Potluck: Chicago Day 3

Two main things happened today with Critical Encounters.

Tonight, half of the group went to En Las Tablas Performing Arts Community Center "...a not for profit community arts organization established in 2006 for the purpose of offering performing arts training to residents in the areas of Hermosa, West Logan Square and West Humboldt Park in Chicago, Illinois." Due to the fact that the space was small and would already have 5 to 6 family's there, we had to split up the group. I was one who stayed back at Columbia. In the beginning of our day we had to come up with a game that could be played with the families that would stimulate the children and the adults and help bridge the gap between the younger generations and the older ones. This was a challenge for me because I do not know much about children and haven't spent anytime with them since I babysat a 2 year old 9 years ago. I helped where I could. I am not sure how the event went and what game they ended up choosing to play but I will find out tomorrow.

The ones who stayed back had a potluck (there was a potluck at En Las Tablas as well) and I made Vegan Chili! Here is the recipe.

1 medium zucchini
1 medium green pepper
1 medium red pepper
4 garlic cloves
2 medium yellow onions
4 cans 15oz stewed tomatoes (italian style seasoning)
1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed
2 cans black black beans drained and rinsed
4 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cilantro (although, emily, since you don't like cilantro, maybe some parsley would be good instead!)

-chop vegetables, saute in olive oil till soft

-add the 4 cans of stewed tomatoes into the mixture of sauted vegetables. Make sure to break up the tomatoes before putting them in, also, take out any hard stems.

-put the rest of the ingredients into the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

After we ate we spoke about what our group will be doing next once Ali and Tim are gone. We actually have funds to create something! Ali and Tim will be back in February and we should have a well thought out idea of what we want to do. For now we will share our thoughts through a private blog and keep meeting to share ideas.

I am going to be honest. I am very intimidated and I thought I was the only one, but after talking to others I found out I am not alone. The work I have been creating didn't have any sort of deadline...I could walk away from it for 10 years if I wanted. I am constantly switching from wanting to change some of the issues in the world and wanting to crawl back to my home and pretend I don't care. This is an amazing opportunity to learn about myself and others and I can't back out or I will only feel regret.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day!

Potluck: Chicago Day 2

Today we started out at the workshop. Yesterday we had each answered the question "If there were one wish about the City you'd want to see realized, what would it be?" Everyone, including myself gave vague answers like equality (an abstract word). When I wrote my answer I felt like it was pointless because my wish was unachievable. Today we talked about our vague answers and realized we shouldn't try to fix the whole problem but work small and change slowly. If we give ourselves such a huge task we won't be able to achieve it. We shouldn't work towards a conclusion but just see where each effort takes us and be a living example.

Also, we spoke about working with a community. Instead of working to fix something you think a community wants...ask them! Who am I to say what someone else needs without really talking to that person. I am thinking of ways I can make my artwork more about what a community thinks about food and not all about what I think.

Then we were asked to go out on the street and interview people we would normally never talk to and ask them these four questions and to elaborate...

-What do you think you give to the City?

-What do you think the City gives back to you?

-What are the areas where the City fails you?

-If there were one wish about the City you'd want to see realized, what would it be?

I was afraid but I was determined to do this not just because I was asked to but because I wanted to connect with these people I normally wouldn't and I wanted to hear their thoughts. But once I got outside I froze. After 10 minutes of considering interviewing multiple people I finally got the guts to approach a person. This person gave me a nasty look and turned me down. I tried not to be the ultra sensitive person that I am and 15 minutes later approached another person. This person gave me a dirty look and shook her head. My last try was the worst of them all...he told me NO! I felt awful, it hurt too much and I could not continue. I went back to Columbia, upset, and told them I could not do this.

By talking to Tim, Amy, and Ali I came to realize a lot of things about myself.

The people I am afraid to talk to are people that look unhappy. Also, the people I was afraid to approach were people I assumed were uninterested in speaking to me and I thought made assumptions about me. I had never fully realized this before. It was interesting to see the assumptions we make each day. It also taught me that speaking to others is not one of my strengths and that it is ok, I just need to find a different way.

Later this evening we had a Stone Soup at the Conaway Center. People brought in veggies and the Hull House prepared the soup along with some of the residents chopping at the veggies.

This is my organic sunchoke being chopped!

The chefs!

The bread! So yummy and beautiful!

There were people tweeting (I'm very unfamiliar with tweeting!) when people came in saying where the people were from and what they brought. At the very bottom is my sister. They also tweeted our photos.

Here is a link, my sister Katie and Mr. Jacob Martin are in there as well.

Motiroti introduced their art to the attendees and then we ate the soup and bread!

Potluck: Chicago, Day 1

Today was the beginning of Potluck: Chicago. If you aren't sure what this is here is a link where I explained it in a past post.

We started the day out at the Hull-House Museum where Critical Encounter residents, Motiroti, the members of the departments of Asian studies, African American studies, and Latin American and Latino studies (at UIC), and immigrant activists gathered to enjoy a breakfast provided by The Hull-House Museum. There were a mix of many foods like empanadas, apricot preserves, cornbread, marinated tofu, honey butter, tarts...some were old recipes that the Hull-House used to serve in the Dining Hall.

The Hull-House was "a place where immigrants of diverse communities gathered to learn, eat, debate and acquire tools necessary to put down roots in their new country." It was started with Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Gates in 1889 in Chicago's West side. Jane Addams believed that nutrition and food security would lead to more peaceful communities. There were 13 buildings with a public kitchen, baths, playground, and many activities such as sewing, cooking, kindergarden and day care facilities for working mothers, an art gallery, libraries, English and citizenship classes, theater, music, and art classes. Jane Addams was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

It was amazing to come together in the Dining Hall just as so many others had done in the past.

This was one table of food at the breakfast, there was one more!

My plate of goodies. Amazing cornbread, a potato and grain bread that they use to make at the Hull House along with apricot preserves (oddly enough my favorite thing on my plate!), marinated tofu, and I tried the honey butter. They had whipped honey and butter together...what an amazing combo! I'm excited to try it with my vegan butter.

After eating, the Critical Encounters group was given handheld video camera things I had never seen before and we were asked to video people answering these four questions.

-What do you think you give to the City?

-What do you think the City gives back to you?

-What are the areas where the City fails you?

-If there were one wish about the City you'd want to see realized, what would it be?

So many people said the city gives them a beautiful diversity where they can learn from so many different cultures. Many said Chicago fails them by not giving equal opportunities to all areas of Chicago.

It was a beautiful breakfast with so many different voices. I have never been a part of something so huge, I could feel the amazing energy and joy in the room!

After that we went back to Columbia College for a Workshop where we did exercises to learn about one another and what we could bring to Potluck: Chicago. One of the exercises consisted of going around the room talking to each person for a few minutes trying to learn something about one another, once we figured out a skill of the person we were speaking to we would put a post it with that skill on the person. In the end, we all had about 15-25 post-its on us. We then put the post-its with the skills we could use for Potluck: Chicago in a drawn circle.

Another exercise was to work with someone we had not really gotten to know yet and make a life line with the positives times above the line and the negative times below the line. We would then share our life with our partner and they would present it to the group. It was a very healing exercise for me where I was able to realize the struggles throughout my life and how I am finally at a really great place in my life. It also made us see that we all have had equal amounts of struggles and joys and we should never assume someone has had it better or worse. Ali (from Motiroti) had said that when he did this the first time he was worried the person telling his story would get parts wrong but then he realized "does it matter if they got it right or not?" We are here in result of our past and it has made us who we are. The past is not something to hold onto so strongly.

Our last exercise was to write down our wish for Chicago on a piece of paper then we folded the paper into a boat and dropped it onto the lake.

Tomorrow we will meet again for a workshop and then at 6pm to 9pm we will have a stone soup and I really hope you will come. It is at Columbia College Chicago at 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center. You are welcomed to bring something to contribute to the vegan based soup!

o! and here is proof of a bit of my volunteer work at the Glenwood Winter Sunday Market...I realize I didn't write "winter"...hmmm, well I know I did on the other signs! I helped unload the trucks with the vendors tables and foods, then greeted everyone at the door and informed them about the upcoming fundraiser for the market. Then I helped get everyones things back in the truck when it was all done. A really great day. I bought some local maple syrup that is really amazing. And I was accepted for the winter craft fair alongside the market on December 11. I can't wait!

Potluck: Chicago

I want to talk about the Critical Encounters: Rights, Radical, and Revolutions Artist Residency I am participating in from November 15th to the 18th.

It started with Columbia College inviting Motiroti to be their artist in residence for Critical Encounters. "Motiroti is an award-winning arts organization based in London UK. Its content is migration; its form is art. It works across artforms and boundaries, online and in live places, putting participation at the heart of its practice" They created Potluck: Chicago. Chicago is very diverse yet very segregated and the idea is that food can bring people together.

Myself and 21 others (very passionate people!) filled out an application to be a part of Potluck: Chicago by answering questions about our community. Here is a link to a video where I was asked a few of the questions asked in the application. I was a bit nervous as you can tell.

After I spend each day with Critical Encounters I will blog about what we did that day. Here is a rundown of what we will be doing each day and I would really love if you would participate with us on Wednesday, November 16th for a stone soup!

We will be visiting the Jane Addams Hull House Museum on November 15th and meet with "members of the Department of African American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latin America Latino Studies at UIC and immigration activist from around the city will join us."

On Wednesday, November 16th, 6-9pm, we will have a Stone soup at Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center Chicago, IL 60605 where everyone is welcome to come and bring a vegetable for the soup or something else like a memory, friend, music...and when you come in we will text it across a screen to let everyone know you are here and what you have brought. I thought this was a really wonderful idea because so often I go to events or parties and feel that I am not welcomed but this way everyone will know they are important. The soup will be vegan based so no worries if you are vegan.

Thursday we will visit En Las Tablas Performing Arts "a community dedicated to the exploration of dance and Latino heritage."

And Friday, November 18th we will visit Dorchester Project and meet Theaster Gates.

I am so excited to be a part of this. I would like to bring what I learn from this into my art. My artwork is about food and the many issues involved with food production...but I have hardly touched the human aspect of food and how it can bring us together. I have wondered about making artwork that involves participation from others and this a great start to see what Motiroti does and learn from Potluck: Chicago.

I can't wait to be a part of this and share my experience.