“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink,” Coleridge’s sailor complains in the famous 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The mariner is talking about the plight on his ship, but he may as well be describing the city of New York. That year, a yellow fever epidemic led to an outcry over the city’s drinking water shortage. Foul water was believed at the time to cause not only that outbreak but a host of other diseases. While this didn’t turn out to be so, there was no denying that a municipality whose population was growing exponentially needed a sustainable source. 

Lucy Sante’s diverting new book details the scorched-earth efforts of governmental and business entities to solve the problem while lining their pockets all along the line. Was the cure worse than the illness? Is it right to submerge towns and villages so that a city may rise?

Manhattan is surrounded on all sides by bodies of water, none of it potable. The East and Harlem rivers go directly to the sea and the Hudson combines sea and salt water for many miles approaching the city. Settlers tapped ponds and streams as a solution, but that became untenable as New York was becoming an international harbor. Before the first reservoir system in Croton was even completed in 1842, widespread fires and a cholera outbreak proved it to be inadequate to the region’s needs. The population of 300,000 would triple over the next 20 years. The answer was to go further and further out of town, into the Hudson River Valley. But as Sante writes, “from an upstate perspective, the reservoir system represents at best an imposition and at worst an imperial pillage of the landscape.” 

Sante is a longtime resident of Ulster County, 80 miles up river from NYC. The Dutch settled the area in the 1600s, establishing little towns around dairy farms and other small industries. The sparse population was used by the city as a primary point in justifying the sacrifice necessary to meet desperate municipal requirements. Sante compares it to the trolley problem—a thought experiment in which a car is about to collide with a number of people and the operator can divert to a different track sparing the group, but definitely killing one person. Is it better to do nothing with a clean conscience and accept catastrophe or cause certain harm for the greater good? 

Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
The Experiment, hardcover (coming out 8/9), 208 pp., $24.95, theexperimentpublishing.com

Water, as they say, seeks its own level. The six major regional reservoirs, built between 1907 and 1967, were in a constant, desperate race to meet the unquenchable needs of an exploding population. But how could those needs even be quantified? Water was considered for centuries a bottomless resource and akin to a human right. But the costs of building dams and hundreds of miles of pipes, tunnels, and aqueducts were exorbitant. Fights between local and state institutions over what to charge for water delivery were legion and overrun by graft down to the least measurable drop. Meters, for instance, were manufactured by cronies of this or that official, then sold to property owners at exorbitant rates. 

Just the idea that water usage should be monitored was used by political parties of every stripe. Liberals might argue that charging poor people for their water was an undue burden, but without measuring or conservation, the city was wasting millions of gallons a day. Astoundingly, Sante cites the fact that in 1999 around 65 percent of apartment buildings in the city were still unmetered. 

Meanwhile, upstate, “the ghosts of the drowned villages continue to haunt the public imagination via roadside markers and twice-told tales,” Sante writes. 

As with every piece of Sante’s writing I’ve read, the prose is crystalline and the pages are richly illuminated with maps, adverts, and period photography—often from her own extensive collection of vernacular materials and ephemera. The visual matter serves to further accentuate the intractable issue at the heart of this book: how to help an urban population without utterly destroying a rural one.

Sante doesn’t have a solution. As a writer, historian, and dweller of the area in question, her part is to observe and describe. She’s aided in her task by photographer Tim Davis, who spent the summer of 2020 documenting the landscapes and inhabitants in and around these man-made bodies of water. Davis’s evocative pictures fill the ten-page epilogue to the book, prompting Sante to wonder, “Is it because we know the reservoirs are artificial that their very beauty can appear confected?”

What’s utterly real is that 300 years later, New York City’s crisis is familiar to the majority of the planet’s inhabitants. Our trolley is hurtling towards a crash. The question is how many we take out before coming to a complete stop.

Read More

“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink,” Coleridge’s sailor complains in the famous 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The mariner is talking about the plight on his ship, but he may as well be describing the city of New York. That year, a yellow fever epidemic led to an outcry over the city’s drinking water shortage. Foul water was believed at the time to cause not only that outbreak but a host of other diseases. While this didn’t turn out to be so, there was no denying that a municipality whose population was growing exponentially needed a sustainable source. 

Lucy Sante’s diverting new book details the scorched-earth efforts of governmental and business entities to solve the problem while lining their pockets all along the line. Was the cure worse than the illness? Is it right to submerge towns and villages so that a city may rise?

Manhattan is surrounded on all sides by bodies of water, none of it potable. The East and Harlem rivers go directly to the sea and the Hudson combines sea and salt water for many miles approaching the city. Settlers tapped ponds and streams as a solution, but that became untenable as New York was becoming an international harbor. Before the first reservoir system in Croton was even completed in 1842, widespread fires and a cholera outbreak proved it to be inadequate to the region’s needs. The population of 300,000 would triple over the next 20 years. The answer was to go further and further out of town, into the Hudson River Valley. But as Sante writes, “from an upstate perspective, the reservoir system represents at best an imposition and at worst an imperial pillage of the landscape.” 

Sante is a longtime resident of Ulster County, 80 miles up river from NYC. The Dutch settled the area in the 1600s, establishing little towns around dairy farms and other small industries. The sparse population was used by the city as a primary point in justifying the sacrifice necessary to meet desperate municipal requirements. Sante compares it to the trolley problem—a thought experiment in which a car is about to collide with a number of people and the operator can divert to a different track sparing the group, but definitely killing one person. Is it better to do nothing with a clean conscience and accept catastrophe or cause certain harm for the greater good? 

Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
The Experiment, hardcover (coming out 8/9), 208 pp., $24.95, theexperimentpublishing.com

Water, as they say, seeks its own level. The six major regional reservoirs, built between 1907 and 1967, were in a constant, desperate race to meet the unquenchable needs of an exploding population. But how could those needs even be quantified? Water was considered for centuries a bottomless resource and akin to a human right. But the costs of building dams and hundreds of miles of pipes, tunnels, and aqueducts were exorbitant. Fights between local and state institutions over what to charge for water delivery were legion and overrun by graft down to the least measurable drop. Meters, for instance, were manufactured by cronies of this or that official, then sold to property owners at exorbitant rates. 

Just the idea that water usage should be monitored was used by political parties of every stripe. Liberals might argue that charging poor people for their water was an undue burden, but without measuring or conservation, the city was wasting millions of gallons a day. Astoundingly, Sante cites the fact that in 1999 around 65 percent of apartment buildings in the city were still unmetered. 

Meanwhile, upstate, “the ghosts of the drowned villages continue to haunt the public imagination via roadside markers and twice-told tales,” Sante writes. 

As with every piece of Sante’s writing I’ve read, the prose is crystalline and the pages are richly illuminated with maps, adverts, and period photography—often from her own extensive collection of vernacular materials and ephemera. The visual matter serves to further accentuate the intractable issue at the heart of this book: how to help an urban population without utterly destroying a rural one.

Sante doesn’t have a solution. As a writer, historian, and dweller of the area in question, her part is to observe and describe. She’s aided in her task by photographer Tim Davis, who spent the summer of 2020 documenting the landscapes and inhabitants in and around these man-made bodies of water. Davis’s evocative pictures fill the ten-page epilogue to the book, prompting Sante to wonder, “Is it because we know the reservoirs are artificial that their very beauty can appear confected?”

What’s utterly real is that 300 years later, New York City’s crisis is familiar to the majority of the planet’s inhabitants. Our trolley is hurtling towards a crash. The question is how many we take out before coming to a complete stop.

Read More

Looking for something to do this weekend and beyond? Here are some ideas for you.

FRI 7/8

Ray Borchers’s “Coasting on None”opens tonight at T.F. Projects (1513 N. Western, Unit 104), the private showroom of local artist and odd man Tony Fitzpatrick. Borchers is known in the music community for Sharpie-rendered T-shirts of cult icons such as Eazy-E and Gina X. More recently, she’s been working with her partner Collin Bunting on a line of handmade and block printed clothing and textiles called “boy names,” which is sold at the Buddy store in the Cultural Center (78 E. Washington). In her T.F. Projects debut, Borchers will show collage-like paintings made over the past six months that feel like sanguine fever dreams. Tonight’s reception happens from 5-8 PM, but the paintings are available to view by appointment through 8/15. If you can’t make the opening, schedule a visit by calling 773-850-9702. (MC)

Albany Park Theater Project celebrates its 25th anniversary season and its first live performance in two years in Homecoming, a piece drawing upon the company’s favorite stories from past shows about the diverse community they call home. APTP combines youth and adult artists in collaborative work primarily illustrating the experience of young immigrant and BIPOC people in Chicago; along the way, they’ve created work about education (Learning Curve), loss (Ofrenda), food (Feast), and the experiences of being undocumented (Home/Land). They’ve performed downtown at the Goodman several times, but appropriately enough, this show is in their home space, the Laura Wiley Theater (named for the late cofounder of the company) at Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway). Homecoming runs through 7/23; tickets are pay what you can with a suggested price of $35 at aptpchicago.org. While tonight’s 8 PM opening and several of the other performances are already sold out, you can put yourself on a waiting list for open tickets by filling out this form. Performed in English with Spanish titles. (KR)

Chicago is officially in festival season! We encourage you to read Reader senior writer Leor Galil’s report on attending outdoor festivals under the long shadow of COVID-19, which also includes a guide to some music scheduled for the upcoming weeks. And tonight, two music-focused festivals kick off. Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig previewed this weekend’s Square Roots festival, which starts this evening at 5 PM (on Lincoln between Montrose and Wilson), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days); check out the Square Roots website for performer details and lists of vendors. And further south, West Fest Chicago starts tonight (5 PM, on Chicago Ave. between Wood and Damen), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days). A full schedule of live music is available at West Fest’s website. Both festivals are open to all ages and a suggested donation of $10 for adults will be requested upon entry. And if you’re looking for a musical evening but not ready to embrace street fairs, there are plenty of concerts scheduled for tonight around the city, including Daniel Villarreal’s show at 8:30 PM at Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport)—you can learn more about the Chicago percussionist through contributor Sandra Treviño’s profile here. (SCJ)   

SAT 7/9

Every second and fourth Saturday, Garfield Park celebrates local food and entrepreneurs at its neighborhood market hosted by the Hatchery (135 N. Kedzie). This weekend is extra special, though, because the market is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Not only will there be the usual array of west-side vendors selling local produce, flowers, and handmade items, but there will also be free cake and lemonade, a T-shirt giveaway, a cooking demonstration by health educator Ramona L. J. Baptiste (aka “Chef in the Hood”), and a live performance by Anointed Voices, the choir at East Garfield Park’s Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church. This is a free, all-ages event that runs from 10 AM-2 PM. (MC)

From noon-5 PM, the organizations Únete La Villita, ChiResists, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Good Kids Mad City, and Treatment Not Trauma team up to host Healing in the Park. This is a free intergenerational day of activities in Humboldt Park (1400 N. Humboldt) that centers BIPOC communities impacted by gun violence, police brutality, state surveillance, and other systemic injustices that threaten physical and mental wellness and interpersonal relationships. Expect everything from art and music workshops to a healing station, mental health screenings, and mutual aid opportunities (including free food!). Childcare will be provided, and attendees are encouraged to wear a mask and bring a picnic blanket. For a complete schedule of events, check out Únete La Villita’s Instagram. Otherwise, prepare to meet up by the Little Cubs Field section of the park at Hirsch and Kedzie. (MC)

More homecoming themes: the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet collaborate on the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, created by an all-female team, including choreographer Amy Hall Garner (who was featured in the Joffrey’s Winning Works choreographic competition in 2011, and whose As the Wind Blows had its world premiere with Hubbard Street in March); writer Karla Estela Rivera, executive director for Free Street; and children’s book illustrator Elisa Chavarri, whose watercolor illustrations will come to life onstage in this 45-minute family-friendly piece, performed by Joffrey Studio dancers and students of the Joffrey Academy of Dance. The story follows Rita’s adventures as a hurricane forces her and her mother to move from their quiet island to a big city. Feeling lost and disconnected from her painting, she learns how to find the beauty of her new home with the help of friends. It’s presented today and tomorrow at 11 AM and 6 PM at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park  (600 E. Grand), and then moves on to performances next weekend at Harrison Park (1824 S. Wood), Thu 7/14, 6:30 PM; Hale Park (6258 W. 62nd), Fri 7/15, 6:30 PM; and Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway), Sat 7/16, 3 PM. Performances are free and no registration is required, but you can check for updates for changes to the schedule due to weather, etc. at joffrey.org. (KR)

If tap is more your family’s jam, then Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm Worldmay fill the bill. The company, led by artistic director Jumaane Taylor, brings back their festival celebrating the art of tap with workshops and performances at five different venues in the city through 7/24. Tonight at 7 PM, they’re at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (740 E. 56th) for a free performance featuring Maria Majors and Anthony Russo of Saint Louis’s STL Rhythm Collaborative/moSTLy TAP, CHRP vet Sean Kaminski, Victoria Jones of Las Vegas (founder of the Las Vegas branch of M.A.D.D. Rhythms), and music by the Eric Hochberg Trio. For reservations and information on the rest of the festival’s schedule, see chicagotap.org. (KR)

SUN 7/10

What could be better than a summer morning of local produce, neighborhood vendors, and . . . making paper cranes with local art duos? You’ll get a chance to do all these things at today’s Hyde Park Farmers Market (9 AM-1 PM in the Hyde Park Bank parking lot at 54th St. and S. Lake Park Ave. West), as the Hyde Park Art Center hosts a booth featuring artists Stan Shellabarger and Dutes Miller, who will show you how to make paper cranes that will then get used in their work Burnt (which is currently on display in their exhibition “Loving Repeating” at the Center). (SCJ)

Today is the last day of the “bite-sized” but still delicious Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. Most vendors will be set up by Buckingham Fountain, near Jackson and Columbus, with several food trucks lining Columbus both north and south of Ida B. Wells. From 11 AM-9 PM, you can enter for free and take your pick of local food and drink vendors to nosh with. And to make it easier this year, cash and credit cards will be accepted by all food vendors and no food tickets will be sold or required. A full list of participating restaurants is available at the city’s website, along with set times for today’s musical performances (highlights include DJ Selah Say at 2 PM and DJ Duane Powell at 4:30 PM on the Goose Island Stage, as well as Local H and the Drive-By Truckers performing at 6 and 7:15 PM respectively on the main stage). (SCJ)

The annual RHINO Poetry journal will be released this month, as the Evanston-based organization behind the print publication celebrates over 46 years of publishing poems, flash fiction, and fostering a community of writers centered in a niche somewhere between academia and emerging poetry scenes. This year, RHINO is hosting a free online release party, featuring readers published in its pages, including Dot Dannenberg, Kiyoko Reidy, Makshya Tolbert, and Miguel Barretto Garcia. The event starts at 2 PM and registration is required here (at which point you’ll receive Zoom information). (SCJ)

MON 7/11

This week’s Monday Night Foodball features “a menu that begs to be enjoyed on the spot,” according to Reader senior writer Mike Sula. Chef Dawn Lewis of D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine brings her Trinidadian fare including curried roti, pineapple chow, and pholourie to the weekly pop-up event tonight at Kedzie Inn (4100 N. Kedzie). Limited walk-in orders will be possible starting at 5 PM, but as always with the Foodball, it’s a good idea to pre-order for pick up. (SCJ)

TUE 7/12

This is the last week to catch Lost Illusions at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State). In this adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel of the same name, 19th-century rural rube and aspiring poet Lucien is lured to Paris by a lover who soon abandons him. A friend connects him with opportunities as a journalist, where his need for money begins to conflict with his conscience. He quickly realizes the myriad ways “truth” is something he can hock to the highest bidders, kicking off multiple high-octane storylines that are related in luscious color with intense romanticism. Yes, it’s a French language film with a lot of laurel wreaths on the poster, but as Reader freelancer Noëlle D. Lilley points out, it’s also a “unique and still-relevant period piece” about money’s influence on the journalism industry that proves to be a very “fun ride.” Today it’s screening at 5:30 PM and other showtimes are listed at Siskel Film Center’s website. Tickets are $12. (MC)

WED 7/13

During the summer, there’s never a dull day in the Chicago Public Library system, especially for kids and teens. This year, the Douglass branch (3353 W. 13th St.) YOUmedia team partners with Vocalo to kick off a four-part series on writing, recording, producing, and editing for podcasts and radio. From 2-4:30 PM today, high school-aged teens will learn recording best practices through an audio scavenger hunt that calls attention to all kinds of sounds regularly happening around us. Then participants will regroup to share their findings and discuss how these sounds can be used in audio storytelling. All equipment will be provided, and while registration isn’t necessary, it’s highly recommended so organizers know how many students to expect. This workshop is free and does not require committing to the subsequent three classes. (MC)

The organizations Love & Protect and Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project team up today to host community healing in the form of a Free Them All Seed Quilt art making event. No prior art skill are necessary, as activists and artists will be on hand to help guide participants in sashiko embroidery, paper making, working with seeds, and writing messages on a large handmade quilt that will eventually be installed outside the Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln. This event will be held outside of Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) and happens between 4:30 and 7:30 PM. Free to attend, but please register at Eventbrite. (SCJ)

Every Wednesday until the end of August, the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) hosts Veggie Bingo. From 6-8 PM, participants have the chance to win a bounty of fresh produce and other tasty odds and ends from local partners such as honey, hot sauce, pickles, and more. It’s $10 for entry, which includes one bingo card, but you can buy additional cards in advance or in person for $4/each or $10/three. (Did we mention there will be hot dogs for sale, too?) Each week benefits a different garden facilitated by NeighborSpace, a local nonprofit that encourages urban land stewardship through community gardens. To attend Veggie Bingo, you must be 21 or older, and proof of vaccination is required. While this event takes place on the Hideout porch, masks are strongly encouraged inside the venue. (MC)

THU 7/14

At 5 PM, the See You Soon Event Space inside the Kimball Arts Center (1757 N. Kimball, Unit 203C) is screening Tonika Johnson’s Folded Map Project, a film about Johnson’s multi-layered art work where she examined “map twins”—people who lived at the same address on the north and south or east and west sides of the same streets—to reveal how Chicago has been shaped by systemic racism. What started as a photo project that documented the differences in environments (what architecture is common, how clean are the streets, and so on) evolved into interviews that reveal not only discrepancies in housing costs but also how one connects with one’s neighbors and learns or decides to embody community. Following the film, Johnson will lead a conversation and an activity based on it. This event is free and open to anyone, and it includes light refreshments. (MC)

The Chicago Independent Venue League curated tonight’s entertainment for the Millennium Park Music Series (201 E. Randolph), so you know this one’s a banger. Performers include gleeful indie soothsayer Tasha, renowned soul/jazz group Mario Abney & the Abney Effect Brass Band, and Ric Wilson—or “Disco Ric,” as some fans affectionately know the abolitionist rapper. Things kick off at 6:30 PM, but you’ll want to get there early to stake out a great spot with your lawn chair or blanket. (MC)

Walkabout Theater Company ponders the apocalypse through a window in Still a Quiet Afternoon, presented tonight through 7/16 at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater (1700 N. Halsted) as part of the LookOut series. Co-created by Guilherme Kirchheim, Tara Ostiguy, Desiré Graham, Katie Mazzini, and Gabriel Thom Pasculli, and performed by Mazzini and Pasculli under the direction of Kirchheim and Ostiguy, the piece combines myth, poetry, and song as an elderly couple watches Troy burn outside their windows. They begin time-jumping through various disasters, trying to find the balance between protective reverie and confrontation with the urgency of the times. The show has been in development for the past three years, including a residency at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, Italy, and a work-in-progress presentation with Prop Thtr’s RhinoFest. Curtain is 8 PM and tickets are $15 at walkabouttheater.org. (KR)

Read More

Looking for something to do this weekend and beyond? Here are some ideas for you.

FRI 7/8

Ray Borchers’s “Coasting on None”opens tonight at T.F. Projects (1513 N. Western, Unit 104), the private showroom of local artist and odd man Tony Fitzpatrick. Borchers is known in the music community for Sharpie-rendered T-shirts of cult icons such as Eazy-E and Gina X. More recently, she’s been working with her partner Collin Bunting on a line of handmade and block printed clothing and textiles called “boy names,” which is sold at the Buddy store in the Cultural Center (78 E. Washington). In her T.F. Projects debut, Borchers will show collage-like paintings made over the past six months that feel like sanguine fever dreams. Tonight’s reception happens from 5-8 PM, but the paintings are available to view by appointment through 8/15. If you can’t make the opening, schedule a visit by calling 773-850-9702. (MC)

Albany Park Theater Project celebrates its 25th anniversary season and its first live performance in two years in Homecoming, a piece drawing upon the company’s favorite stories from past shows about the diverse community they call home. APTP combines youth and adult artists in collaborative work primarily illustrating the experience of young immigrant and BIPOC people in Chicago; along the way, they’ve created work about education (Learning Curve), loss (Ofrenda), food (Feast), and the experiences of being undocumented (Home/Land). They’ve performed downtown at the Goodman several times, but appropriately enough, this show is in their home space, the Laura Wiley Theater (named for the late cofounder of the company) at Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway). Homecoming runs through 7/23; tickets are pay what you can with a suggested price of $35 at aptpchicago.org. While tonight’s 8 PM opening and several of the other performances are already sold out, you can put yourself on a waiting list for open tickets by filling out this form. Performed in English with Spanish titles. (KR)

Chicago is officially in festival season! We encourage you to read Reader senior writer Leor Galil’s report on attending outdoor festivals under the long shadow of COVID-19, which also includes a guide to some music scheduled for the upcoming weeks. And tonight, two music-focused festivals kick off. Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig previewed this weekend’s Square Roots festival, which starts this evening at 5 PM (on Lincoln between Montrose and Wilson), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days); check out the Square Roots website for performer details and lists of vendors. And further south, West Fest Chicago starts tonight (5 PM, on Chicago Ave. between Wood and Damen), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days). A full schedule of live music is available at West Fest’s website. Both festivals are open to all ages and a suggested donation of $10 for adults will be requested upon entry. And if you’re looking for a musical evening but not ready to embrace street fairs, there are plenty of concerts scheduled for tonight around the city, including Daniel Villarreal’s show at 8:30 PM at Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport)—you can learn more about the Chicago percussionist through contributor Sandra Treviño’s profile here. (SCJ)   

SAT 7/9

Every second and fourth Saturday, Garfield Park celebrates local food and entrepreneurs at its neighborhood market hosted by the Hatchery (135 N. Kedzie). This weekend is extra special, though, because the market is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Not only will there be the usual array of west-side vendors selling local produce, flowers, and handmade items, but there will also be free cake and lemonade, a T-shirt giveaway, a cooking demonstration by health educator Ramona L. J. Baptiste (aka “Chef in the Hood”), and a live performance by Anointed Voices, the choir at East Garfield Park’s Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church. This is a free, all-ages event that runs from 10 AM-2 PM. (MC)

From noon-5 PM, the organizations Únete La Villita, ChiResists, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Good Kids Mad City, and Treatment Not Trauma team up to host Healing in the Park. This is a free intergenerational day of activities in Humboldt Park (1400 N. Humboldt) that centers BIPOC communities impacted by gun violence, police brutality, state surveillance, and other systemic injustices that threaten physical and mental wellness and interpersonal relationships. Expect everything from art and music workshops to a healing station, mental health screenings, and mutual aid opportunities (including free food!). Childcare will be provided, and attendees are encouraged to wear a mask and bring a picnic blanket. For a complete schedule of events, check out Únete La Villita’s Instagram. Otherwise, prepare to meet up by the Little Cubs Field section of the park at Hirsch and Kedzie. (MC)

More homecoming themes: the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet collaborate on the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, created by an all-female team, including choreographer Amy Hall Garner (who was featured in the Joffrey’s Winning Works choreographic competition in 2011, and whose As the Wind Blows had its world premiere with Hubbard Street in March); writer Karla Estela Rivera, executive director for Free Street; and children’s book illustrator Elisa Chavarri, whose watercolor illustrations will come to life onstage in this 45-minute family-friendly piece, performed by Joffrey Studio dancers and students of the Joffrey Academy of Dance. The story follows Rita’s adventures as a hurricane forces her and her mother to move from their quiet island to a big city. Feeling lost and disconnected from her painting, she learns how to find the beauty of her new home with the help of friends. It’s presented today and tomorrow at 11 AM and 6 PM at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park  (600 E. Grand), and then moves on to performances next weekend at Harrison Park (1824 S. Wood), Thu 7/14, 6:30 PM; Hale Park (6258 W. 62nd), Fri 7/15, 6:30 PM; and Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway), Sat 7/16, 3 PM. Performances are free and no registration is required, but you can check for updates for changes to the schedule due to weather, etc. at joffrey.org. (KR)

If tap is more your family’s jam, then Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm Worldmay fill the bill. The company, led by artistic director Jumaane Taylor, brings back their festival celebrating the art of tap with workshops and performances at five different venues in the city through 7/24. Tonight at 7 PM, they’re at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (740 E. 56th) for a free performance featuring Maria Majors and Anthony Russo of Saint Louis’s STL Rhythm Collaborative/moSTLy TAP, CHRP vet Sean Kaminski, Victoria Jones of Las Vegas (founder of the Las Vegas branch of M.A.D.D. Rhythms), and music by the Eric Hochberg Trio. For reservations and information on the rest of the festival’s schedule, see chicagotap.org. (KR)

SUN 7/10

What could be better than a summer morning of local produce, neighborhood vendors, and . . . making paper cranes with local art duos? You’ll get a chance to do all these things at today’s Hyde Park Farmers Market (9 AM-1 PM in the Hyde Park Bank parking lot at 54th St. and S. Lake Park Ave. West), as the Hyde Park Art Center hosts a booth featuring artists Stan Shellabarger and Dutes Miller, who will show you how to make paper cranes that will then get used in their work Burnt (which is currently on display in their exhibition “Loving Repeating” at the Center). (SCJ)

Today is the last day of the “bite-sized” but still delicious Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. Most vendors will be set up by Buckingham Fountain, near Jackson and Columbus, with several food trucks lining Columbus both north and south of Ida B. Wells. From 11 AM-9 PM, you can enter for free and take your pick of local food and drink vendors to nosh with. And to make it easier this year, cash and credit cards will be accepted by all food vendors and no food tickets will be sold or required. A full list of participating restaurants is available at the city’s website, along with set times for today’s musical performances (highlights include DJ Selah Say at 2 PM and DJ Duane Powell at 4:30 PM on the Goose Island Stage, as well as Local H and the Drive-By Truckers performing at 6 and 7:15 PM respectively on the main stage). (SCJ)

The annual RHINO Poetry journal will be released this month, as the Evanston-based organization behind the print publication celebrates over 46 years of publishing poems, flash fiction, and fostering a community of writers centered in a niche somewhere between academia and emerging poetry scenes. This year, RHINO is hosting a free online release party, featuring readers published in its pages, including Dot Dannenberg, Kiyoko Reidy, Makshya Tolbert, and Miguel Barretto Garcia. The event starts at 2 PM and registration is required here (at which point you’ll receive Zoom information). (SCJ)

MON 7/11

This week’s Monday Night Foodball features “a menu that begs to be enjoyed on the spot,” according to Reader senior writer Mike Sula. Chef Dawn Lewis of D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine brings her Trinidadian fare including curried roti, pineapple chow, and pholourie to the weekly pop-up event tonight at Kedzie Inn (4100 N. Kedzie). Limited walk-in orders will be possible starting at 5 PM, but as always with the Foodball, it’s a good idea to pre-order for pick up. (SCJ)

TUE 7/12

This is the last week to catch Lost Illusions at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State). In this adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel of the same name, 19th-century rural rube and aspiring poet Lucien is lured to Paris by a lover who soon abandons him. A friend connects him with opportunities as a journalist, where his need for money begins to conflict with his conscience. He quickly realizes the myriad ways “truth” is something he can hock to the highest bidders, kicking off multiple high-octane storylines that are related in luscious color with intense romanticism. Yes, it’s a French language film with a lot of laurel wreaths on the poster, but as Reader freelancer Noëlle D. Lilley points out, it’s also a “unique and still-relevant period piece” about money’s influence on the journalism industry that proves to be a very “fun ride.” Today it’s screening at 5:30 PM and other showtimes are listed at Siskel Film Center’s website. Tickets are $12. (MC)

WED 7/13

During the summer, there’s never a dull day in the Chicago Public Library system, especially for kids and teens. This year, the Douglass branch (3353 W. 13th St.) YOUmedia team partners with Vocalo to kick off a four-part series on writing, recording, producing, and editing for podcasts and radio. From 2-4:30 PM today, high school-aged teens will learn recording best practices through an audio scavenger hunt that calls attention to all kinds of sounds regularly happening around us. Then participants will regroup to share their findings and discuss how these sounds can be used in audio storytelling. All equipment will be provided, and while registration isn’t necessary, it’s highly recommended so organizers know how many students to expect. This workshop is free and does not require committing to the subsequent three classes. (MC)

The organizations Love & Protect and Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project team up today to host community healing in the form of a Free Them All Seed Quilt art making event. No prior art skill are necessary, as activists and artists will be on hand to help guide participants in sashiko embroidery, paper making, working with seeds, and writing messages on a large handmade quilt that will eventually be installed outside the Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln. This event will be held outside of Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) and happens between 4:30 and 7:30 PM. Free to attend, but please register at Eventbrite. (SCJ)

Every Wednesday until the end of August, the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) hosts Veggie Bingo. From 6-8 PM, participants have the chance to win a bounty of fresh produce and other tasty odds and ends from local partners such as honey, hot sauce, pickles, and more. It’s $10 for entry, which includes one bingo card, but you can buy additional cards in advance or in person for $4/each or $10/three. (Did we mention there will be hot dogs for sale, too?) Each week benefits a different garden facilitated by NeighborSpace, a local nonprofit that encourages urban land stewardship through community gardens. To attend Veggie Bingo, you must be 21 or older, and proof of vaccination is required. While this event takes place on the Hideout porch, masks are strongly encouraged inside the venue. (MC)

THU 7/14

At 5 PM, the See You Soon Event Space inside the Kimball Arts Center (1757 N. Kimball, Unit 203C) is screening Tonika Johnson’s Folded Map Project, a film about Johnson’s multi-layered art work where she examined “map twins”—people who lived at the same address on the north and south or east and west sides of the same streets—to reveal how Chicago has been shaped by systemic racism. What started as a photo project that documented the differences in environments (what architecture is common, how clean are the streets, and so on) evolved into interviews that reveal not only discrepancies in housing costs but also how one connects with one’s neighbors and learns or decides to embody community. Following the film, Johnson will lead a conversation and an activity based on it. This event is free and open to anyone, and it includes light refreshments. (MC)

The Chicago Independent Venue League curated tonight’s entertainment for the Millennium Park Music Series (201 E. Randolph), so you know this one’s a banger. Performers include gleeful indie soothsayer Tasha, renowned soul/jazz group Mario Abney & the Abney Effect Brass Band, and Ric Wilson—or “Disco Ric,” as some fans affectionately know the abolitionist rapper. Things kick off at 6:30 PM, but you’ll want to get there early to stake out a great spot with your lawn chair or blanket. (MC)

Walkabout Theater Company ponders the apocalypse through a window in Still a Quiet Afternoon, presented tonight through 7/16 at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater (1700 N. Halsted) as part of the LookOut series. Co-created by Guilherme Kirchheim, Tara Ostiguy, Desiré Graham, Katie Mazzini, and Gabriel Thom Pasculli, and performed by Mazzini and Pasculli under the direction of Kirchheim and Ostiguy, the piece combines myth, poetry, and song as an elderly couple watches Troy burn outside their windows. They begin time-jumping through various disasters, trying to find the balance between protective reverie and confrontation with the urgency of the times. The show has been in development for the past three years, including a residency at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, Italy, and a work-in-progress presentation with Prop Thtr’s RhinoFest. Curtain is 8 PM and tickets are $15 at walkabouttheater.org. (KR)

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hornets reserve guard Scottie Lewis underwent surgery to repair a broken left leg he sustained during an NBA Summer League practice session in Las Vegas on Thursday.

There is no timetable for his return, but the team said Friday the surgery was successful and that Lewis is expected to make a full recovery.

The surgery was performed at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, according to a team news release.

Lewis, who played collegiately at Florida, signed a two-way contract with Charlotte last season and appeared in two games for the Hornets and 32 games for the team’s G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. He averaged 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 30.5 minutes per game with the Swarm.

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