Friday 9/15 – Thursday 9/21
16 SATURDAY “Sweatshops are not just operating across the ocean,” says Center for Impact Research deputy director Rebekah Levin. When the CIR conducted a survey of 800 people living in the city’s immigrant and poor communities over the past year, they were surprised to learn that some 36 percent work in local sweatshops–meaning that their employers were routinely in violation of two or more Department of Labor rules. “They’re not just places where they make rugs or clothing,” she says. “They clean your laundry and prepare your food.” Levin will discuss sweatshops in Chicago tonight at 8 at the College of Complexes at Lincoln Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln. It’s $3, plus a food or drink purchase. Call 312-326-2120.
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19 TUESDAY Authors such as Oscar Wilde and E.M. Forster never directly addressed homosexuality in their writing. “Gertrude Stein even veiled her stuff. If you were in any way astute you’d pick it up, but not if you didn’t know what to look for,” says Angel Ysaguirre, director of community programs at the Illinois Humanities Council and instructor of the seminar From Wilde to Winterson: Gay-Themed Literature of the Twentieth Century. These days, says Ysaguirre, “writers are certainly more open about writing about what I call the gay event–whether it means falling in love or it means sex.” His reading list also includes work by James Baldwin, Alice Walker, William Faulkner, and Sherman Alexie. The first class is tonight from 5:45 to 7:45, and the seminar continues each Tuesday through November 7 at the Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton. Tuition is $130; to register call 312-255-3700.
