Friday 7/25 – Thursday 7/31
26 SATURDAY Audience mem-bers are invited to heckle and jeer–er, cheer at the Newberry Library’s annual Bughouse Square Debates. The square’s tradition of public oration dates back to the pre-talk-radio era, when opinionated individuals would argue the issues of their day while standing on soapboxes. This year’s windbags include Judge Eugene Pincham, Jay Miller of the Illinois ACLU, and Jim Tobin from the National Taxpayers United of Illinois; they’ll discuss such issues as physician assisted suicide, the death penalty, and multiculturalism in language. The debates, hosted by Cindy Mitchell and Studs Terkel, will be held today from noon to 5 in Washington Square Park, across from the Newberry Library, 60 E. Walton. Also today the Newberry will conduct its annual book sale, which this year includes nearly 100,000 titles. It’s from 10 to 5 today and from noon to 5 tomorrow on the first floor of the library. Both events are free; call 312-943-9090 for more.
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30 WEDNESDAY Local poet Natalie Kenvin’s work has been described as “verses that fly like small fists.” Her poems illuminate moments and feelings most of us would prefer to keep locked away in the backs of our brains. In “My Daughter Is Sleeping,” she hits us with, “Her Body lies in a peel / Of skin. / Her neck is like the stem / Of a chrysanthemum. / Supple, brown, dead.” When she’s not packing a punch, Kenvin teaches ESL at Wilbur Wright College and coedits the No Roses Review. She’ll read from her new collection Bruise Theory tonight and will be joined by fellow Chicago poets Julie Parson-Nesbitt and Cin Salach, who will also read from new collections. It starts tonight at 7 at 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th. It’s free. Call 773-684-1300.
