has been the most random, most unexpected inspiration for their work, they cited a unisex piece for the spring collection. Delrosario recalled that, Laura put on an unnished jacket, the lining fell off. The piece was self-lined so it ended up looking like this weird piece that you could wear upside down, side ways, and inside out. Improvisation such as this will fare well for Veil, as demand for smart, standout garments steadily rises.
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Veils designs can be seen at Gamma Player, 2035 W. Division St., or at www.myspace.com/veilchicago. 93 FASHION

with Resident Jettison Chef Matthew Andorka // Photos by David Robert Elliott

SUSTAINABLE GOURMET
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inter is upon us yet again, my friends. Hot toddy, its cold. However, same friends, there is nothing more satisfying then settling down with a warm stew, soup, or braised meat to warm the soul. The Sustainable Gourmet will be sparking that warmth this issue with a hearty braised pork shoulder and root vegetable gratin. This aint a quickie people, its low and slow leaving you plenty of time to shovel your parking spot or watch some old episodes of Trailer Park Boys (TPB).

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Midwest winters dont offer a ton of produce to choose from so we use what we have. Meat. Pick up a few extra pounds of pork shoulder, preferably bone-in, from the butcher. Thats called sandwiches the next day. If you get it with bones. then dig em out and make a stock with which to braise the meat. Google it. If you prefer to use Chicagos nest tap water, then cook that baby bones-in and take them out when the braise is done. Youll be happy either way, believe me! Root vegetable gratin is the other thing on the plate. Its possible to make this with only potatoes, but adding other roots to the mix is sexier. Thats exactly what you need to spice things up with the signicant one, root vegetables: celeriac (also celery root), carrots, turnips, parsnips. You name it, it will boost those hormones. Remember its winter and TPB isnt brining sexy back. Im adding a can of beer to the braise because of the way it compliments the pork avor. Naturally, buy a bunch of that beer so you can sip it while you nosh on the goods. If youre more of a spirit person, replace it with some warm apple cider and whiskey. Man, this is gonna be awesome.

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Recipe:
Pork shoulder Good Beer Water or Stock Ground nutmeg Cinnamon stick Ground cloves Onion, chopped Salt and pep Idaho potato Carrot Celeriac Parsnip Cream Butter Ground nutmeg Parmesan Salt and pep 2 pounds a pint enough pinch 1 pinch 1 1 small 1 small 1 small 1 small 1 pint 2 tbs pinch handful 4. In skillet that is also stove/oven compatible heat the cream, butter, nutmeg, salt and pep. Layer in all the vegetables, alternating types, until they just cover the cream, leaving a bit of visible cream around the edges. 5. When boiling, cover the skillet completely and place in the oven with the pork for 30 minutes. 6. Remove the lid and cover the top with Parmesan cheese and leave in the oven until the cheese is brown. 7. Youre done son. Scoop these babies onto a plate, crack a beer, and put on TPB season 3, episode 4.

1. Season the meat with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and clove. Choose a roasting pan that is stove/ oven compatible, get er hot and sear all sides of the meat. 2. Remove when brown and throw in the onions on high heat. When brown add a ladel of stock or water to loosen the brown bits on the bottom. Return the pork to the pan, add the beer, and enough stock or water to come the way up the meat. Cover and put in the oven at 350 degrees for 4 hours. Thats it! 3. For the gratin peel all the vegetables and slice as thin as possible. If you have a mandolin slicer, use it.

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GET BAKED!
ith summer seemingly years behind us already, we start to turn to heartier meals that will ll us up for the winter. Not only do these meals ll us to the top, but they also make us want to hibernate until those rst few leaves start returning to the trees. Most of us think of rustic pies and cobblers stuffed with fall and winter fruits to end our winter feasts, only reinforcing the grizzly bear sleep we long for on cold days. So, to incorporate these avors at my table, I like to put them into a dessert that is a bit more refreshing, yet still very satisfying.

GET BAKED
by Brittany Sudlow // Photos by David Robert Elliot
time is one of my favorite desserts, and this adds a new twist to it. This dish is fantastic with a few cranberries and pecans alongside of it or with a smear of caramel on top. Do with it what you will, but remember, make it your own. This recipe is just an idea. Use the same amount of pureed fruit for different avors, or just leave it vanilla and drizzle aged balsamic vinegar and fresh strawberries on top. Use your imagination and try something new. It is an inexpensive and low maintenance dessert that can be persuaded to take on any avor you wish. Have fun in the kitchen and enjoy!

One of my favorite desserts, not only for its simplicity, but for the many ways it can be manipulated, is The Panna Cotta. Panna cotta is a cold custard that translates from Italian to mean cooked cream. It has endless possibilities in avorings and variety. Its a great ending to a hearty winter meal, but also a refreshing nish to a light summer dish. It is elegant enough for a dinner party, but easy and tasty enough for a Tuesday night. I used pumpkin because they are great this time of year. They are widely available at the local farmers markets, and personally transport me back to my childhood. Pumpkin pie in the fall

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Pumpkin Panna Cotta


1) Preheat oven to 400* F. Cut pumpkin in half vertically, scoop out seeds (clean them and roast them until golden and sprinkle with salt to go with panna cotta or as a snack) and put in a shallow baking dish with about 1 inch of water. Roast for about 45-60 minutes, or until soft when pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool. 2) Put cream, milk, spice mix, sugar into a saucepan and get it hot. Dont let it boil or a skin will form. Stir with a wooden spoon. Once at a slight simmer, shut it off. 3) Add gelatin and vanilla. (Vanilla has alcohol so best to put in at the end so it doesnt burn off while heating) 4) Scoop out a cup of pumpkin and add to sauce pot. Use an immersion blender or pop into a blender and puree it all together. 5) Strain through a mesh strainer to take out any pumpkin not incorporated. 6) Put into desired serving dish and chill overnight. Small ramekins or bowls work great, or use champagne utes for a more sophisticated look. 1 c. pumpkin puree (or butternut squash) 2 c. heavy cream 1 c. milk 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice mix (or) (1 tsp cinnamon, tsp ground nutmeg tsp. ground cloves, tsp ground ginger) 1 c. powdered sugar 20 grams powdered gelatin

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his isnt a traditional diner. Wooden booths? Hardwood oors? Where is the gaudy plastic and tiling, ubiquitous in diners across America? And the scent of greasy sausage and bacon, an odor that insists on lingering in your nose for days? Its missing. Chicago Diner, 3411 N. Halsted, isnt terribly concerned with creating a typical diner atmosphere. Rather, its philosophy lies within its expansive menu, offering herbivores the

Wheres the Meat? Great Vegan and Vegetarian Food in the City of Sausage.
by Gisella Faggi importance in our citys dining scene. After all, Chicago is adept in the craft of artery-clogging. Throngs of dingy diners and greasy spoons in nearly every neighborhood aunt their Vienna Beef signs, condensation fogging their windows, the scent of frying beef ooding the streets. that I might have once hesitated to order. After all, isnt experimentation what makes eating exciting, an exploration, an adventure? Other vegans searching for such an adventure might visit Ras Dashen, 5846 N. Broadway. An Ethiopian restaurant in Edgewater,
Ras Dashen

Sultans Market

opportunity to eat meals that they thought they had bid riddance to long ago. Chicago Diner embraces Americas inherently vegan-unfriendly culture and turns it on its head, serving Reubens piled high with silky-soft seitan and crusty country fried steak with a creamy gravy. And the milkshakes, my god, the milkshakes. The richness of the chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter shake will make anyone forget about its dairy-lled sister. This place, one that serves vegan food without compromising taste, has solidied its
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Theres no doubt that Chicagoans have an afnity for junk food, be it gyros, beef sandwiches, or deep-dish pizza, each shimmering with grease. Its a daunting task, being a vegan in such a place, in the city that Carl Sandburg christened the hog butcher for the world. An unrepentant carnivore myself, its at times difcult to empathize with the plight of vegan friends. Raised in a household steeped in European values and culinary traditions, a meal without meats or cheeses was unfathomable. Now, however, I enjoy eating out of my element, tasting things

this cozy spot offers numerous vegan stews, all served on delicate injera, a sour atbread that doubles as a utensil. Theres plenty of spicy dishes for the fearless, including misserana bowmiav, lentils and okra drowned in an auburn berbere sauce containing chilies, coriander, cloves, and allspice. The dupa wat is also exceptional, with colossal chunks of pumpkin smothered in the same piquant sauce, while yeqaysur salata, a chilled beet salad, offers solace from the heat. Veganism is often marginalized, considered extreme, unhealthy, or merely a

Ras Dashen

hip liberal trend. With Chicagos evolution into a world-renowned food mecca, restaurateurs often search for any food trend to exploit. So, why should serious vegans pay exorbitant prices for bland foods? Luckily, Sultans Market, with locations in both Wicker Park and Lincoln Park, offers quick Middle-Eastern nosh that is hearty and affordable. While not everything on the menu is vegan, the dishes are marked, including the savory lentil soup, thick and rich with curry. And the falafel is some of the best in the city, the outer crispness giving way to a succulent and tender lling. Meanwhile, Dragonlady Lounge, 3188 N. Elston, serves luscious veggie burgers for less than $6. Even better, the dive offers a vegan allyou-can-eat Korean buffet on Thursday evenings. The idiosyncratic proprietor, Sue, cooks, calling patrons into the kitchen to help themselves to endless arrays of kimchi, dumplings, tofu, vegetables, and rice. Its not a coincidence that most vegan restaurants in Chicago are of ethnic origins.
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As a culture, typically-American food tends to rely on butter, eggs, and meat, using seitan and tofu replacements when the situation calls. Many of the best vegan eateries simply rely on their Middle Eastern, African, or Asian heritage, cultures where vegan dishes naturally evolved, due to a variety of economic, political, and religious reasons. In the Little India section of Rogers Park lies Arya Bhavan, 2508 W. Devon, home to a vibrant vegetarian buffet overowing with rice and curries dotted with cardamom seeds, each dish a deep red, rich green, bold orange, or brilliant yellow. Although none of the dishes are labeled, the wait staff will gladly give a tour of the buffet, pointing out which dishes are vegan (most of them are). The best part is that they serve vegan naan, the velvety dough surrounded by crisp charcoal bubbles. In a city that cherishes its junk food, these ve remarkable restaurants prove that the perks of being vegan are still plentiful, and certainly delicious.

Sultans Market

Chicago Diner

by Rachel Koontz // Illustrated by Adrianne Goodrich

A BIRTH OF SORTS

breeze was walking across the morning in Minnesota. Bright, clean, and uninterrupted was the movement of the trees as I watched from inside the house, letting the cold windowsill separate me from what was out there: farmland and countryside and silage. I let my mind invest itself in the thought: in some other universe, I was raised here. Born in a farmhouse where small children careen into you before breakfast because there are too many of them not to. Fresh milk comes from down the road, and there are no second thoughts about the safety of pasteurization; milk is just a drink you drink. Like the way morning is morning, the only time its peaceful quiet. The way home is where you can be allowed to sense a sense of nothingness, a mild sense of comfort that whats from here stays here. Mostly. in this family,

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grinning widely and eating a lot are like family recipes passed down: They are everyones. So is calling out for what you need when you need it, and Uncle Dicks announcement that we were out of milk was like a surprise and an offering on that morning a chance to put on boots and go: Turns out that in the winter light, the dairy farm was smaller and more beautiful than I had expected. Well-planned, tidy, glistening even, I realized, were the steel tanks waiting to catch the pastel milk. The pipes ran in neat rows, and the family farm dog introduced herself to us simply by walking by. All snow and shadow, she was a border collie in the blacks and whites of a great Ansel Adams. Her tongue lapped at the spilled milk, a rich bovine stench in the air. Dick lled up the plastic bucket ungracefully with that magic, x fresh liquid and we were on our way home. I took a picture on my phone but deleted it, feeling too much like a tourist. Instead I waited for the milk to cool in the refrigerator, listening to Uncle Dick boast of his recent hunting trip and watching him scroll through bloody photographs on the computer screen. Revelation happens even in the middle of nowhere and his words about the beauty and simplicity of the hunt were beautiful in their own brutal way: I found myself walking through them like a newborn searching out milk for the rst time, small pink mouth open and hungry for the unknown, eyes squeezed violently shut to avoid whatever dangers out in the world dont need to be seen. Afterward I poured myself a glass of the creamy stuff, a little froth at the top, and when I got to the bottom of the glass I lingered, wanting to stay there.

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NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND


Hug the Gray By Mat O Brien Published by Seems SF, CA I cant tell you much about the hidden mystery of the life of Mat OBrien, except that he starred in one of the greatest relics of late 90s skate history. That is Real Skateboards: Getting Kicked out of Everywhere VHS release. Hug

A Collection of Zine Reviews by Jon Bocksel

the Gray released some 10 years later, is still within that spiritual path of shredding lines onto our landscape. I hate the term skate art, and I am sure Mat does too, seeing as his skate ego is always hidden and rarely mentioned. However there is something in that searching mentality that can be seen in these drawings: documenting surroundings and

making something new and strikingly personal out of them. These super detailed, almost engraving like qualities of Mats brush work tell a story from a soul searcher, not a late 90s skate king. One of the more inspiring zine / monographs I have seen in a while.

Underneath Providence Cantab Publishing Free News Projects This zine is an historical document, and in some ways a personal memoir of an abandoned railroad tunnel located in the small city of Providence, Rhode Island. Lucas storytelling and historical

anecdotes take us into the cold grafti smashed tunnel, that was once a major business corridor connecting parts of the city. Using historical photographs gleaned via the Library of Congress, and local grafti writers personal stashes, the zine runs the gamut from youth culture rebelliousness, such as the tunnel riot story of

May 1993, to the industrial and residential destination Providence attempted to become. A great read, learning experience and abridged adventure novel, this zine makes you want to get your feet wet and climb around the places time managed to forget, except for those willing to nd them.

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The New Prophecy Theo Michael self published/ offset printed Sourcing collage material from newspapers, electronic catalogues, National Geographic and various other magazines, Michael creates iconic reconstructions of the everyday. Jagged cutouts are arranged on the page with seemingly random icons and products creating for a strange, believable smorgasboard that is cataloged history. Past and present, spiritual Greek architecture, and mundane gasoline powered generators all sit on the same page as 20 Michael Jordan cut-outs, slam dunking, with their tongues hanging out.

Brooklyn Public Library Errorsystem Color Offset Self Published Brooklyn Public Library is an assortment of photographs taken by the author in and around the forgotten, less art laden sides of Brooklyn that are Flatbush, Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island. These less ashy southern counterparts lack Manhattans convenience but hold onto immigrant culture. Old constructions adds to this zines antithetical dialogue. No glossy condominium photos here, no outright philosophical meandering. This simply is what it is: dilapidated facades, elevated trains, smoggy sunsets and the nacho scented sea breeze of Coney Island. This zine makes you want to get on the F train and gaze at the crustier side. Alex Lucas
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Making Money Hardly Working Bill Mcright Slef published xeroxed We all have had one of those jobs to get us through, pay the bills, and make sure the gas doesnt get shut off (again). In Bills case he takes it a step further. Why not get a bogus job and draw all day long and holler about how much you cant stand it? Brutish and crude, yet melodic and rhythmic, Bill drops gems on the last page. A burnt out gure with a dollar sign on his chest proclaims from a banner, living hand to mouth. Then he proves his point, jobs aint shit except free pens, paper, long distance calls, internet, photocopies and white out. As bogus as your job may be, mail Bill a couple of singles or trade him some stolen white out and receive numerous tips on how to get over the bummer that is a bad day job.

Dudes for Days Chris Kline self published/ screenprinted This zine out of Philadelphia is screen printed in multiple layers, creating heavy, thick pages that crackle with each ip. Psychedelics and McDonalds both walk the same ground in this colorfully contrasting, and transparently layered trip into the rawness that is Chris Kline. Onions yell, clocks melt, broccoli barfs, and martinis chant born to chill, in Chris own hand drawn, hand printed, rainbow colored bonanza.
Please mail zine submissions to: JB 482 Willoughby ave Apt#1 BKLYN NY, 11206

by Ben Gardner // Illustrated by Adrianne Goodrich and Peter Skvara

here was a period of time when things really werent going that well. The refrigerator was always empty, and there was only rice in the cupboards. My money was low. George McGarr stopped over one evening around 6:00, in the winter, about two days after the New Year, and just a little after the last rays of the sunset had been extinguished on our world. He looked sad and heavy. I didnt really want to deal with it, or talk to him, but he had made the trip out and however unexpected it was, all my windows were lit so he had to know I was home. There was really no avoiding it, and he was a friend, so I inquired on his behalf. Im getting over a woman, he moaned. I felt like breaking him in two. There was nothing I cared less about at the moment. I had all these other sh I could be frying. But this act of cracking him in two would not have been
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much fun- he was already broken. I could see he needed a drink, and I needed to get out of the apartment. Maybe if I took him to the tavern, I could get a few out of him in exchange for listening to his bitching. There is nothing in the world more pathetic than a man full of love, with no outlet to express it. They are a miserable lot and poor conversationalists. They have a one track mind for misery, and a hollowness about them that turns off all other women. So we went out. We went out to the Tuesday Tavern on Market Street, just beyond the deli and the candy factory that smoked all day and night. The stacks that sat atop the roof top of the factory looked like what I was longing for most: a fresh, beautiful, white, light cigarette. There is little difference between a man

who has just stopped smoking and a man crying over a woman. They both feel an immense feeling of loss. Both are bitchy and mean. Both are romantic as hell in a sad little way over their losses. Both could be easily restored to their former glory with a simple suck on the end of a nipple, or nipple replacement lled with wonderful, calming nicotine. It was a bad time to decide to quit,to quit anything really, but nothing else seemed as important as to notquit smoking right now. I had picked my opportunity terribly. But this time I felt I should be in it for the long haul. I felt I could make it this time. I was full of a sense of willpower, no matter how many times during the day my brain whispered, Its only one little cigarette. We headed on foot down the snowy streets toward this little joint, that was just the right sort of place for this kind of thing. Thank God the state had gone non smoking on New Years. As a smoker, there was nothing that infuriated me more than the thought of this fascist ban, but now, with the want inside me like a true blue addict, I was suddenly thankful that I would not be able to watch those other fools drag on their smokes, enjoying more pleasure than sex. How it would hurt to watch them suck on those long ltered beauties right in front of me,to smell their aromas, sweet and smoky, the way the ash would be tapped off and fall like snowakes to the oor. The door was heavy and the wind blew ercely. This was a bad night to have to go outside for your smoke, but all the same, about three of them were outside pufng quickly. I leaned toward them as we entered, trying to get just a little taste. Even though they all looked

miserably cold and pissed off segregated from the warm establishment just a few steps away, they looked like kings to me,happily smiling and laughing, calling for me to join them. This was a smokers bar. There was hardly a non-smoker that walked through these doors. It was too dirty for that crowd,those of the population that longed for clean lungs and infrequent winter chest colds,those who had other more respectable addictions of their own that didnt include blowing smoke into the air every half hour or so. It was dark, always dark inside the Tuesday Tavern. The people that came here did not want to look at each other, much less see themselves in the mirror that sat behind the bar. It was a small hole-in-thewall establishment, just my kind of scene. This was an alcoholics bar. I was not an alcoholic, but with the amount I had been drinking lately, I felt at home. This was the only bar in the city that I knew, for sure, that I would never run into anyone I knew. I liked it and kept it a secret for that reason. Wow, I like this place. Have we ever been here before? George asked as he looked around the room. No, and dont start coming. Were only here cause its close and its frigid outside like hell actually froze over, I snapped, and then told myself to be calm. Dont get angry. Its just nicotine talking. I could smell the stale smoke still in the walls like the scent of an old lover on the sheets. We sat down at the bar, but just to get our drinks. I ordered a beer and George did too, but I walked away before it was rung up and George didnt say anything to me when he sat
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down across from me in the booth. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my last pack of cigarettes. They had been emptied and none of those white beauties remained, so I had lled it with nicotine gum in its place. They make the nicotine gum packages hard to open out of spite. Its three or four times as difcult to get out a piece of that gum than it is to pull out a cigarette. I had a paper clip in my pocket for this purpose. Im sure that if you had ngernails it wouldnt require a thing like a paperclip to open. But I had already bitten all of mine off, so that there was no white on the nails at all.

Well, goddamn it! Tell me about her. She sounds like a whore at the moment. Make her angelic!
Quitting again, huh? George asked with a little smile that made me want to leave him there. Eh. I knew I had to change the subject to something that would hurt him. So tell me about this girl. This one thats got you so strung up. I felt like an evil bastard because I had done it in a way that made me looklike I had knifed him, and then slowly turned the blade in his side. His eyes looked down and he looked sad

again. The blackness welled back up in his chest, and I saw the light go out of his eyes. Ah, manYou dont even know. Shes a goddamned angel. Well goddamn it! Tell me about her. She sounds like a whore at the moment. Make her angelic! I chewed furiously, and shifted the gum back into its little home in my cheek. I didnt want to have to talk. He could do that. It was what he needed anyhow. I wanted to not think of anything, not talk, just nod along like I was paying attention. The gum took a minute to work, but I already felt a little better, not great, but better. The thing was to breathe like you were smoking, a slow inhale and exhale to calm the rabid blood pumping through my constricted veins. Nicotine gum is a sad replacement for the real deal. It just doesnt have that extra something special to it. But, on the other hand, you can chew it anywhere. All those places you could never have had a cigarette before are suddenly open to you: the movie theater, the plane, dinner with the parents. Even though it wasnt quite as nice as pufng on a cigarette while I drank my brew, I was starting to get fond of the little fuckers in a way. Shes beautiful, man. I dont even know how to explain it. Shes just perfect, George was moaning across the table. He had that disgusting starry-eyed look in his eyes again. Well you could start with hair color, or tit size, or something. Geez man, whats wrong with you? Im so wrapped up. Does this chick even know you exist? Of course she does! he said it in a hurt

voice like I should have known better. Wellget the fuck on with it. Its Virginia, man. You know her. Oh, that chick again. Whend you see her? Last night. Isnt she from Virginia? Who the fuck would name a girl after a state? Shes not named after a state. Lots of girls are named Virginia.

Maybe in 1890. Shes from Montana. Oh yeah, Montana. Shes goes to school there right? I was bored with this conversation already. I was beginning to wonder why I was even friends with this asshole. Virginia from Montana. God He wasnt really listening to me really. Id have probably taken one in the mouth by now
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if he had been. But George was too wrapped up in his own sad little world of self-pity, and longing, and lost love and that shit that I had no intention of caring about. George was like this. Id known him for years and he was always getting himself tied up in this lovey-dovey bullshit. The girls would change. Hed nd a new one to fall in love with. Its not as if he never got laid or anything. He did, but never with any of these girls it seemed. These particular girls were only good enough to fall in love with. They were sacred in that way, and only to be thought of as queens. The problem with George is that he was just too much of a romantic. He had a girl right now in fact, a cute little chick from Baltimore named Abby. She was great. I couldnt understand what the fuck was wrong with him. But even so, this girl, this girl from the lonesome West, always took the cake. Shed come back and fuck him all up again without even meaning to. It was a fucking tragedy, but not in a good way, in a sad way, like you felt sorry just looking at the poor bastard. He was absolutely pathetic. Maybe if I can get him to drink enough, hell just go home My nicotine gum tasted like pepper. But I kinda liked that too. I bought the off brand shit about a year ago when I still had some money. Then I ran out of money. No money for cigarettes, so I decided to try out the gum. Get rid of this lthy little habit once and for all. At this point I was a professional quitter. Ive quit just about everything else, so why not cigarettes? Thats a falsehood though, cause you dont quit cigarettes. You only give em up for a few years. Or months. Or weeks. Or daysminutes. Anyway, the off brand shit tastes like

pepper. I could have spent an extra twenty bucks for avor, but what the fuck? And now it was growing on me. So, I coughed and let the word hang for a moment. Virginias back? She was. Shes gone again now. I watched her y away today on a big ol jet airliner. He sang the last bit and got up to order a few shots for us. George was in the drinking mood, I could tell. He just kept buying, so I kept taking and listening and getting drunk. Whats the matter with you? I asked as he slid back into the booth. I dont know. Cheers. Clink. You got this nice lady, Abby. You know? What are you getting so sick over? Ah, thats just the way I am, man. Just a sick puppy dog. Im going for a smoke. You want one? I did. Yeah, lemme get one. He tossed a nice white smoke on the table and I picked it up and ngered it gingerly, letting it ip between my ngers, icking off the non-existent ash. I placed it loosely on my lips while my tongue felt the edge of the lter. I loved every goddamn thing about it. And being a bit buzzed, I was only getting more honest with myself, and more rewarding. It was still a bad night to have to stand outside with your smoke. But youll do it, and like it too. George lit his Bic and held the ame under my smoke, which caught instantly, and I sucked in and held the blue/grey wisp before allowing it to slowly draw out of my lips. I could feel it everywhere, aA little tingle, a little part of the brain saying Yeah boy, thats the shit right there. Good job. We knew youd be back.

IN THE FUTURE
or smokers who will still want to puff away after the United States outlaws smoking in any area of the country, there will be the E-Cigarette. In oxygen rich space stations where smoking will present a hazard, there will be the E-Cigarette. In the future, if humans still want to smoke, but without many of the harmful side effects, there will be the electronic cigarette. Jettison obtained its E-cigarette from a company called NJoy. The NPro Starter Kit ($71.95) came with two batteries, a wall charger, a vaporizer, and ve cartridges lled with nothing but nicotine, water, and a bit of cotton. The rst thing youll notice when smoking an electronic cigarette is the difference in weight. Its like holding a pen in your mouth, even though the product looks and feels like a traditional cigarette. The heft comes almost entirely from the battery, which is the single largest component, and makes up the white paper part of the E-cigarette. The vaporizer is the smallest, and screws into the battery before a cartridge is slipped over it, mimicking the ltered part of a cigarette. To smoke the NJoy electronic cigarette, just inhale as you would normally. An orange LED lights up at the end to simulate the cherry, and the product automatically vaporizes your smoke. All told, the NJoy electronic cigarette is very realistic. I was able to smoke it in front of people without them knowing the difference. The vapor looks just like traditional smoke and can be inhaled and blown out again, mimicking a realistic smoking pattern. It doesnt
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A review of products for the future, in this issue, Smoking. by Paul Barrett

carry the smell of a normal cigarette, and the vapor doesnt hang in the air like smoke does, which is why you can enjoy this product inside without bothering non-smokers. Cartridges come in full avor and light styles, which refer to their nicotine levels, and many companies offer avors like apple and menthol. On the downside, as an everyday smoker, I didnt feel it was a completely adequate replacement. While the product looked and functioned like the real thing, the vaporized nicotine didnt fulll my cravings the same way a regular cigarette would. I attempted to leave the regular variety entirely for the week I tried the E-cigarette, but only made it to day three. However, during that three day period, although I still had cigarette cravings, they were much abated by the electronic cigarette. If I had more willpower, I probably could have ditched the pack completely. That alone would make this product a great asset for those attempting to quit. Although the E-cigarette companies are not legally allowed to make that claim, as a smoker, I think it is accurate. Users could retain the part of smoking that is most addictive after the nicotine - the everyday routine and habit of inhaling. Overall, with a few improvements, I would consider making this my only cigarette. Although the initial investment is high, smokers should see a quick return. Each cartridge has the capacity of ten cigarettes (half a pack) ,and cartridges sell for about $20 for a set of 10 on NJoys website (MATT: Which is?). If youre looking to cut out the carcinogens, but not the nicotine, an electronic cigarette could be right for you. And the best part is, youll never have to bum a smoke again.

TRACKING THE NIGHT SKY


When the worlds got you down, just remember, outer space doesnt have nearly as many humans.

by Virgil Lee Marsmaker III

uring the cold and lifeless winter months in the northern hemisphere, our night sky will awaken our melatonin-packed brains with some remarkable activity. This list of events in the sky throughout the winter months will seem rather scanty. However, it contains perhaps some of the most interesting and vivid interstellar motion youve seen to date, in this installment of Tracking the Night Sky. December Shower. 13-14: Geminids Meteor

Get as far out of the city as possible for this event, and expect to see as many as 120 meteors an hour! The Geminids shower is an excellent display of slow, beautiful streaks that are often yellowish in hue. Since this shower is so close to the new moon on the 16th, the cold December sky will be at its clearest after 2 a.m. when the moon sets. Meteor showers occur as the earth enters the dusty outskirts of a passing comet. The
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debris from these passing objects burn up in our atmosphere, thus creating a incredible display of streaking objects moving well over 20 miles per second at their slowest. With that said, The Geminids Meteor Shower has its own unique properties that make it by far the most interesting. The meteors object of origin is called 3200 Phaethon. Scientists consider 3200 Phaethon as an Apollo Asteroid. An Apollo Asteroid is a near earth asteroid that orbits the sun. At its closest distance from the sun, or its perihelion, it is less than 1.017 Astronomical Units (AU). (Note: Astronomical units are a unit of measure. One AU is the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun, approximately 93 million miles.) This object not only crosses the orbit of Earth, but also Mars, Venus, and Mercury as well. Some scientists believe that 3200 Phaethon was once a comet, before becoming an extinct comet, an object holding properties more similiar to an asteroid. Extinct comets are a type of comet that has ejected most of its unstable ice, making it almost impossible to form a tail. 3200 Phaethon gets closer tothe sun than any other numbered asteroid. This allows its surface temperature to become so hot that it

breaks apart,creating a debris eld that causes the Geminids Meteor Shower as Earth crosses its path. Its high surface temperature at perihelion is also lends its name. Phaethon was the son of the sun god Helios. Even with that bit of information on the table, it is still fair to say that 3200 Phaethon remains somewhat an object of mystery. Whether comet, asteroid, or a hybrid of both, this object of origin for the Geminid Meteor Shower puts on an incredible show, to say the least. This event is something you will look forward to every winter after experiencing it once. Remember to bundle up! It will be the middle of winter in the dead of night. For best viewing, prepare to be out between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. on both the 13th and 14th. December 16: New Moon. December 21: Winter Solstice. Ah yesthe shortest day of the year, the longest night, the solar new year and the mark of the beginning of winter for the northern hemisphere. Around this time of the year the chemical of darkness, melatonin, has taken full

control of our brains and sent us into a sleepy, winter depression by throwing off our circadian rhythm. Have no fear! 4:00 sunsets are only temporary, and the days will only get longer from here on out as the sun makes its way back toward the Equator from its brief stay over the Tropic of Capricorn. December 31: Full Moon, Partial Lunar Eclipse. There is a full moon on New Years Eve this year. The most spectacular viewings will be on the ground on this night. If you are on vacation in Europe, Africa, Asia or Australia, you will be happy to know there is also a partial Lunar Eclipse for your viewing pleasure. 2010 January 3: Quadrantids Meteor Shower. This is another tremendous shower if you are willing to put up with the weather. This event can often be quick, as it is viewed in the dark early morning hours before sunrise. This event will favor those on the western side of North America since they will have more time to view it. Once again, cover yourself up well for

these early morning mid-winter viewings. Look around the North Star and Big/Little Dipper area for these meteors. January 15: New Moon, Annular Solar Eclipse. This annular solar eclipse is a lengthy one that will traverse half of the planet. Unfortunately, unless you are in middle Africa, southern India, Burma, or China, this Solar Eclipse will not be for your viewing. An Annular Eclipse is a type of eclipse where the moon appears to be smaller than the sun. This leaves a large ring of the sun around the moon during the eclipse. A Total Eclipse, on the other hand, is the type of eclipse where the sun and the moon appear to be the exact same size. This makes it so only the suns corona is visible during totality. Monday, August 21, 2017 will be the next Total Solar Eclipse in the United States. Thats well over 2600 days away ,so there is plenty of time to plan. January 29: Mars at Opposition This is when the Earth passes between the Sun and Mars. It happens every two years

and two months. This is when the two planets are at their closest encounter, and is the best time for pulling out the telescope and checking out the Red Planet. January 30: Full Moon February 14: New Moon February 28: Full Moon March 15: New Moon Some stirring space sessions are on the horizon for all you readers, with the proper amount of viewing preparation. Dont let the weather be a deterrent in your decision to go out and view the universe. Just dress warmly for winter viewings and get out there! Pack the cooler and grill and bring your friends. Have a late night star party. The night sky holds an innite array of phenomena, even if it isnt thenight of a special celestial event. Check out the moon and the stars on every evening when the clouds arent there to block you. There is so much out there to discover! Go buy a star map, gloves, a jacket and some painkillers for that stiff neck youll have from constantly looking upward. Its time for the Tomorrow People to get universal.

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TRACKING THE NIGHT SKY

Pass the Lion Steaks, Please. Jettison Travels to Homer Glen and Discovers Czimers Game and Sea Foods. by Matthew Hendrickson // Photos by David Robert Elliott

zimers Game and Sea Foods, originally located at 63rd Street and Morgan in Chicagos Englewood neighborhood, started as a single room, wooden shack with a saw dust oor. Today, the store continues to operate in its current location in Homer Glen, Illinois, managed by Richard Czimer Jr., the grandson of the original owner. Czimers stands out from other butcher shops in the range of meats they serve. While they specialize in game meats like venison, elk, rabbit and pheasant, they also cater to the more adventurous. Exotic meats like lion, ostrich, camel, and kangaroo are also offered. In addition to meats, the store sells a variety of dry goods and spices that would otherwise be hard to nd in the area. Jettison sat down one day to talk about the game meat business and heres what we learned.

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Jettison: How did Czimers Game and Sea Foods Start? Richard Czimer: My dad and his brother were the instigators of the game meat industry in the Chicagoland area. No one else was doing it at the time. Wed sell out of the store in Englewood and also supply the wholesale market to restaurants. That store became a hub. At one time we had to rent space in a commercial freezer to stock all the pheasants we were selling. The original building was an old wood building, and I dont know when exactly it was opened. But when the brothers came home from World War II, they knocked down the old wood building and rebuilt a cinderblock building that was much more modern. John Czimer, my grandpa started the original butcher shop. We stocked regular domestic meats: beef, chicken, pork. But seasonally they could buy deer meat, bears and birds. The animals were bought at the commission houses in Chicago. These were animals that were shot in the eld and sold to the commission houses as is. They would then sell to anyone who came in as a wholesale buyer. My dad and my grandpa would go down and buy these things for a few dollars, take them back to the processing room of the store, skin em, clean em, cut it up and put it in the counter to sell. But you could only buy maybe 12 deer a season. Soon people got the bright idea to start raising these animals, cause Czimers could sell them. J: Who did you sell your game meats to in the early days? R.C.: My uncle Rudy and his wife went to the
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Where my dad and his brothers found these animals, I dont know. I was still a kid. But, they found a hippopotamus.

typewriter and started sending out letters to hotels. The Drake, the Playboy Club, The Palmer House, and so on down the line. Theyd send the letters to the Chef and tell them that Czimers has this stuff. J: How did Czimers get into selling game meats? R.C.: My dad and his brothers were trying to start up a game business to differentiate themselves from the other neighborhood markets that were starting to develop. They could see the writing on the wall and saw that a small butcher shop could not compete with a large supermarket. The game meat offered another opportunityanother niche. J: When did you start getting into selling the more exotic animals? R.C.: One of the customers that dad and the uncles developed was called the Anteaters Association, located on the east coast. It was a safari club. These guys would go on safari and bring back a bunch of food, have someone cook it and have a banquet. They were looking for something out of the ordinary to start the meal. Where my dad and his brothers found these animals, I dont know. I was still a kid. But, they found a hippopotamus. They called around and found someone who had a hippo for sale, and so the Anteaters Association agreed to buy half of it and they decided to sell the rest in the store. J: Who are your customers now?
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R.C.: We ship things all over the country now, but sometimes the shipping costs as much as the product, which has hampered business. We deal with a lot of individuals too. Some of these individuals have food allergies. They call us and we will put their order up and get it out to them. Theyll order a lot so that they can save it. Although our animals are raised in captivity, theyre not raised like our cows and chickens are. To the point where theyre in such concentrations where they need antibiotics to stay healthy, or to bulk up they give them steroids. The birds and game animals are pasture fed. Theyre very hearty, unlike bred animals like pigs and cows which have been genetically altered. The game animals dont have the residue that other animals do. When you eat it, you eat part of the residue. If youve grown up eating it like we have, you usually arent affected by it, but theres a good population of our country that has these sensitivities. If they eat a burger thats corn fed and has been sprayed with pesticide, they react. Also, some of our customers will have a stroke or heart attack and their doctor will tell them you cant eat anymore beef. Its too fatty. Well you can eat leaner meats, and leaner meats are the game meats. Lion is very lean. Other customers are hunters or someone in their family hunted and they have a taste for game meats. They want to get a venison burger or an elk stake or rabbit. Theyll buy what they want. You dont have to buy the whole animal now, you can just get what you want.

J: Do people ever look at you strange when you say you have lion meat? R.C.: Some people get a little pruney when they walk in. They are usually here with someone who wants to get something. For whatever reason, theyll say they dont like the idea of what they have. Theyll say you shouldnt be doing this. Over the counter Ive heard people say, Im not cooking that, or, Im not eating that. I say have you had any game meat before. Other times people think theyre too cute. I think chicken is cute too. You cant change someones beliefs. The best advertising for us is when someone goes to their friends house for dinner and they cook pheasant. They say, wow this is really good, whered you get it? Well, theres a store in Homer Glen that sells it. Now theyve had a ne diner, ne company, and theyll come out and give us a try. Word of mouth is what were aiming at.

J: Whats the strangest request for exotic meat youve gotten? R.C.: Every once in awhile well get a question out of ignorance. Do you have gorilla? But we get weird calls from people who are new to the country too. People eat some strange stuff. All our animals come from the farm. Very few things that we carry come from suppliers. For example, I buy turtle meat from a guy in Iowa. That guy buys it from people who trap the turtles and then he processes it and sends it to me. J: Whats your favorite item on the menu? R.C.: I get that question all the time. What tastes the best, how do you cook it? Growing up in the business, I ate food without a label on it. I wasnt prejudiced by the name of the animal. My favorite is whatever is put on the

plate. Butchers kids never got steak. You got a lot of stews. When dad would bring stuff home from the store to eat, he wouldnt write what it was, just what to do with it: Chop suey, a roast. We didnt know what we were getting. The change came for me when I started working at the store. My dad had a little place set up where you could cook stuff, so wed sample the products. We got to taste a lot of things, whale for instance. In the old days you could buy whale and it would come in a 50 pound block. In your mind, you buy whale, what do you think it looks like? If you know youre going to eat this piece of meat and its called whale, you think it will be shy, or grainy, or fatty. Its not shy, theres no fat, theres no bones, its just a great, big chunk of meat. It was some of the nest tasting meat there was.

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PARTING PHOTO

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