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Michael Majeski’s beaming smile and “infectious energy” left an immediate — and lasting — impression.

“Mike was the type of person that you only had to meet once or twice and you were treated like his family,” his friend Hunter Stromquist told the Sun-Times Tuesday.

On Friday, Majeski was stabbed over two dozen times in a vicious daytime attack outside a Wendy’s on the Northwest Side. A resident of the Belmont Terrace neighborhood, Majeski was just 24.

Michael Dabrowski, 25, of Norwood Park, was detained nearby by witnesses and neighbors and taken into custody. He was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bail Sunday.

“I have no idea why or how this came about — in the middle of the day, too,” Stromquist said. “There’s a lot of things I don’t understand.”

Prosecutors say Majeski and Dabrowski arrived separately at the Wendy’s and met in the parking lot in the 3900 block of North Harlem. Majeski got into Dabrowski’s car and Dabrowski began stabbing him, prosecutors say. Majeski jumped out and Dabrowski chased him and stabbed him several times in the back.

The attack was witnessed by multiple people and captured on cellphone video, prosecutors say. A witness asked Dabrowski what was happening and he responded, “He ‘f’d’ me over,” according to Assistant State’s Attorney Susanna Bucaro, noting he used an expletive.

Stromquist said she didn’t know anything about the relationship between Majeski and Dabrowski.

She said she first met Majeski at the Summer Camp Music Festival in central Illinois in 2018 and the two became fast friends, bonding over their love of electronic music.

Majeski was regarded on the local scene as a gracious figure who often went to bat for artists and record labels, said Stromquist, who works for the Denver-based label Electric Hawk.

She attributed the imprint’s significant growth during the pandemic to Majeski’s donations and online evangelism, noting that he also worked with Spicy Bois, another label based in Denver and Chicago.

“He was almost like a super fan but we valued him way more than that, obviously,” she said.

Stromquist and another friend are now raising $5,000 for Majeski’s family through a GoFundMe page. As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had already netted nearly $2,800 in donations.

“Honestly I feel that it will help the family with legal fees because I want this dude that did this to rot,” she said. “I want him put away and I don’t want anything to stop the justice that needs to be had.

“I knew that the community would be called to take care of him the same way he took care of us,” added Stromquist, who’s also considering throwing a benefit show in his honor in the Chicago area.

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Mark Hoppus, the longtime bassist and vocalist for pop-punk band Blink-182, is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

The musician, 49, has been going through treatment for the past three months, he revealed in a June 24 social media post.

“I have cancer. It sucks and I’m scared, and at the same time I’m blessed with incredible doctors and family and friends to get me through this,” Hoppus wrote, adding he still has “months of treatment ahead” but is “trying to remain hopeful and positive.”

“Can’t wait to be cancer free and see you all at a concert in the near future,” he concluded. “Love you all.”

“Love you @markhoppus,” his bandmate Travis Barker wrote on his Instagram story with a black heart emoji, sharing an old photo of the two hugging.

On Sunday, Hoppus provided an update on his health while dropping into a game of online Bingo on Twitch.

“How am I feeling today? I feel much better than yesterday,” Hoppus said. “Yesterday was hellish for me and I woke up today feeling better I went for a walk, and I had a decent breakfast, and I haven’t felt like I was going to throw up today, so we’ll take it as a win.”

Hoppus is the only remaining original member of Blink-182, which is currently comprised of vocalist/guitarist Matt Skiba and drummer Travis Barker. The group, which rose to stardom in the ’90s as a key player in developing the pop-punk genre, is best known for hits including “What’s My Age Again?,” “First Date,” “All The Small Things,” and “Adam’s Song.”

Earlier this month, Hoppus celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the band’s fourth studio album, “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.”

“After the overwhelming and unexpected success of Enema of the State we wanted to write a darker, harder album that pushed the boundaries of what blink-182 could do,” he reflected on June 12. “I love this record. Thank you to everyone who listened to it then and continues to put it on two decades later. … Endless love to @travisbarker @tomdelonge and Jerry Finn.”

In 2018, the band set up shop in Las Vegas for a residency at the Palms Casino and Resort. The following year, they headed back out on the road on tour, co-headlining with rapper Lil Wayne.

Read more at usatoday.com

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Twenty aldermen are threatening to call a special City Council meeting on police response to the bloodbath on Chicago streets — and compel testimony by Chicago Police Supt. David Brown — unless the Committee on Public Safety schedules immediate hearings on three crime-related resolutions.

One of the pending resolutions demands a hearing on police officer scheduling, deployment strategies and programs or incentives offered to address officer fatigue.

Another is a call to re-examine the Summer Mobile Unit and Community Safety teams — created by Brown last summer after civil unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd devolved into two rounds of looting — and what the resolution called the “reallocation of officers and resources from neighborhood districts” those units triggered.

The third resolution seeks hearings to examine the “success of technologies used by CPD in managing crime-fighting operations and personnel shortages.”

After successive summer weekends marred by mass shootings, the aldermen say they are not willing to wait until after Fourth of July weekend for answers to their questions.

They’re demanding that Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hand-picked public safety committee chairman, schedule hearings on those resolutions.

If he doesn’t, the aldermen warn they will call a special Council meeting for this Friday and “compel” Brown to appear.

The letter was electronically signed by 20 aldermen, including several members of Lightfoot’s Council leadership team.

They include: Education Committee Chairman Michael Scott Jr. (24th); Aviation Committee Chairman Matt O’Shea (19th); Economic and Capital Development Committee Chairman Gilbert Villegas (36th), for mayor’s former Council floor leader; and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), the Council’s president pro tempore.

O’Shea, whose Far Southwest Side ward is home to scores of police officers, said he signed the letter because he won’t risk another holiday weekend bloodbath.

“I want David Brown to sit before the Council and tell us, what’s the plan? What are we gonna do moving forward? As we continue to have these spikes in ugly violence and the mass shootings, we’re concerned about officers being pulled from districts. I want assurances that police officers aren’t gonna be pulled from communities. I want assurances that they’re looking after the well-being of their police officers,” O’Shea told the Sun-Times.

“Almost every day, I’m hearing from law enforcement families in my community. Partners and spouses worried about each other, their well-being. Our police officers are under a tremendous amount of stress. We’re under-manned as a police department right now and they’re over-worked. This is not sustainable.”

O’Shea noted last weekend’s mass shootings occurred despite a tornado warning and violent thunderstorms — and this weekend’s forecast is for clear skies.

“I’m very concerned with the level of violence we’ve seen in our city as we’re approaching a holiday weekend — and you look at the weather forecast — and what we’re expecting. At least, what I’m expecting,” O’Shea said.

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) has been a firefighter and police officer in Chicago. His far Northwest Side ward is also home to scores of police officers.

Like O’Shea, Napolitano said the Council “needs answers” after back-to-back weekends marred by mass shootings.

“We can’t put the onus on just the officers. Fatigue is through the roof. Morale is completely gone. … And the amount of hours that they’re being forced to work constantly–and this is all being put on them to fix — is a powder keg. This is ready to explode,” Napolitano said.

“On top of that, these officers are being held accountable by a good portion of the City Council as being the evil empire. We need some answers now. … ^{And I can’t be told that crime is caused by illegal guns anymore. Biggest bunch of b.s. I’ve ever heard in my entire life. We have the strictest gun laws in the entire country.”}

Taliaferro, in a text message to the Sun-Times, wrote: “Our residents deserve to know what our department’s response has been to a violent past weekend in the city and the plan for this extended holiday weekend. As such, I am not opposed to having that conversation — whether it is by way of committee or special Council meeting.”

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) also signed the letter and said it’s no surprise 19 other aldermen did, too.

“All of our residents are demanding action from their city government on the crime wave. But we ‘re bystanders in this process. It’s saying, `We’re in this, too, mayor. You need to include us in these conversations,'” Hopkins said.

“It’s now well-established that, if we want to assert any leverage as a legislative branch of government, we have to be pro-active about it. This is an attempt by the aldermen to assert our position in this a little more firmly.”

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Center fielder Luis Robert has been medically cleared to increase his level of baseball activities at the White Sox training complex in Glendale, Arizona, the team announced Tuesday.

Robert, 23, has been on the injured list with a grade 3 strain of his right hip flexor since May 4. He suffered the injury running to first base in a game against the Indians on May 2.

This phase of Robert’s rehabilitation process is expected to take approximately four weeks, the team said, after which Robert could be cleared for a rehabilitation assignment with a minor league affiliate. There is no set timetable for his return to the major league club.

A Gold Glove winner and runner-up in AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2020, Robert was batting .316/.359/.463 with one homer, nine doubles, a triple and eight RBI in 25 games this season when he was injured.

The news comes 15 days after Eloy Jimenez was medically cleared to resume baseball activities in Glendale. Jimenez had surgery after he suffered a ruptured left pectoral muscle during spring training, and has completed about two weeks of a rehab process expected to take at least four weeks. The next phase for Jimenez will be a rehab assignment with a minor league team.

The Sox say there is no timetable for Jimenez’ return to the major league club, as well.

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An industrial fire in Morris prompted forced Tuesday afternoon.

Crews responded to the fire in the 900 block of East Benton Street. Authorities evacuated East Street and the 900 blocks of Benton, Douglass and Armstrong streets, according to an alert from the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency.

There was no immediate word of injuries or the cause of the fire.

Authorities said evacuated residents could shelter in the Grundy County administration building at 1320 Union St.

Morris sits along the Illinois River about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.

The fire comes less than a month after an industrial fire at the Chemtool grease plant in Rockton prompted officials to evacuate residents.

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Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms and a high near 84 degrees. Similar conditions will continue tonight with a low around 71 and tomorrow with a high near 82.

Top story

‘The dawn of a new day’: New Illinois law allows student athletes to be compensated for use of name, image

Student athletes soon can be compensated for the use of their name or image under legislation signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 2338, the Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act, allows athletes at colleges and universities to retain agents. The law also outlines when a student athlete may be compensated.

The legislation allows student athletes to “take control of their destiny when it comes to their own name, image likeness and voice,” Pritzker said at the bill-signing ceremony at the State Farm Center on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Pritzker was joined by state legislators and the athletic directors from U of I, Northwestern University and DePaul University.

Illinois Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, said the bill is about “autonomy” and fairness.

A former defensive lineman on the football team at Illinois, Buckner sponsored the legislation in the House and said the “long overdue” law modernizes the college athletics landscape.

Rachel Hinton has more on the game-changing law here.

More news you need

1. A group of Chicago-area activists is urging President Biden to rethink his plan to send a strike force to help police stem the flow of illegal guns into the city, saying federal forces would only worsen things. The group is calling for, among other things, a congressional hearing in the city with testimony from local mothers who’ve lost children to gun violence.
2. A federal judge found today that a Pilsen man invoked his right to counsel when authorities tried to get him to identify himself as the person wearing a “Joker” mask during the May 2020 protests downtown. The ruling renders some comments he made unusable by prosecutors.
3. Across Illinois, 1.3 million children claimed as dependents on taxes will be eligible for Child Tax Credit payments starting July 15. Elvia Malagon spoke with local parents to hear how they’re feeling about the payments.
4. Members of the Chatham and Park Manor communities met last night to discuss fears and solutions following a mass shooting on 75th Street earlier this month. One solution, suggested by Ald. Roderick Sawyer, would be to deploy drones equipped with cameras and speakers to disrupt perceived criminal activity.
5. The company that owns a Dolton plant that processes chemical solvents agreed to pay $350,000 to settle government allegations that it improperly handled hazardous waste. This comes after the EPA threatened to take legal action against the company following numerous problems identified in a 2019 inspection.
6. Plans to build an outdoor roller rink in West Garfield Park are getting a mixed reaction in the community, with some residents citing safety concerns. Cheyanne M. Daniels has more on the complicated debate surrounding the rink here.
7. Food trucks selling everything from truffle BLTs to catfish strips are coming back to Daley Plaza. A rotating lineup of six food trucks will set up between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily from July 30 through Oct. 15.

A bright one

‘The show must go on’: Stormy weather couldn’t dampen Pride in the Park celebration

A late-morning torrential downpour and a tornado warning couldn’t rain on the parade of thousands of festivalgoers who flooded Grant Park Saturday for Pride in the Park.

The storm delayed the kickoff to the two-day music festival by two hours. Still, throngs of people decked out in rainbow attire and ponchos poured into the downtown park to celebrate as Pride month nears its end.

Performers included drag queen Alyssa Edwards and Chicago’s own Miss Toto. Chaka Kahn performed on Sunday.

“Rain was not going to keep me away,” said Mark King, 42, who wore a multi-colored speedo and sequined jacket. “I thought there was a very good chance it was going to get canceled, but the show’s gotta go on, we’ve got to celebrate as a city.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

With rain continuing steadily into the evening, some huddled together under umbrellas in an attempt to stay dry, while others embraced the weather and danced on the muddy swamp-like grounds. Most were mask-less, bringing flashbacks of pre-pandemic times.

“It’s just exciting,” Kim Belizaire said. “It’s good to see people getting out and trying to live life again. It is a sense of normalcy again, I haven’t done something like this in so long.”

Belizaire, 20, said she took a train from Skokie with friends and was drawn to the celebration for its “good vibes.”

Belizaire’s friend, 19-year-old Evan Numan, who recently came out as gay, emphasized the importance of embracing inclusivity and diversity at the event.

“All these people are coming to celebrate the same thing, so it’s really just meaningful and honestly [an] overwhelmingly good experience to see all these people that are either part of my community or support me,” Numan said. “It’s just a beautiful feeling knowing that you’re accepted, you’re loved by [others] and you mean something.”

Read Madeline Kenney’s dispatch and see Ashlee Rezin Garcia’s stunning visuals of the celebration here.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

With the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 reportedly spreading in Illinois, do you plan to take more precautions again Tell us why or why not.

Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: How concerned are you about the effects of climate change on Chicago weather? Here’s what some of you said…

“I am concerned in general about the extreme weather due to climate change. Scary. If we have to wait for the masses to educate themselves I am afraid we’re screwed.” — Nana Holla

“In the Midwest, we will be ok for now. It depends on how the upcoming administrations want to handle climate change.” — Jose Osorio

“I’m concerned that people don’t realize that climate change is real and that without a concerted effort from everyone to make changes to help the environment, our future generations won’t have a nice world to call their home.” — Gisella Montuano

“So far it seems manageable, I mean unless we had a considerable magnitude earthquake.” — Walter J. Dominiquez

“The midwest region always had bad weather. Some people think that a tornado won’t touch down in the nearby suburbs and in the city, but it can and it will. Be prepared and take watches and warnings seriously.” — Erika Hoffmann

“Very. I have absolutely no idea what can be done to mitigate the growing issues with global climate change, but I know that something must be done before it’s beyond repair.” — Chris Vaughn

“I am concerned. The amount of information and personal experiences that I’ve paid witness to is leading me to some very uncomfortable decisions. Leaving the city not just for things like the economy and better work opportunities, but also a hostile climate environment. You see the news and the big headlines with droughts, wildfires, and massive floods. The real crisis that threatens all of us is human-influenced climate change.” — Valentin Galvan

“Over the next 50 years, I expect the population of Chicago to increase substantially as populations in Florida and New York relocate to higher ground. Many will follow their corporate bases whose flagship high-rise HQs lose value as the foundations become compromised by sea level.” — Douglas Black

“In my opinion, any conversation must start within the context of restorative, ecological justice for those communities most impacted by the degradation of the region’s single most important natural resource: healthy water.” — Paul Grajnert

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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When health care leaders in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country began laying out a strategy to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, they knew it would be a tough sell with the Amish, who tend to be wary of preventive shots and government intervention.

Early on, they posted flyers at farm supply stores and at auctions where the Amish sell handmade furniture and quilts. They sought advice from members of the deeply religious and conservative sect, who told them not to be pushy. And they asked three newspapers widely read by the Amish to publish ads promoting the vaccine. Two refused.

By May, two rural vaccination clinics had opened at a fire station and a social services center, both familiar places to the Amish in Lancaster County. During the first six weeks, 400 people showed up. Only 12 were Amish.

The vaccination drive is lagging far behind in many Amish communities across the U.S. following a wave of virus outbreaks that swept through their churches and homes during the past year. In Ohio’s Holmes County, home to the nation’s largest concentration of Amish, just 14% of the county’s overall population is fully vaccinated.

While their religious beliefs don’t forbid them to get vaccines, the Amish are generally less likely to be vaccinated for preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Though vaccine acceptance varies by church district, the Amish often rely on family tradition and advice from church leaders, and a core part of their Christian faith is accepting God’s will in times of illness or death.

Many think they don’t need the COVID-19 vaccine now because they’ve already gotten sick and believe their communities have reached herd immunity, according to health care providers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, home to nearly two-thirds of the estimated 345,000 Amish in the U.S.

“That’s the No. 1 reason we hear,” said Alice Yoder, executive director of community health at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, a network of hospitals and clinics.

Experts say the low vaccination rates are a reflection of both the nature of the Amish and the general vaccine hesitancy found in many rural parts of the country.

Because many Amish work and shop alongside their neighbors and hire them as drivers, they hear the skepticism, the worries about side effects and the misinformation surrounding the vaccine from the “English,” or non-Amish, world around them even though they shun most modern conveniences.

“They’re not getting that from the media. They’re not watching TV or reading it on the internet. They’re getting it from their English neighbors,” said Donald Kraybill, a leading expert on the Amish. “In many ways, they are simply reflecting rural America and the same attitudes.”

Public health officials trying to combat the confusion and hesitancy have put up billboards where the Amish travel by horse and buggy, sent letters to bishops and offered to take the vaccines into their homes and workplaces, all without much success.

Some health clinics that serve the Amish are hesitant to push the issue for fear of driving them away from getting blood pressure checks and routine exams.

One local business and the organizers of a community event told the health department in Holmes County that it would no longer be welcome if it brought the vaccine to them, said Michael Derr, the health commissioner in Holmes County, Ohio.

Staff members at the Parochial Medical Center, which serves the Amish and Mennonites in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, encourage patients to get the vaccine, but many have little fear of the virus, said Allen Hoover, the clinic’s administrator.

“Most of them listen and are respectful, but you can tell before you’re finished that they’ve already made up their mind,” he said.

The clinic, he said, hardly sees any virus cases now after dealing with as many as five a day last fall. “I would suspect we’ve gained some kind of immunity. I know that’s up for debate, but I think that’s why we’re seeing only a spattering right now,” Hoover said.

Relying on possible herd immunity when little testing has taken place among the Amish is risky, said Esther Chernak, director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

“It’s not a community living on an island, not interacting with other people,” she said. “They don’t have zero interaction with the outside world, so they’re still exposed.”

During the first months of the pandemic, the Amish followed social distancing guidelines and stopped gathering for church and funerals, said Steven Nolt, a scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

But when non-Amish neighbors and local elected officials began pushing back against state and federal mandates, they resumed the gatherings, he said. What followed was a surge of outbreaks last summer, Nolt said.

Most now say they have already had the virus and don’t see a need to get vaccinated, said Mark Raber, who is Amish and a member of a settlement in Daviess County, Indiana, which has one of the state’s lowest vaccination rates. “As long as everything stays the same, I don’t think I’ll get it,” he said.

Changing those opinions will require building trusting relationships with the Amish, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report looking at outbreaks in those communities last year.

What won’t work, health care providers say, is bombarding the Amish with statistics and vaccine lotteries because of their general mistrust and rejection of government help. The Amish don’t accept Social Security benefits.

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WASHINGTON — Veteran forester Randy Moore has been named chief of the U.S. Forest Service, the first African American to lead the agency in its 116-year history.

Moore, 66, replaces Vicki Christiansen, who has led the agency since 2018.

The Forest Service, a division of the Agriculture Department, oversees 193 million acres of public lands in 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands.

Moore has been a regional forester for the California-based Pacific Southwest Region since 2007, with responsibility for 18 national forests in California and Hawaii.

He will take over from Christiansen as head of the 30,000-employee agency when she retires July 26.

They’ll be working together on what’s already shaping up as a severe wildfire season in the West, where an epic drought, complicated by climate change, has made putting out fires more challenging and strained firefighting resources throughout the region.

In the Pacific Northwest, where an extended heat wave has triggered record-breaking temperatures in Oregon and Washington state, fire crews have been positioned in high-risk areas, and cities and counties have imposed burn bans.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who appointed Moore, called him “a catalyst for change and creativity” in carrying out the Forest Service’s mission to sustain the nation’s forests.

As a regional forester, Moore has been on the forefront of dealing with the effects of climate change, notably leading the region’s response to the dramatic increase in catastrophic wildfires in California over the past decade, Vilsack said.

Before heading the Pacific Southwest region, Moore was regional forester in the Milwaukee-based Eastern Region, where he oversaw forests in 20 states, including Illinois.

He sttarted his federal career in 1978 at the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in North Dakota and has worked at national forests in Colorado, North Carolina and Missouri, a national grassland in Kansas and as an administrator in Washington.

Moore’s appointment comes as Congress and the Biden administration push to increase firefighter pay and convert at least 1,000 seasonal wildland firefighters to year-round workers as fires have grown more severe. President Joe Biden has called for an increase in pay for federal firefighters, who start out making as little as $13 an hour.

“That’s a ridiculously low salary to pay federal firefighters,” Biden said. “That’s going to end in my administration.?

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Nine-game Fall 2021 Season Membership and Parking Packages are now on sale for Chicago House AC’s inaugural Fall season in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA,) which kicks off at SeatGeek Stadium against New Amsterdam FC on Saturday, August 21st, 2021 at 7:35pm. Fall 2021 Season Membership packages, which include a variety of benefits, start at $108 (just $12 per match) for nine home matches. These ticket packages represent up to a 20% savings compared to buying tickets on match days. Fall 2021 Season Parking is available at $16 per match for a total of $144 for the nine Fall season home matches.

Fans can choose to pay for their Fall 2021 Season Memberships in full or spread the payments over three months (July, August and September) with the club’s interest-free payment plan.

Fall 2021 Season Membership packages include the following benefits:

• Access to nine Fall 2021 Season home matches at SeatGeek Stadium
• Honorary membership of the 1790 Founders Club with additional benefits
• Access to the best seats in the House with up to 20% savings compared to match day pricing
• Three-payment interest-free payment plan (June, July & August)
• 10% off discount on merchandise purchased on club website
• 20% off discount on half-season parking package price
• Ability to exchange and forward tickets as part of the “No Wasted Ticket” Program
• Ability to purchase additional single game tickets at the Fall Season rate
• Dedicated House ticket representative
• Access to Tickets.com online account management
• Chicago’s Fall 2021 Season includes nine home matchups at SeatGeek Stadium starting with New Amsterdam (8/21) and Detroit City FC (8/29) followed by LA Force (9/17), Michigan Stars (9/24), 1904 FC (10/9), Chattanooga (10/13), Maryland (10/23), Stumptown AC (11/13) and Cal United (10/20).

The first 1,790 fans to purchase a Fall 2021 Season Membership Package will automatically become members of the club’s 1790 Founders Club with additional perks and benefits.

Members who had previously purchased Full 18-match season ticket packages for the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 seasons will see their season packages and pricing honored through to the end of the 2022 Spring Season. They will also be provided with an option to add the Fall 2022 season at 2021/2022 Full season prices when 2022 Season Tickets go on sale later this year.

PURCHASE Chicago House AC Season Memberships & Parking:

Fall 2021 Season Membership Packages (9 matches)

Fall 2021 Season Parking Package (9 matches)

Chicago House AC – 1790 Founders Club

• The first 1,790 fans to purchase a Fall 2021 Season Membership will automatically become members of the 1790 Founders Club.
• “1790” was chosen in honor of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the first permanent non-indigenous settler of what would later become Chicago and is recognized as the founder of Chicago. 1790 is the earliest known record of Point du Sable living in Chicago, though he may have settled in Chicago in the late 1780s.
• 1790 Founders Club members who register a season ticket before the start of the inaugural season will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of these great prizes:
• Opportunity to deliver the match ball and take part in the coin toss for Chicago House AC’s inaugural match
• Opportunity to win a team-signed match ball used in the inaugural match
• Opportunity to win a team-signed inaugural season House authentic match jersey
• Exclusive 1790 Founders Club member benefits include:
• Receive a specially designed, exclusive, limited-edition “Point Du Sable” scarf
• Receive a specially designed, exclusive, limited-edition 1790 Founders Club pin
• Name placed on Founders Club member Roll of Honor page on House website in perpetuity
• 1790 Founders Club member certificate
• Invitation to a special Founders Club member event during the 2021 season
• For more information on Season Membership packages, Season Parking and the 1790 Founders Club, please contact Roberto Diaz on (773) 818-1009 or email [email protected]

ABOUT Chicago House AC

Founded in 2020, Chicago House Athletic Club is a community-based professional soccer team which will begin play in Fall 2021 at the 20,000 capacity SeatGeek Stadium at 71st and Harlem in Bridgeview, Illinois. The team will compete in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA,) a U.S. Soccer sanctioned third division league. Led by Managing Partner, President & CEO Peter Wilt, Chicago House AC is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) committed to transparency and working with its constituents to use its platform for social justice, diversity, equality, inclusion and community improvement. For more information, contact us at [email protected], visit www.chicagohouseac.com and follow on social media @ChicagoHouse_AC. “Our City, Our House.”

For more information about Chicago House AC’s partnership with Nike, check out our article here.

Featured Image Credit: Chicago House AC on Facebook

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When Rebecca Baruc was 11 years old, she began to show her drawings from her journal to a teacher, Barbara Herzberg. For eight years, Baruc would study alongside Herzberg where she would focus on still lifes and draw from reality. It wouldn’t be until college–at Skidmore in New York–that she would begin to dive into abstraction, sculpture, conceptual art, and performance art. Growing from this exploration, she began to draw the people she loves.

But the pandemic halted that.

“I had just left a full-time job as music program curator at Uncommon Ground to pursue my visual art career and was excited to build community through pastel portraiture. Strangely enough, COVID-19 gave me exactly what I had asked for,” says Baruc. Even though things slowed down and gave Baruc the chance to build her creative career she had to “halt the pastel portrait project, a social and intimate process by nature,” due to quarantine. “Isolated, I nurtured the relationships I could control–that to myself and my art,” she says.

As a response to little human contact, Baruc worked with reference photos and videos of herself in motion. She drew the figurative gestures, scanned them, and digitally collaged them.

This process resulted in Baruc creating more intentionally, “and with much longer bouts of existential dread in between productive moments.” During the pandemic, she was able to incorporate a daily discipline. She says, “Key word: practice; lots of failing involved. I certainly became more empathetic to myself, slowed down, and realized nothing monumental happens in a rush nor in a vacuum.”

“The Color of Normal” opened June 17 at a new Pilsen space created by Chicago Public School educators called the Juliet Art House. In the exhibition, pastel portraits of Baruc’s friends–who are also artists or creative people–line the walls. Baruc’s process involved inviting the artists over, having a cup of tea, and encouraging them to make their own music playlist while she set up the lighting. “The portraits were completed in three hours. The subject would sit for 20 minutes, then five-minute breaks. It’s actually pretty arduous and intense. Most people find themselves going into a pretty meditative state. And because I know these people, I help prompt a certain pose or gesture that denotes their personality. And of course I make sure they are physically and mentally as comfortable as can be. The result is something deeply personal,” she says.

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Baruc says that when she decided to exhibit these works, she had to create something more meaningful than a display of her friends. “I wanted to take these 2D images and help tell a 3D story of these people and the past year, helping viewers also reflect on an inimitable time in their lives,” she explains. After she drew her friends, she decided to incorporate interviews after everyone was vaccinated. Baruc says the experience was healing and very therapeutic.

When you enter the gallery, the pastel portraits of Baruc’s subjects greet you, alongside QR codes that folks can scan in order to listen to recorded interviews with the artists. On the labels for each piece, there is an excerpted quote as well. The piece Dan has a quote that says, “I think I’m just mourning that sense of community I had before everything happened, when I was still stoked about posting and getting responses from people . . .” Next to the piece Jordanna the subject says, “What I am hoping to find is acceptance for myself, for who I am in all of my flaws, and I want to come to peace with myself, and maybe discover some truth about myself,” when discussing their upcoming hike on the Appalachian Trail.

On the back wall of the gallery are paintings that touch on themes of nudity, intimacy, and relationships. In one piece, two figures are intertwined on an abstracted background. Geometric shapes fill up the background space and hard lines outline the bodies. As Baruc notes earlier, she worked with images and videos of herself moving in order to create some of the digital prints. Her silhouette creates a shape as she draws a background with similar outlines and curvatures to her body. Here, Baruc is examining herself. In the first half of the show we meet Baruc’s colleagues and friends; in the back half of the gallery, we meet the artist.

The two halves of the exhibition don’t necessarily exist separately. Sure, they utilize different mediums (one being digital and the other being pastels) and the subject matter is slightly different but it is uniquely Baruc’s work. Her style is colorful–she works with vibrant hues to maximize detail and shadow. And her strokes evoke movement, even in her subjects who are posing from the artist. Connecting these two parts of the exhibition is exciting and shows the vastness of Baruc’s talents–from capturing herself to capturing her peers.

“I hope these portraits paired with the interviews, as well as the self-portraits in the latter half of the show, make small but significant shifts in the hearts of the viewers,” says Baruc. “Motivating the execution and editing of the interviews, the selection of quotes on display, and the overall curation of the show, is a deep love for the people around me, and a deep desire to communicate our zeitgeist.” v

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