JOBS

Looking for a position that allows flexibility in your schedule with the ability to help others? Home assistance – Provide light housekeeping, run errands or provide transportation if needed. Accompany my Mother to appointments and assist with medications. I am looking for a caring & compassionate person to Care for my Mother. Work Schedule is 5 days a week and 5 hours per day. Salary is $25/hr. Forward your email to William ([email protected]) for more details.

Select Minds, LLC. has multiple openings at multiple levels for the following positions: Master’s+1yr exp/equiv.: Software Engineer (SMSE21): SQL, UNIX, Java, Shell Scripts, Service Now and Python. Master’s+2 yrs/Bachelor’s+5yrs exp/equiv.: Network Engineer I (SMNEI21): TCP/IP, LAN, WAN, VLAN, and Cisco Routers. Mail resume with job ID # to HR: 1750 E. Golf Rd., Suite 395C, Schaumburg, IL 60173. Unanticipated work site locations throughout U.S. Foreign equiv. accepted.

USG Corporation is seeking a Director, Commercial Excellence in Chicago, IL with the following requirements: Master’s degree in Business Administration or related field or foreign equivalent degree. 6 years of related experience INCLUDING 3 years of experience in the industrial manufacturing industry in a corporate strategy and/or business operations role; AND 3 years of experience in management consulting, including one year of experience in a manager role. Required Skills: Design and implement management strategies by applying competitive cost analysis, customer segmentation, capabilities assessment, and supply chain analysis (3 yrs); Evaluate and design processes to support management in different functional areas (such as finance, manufacturing, distribution and sales), including expertise in process mapping, M&A due diligence, cross-functional team management (3 yrs); Design and drive the commercial excellence agenda in collaboration with business unit and functional leaders, including pricing, go-to-market, salesforce organization and incentives, and CRM implementation (3 yrs); Perform data analysis and design scenario modeling to estimate financial impact, using computer tools such as Oracle BI, Tableau, and Angoss (3 yrs). Telecommuting allowed; must live within normal commuting distance of Chicago, IL. Company headquarters in Chicago, IL. Please visit www.usg.com/careers to view the entire job description and apply.

Associate Engineer – Draft drawings, develop steady-state and transient models, prep tech value estimates, assess optimization and parameter trades, and assess potential apps; sizing/costing of chem components and capital/operating costs; assist w gas processing experiments and pilot scale biomass/coal/gas conversion; hazard analysis on novel tech and proposal writing thru prelim cost estimates, process flow modeling, and diagram drafting. Reqd: MS in degree in Chem Eng, incl exp w software tools for process simulation, process flow diagram computer aided drafting, and bench scale chemistry/chemical eng lab. Must have perm US work auth. Dir inquires to Institute of Gas Technology, 1700 S. Mount Prospect Rd., Des Plaines, IL 60018, Attn: A. Carter, HR.

Tax Senior Associate – (Chicago, IL) RSM US LLP: Plan & execute tax engagements as part of a collab team, incl tax compliance & strategic tax consulting. Reqs: Bachelor’s (or frgn equivt) in Accounting or rel; 3 yrs exp as a Sr. Accountant or a rel position. Must hold a CPA license or be eligible to sit for the CPA exam. Email resumes to: Attn: C Volkening – Ref # 2536, [email protected]

Aquatic Group is seeking a Quantitative Researcher in Chicago, IL. Use datasets, financial and alternative, in order to make company level forecasts to be consumed by investment models. May work from home 1 – 2 days per week. Must live within commuting distance of office. Email resume to [email protected] and reference code 050495 in subject line.

The Department of Population Health Nursing Science at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), located in a large metropolitan area, is seeking a full-time Clinical Assistant Professor/Clinical Practice Nurse Educator to assist the department with the following responsibilities: Under direction and supervision, teach specialized courses to undergrad and graduate students pursuing specialization as advanced practice registered nurses. Utilize knowledge of family practice, infectious disease, and community health to teach didactic and clinical courses to undergrad and graduate students. Provide clinical care through College’s faculty practice that focuses on infectious disease treatment and prevention, including HIV and COVID-19. Advance program of clinical scholarship through both program development and dissemination of clinical work. Serve as an academic advisor to doctoral students and serve on college committees. Other College and Department responsibilities as assigned. Some travel may be periodically required for local travel in between worksites, conferences, and/or professional development. This position minimally requires a Ph.D. degree or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, or its foreign equivalent, in Nursing or related field of study, and a valid State of Illinois Registered Nursing license or eligibility for such a license. For fullest consideration, please submit your curriculum vitae, cover letter, and three references by 07/19/2022 to:
Mr. Edward Drogos
College of Nursing
University of Illinois Chicago
845 S. Damen Ave. (907E NURS, MC 802)
Chicago, IL 60612
Or via email to [email protected]. The University of Illinois at Chicago is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, protected veteran status, or status as an individual with a disability. Offers of employment by the University of Illinois may be subject to approval by the University’s Board of Trustees. The University of Illinois may conduct background checks and other pre-employment assessments on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer. Background Checks will be performed in compliance with state and federal law. The University of Illinois System requires candidates selected for hire to disclose any documented finding of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment and to authorize inquiries to current and former employers regarding findings of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. For more information, visit https://www.hr.uillinois.edu/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4292&pageId=1411899 University of Illinois faculty, staff and students are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This employment offer is contingent on your timely submission of proof of your vaccination. If you are not able to receive the vaccine for medical or religious reasons, you may seek approval for an exemption in accordance with applicable University processes.

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES 
CHESTNUT ORGANIZING AND CLEANING SERVICES: especially for people who need an organizing service because of depression, elderly, physical or mental challenges or other causes for your home’s clutter, disorganization, dysfunction, etc. We can organize for the downsizing of your current possessions to more easily move into a smaller home. With your help, we can help to organize your move. We can organize and clean for the deceased in lieu of having the bereaved needing to do the preparation to sell or rent the deceased’s home. We are absolutely not judgmental; we’ve seen and done “worse” than your job assignment. With your help, can we please help you? Chestnut Cleaning Service: 312-332-5575. www.ChestnutCleaning.com

RESEARCH

Have you had an unwanted sexual experience since age 18?
Did you tell someone in your life about it who is also willing to participate? Women ages 18+ who have someone else in their life they told about their experience also willing to participate will be paid to complete a confidential online research survey for the Women’s Dyadic Support Study. Contact Dr. Sarah Ullman of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Criminology, Law, & Justice Department at [email protected], 312-996-5508. Protocol #2021-0019.

ADULT SERVICES

Domination. Experienced lifestyle Mistress. Discreet. All limits respected. Contact for more information and pic. SSC. RACK. WIITWD. 630-631-7117 text or voicemail [email protected]

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If it’s the first Friday of the month, you’re going to see a line snaking out of Berlin that extends past the entrance to the Belmont CTA station and sometimes around the block. It’s populated by people in leather miniskirts and mesh crop tops, disco bambis and alien centaurs, club mystics with lashes so long you can bounce fantasies off them, and other creatures of the night. They’re on a pilgrimage to experience Strapped, the gender-inclusive dyke night founded by drag queens Siichele and Irregular Girl, a performance artist who will grace the Steppenwolf stage later this summer. 

“I really believe in the power of nightlife as a place where people who are marginalized—who aren’t of the status quo—are able to meet and celebrate one another and live out fantasies turned realities,” she explains.

That Shit’s Trans: Live!
Wed 7/20, 8 PM, Steppenwolf 1700 Theater, 1700 N. Halsted, 312-335-1650, steppenwolf.org, $15

Irregular Girl is the Live Laugh Latina of clubland, and her body of work highlights her range of irregularities as assets while refusing to hide how remarkably ordinary she is. When she’s not onstage welcoming the city’s hungriest children like a hot witch in a gingerbread house, she enjoys spending time with her husband and parents. She tans at the beach and bops to Britney Spears, plays video games and watches Real Housewives. Wait, I thought we were describing an irregular girl. What’s so irregular about this one? And once we know, how do we let that information shape our behavior?

Since cis womanhood is the cultural default of womanhood, one of the things that makes Irregular Girl “irregular” is being trans; thus, much of her persona is built on embracing what makes transness and especially trans womanhood unique and beautiful. Her drag is one example of this, but another is her talk show, That Shit’s Trans!, where she connects with local trans artists to discuss their work as well as popular media that’s shaped their trans experience—for instance, Sailor Moon finding a compact that completely transforms her. After filming a pilot episode for OTV last year, she performed a live version at the Logan Theatre in November. Now she’ll be joined by dancer and choreographer Darling Shear for a live show at Steppenwolf on July 20 (part of the theater’s ongoing LookOut series).

By touching on “regular” media, she allows audiences into her and her friends’ worlds without letting onlookers decide the terms of discussion. But why should that bother anyone? Would you interrupt the coolest girl in the room after she’s invited you to eavesdrop on conversations with some of Chicago’s most groundbreaking artists? (And if so, uh, do you have something against cool people? Wait, are you saying Irregular Girl is TOO exceptional for your tastes—that she’s not, dare I say, regular enough? It’s in the name, people: She is IRREGULAR!!)

Irregular Girl—or Regina Rodriguez, as she’s known when the makeup comes off—moved with her family from Peru to Chicago when she was seven. Raised mostly in Edgewater, she attended an arts high school where she concentrated on sculpture, then continued her studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she focused mainly on fibers and performance art. As her arts education evolved, so did the questions she was asking herself about her gender, what it was, and how she was manifesting it in both her work and her everyday life. If gender is a performance, how do we define sincerity? What separates art and artifice? In what ways can and do these ideas live in harmony? What’s fun about the discord?

Meanwhile, she was drawing inspiration from people such as Ana Mendieta, Tania Bruguera, Carolee Schneemann, and Billie Zangewa. She was exhibiting and performing in places like the Art Institute of Chicago, MCA, and Queens Museum in New York as well as a slate of local galleries, including Mana Contemporary and Zhou B. She’s had an assortment of fellowships and artist residencies, including as a project curator for the A.I.R. Gallery in New York. It was there, in 2016, that she started doing drag.

“I’d just turned 21 and had just started going out,” she says, laughing, “and I noticed the drag queens always getting free drinks. I was like, ‘OK, I want free drinks.’ That’s literally why I started doing drag. Just broke in New York. But I was able to express my gender more outwardly there because I wasn’t around my parents or anybody I knew. I was able to experiment and experience my gender by myself and for the first time figure out what I liked just for me.”

Her initial drag persona was Mason Jar. But when she decided she wanted to undergo medical transition in 2018, she adopted the name Irregular Girl.

“As Irregular Girl, I don’t perform positivity as much as hope,” she says. “It’s really, really heavy to live as a person of color. And with all of this anti-trans legislation, it’s really, really difficult to wake up every day and feel the reality of living in a country that doesn’t value you, see you, respect you for what you know is your truth. It’s heavy and hard, but I’m trying my best to share the parts of myself that I hid for so long in hopes that other people will want to share that of themselves, too. . . . It’s heavy and a lot of work, but it’s what keeps that hope alive inside of me to continue to free myself and other people’s minds of what they think they know. And to give people an example—or even just a friend. Just being a friend to others is really important to me.”

To experience Irregular Girl is to revel in someone exceptional who’s exceptionally down to earth: the perfect micro-celebrity for the diffuse communities who emerge at night. 

A fan named pb tells me on Twitter: “One of the most compelling things about Irregular Girl is the way she talks about the divine light that trans people possess—how we are conduits of change. She truly embodies it, and it makes her merch feel like a rallying cry or a badge of solidarity that we are able to transform anything about ourselves and the world around us until we reach the utopia shining out over the horizon.”

Local rising techno DJ Miss Twink USA, who was one of the guests on the pilot episode of That Shit’s Trans!, describes working with Irregular Girl: “Years ago, I met Regina back in the clubs. She was doing these insane club-kid looks, and the impression she left on me was purely impeccable. Fast-forward to 2022, Regina is a household name, and her magic and craft are growing stronger and stronger. I went to Strapped in April where she pulled out a sword while performing to a new Florence & the Machine track. It made me feel possessed! Struck and transfixed by her every move and glorious storytelling. The way she invites us into the world she sees for herself is fascinating, and it makes me want to be a better artist each day. Irregular Girl is one of the most talented and powerful artists here in Chicago.”

Drag performer Sangria Whine writes: “Irregular Girl’s show Mom Jeans was my first ever show in Chicago, so to say she’s important to me is an understatement. She’s not only a talented performer but such a humble and caring individual. She always makes me feel welcomed and like I have a space in the scene. I look up to her so much, and I truly hope one day I can be at her caliber of talent.”

“At art school, I learned a lot about image-making and holding attention,” Irregular Girl says. “The performance art that I was doing at SAIC was very, very image based. There’s such an immediacy to performance art, like your body is right there, almost like there’s no metaphor. I mean, it’s all a metaphor, but you have the physicality of yourself, right there. I think that’s where my energy comes from in my performances now, because, as a trans person, I’ve had to learn to grow love and rejoice my in truth. I really value the freedom that my life gives me and the freedom that I feel when I’m onstage. I have to be 100 percent there and take my audience with me.”

Irregular Girl as Joan of Arc. Dylan Bragassa

But she doesn’t hide the ways she’s vulnerable on her path. Last summer, she was one of five Chicago trans women who shared stories with Them.about experiences sporting bulges at the beach. Recently, she appeared in Cook County Research’s PSA for a campaign called PrEPárate: PrEP for You & Me. Latinx nightlife luminaries like herself and Bimbocita share how PrEP, an HIV prevention medication, creates more opportunity for safety and comfort while enjoying nightlife. Any of these stories sound like you? Try PrEP! In 2014, a study by Kaiser Family Foundation found that gay and bisexual men accounted for 2 percent of the population but 66 percent of new HIV transmissions. Latinx people of all genders are four times as likely to get HIV as white people. On paper, it feels like numbers, but the weight of the myriad ways HIV complicates life as a queer trans Latinx person is very real—and it’s especially palpable in the community right now.

On June 7, Berlin celebrated the life of Simon Sin Miedo, a trans Latinx staple of industrial goth nightlife and BDSM scenes in both Chicago and Minneapolis. Earlier this year, they’d been diagnosed with HIV and spent months raising money on GoFundMe to cover relocation and treatment costs to manage it. When Sin Miedo passed, they were publicly drowning in needs created by a lack of social safety nets exacerbated by their HIV diagnosis, a disease whose systemic denial has caused gay genocide. Why do we tolerate a system that encourages these outcomes, especially for some people and not others? Why is that so normal? Maybe it’s a badge of honor to be irregular in a world that normalizes such cruelty.

“The goal of my drag and creativity is to uplift and inspire others to claim their own narrative,” says Irregular Girl. “The world around us is really unaccepting and hateful of trans people and people of color, and my focus is to give hope. There’s so much uncertainty about the future, and we’re living through some really fucked-up times. That is what we need right now: to recognize each other’s truths and have each other’s backs.”

But her level of visibility doesn’t come without its challenges—for instance, living up to people’s ideals of her while enduring the everyday state violence and interpersonal cruelties that come with being trans. Irregular Girl feels grounded most by her strong relationship with her family and especially her husband Oliver, who she’s been with for four years. People in the community call him “world-famous wife guy” for his widely known and wildly flawless commitment to the bit of a man completely enamored with his partner—a partner who shares many qualities with this particular man’s favorite diva, Mariah Carey. If you were married to your teen fantasy, how would you show up for her? That’s the trans narrative Oliver manifests daily.

“As someone who’s a quote-unquote public figure,” says Irregular Girl, “there’s a huge amount of stress and pressure that comes from other people. None of it is ill-intentioned, but a lot of us suffer from these neuroses where we have to be perfect and always on. My husband and family all remind me that I’m just a person, like anybody else who’s just trying their best and sharing their art. 

“Oliver has been nothing but supportive of my career. My relationship with him helped me discover more of myself. I started taking hormones around the time that I met Oliver because it was something that I was really struggling with. Oliver never pushed me or urged me. He just said, ‘If it’s something that you’re thinking about, try it.’ And that’s what he’s always reminding me: I’m really just another girl out here trying it. That’s all any of us can do.”

It’s a common story amongst trans people: if you’re curious, just try it. Try being a sculptor, a performance artist, a diva—or all three! Want to know what kinds of doors open on hormone replacement therapy or other aspects of medical transition? Try it. There’s a lot of freedom to being irregular.

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Between Drake’s sleepy Honestly, Nevermind and Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” a lot of people have something to say about house music lately. (And while I can’t say I have thoroughly read every discourse posting, I’ve seen almost no instances of anyone mentioning the fact that several music sites reported rumors of Beyoncé working with house veteran and Chicago native Honey Dijon earlier this year.) Since house music was born in Chicago, and since the Reader has had plenty to say about this homegrown cultural legacy over the years, we’ve rounded up some of our house coverage for you here. Whether you want to wade into the discourse, or want to get a better grasp of a definitive Chicago sound, we hope this gives you a little more insight:

This is just a small sample of the house stories you can find in the Reader archives. For a shortcut to more pieces, you can begin by scrolling through the “house music” tag.

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There’s a lot that makes going to shows magical besides the live music, and no one knows this better than Empty Bottle art director Bill Connors. The Illinois native never expected to be guiding the aesthetic of one of Chicago’s most beloved independent venues, but the job has proved a natural fit: Since high school, Connors has experimented with music and video projects, playing with how moments of sound and image can be combined to create new meaning. At his core, he’s always been a visual thinker, capturing the attitude or essence of an artist or event with a collage-style approach to gig posters, album covers, logos, and T-shirts. Connors is formally trained as an artist, but he prioritizes cultural ephemera—which he sees as accessible art objects—over collector-driven fine art. His signature style—something like art nouveau skateboarding in a garbage can—has appealed to acts as divergent as Post Malone and Metallica. His career hasn’t been easy or straightforward, but his work is already proving influential.

As told to Micco Caporale

I grew up in Orland Park and started attending SAIC in 2007 and graduated in 2012. In 2010, I started couch surfing until I could live in the city full-time. I really found a home in the printmaking department, and I took a lot of studio classes so I could stay in the buildings overnight and crash on a couch when I got tired.

I’m a huge fan of the Chicago Imagists—like the Hairy Who kind of stuff. A lot of that was painting, but their book stuff got me into the world of offset lithography, which led me to screen printing. That got me thinking about translating these higher-art paintings into something ephemeral, like a zine or pamphlet. Something not very precious. And from there I got interested in show posters. I can remember being at Handlebar for the first time—in, what, 2008?—and seeing Ryan Duggan’s work. He’s got a very particular hand-illustrated style with this really sharp sense of humor. Always an inspiration.

SAIC is a very conceptual school, but I’ve never felt like I had a place in the conceptual-art world. I like making for making’s sake. I always felt out of the loop with that “precious art” thing. I don’t come from a place where anyone I know owns or wants to own a bunch of expensive paintings. What I do want are things that I collected over my life that mark time, you know? And making that accessible to more than just, like, people I met in school.

My art is so eclectic. I know everybody says that, but the kind of art that I like and the kind of music that I like—I don’t know if they necessarily overlap. Like, not in a way where I’m like, “Oh, yeah, I definitely see the connection between this music and this artwork!” That’s not always my favorite moment. I really, really like when things go off-kilter.

When I was in high school, I’d share stuff online. In the LiveJournal/Blogspot days, people would chronicle every moment of their life in great detail rather than, like, a quick snapshot, so it felt like a great place to share work and get feedback from random people in a way that was natural and helpful for me. It was a great environment to get a discussion going about some drawing that I was working on with my friends who were just trying to, like, skateboard. 

I wasn’t trying to advertise, but here’s where that becomes sort of a thing. Because by the time I was 21, I was negotiating with bands and companies that were, like, in Australia. I did something for Converse right out of college because I was sharing so much work online. I’m very grateful for everything that’s come my way, but at the same time, it makes me afraid.

The algorithm has got me pegged to a degree. It’s feeding me the same kind of images and artists who are doing work in a specific way. Sometimes it ends up distracting me from what I’m working on, like having too many reference points for your own work. But it scares me too, because I’ve gotten offers from companies or whoever where they’re very excited but want to charge a very low rate. And then you counter and immediately feel that gust flow the other direction, like, “Oh well, if this guy won’t do it for 40 bucks, I’ve got 100 people on this app who will!” 

I see it a lot with companies that I know have the money, but they bank on you wanting their endorsement or to feel part of their “team” or whatever. But it’s like, I need to pay my rent. I need to pay for food. I need time to do human-being things. It’s a constant turn and burn. I don’t know how people rely solely on freelancing. Nothing but respect from me.

In 2014, I started working the door at the Empty Bottle. Most people didn’t know that I had this art career outside of work. But once I started doing more work for bands that were touring and coming through the Bottle, people started connecting me to the place, and I started getting more offers. Eventually I started doing graphic design here and there for the Bottle, and then I graduated to my current role as art director. That’s a new role, and it happened during the pandemic so we could focus more on merch and branding. 

Bill Connors created these artworks for the Empty Bottle and for Los Angeles band Cobra Man. Credit: Bill Connors

Every time we have a show—all that stuff on Instagram—it’s hand collage, which is a little bit more than I should have undertaken, but I like the way it looks, so. . . . 

I’ve always been into collage, like rooting through magazines and collecting images to use in different ways. I experimented with digital-collage stuff in high school—just poking around Photoshop and Illustrator for years. Those were rough. I learned a lot of different collage techniques in school, but those were mostly physical collages. In school, I was really into physical materials and scanners and physically printing things and then scanning the things that I physically printed. And it got into this whole process of physical, digital, physical, digital, just back and forth, you know? Which also lends itself to Xerox stuff, right? Like, the more times you photocopy something, the more blown-out it gets, and you can create these little worlds, especially adding hand drawing. 

People always ask me, like, “Oh, are you really into, like, punk artwork?” I like that kind of thing, but it’s always been kind of an afterthought to me. I just like that photocopy look in general. It feels timeless. It’ll always look like the perfect age because it can be any time.

I don’t really have a process. There are steps, sure, especially with the scanner, but I’m like the trashman. I use everything and anything. I work digital and analog. I’ll scan things, use other people’s scans, take photos, find photos, add drawn elements by hand or in the computer. What I’m most interested in is a collage that feels like a collage but doesn’t necessarily look like one, you know?

Right now I’m trying to make work for posterity. I’m not interested in “the cloud.” I’ve worked with some big people, but I don’t always post it if I’m not into it. I wish I had more time to regroup and just make something for me instead of clients. I don’t want to be depressing, but I don’t want to lie to people either. Sometimes I think it looks like I’m killing it, but I’m not. I’m really not. I’m so broke and tired. 

That’s the thing that kills me about the Internet. People think, like, “Oh, this image will get me a bunch of followers, and then with a bunch of followers, we’ll get a bunch of money.” But exposure and followers don’t translate to money.

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There’s a lot that makes going to shows magical besides the live music, and no one knows this better than Empty Bottle art director Bill Connors. The Illinois native never expected to be guiding the aesthetic of one of Chicago’s most beloved independent venues, but the job has proved a natural fit: Since high school, Connors has experimented with music and video projects, playing with how moments of sound and image can be combined to create new meaning. At his core, he’s always been a visual thinker, capturing the attitude or essence of an artist or event with a collage-style approach to gig posters, album covers, logos, and T-shirts. Connors is formally trained as an artist, but he prioritizes cultural ephemera—which he sees as accessible art objects—over collector-driven fine art. His signature style—something like art nouveau skateboarding in a garbage can—has appealed to acts as divergent as Post Malone and Metallica. His career hasn’t been easy or straightforward, but his work is already proving influential.

As told to Micco Caporale

I grew up in Orland Park and started attending SAIC in 2007 and graduated in 2012. In 2010, I started couch surfing until I could live in the city full-time. I really found a home in the printmaking department, and I took a lot of studio classes so I could stay in the buildings overnight and crash on a couch when I got tired.

I’m a huge fan of the Chicago Imagists—like the Hairy Who kind of stuff. A lot of that was painting, but their book stuff got me into the world of offset lithography, which led me to screen printing. That got me thinking about translating these higher-art paintings into something ephemeral, like a zine or pamphlet. Something not very precious. And from there I got interested in show posters. I can remember being at Handlebar for the first time—in, what, 2008?—and seeing Ryan Duggan’s work. He’s got a very particular hand-illustrated style with this really sharp sense of humor. Always an inspiration.

SAIC is a very conceptual school, but I’ve never felt like I had a place in the conceptual-art world. I like making for making’s sake. I always felt out of the loop with that “precious art” thing. I don’t come from a place where anyone I know owns or wants to own a bunch of expensive paintings. What I do want are things that I collected over my life that mark time, you know? And making that accessible to more than just, like, people I met in school.

My art is so eclectic. I know everybody says that, but the kind of art that I like and the kind of music that I like—I don’t know if they necessarily overlap. Like, not in a way where I’m like, “Oh, yeah, I definitely see the connection between this music and this artwork!” That’s not always my favorite moment. I really, really like when things go off-kilter.

When I was in high school, I’d share stuff online. In the LiveJournal/Blogspot days, people would chronicle every moment of their life in great detail rather than, like, a quick snapshot, so it felt like a great place to share work and get feedback from random people in a way that was natural and helpful for me. It was a great environment to get a discussion going about some drawing that I was working on with my friends who were just trying to, like, skateboard. 

I wasn’t trying to advertise, but here’s where that becomes sort of a thing. Because by the time I was 21, I was negotiating with bands and companies that were, like, in Australia. I did something for Converse right out of college because I was sharing so much work online. I’m very grateful for everything that’s come my way, but at the same time, it makes me afraid.

The algorithm has got me pegged to a degree. It’s feeding me the same kind of images and artists who are doing work in a specific way. Sometimes it ends up distracting me from what I’m working on, like having too many reference points for your own work. But it scares me too, because I’ve gotten offers from companies or whoever where they’re very excited but want to charge a very low rate. And then you counter and immediately feel that gust flow the other direction, like, “Oh well, if this guy won’t do it for 40 bucks, I’ve got 100 people on this app who will!” 

I see it a lot with companies that I know have the money, but they bank on you wanting their endorsement or to feel part of their “team” or whatever. But it’s like, I need to pay my rent. I need to pay for food. I need time to do human-being things. It’s a constant turn and burn. I don’t know how people rely solely on freelancing. Nothing but respect from me.

In 2014, I started working the door at the Empty Bottle. Most people didn’t know that I had this art career outside of work. But once I started doing more work for bands that were touring and coming through the Bottle, people started connecting me to the place, and I started getting more offers. Eventually I started doing graphic design here and there for the Bottle, and then I graduated to my current role as art director. That’s a new role, and it happened during the pandemic so we could focus more on merch and branding. 

Bill Connors created these artworks for the Empty Bottle and for Los Angeles band Cobra Man. Credit: Bill Connors

Every time we have a show—all that stuff on Instagram—it’s hand collage, which is a little bit more than I should have undertaken, but I like the way it looks, so. . . . 

I’ve always been into collage, like rooting through magazines and collecting images to use in different ways. I experimented with digital-collage stuff in high school—just poking around Photoshop and Illustrator for years. Those were rough. I learned a lot of different collage techniques in school, but those were mostly physical collages. In school, I was really into physical materials and scanners and physically printing things and then scanning the things that I physically printed. And it got into this whole process of physical, digital, physical, digital, just back and forth, you know? Which also lends itself to Xerox stuff, right? Like, the more times you photocopy something, the more blown-out it gets, and you can create these little worlds, especially adding hand drawing. 

People always ask me, like, “Oh, are you really into, like, punk artwork?” I like that kind of thing, but it’s always been kind of an afterthought to me. I just like that photocopy look in general. It feels timeless. It’ll always look like the perfect age because it can be any time.

I don’t really have a process. There are steps, sure, especially with the scanner, but I’m like the trashman. I use everything and anything. I work digital and analog. I’ll scan things, use other people’s scans, take photos, find photos, add drawn elements by hand or in the computer. What I’m most interested in is a collage that feels like a collage but doesn’t necessarily look like one, you know?

Right now I’m trying to make work for posterity. I’m not interested in “the cloud.” I’ve worked with some big people, but I don’t always post it if I’m not into it. I wish I had more time to regroup and just make something for me instead of clients. I don’t want to be depressing, but I don’t want to lie to people either. Sometimes I think it looks like I’m killing it, but I’m not. I’m really not. I’m so broke and tired. 

That’s the thing that kills me about the Internet. People think, like, “Oh, this image will get me a bunch of followers, and then with a bunch of followers, we’ll get a bunch of money.” But exposure and followers don’t translate to money.

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Vade Mecum translates from Latin as “go with me.” When Glenn Jones makes such an offer, anyone who appreciates a vivid musical trip shouldn’t think twice. The 68-year-old guitar and banjo player from Cambridge, Massachusetts, began working as a solo acoustic musician in the early 2000s, after spending years playing with surf-meets-experimental-rock combo Cul de Sac, coproducing and compiling folk records, and befriending and assisting the original Takoma Records guitarists, John Fahey and Robbie Basho. Like them, he composes tunes that combine folk and blues forms with devices learned from other styles, and he prioritizes the expression of emotional truths over displays of technical facility. On this latest LP, Jones uses rich sonorities derived from idiosyncratic tunings as inspirational springboards for intricate, unhurried excursions that reference places, pets, and old friends. Many of them are now gone, and Jones’s melodies persuasively evoke his sadness at having lost them as well as his joy at having known them in the first place. But some of those friends are still with us: on “Ruthie’s Farewell,” whose title nods to the old friend who gave him his first banjo when she moved away and couldn’t pack it, Jones reunites on record for the first time in three decades with fiddler Ruthie Dornfeld, who played on the debut Cul de Sac record.

Glenn Jones’s Vade Mecum is out 6/24 via Bandcamp.

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

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As the election looms closer, it’s easy not to think of people in prison at all, except maybe as statistics. Those in prison are easy to dismiss. Yet it would surprise most people that the people in here are very politically astute. There is a reason for that: it’s because elected officials’ politics disproportionately impact marginalized communities. Perhaps more than any other demographic, their poli- cies directly affect our lives. Black and Brown communities and poor people of all races have long been targets of politicians and their tough-on-crime stances.

People in prison realize our statistical importance. In Illinois, each person’s vote is not weighted equally. A single vote for a state representative in Cook County will have less influence than one in downstate Randolph County. That’s because Randolph County is located in Illinois House District 116, which is home to Menard and Pinckneyville prisons. Together, they hold more than 3,700 people, nearly half of whom are from Cook County.

According to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Corrections, 27,601 people were incarcerated in Illinois prisons as of the end of March. Almost half of them (11,743) were from Cook County. More than half were Black—but the prisons they are incarcerated in are often in rural, white counties.

The census counts incarcerated people as residents of the prison in which they are housed, which are most often in rural areas, rather than residents of their permanent, pre-incarceration communities.

This is sometimes called prison-based gerrymandering. The practice artificially inflates the populations of rural areas where prisons are located. Those imprisoned in Randolph County account for more than one in 25 residents of House District 116. The prisoners cannot vote, but they are counted as residents of the 116th District by the census, which artificially increases the number of state and federal representatives that county gets, giving voters in the district a bit more power. This leads to greater political influence and increased economic resources for the largely white, rural areas—while costing the urban, poor, mostly Black communities the same economic resources where they are badly needed.

This discriminatory and anti-democratic policy violates the fundamental principle of “one person, one vote.” That principle requires election districts to hold roughly the same number of constituents, so that everyone is represented equally.

“Residents in Chicago are actually having their political power deflated,” Kasey Henricks told Medill Reports in 2019. Henricks, a professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee, co-authored a 2017 report on racial inequality in Chicago that found the political power of predominantly white downstate communities is “artificially inflated” at the expense of predominantly Black and Brown districts that are impacted by mass incarceration.

Debate about prison gerrymandering is often framed as a partisan battle, with Demo- crats advocating for reform, and Republicans opposing it. But that’s not true: both parties use prison gerrymandering. While it’s true that Republican districts hold most of the prisoners, Democratic districts have prisons as well. And the 2021 SAFE-T Act, passed by a majority-Democratic Illinois General Assembly, delayed reforming prison gerrymandering until 2031.

People in prison carefully watch candidates who use the “tough-on-crime” platform. Tough-on-crime is an old standby for not having real answers to the problems that face our communities. It’s politics, with a side order of fear-mongering. It’s a code word. When candidates say they’re tough on crime, what they really mean is, “we’ll put more Black people in prison.”

Tough-on-crime doesn’t lead to a crack- down on embezzlement. It doesn’t lead to more police in predominantly white and affluent neighborhoods. It means “we’ll keep those poor Black people out of your neighborhoods.” What poor and Black and Brown communities need is further economic investment and development, jobs and opportunities. These communities are already overwhelmed with institutionalized racist and classist oppression. They don’t need to be cracked down upon. They need to be lifted up. They need inclusion, not oppression.

The police, media, and politicians have made the universal face of crime that of young Black and Latino men, while at the same time making the face of the “victims” that of a white woman or child. No one in power cares if a Black person is brutally murdered. It barely garners mention.

If, however, a white person is killed by a Black person, it’s sensationalized. You’ll find it in every newscast. Politicians will comment on it, police will react to it, the media pounds it into you. You never hear the exact words, they are much too politically correct for that, but the underlying message says that Black people are dangerous. Politicians in turn climb over the top of each other to shout “lock them up,” and promise to be even tougher on crime than the other guy. Their tacit platform is, “only we can keep you safe from Black people.”

This is what tough-on-crime really boils down to: it’s a scam, a high-stakes game of three-card monte. It’s a misdirection. Politicians are really adept at reacting to crime, and at making these somber, ridiculous statements that they could have stopped it if only they had control.

What they don’t want you to know is that the game is fixed. Crime is secretly good for candidates. They love to promise to protect you, that they have a plan, and the answers. Sadly their plans are all the same: tougher laws, longer prison sentences, and of course the smile and wink with a promise to keep “those people” out of your neighborhoods.

What you never hear are plans to stop police brutality, or plans to dismantle structural in- equality, or plans to invest in Black and Brown communities. Instead of normalizing injustice, where are the plans to build up those communities? How can it be better to spend untold millions of dollars on prisons, than spending those same dollars to bolster Black-owned businesses, to create jobs, and to improve schooling?

Doesn’t it seem like our priorities are backwards?

Tough-on-crime is lazy. It’s a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. Instead of asking how a politician will react to crime, ask them what their plans are to prevent it. Ask them their plans to end inequality and injustice. Ask them about inclusion and investment in the poor.

If all they can come up with is tougher laws and prisons, then look for a better candidate.

Anthony Ehlers is a writer incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center who contributes a regular column to the Reader.

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Junaid Ahmed, a 45-year-old Indian American candidate for Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District, is posing a stiff primary challenge to incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat who has held the seat for five years. This is Ahmed’s first electoral run.

Ahmed was born in Hyderabad, India, and his family moved to the U.S. when he was still a child, about 30 years ago. He has since lived in Chicago, spending most of his foundational years in Rogers Park. A few years ago, Ahmed moved to the Eighth District, where he lives with his wife and four children.

In an interview with the Reader, Ahmed shared vivid details about his first few years in America and talked about his working-class upbringing.

“My childhood has been quite, quite interesting. As a new kid on the block my dad used to have two jobs, sometimes a third job; same job, two shifts,” he said, recounting his early years in Chicago. “Growing up you either became a doctor, or an engineer, otherwise you’re no good,” he said, lightheartedly emphasizing all the American dreams his parents had for him. In 2000, Ahmed got a degree in computer science from DePaul University, and from there went to corporate America to work at Accenture for seven years. In 2009, Ahmed earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, and then started his own technology consulting firm, SAKStech, in 2013.

Ahmed said that “politics was never on the plate for him,” but he was inspired to get into public service by his parents, who always taught him to share and give back to the community.

In 2015, Ahmed volunteered for Krishnamoorthi’s first campaign for Congress.

“To be very honest, I was excited,” he said. “And I was excited to see [Krishnamoorthi]…. And maybe he was a great guy back then, a fellow Brown brother running.”

Since then, Ahmed’s politics have continued to evolve. He is a staunch supporter of raising the minimum wage and enacting Medicare for All. “In the wealthiest nation on the planet, everyone should be able to thrive,” he said.

In 2020, Ahmed was organizing rallies in support of universal healthcare and urging representatives such as Krishnamoorthi to stop taking money from the for-profit healthcare industry when he met Elisa Devlin, now his deputy campaign manager. Devlin said that she was moved by Bernie Sanders’s campaign, and when that ended she wanted to continue being involved in politics. She started an organization called Schaumburg Area Progressives, a platform that she runs to this day. It was during her involvement with SAP that Devlin crossed paths with Ahmed.

“I saw the same qualities [in Ahmed] that really drew me to Bernie. That authenticity,” Devlin said.

According to Ahmed, Devlin had a huge role to play in pushing him to run for office. “Basically Elisa said, ‘Junaid, if you’re not the candidate, we think that there is no candidate in 2022,’” he said.

Both Krishnamoorthi and Ahmed are Indian Americans, but vary starkly in their views of religious politics in India. Ahmed is a practicing Muslim, while Krishnamoorthi identifies as Hindu, and has expressed support for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right- wing paramilitary organization in India.

The RSS is a Hindu nationalist organization that promotes the creation of a homogenous Hindu homeland in India, and espouses the Hindutva ideology—a right-wing ideology that casts out and discriminates against non-Hindus as “foreign.” Current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a former member of the RSS, and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, which draws its core political values from RSS, as an RSS organizer in 1985.

Modi was elected prime minister in 2014. During his administration, India has fallen on the religious freedom, press freedom, and hunger index, and has seen a rise in violence against Muslims.

In 2005, the U.S. government revoked Modi’s diplomatic visa for failing to control anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in Gujarat, the Indian state he was head of at the time. In 2014, Modi’s government passed a Citizenship Amendment Act that was widely derided as anti-Muslim, and has passed several other laws since then that have been similarly criticized. In January, Gregory Stanton, the founder and director of Genocide Watch, called the current systemic discrimination of minorities in India as an “impending genocide.”

During the 2019 Howdy Modi event—a grand reception for Modi in Houston—Krishnamoorthi delightedly shared the stage with Modi. He was the only elected Indian American politician who attended the event.

“Unfortunately, Raja chose to look the other way when a call for genocide is happening in India,” Ahmed said. “He chooses to still keep associating with these people who have openly enabled this genocide. He’s not even ashamed of it.”

According to Pieter Friedrich, a freelance journalist who does independent research on Hindutva and its associated links with American politicians, Krishnamoorthi extends his support to right-wing politics in India because of financial interests. Friedrich called Krishnamoorthi “the RSS’s man” in Congress.

In the runup to the 2016 race, Krishnamoorthi’s campaign accrued the highest funds among all House races across America. The Hindu American Political Action Committee (HAPAC) contributed $35,000 to his campaign in 2015.

The HAPAC’s stated mission is to ensure that the religious freedom and human rights of Hindus all over the world are preserved. It is linked to the Hindu American Foundation, which underpins the Modi government’s nationalist, allegedly anti-Muslim agenda.

“Breaking in is getting your foot in the door the first time,” Friedrich said. “That’s always the hardest. That’s the biggest hurdle. And so that initial financing from the earliest days, that’s particularly what [Krishnamoorthi] gained,” Friedrich said.

With more than $9 million in his campaign bank, Krishnamoorthi doesn’t necessarily need the financing, but he does need to avoid alienating his earliest and most influential supporters—the people who were crucial to helping him get into Congress in the first place, Friedrich added.

Ahmed has raised just over $800,000 via a combination of individual and grassroots donations. In a debate last month, Ahmed promised to “never take a dime of corporate money” and vowed to expand campaign finance reform if elected.

Krishnamoorthi’s frequent donors include Bharat Barai, member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, the overseas branch of the VHP India, which in a way is a subset of the RSS. The RSS and VHP are part of the Sangh Parivar, a conglomerate of over a dozen Hindu nationalist organizations. In May, Barai was seen talking about a chapter he wrote about Indo-U.S. relations and Prime Minister Modi’s inspirational guidance to the diaspora in the book Modi @ 20, in which experts recount and praise Modi’s 20 years as an Indian statesman.

In 2018, the World Hindu Congress was held in Chicago. The event was organized by the VHPA. The same year, the CIA labeled the VHP as a “religious militant organization.”

In addition, the VHPA is known to be taking active steps to “saffronize,” that is, “Hinduize” South Asian history. When the VHPA received approximately $171,000 of U.S. federal COVID relief funds, many human rights activists criticized the grant, saying the organization had “Hindu supremacist” sentiments. An Al Jazeera reporter who pursued the story about the disbursement of COVID funds to right-wing Hindu organizations faced a subsequent lawsuit and death threats for his reportage.

The U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Country Reports of Human Rights lists a slew of violent acts committed against Muslims in India—including one by a member of the VHP, who was arrested for making an attempt to lynch a Muslim cattle trader who later died in police custody.

“I think that as far as that issue [fascism in India] goes, having an Indian American Muslim candidate challenge is crucial to exposing those fault lines in [Krishnamoorthi’s] character and in the ethics of his campaigns and and really holding his feet to the fire on this issue,” Friedrich said.

Editor’s note 6/23/2022: An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of COVID relief funds the VHPA received; we regret the error.

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