Bughouse Square Debates: Saturday, July 25, 2009

Memorial Tribute text from Saturday, July 25

2009-07-28T13:07:00.001-05:00

The four people we remember today, Studs Terkel, Leon Despres, Judith Krug, and Franklin Rosemont, shared a bold commitment to free speech. And all of them stood up for free speech in this park, Bughouse Square.

Studs Terkel was a Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, radio broadcast personality, listener, and activist. But he was also a soapbox speaker. Studs Terkel was one of the lively, free-spirited people who energized Washington Square Park and made it Bughouse Square. He spoke on the soapboxes before many of us here today were born, and, in the 1980s, he helped revive Bughouse Square as an annual event with the Newberry Library.

Leon Despres, Chicago Alderman and activist, and outspoken critic of Mayor Richard J. Daley, embodied free speech. While serving as Alderman for the 5th Ward from 1955 until 1975, Despres opposed Daley and often found himself the lone dissenting vote on the Chicago City Council. He fought against the Daley patronage machine, and for civil rights and open housing. And like other politically active and civic-minded Chicagoans, Despres was a soapboxer at Bughouse Square.

Judith Krug, librarian and advocate for First Amendment rights, founded the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week and led the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom for more than 40 years. She led legal challenges to laws that attempted to censor books and people’s access to books, many of which were argued all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In 2004 she held the ALA’s Banned Books Week kickoff event in Bughouse Square.

Franklin Rosemont, surrealist poet and labor historian, contributed to Chicago’s long history of leftist activism. He sustained the radical Chicago publishing house Charles H. Kerr, helped revive Bughouse Square in the 1990s, and researched and wrote on the history of Chicago’s labor movement, including the history of Bughouse Square. His writing emphasized the countercultural and artistic influence of the labor movement.

Today, we honor their memories with a moment of silence.

And we keep their spirits alive by speaking out!

Soapbox Winner

2009-07-28T13:04:00.003-05:00

Lina Thorne and Mars Caulton, “Abortion on Demand and Without Apology” were this year's Soapbox Debate winners. Chosen by the judges, Dave Anderson, McCormick Foundation, Madeline Nusser, TimeOut Chicago, and Suzanne Niemoth, Flavorpill Chicago, the winners received a $25 gift certificate to Manny's restaurant.
Jorge Mujica, “Enhance Immigrants’ Rights”, came in second.

List of Soapbox Debaters

2009-07-09T10:57:00.005-05:00

This year's soapbox debate topics include:

Soapbox Speeches
Soapbox speeches run no longer than fifteen minutes; all three soapboxes run simultaneously.

Soapbox 1
2:30 pm Jorge Mujica, “Enhance Immigrants’ Rights”

2:45 pm Nora Rowley, "The Use of Religion as a Weapon in Burma/Myanmar"

3:00 pm Haroon Rashid, “Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable: Chicago’s Most Underappreciated Historic Figure”

3:15 pm The Parking Ticket Geek, “Chicago’s Parking Debacle”

Soapbox 2
2:30 pm Rob Sherman, “Stop Unconstitutional Donations of Your Tax Dollars to Houses of Worship”

2:45 pm Erwin Lutzer, “The Resurrection of Jesus: Why All Historians Should Agree He Rose From the Dead”

3:00 pm Tom Tresser, "Chicago 2016 Olympics - Biggest Disaster since to Hit Chicago Since the Great Fire!"

3:15 pm Stephanie Velasco, “No One Should Be Caged: Amnesty International USA's Campaign for Immigrant Rights”

Soapbox 3
2:30 pm Herbert Caplan, “Artificial Turf is Poison: Chicago's Park District Is Responsible, The Victim Is You"

2:45 pm Michael Mackaplow, “A Politically Incorrect Recipe for a Fair and Prosperous Society”

3:00 pm Lina Thorne and Mars Caulton, “Abortion on Demand and Without Apology”

3:15 pm Raven Tillman, “Speech is Change”

Schedule of Events for Saturday, July 25

2009-07-01T09:16:00.001-05:00

9 am – Complimentary yoga presented in Washington Square Park by lululemon athletica

10 am – Book Fair opens

10:30 am –Complimentary kids’ yoga presented in Washington Square Park by Get Healthy Chicago

12 pm - Meet the Author: Alex Kotlowitz (book signing)

12:50 pm – Live Music by Black Bear Combo

1 pm – Rick Kogan Welcome

1:15 pm – Presentation of the Altgeld award to Barb Thill

1:35 pm – Main debate (Lincoln vs. Douglas)

2:15 pm –Memorial tributes to Studs Terkel, Leon Despres, Franklin Rosemont and Judith Krug.

2:30 pm – Soapbox Debates

3:45 pm – Dil Pickle award presented

6 pm – Book Fair closes for the day

Bughouse 2009

2009-06-30T11:08:00.000-05:00

Exercise your First Amendment rights and relive the exciting public debates that immortalized Washington Square Park. Join the Freedom Museum, the Newberry Library, and the Poetry Foundation, for music and lively debates on current issues, and engage in some good-natured heckling with the crowd. This year, relive the Lincoln-Douglas debates in honor of the Lincoln Bicentennial, and get your photo taken with Lincoln and Douglas. Author Alex Kotlowitz will sign his books before the debates, from 12-1pm, and Rick Kogan will MC this exciting day of activities and speakers.

Make a day of it for your family at the park! Before the debates, Get Healthy Chicago's Chris Nassivera will be teaching a complimentary Kid's Yoga class outside the Newberry Library from 10:30-11:30am on Saturday, July 25th. An adult yoga class will be held at 9 am.

Rick Kogan MC

2009-06-29T14:54:00.001-05:00

Rick Kogan, author, Chicago Tribune columnist and radio personality, is this year's MC.

2009

2009-04-23T14:31:00.001-05:00

Planning for the 2009 Festival is underway. Stay tuned for more details.

Bughouse Media Coverage

2008-08-06T15:28:00.003-05:00

Relive the day by listening to Chicago Amplified's recording of the Bughouse Square Debates. Go to http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=27206.

The Wall Street Journal's online story of the event is also available. Go to www.wsj.com, scroll down and click on "see all video offerings" in the Video Center Section. Choose "Chicagoans Get on Their Soapbox".

Bughouse Schedule Updates

2008-07-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

Scott Speegle, Operations Director of Illinois, Obama Campaign, will be speaking opposite Pat Brady or Julie Brady for the McCain Campaign at 1:00 pm on Saturday, July 26.

The Dil Pickle Club

2008-07-21T21:43:00.002-05:00

THE DIL PICKLE CLUB TO BE REVIVED AT THE ZEBRA LOUGE

Radical "Chicago Renaissance" nightspot will be resurrected by editors of Lumpen and Stop Smiling, following the Newberry Library's Bughouse Square Debates in Washington Square Park.

Chicago—The Dil Pickle Club is scheduled to resume activities on Saturday, July 26, 2008, at the Zebra Lounge in the heart of Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. Editors from Lumpen and Stop Smiling magazines have programmed a night in tribute to the historic and Dil Pickle Club (Dil with one L!) featuring "short speaking" about the history of "hobohemia" and topics of controversy, new writing, piano cabaret, and performance art.

What:
The Dil Pickle Club

Where:
The Zebra Lounge
1220 N. State Pkwy
Chicago
[Clark/Division Redline or several CTA Bus Routes]

When:
Saturday, July 26, 5 PM to 8 PM

Features:
Free Admission, Live Music by Tom King Clear, Short Speaking by Gale Aherns, New Writing by Michael Marcinkowski, Picture Show by Robin Hustle, Performance Art by Matthew Nicholas and Eric Warner, and Surprises.

Created by local artists, musicians, writers, and organizers, the Dil Pickle Club invites interested parties to mingle and participate in a series of art parties without boundaries. The first happening will occur after the Newberry Library's Bughouse Square Debates in Washington Square Park, down the street at the legendary Zebra Lounge piano bar.

Admission is free. For more information e-mail dilpickleclub@gmail.com.

***

About the Dil Pickle Club
Founded in 1914 by former Wobbly Jack Jones, Jim Larkin, and the cadre of Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) and the Charles H. Kerr Company—and made famous by "clap doctor" Ben Reitman—the Dil Pickle Club became known as the controversial center of the "Chicago Renaissance." Writers Sherwood Anderson, Carl Sandburg, Djuna Barnes, William Carlos Williams, Vachel Lindsay, and Kenneth Rexroth, mingled with radicals, unemployed workers, prostitutes, gangsters, and slumming Gold Coast socialites at the famed "Pickle." The irreverent spirit of the Dil Pickle Club was illustrated by the motto emblazoned on the club's door: "Step High, Stoop Low, Leave Your Dignity Outside."

Although its original location (reached by squeezing "Thru the Hole in the Wall Down Tooker Alley, to the Green Lite Over the Orange Door") is long gone, the new Dil Pickle Club will meet three times yearly, in July, November, and March, featuring works by Chicago artists and their international cohorts.

About Lumpen
Lumpen is a family arts, politics, and culture magazine based out of Chicago. Visit lumpen.com

About Stop Smiling
Stop Smiling is the magazine for high-minded lowlifes, a bimonthly arts & culture publication based in Chicago and New York City. Visit stopsmilingonline.com

Two New Soapbox Debaters

2008-07-21T15:51:00.001-05:00

We just confirmed two new Soapbox speakers today:

Enrique Perez, The Arrogance of Power: Why the Local Stuff is Also Important. Enrique Perez is an active member of his neighborhood, South Loop. In addition to publishing the weekly "Enrique's Community Updates," he is on the board of the Dearborn Park Advisory Council.

Herb Caplan, Who Is Stealing Our Parks? Herb Caplan was a long-time trial attorney for the City of Chicago. He is volunteer counsel for Protect Our Parks (www.protectourparks.org ). He will be talking about Protect Our Parks' efforts to stop the Park District from turning public lands over to private interests. Specifically, he will describe their recent lawsuit against the Park District and the Latin School for building an artificial turf soccer field in Lincoln Park.

2008 Schedule of Events!

2008-06-23T10:30:00.009-05:00

Noon – Official welcome

12:15 - Presentation of the Altgeld Award to Dawn Sherman, a student from Buffalo Grove High School who spoke out against a mandatory Moment of Silence

12:35 - Main Debate with Representative John A. Fritchey vs. Joseph Morris

1:05 - Putting the main debate in context with speakers from the Obama and McCain campaigns!

1:45 - Soapbox speakers take the stage! The following speakers have been confirmed:

Keith Bolin, from the American Corn Growers
Allison Carter, from the ACLU-Illinois; speaking on US Torture Policy
Nick Kreitman, Elmhurst College Students for a Democratic Society
Jing Luo, from the American Medical Students Association; speaking on Health Care Reform
Erwin Lutzer, from the Moody Church; speaking on “Why God is Not More Tolerant Than He Used To Be”
Michael Mackaplow; speaking on social fairness and political correctness
Joseph Paschen, writer and bartender; speaking against Chicago's anti-smoking ban
Paige Philips, bi-sexual activist; reading from The Grapes of Wrath
Rob Sherman; Why the Proposed Million Dollar State Grant to Pilgrim Baptist Church is Unconstitutional
Don Transue, architect of gunmap.org; speaking on expanded gun rights
Kelly Underman, from the University of Illinois in Chicago; speaking on “Your Life Doesn’t Wait: Why Abstinence Only is Failing This Generation"

3:15 - Poetry reading sponsored by the Poetry Foundation: "Let America Be America" by Langston Hughes

3:30 - Dill Pickle Award presented

3:40 - Open Mic

"America the Wright Way" Announcement

2008-03-01T17:59:00.002-06:00

The broadcast of "America the Wright Way" (formerly "Wright Across America") which includes a feature at last year's Bughouse Square Debates will air on March 24, 2008 at 7pm on the Travel Channel.

Tune in and relive the day!

2008 Bughouse Square Debates!

2008-02-21T16:42:00.001-06:00

Although not many other details have been finalized, we do know the date of the next Bughouse Square Debates: Saturday, July 26, 2008! As in the past, the Debates will have music and vendors along with the beloved soapboxers, and the event will be simultaneous with the Newberry Library Book Fair, so save the date and plan to spend the day in and around Washington Square Park!

(Are you interested in participating as a soapboxer? Write an email to programs@newberry.org and tell us why!)

“WRIGHT ACROSS AMERICA” With Ian Wright at Bughouse this year!

2007-07-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

Breaking News!

Ian Wright, a popular face of travel familiar to millions all over the world, will be a soapboxer at this year's Bughouse Square Debates! He is in Chicago this weekend filming a new series - “WRIGHT ACROSS AMERICA” - wherein our hero will take a unique look at the USA and its most popular tourist destinations. His current series, Discovery Network’s “Globe Trekker” regularly achieves 30 million viewers worldwide.

From the Music City to the Big Easy and Vegas to L.A. Ian’s no-nonsense style will offer a refreshing look at America and its home-grown tourism industry. In each film Ian will try to get to the heart of each city. He will meet people who will help understand each city’s unique character. The series will be broadcast, across the world on the Discovery beginning in the fall of 2007. Discovery has commissioned a series of six one-hour shows to be filmed across the USA over the next 35 weeks.

So, join us on Saturday at 1:30 pm to hear what Ian has to say and watch the cameras roll!

Bughouse Schedule is up!

2007-07-23T13:11:00.000-05:00

TAKE IT TO THE PARK!
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
BUGHOUSE SQUARE DEBATES
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MCCORMICK TRIBUNE FREEDOM MUSEUM AND THE POETRY FOUNDATION

SATURDAY
JULY 28, 2007, NOON TO 4:00 PM

Noon: Black Bear Combo Marching Band

Walt Whitman “I Sing the Body Electric” performed by
three outstanding Chicago area participants in “Poetry Out Loud,”
The Poetry Foundation’s National Poetry Recitation Contest for High School Students.

OPENING REMARKS
12:45 PM
Cindy Mitchell, Mayor of Bughouse Square

JOHN PETER ALTGELD AWARD PRESENTATION
TO JORGE MÚJICA, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ACTIVIST
1:00 pm

SOAPBOX SESSIONS
1:30 PM
Each Soap box orator gets about fifteen minutes. All three soapboxes run simultaneously.

Soap Box 1
Speaker 1 - Erwin Lutzer, Jesus in the Spin Zone: Why the Early Church Got It Right

Speaker 2 - Gale Ahrens, In the Spirit of Surrealism, Overthrow Everything!

Speaker 3 – Keith Bolin, How Far from Farm to Fork? Local Food Systems and Your Health

Soap Box 2

Speaker 1 – Bob Matter, Car-sicko: A Prescription for Socialized Transportation

Speaker 2 – KittenINFINITE, Don’t Legalize Prostitution. Decriminalize It.

Speaker 3 – Edwin Yohnka, Why Defend the Offensive?: The Importance of Free Speech

Soap Box 3

Speaker 1 – Michael Silverstein – Electoral Justice for The Supremes!

Speaker 2 – Steve Dale, Do Dogs Belong in Café Society?

Speaker 3 – Rebecca Steinmetz, Why Your Neighborhood Needs a Sex Shop

MAIN DEBATE: Voter Slam
3:00 pm

Immigration Reform: Build a wall, offer amnesty or do nothing?
Staged by the Bread and Butter Forum and Second City
Co-hosted by BBF founder Marj Halperin and Second City regular Jordan Klepper.

The Voter Slam format invites people to answer the question in 90 seconds. Speakers are invited to consider immigration reform in the context of economic security for working Americans.

To participate in or attend future Voter Slams, e-mail voterslam@aol.com. For more information on BBF, visit http://www.breadandbutterforum.org/.

Newberry Library Bughouse Square Debates Honors Activist Jorge Mújica

2007-07-18T09:46:00.000-05:00

The Newberry Library’s Bughouse Square Committee is proud to present the 2007 Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award to Jorge Mújica in recognition of his role in the struggle for the human and civil rights of non-citizens and for fair and just immigration reform.

Each year the award goes to a courageous defender of free speech and ideas. The Award is named for the former Illinois Governor (1892-96) who sacrificed his political career by pardoning Haymarket anarchists who had been condemned in 1887 for their words rather than their deeds.

Read the entire press release on the Newberry's Web site. Join us for the award ceremony on Saturday, July 28.

2007-07-14T19:19:00.000-05:00

The Bughouse Square Debates is public domain. You can come and scream your head off if you want (see the following post for details). This year things will begin with three Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Finalists reciting from memory “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman. The poem was part of his lifework Leaves of Grass, once in Boston deemed obscene literature and pressured for censorship. But Whitman being Whitman refused to think of it under any circumstance. And the rest of course is history. Now the poem is by law in the public domain and free at a click. How would Whitman have loved the Internet?

What I can answer is that the poem is the first I loved, as a circulation assistant (page, as we were called and called pulling books from the closed, cold stacks) in the General Reading Room of the Newberry Library. We called ourselves Space Monkeys. This is where I had my best education, serving book after book alongside a team of the best finger-licking good friends I could hope for. While the genealogists dug in lineage, we tapped another in the mine of the library. And in afternoons in Washington Square Park. And hours after hours in the Zebra Lounge down the street. And still sometimes as old friends.

So this is my electric invitation to my old colleagues from the GRR. To my fellow Space Monkeys. I hope somehow they find themselves through this blog and join us for this year’s Bughouse Square Debates. This means you: Julie Lynch, Elizabeth Aubrey, Prentiss Kwabena Slaughter, Seth Ford, Lisa Adrienne Horrigan, Jenny Beinke, Heather Smedberg, Rosie Chase, Janice Dillard, Laura Carroll, Darran White, Lisa Baldassari, Cindy Romanowski, Maria Villanueva, Carly Corder, Sean Jones, Susan Kunkle, Amber Cooper, Sean Raleigh, Kate Henningsen, Jeff Guntzel, Josh Leopold, Adrian Lucia, Alicia Duell, Diana Sudyka, Lisa Schoblasky, Analia Rodriguez.

Sometimes someone else said it best:

I have perceiv’d that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.

—From "I Sing the Body Electric," by Walt Whitman

Be a Soapboxer!

2007-07-02T13:46:00.000-05:00

Rachel Bohlmann, director of public programs at the Newberry, announced on the John Williams' Show how you can get involved in this year's Bughouse Square Debates.

Interested soapboxers can call 312 255 3834 to leave a 30-second Soapbox Audition. Please remember to leave your name and phone number.

Also, don't forget you can get involved with the Voter Slam's main debate on immigration. Details in the previous post.

Voter Slam Set for July 28th

2007-06-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

First Outdoor Slam Tackles Immigration at the Bughouse Square Debates!

The Newberry Library has invited the Bread and Butter Forum to stage a voter slam during its annual Bughouse Square event at Washington Park (Clark and Walton) on Saturday, July 28. The voter slam starts at 3 p.m. and will run for approximately one hour.

Our question is this:

Immigration reform: build a wall, offer amnesty or do nothing? How can immigration reform promote economic security for working Americans?

Surveys show that a majority of Americans favor a legal path to citizenship for American’s 12 million illegal immigrants. Most economists say that immigrant labor is needed for certain industries, like agriculture and food service, but they acknowledge that immigrant labor forces down wages for working Americans.

Voter Slam Format
If you’re new to the voter slam format, here's how it works. It's not unlike a poetry slam but the topic is politics and your answers don't have to rhyme. We pick a topic and recruit one expert to spend 5 minutes at the beginning framing the issue. We recruit 10 to 15 “slammers” of varying viewpoints to speak for 90 seconds or less. Off-topic responses may be cut short.

If you want to participate, please send an e-mail to pubprog@newberry.org with your name, contact info and position on immigration.

Ernest Hemingway, Also Banned

2007-06-19T13:22:00.000-05:00

Poems from another frequently banned author: Oak Park's own Mr. Ernest Hemingway:

Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899-1961)
The Age Demanded

The age demanded that we sing
And cut away our tongue.

The age demanded that we flow
And hammered in the bung.

The age demanded that we dance
And jammed us into iron pants.

And in the end the age was handed
The sort of shit that it demanded.

Notes
1] Gerogiannis notes that "The title and the rhythm are borrowed from the second part of Ezra Pound's `Hugh Selwyn Mauberly'" (139).

Poems: D. H. Lawrence

2007-06-10T18:33:00.000-05:00

In keeping with the recent post about the American Library Association's "Banned Books Week" I'll be posting some poems by authors whose work has been frequently banned. First up, D.H. Lawrence.

David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930)

"Stand Up!"

Stand up, but not for Jesus!
It's a little late for that.
Stand up for justice and a jolly life.
I'll hold your hat.

Stand up, stand up for justice,
ye swindled little blokes!
Stand up and do some punching,
give 'em a few hard pokes.

Stand up for jolly justice
you haven't got much to lose:
a job you don't like and a scanty chance
for a dreary little booze.

Stand up for something different,
and have a little fun
fighting for something worth fighting for
before you've done.

Stand up for a new arrangement
for a chance of life all round,
for freedom, and the fun of living
bust in, and hold the ground!

"Relativity"

I like relativity and quantum theories
because I don't understand them
and they make me feel as if space shifted about like a swan that can't settle,
refusing to sit still and be measured;
and as if the atom were an impulsive thing
always changing its mind.

Banned Books Week Event on Sept. 29

2007-06-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

A little far in advance - but put it on the calendar for a post-Bughouse Square event.

Celebrate your freedom to read during the 26th annual celebration of Banned Books Week. Join the American Library Association, McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, and the Newberry Library for a Banned Books Week Read-Out on Saturday, September 29 in Pioneer Plaza—at Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River. From 1:00 pm–4:00 pm join highly acclaimed authors Chris Crutcher, Carolyn Mackler, and Robie Harris and local Chicago celebrities as they read passages from their favorite banned and “challenged” books. For more information, visit the ALA's Web site at www.ala.org/bbwreadout.

Black Bear Combo: This Year's Bughouse Band

2007-05-31T16:32:00.000-05:00

We are happy to report that the Black Bear Combo will provide the soundtrack to this year's Bughouse Square Debates. Their website is here:

http://www.blackbearcombo.com/

This renegade marching band from Chicago will open up the festivities on Saturday, July 28, 2007, at 12:00 PM. Live drums, a tuba...what more could you ask for?

John Williams, Bughouse Square Judge

2007-05-30T10:11:00.001-05:00

John Williams, WGN-AM's afternoon host, will reprise his role as a Soapbox Debate Judge this year at the 2007 Bughouse Square Debates. He, and two other judges, choose the winner of the Dill Pickle Award, and present the coveted larger-than-life Dill Pickle statue.

On his program, John discusses the news of the day, sports, television programs, movies, books, and, on occasion, he will take calls from “Thomas Jefferson” and a cast of other historical characters.

New Partners for 2007 Bughouse Square Debates

2007-04-27T17:07:00.001-05:00

The Newberry Library is pleased to announce a partnership with the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum and the Poetry Foundation for this year's Bughouse Square Debates. Planning is underway. If you are interested in participating, contact the Newberry's Public Programs Office at (312) 255-3700.

Bughouse 2007 - Get Involved

2007-02-15T17:02:00.000-06:00

2007 Date Announced!

Bughouse Square Debates

Saturday, July 28, 2007, from 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Held in Washington Square Park across the street from the Newberry Library

Bring your loudest heckling voice for an afternoon of soapbox oratory, Bughouse music, and poetry. Prizes will be awarded to the best speakers and hecklers. Exercise your first-amendment rights and relive the exciting public debates that immortalized Washington Square Park. Enjoy music and historical reenactments. Afterwards, voice your opinions on today's issues in our open-mic segment.

Admission is free to both events. For information, or to get involved, call (312) 255-3700.

Winner of the Dil Pickle Award 2006

2006-07-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

Michael Tsonton, Chefs for Choice, wowed the judges at this year's Bughouse 2006 and walked away with the coveted Dil Pickle Award, a larger-than-life Dill Pickle. Tsonton is the Executive Chef of Copperblue restaurant and is co-founder of Chefs for Choice, a chapter of the Illinois Restaurant Association. For Chefs for Choice, foie gras is a consumer choice not a matter for legislation.

Rachel Goodstein, Meigs Action Coalition, was the runner-up with her talk titled "Planes and Parks - Bring Back Meigs Field."

Thank you to our judges - David Anderson, McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum; Ruth Lopez, TimeOut Chicago; and John Williams, WGN Radio 720.

Also, thank you to all our soapbox debaters! We look forward to a fun 2007. If you would like to get involved in planning Bughouse 2007, please contact Mary Janzen, manager of public programming at the Newberry Library, at (312) 255-3700 or pubprog@newberry.org.

Bughouse Square 2006 - Schedule of Events

2006-07-30T12:37:00.000-05:00

TAKE IT TO THE PARK!
The Newberry Library
Bughouse Square Debates

Saturday, July 29, 2006
11:00 am to 6:00 pm

Pat Butler, Reporter for Pioneer Press
Master of Ceremonies

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors: MacClean-Fogg Company, Hallett Movers,
OneSource Building Services, Inc., The Mayor’s Office of Special Events*, and TimeOut Chicago

* Chicago Transit Authority, WBBM Newsradio 780, and NBC5.com sponsor Neighborhood Fests 2006

OPENING ENTERTAINMENT

11:30 am

Folk, labor, and protest music performed by singers Bucky Halker and Jimmy Tomasello

Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” performed by Devin Kenny, Ariela Rotenberg, Deja Taylor, and Bueana Cox, Chicago finalists in the Poetry Foundation’s National Poetry Recitation Contest for High School Students

OPENING REMARKS

12:45 pm

Cindy Mitchell, Mayor of Bughouse Square

JOHN PETER ALTGELD AWARD PRESENTATION
TO THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

1:00 pm

Presented by Geoffrey R. Stone, professor of law at the University of Chicago,
and author of Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime

SOAPBOX SESSIONS

1:30 pm

Each soapbox session lasts about 15 minutes. All three soapboxes run simultaneously.

Soapbox 1

Speaker 1 – Erwin Lutzer, Why the Jesus of the Da Vinci Code is Bogus
Speaker 2 – Michael Burton and Josh Deth, Bring Back the Draught—A Homebrewed Strategy for Restoring America’s Greatness
Speaker 3 – Rob Warden, Rotten Justice—Convicting the Innocent
Speaker 4 – J. Quinn Brisben, Hello Yanqui, Fill Your Tank with CITGO!

Soapbox 2

Speaker 1 – Gale Ahrens, No Human is Illegal! What’s Wrong with Immigration Reform

Speaker 2 – Warren Leming as Clarence Darrow, There is No Justice In or Out of Court

Speaker 3 – Rachel Goodstein, Planes and Parks—Bring Back Meigs Field

Speaker 4 – Quentin Young, Health Care for Every Body

Soapbox 3

Speaker 1 – Michael Tsonton, Quit Telling Us What We Can Cook!

Speaker 2 – Keith Bolin, How Corporate Agriculture Abuses American Farmers and Consumers

Speaker 3 - Alma Washington as Lucy Parsons, The War and the Press

Speaker 4 - Bob Matter, Depave Paradise—The High Cost of Free Parking

SOAPBOX SPEAKER DIL PICKLE AWARD PRESENTATION – 3:00 pm

Judges: David Anderson, Chicago Tribune Freedom Museum; Ruth Lopez, TimeOut Chicago;
and John Williams, WGN Radio 720

MAIN DEBATE

3:30 pm

IS AMERICAN DEMOCRACY EXPORTABLE AS U.S. FOREIGN POLICY?
(CAN IT BE IMPORTED TO COOK COUNTY?)

YES – John Cox
NO – Michael Silverstein

Born on Chicago’s South Side and reared in the south suburbs, John H. Cox has run his own businesses since 1981, including an investment advisory firm, a real estate management company, and a venture capital firm. He led the investment group that purchased Jays Potato Chips. He founded Restore Trust, which fights corruption in government. Active in Republican Party politics for thirty years, he is a Republican candidate for President of the United States in 2008.

Michael Silverstein received his pre-collegiate training in soapbox orator in New York City’s Union square Park—a sister free speech corner to Bughouse Square—before his and its gentrification. He is Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor in Anthropology, Linguistics, and Psychology at the University of Chicago, where he has taught for 25 years. He has been recognized for his excellence in teaching and honored with MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships.

OPEN MIC

4:30 pm – 5:15 pm

CLOSING ENTERTAINMENT

5:15 pm – 6:00 pm

Blues music by Johnnie Mae Dunson and Jimi “Prime Time” Smith

JOHN PETER ALTGELD FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWARD

The John Peter Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award is dedicated to the memory of the former Illinois Governor who pardoned the surviving Haymarket anarchists. The award is presented each year to a person the committee feels has distinguished herself or himself as a defender of free speech and ideas. This year the award goes to an organization rather than an individual.

The American Library Association is an advocate and defender of what James Madison called “public access” to “public information” as the foundation of American liberties and self-governance. On the eve of World War II, the ALA spoke out against attempts to ban John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath from public libraries, and passed the Library Bill of Rights. In 1967, during the Vietnam War, the ALA established the Office of Intellectual Freedom, which has provided practical advice and support to the grass roots for almost 40 years. In the past 5 years, the American Library Association and its Freedom to Read Foundation have led the challenge to a provision of the Patriot Act of 2001 that allows the Justice Department to subpoena library circulation records.

The Newberry Library Bughouse Square Committee’s John Peter Altgeld Award for courageous advocacy of freedom of speech is presented to the American Library Association for its principled defense over many years of the freedom to read, think, write, and speak.

SOAPBOX SPEAKERS

Gale Ahrens, No Human is Illegal
Gale Ahrens has been active in the Chicago Surrealist Movement for more than seven years. She learned about surrealism right here in Bughouse Square, and joined the movement to seek a world worth living in by subverting misery with art and poetry. A prison and punishment abolitionist, she lives in Chicago and speaks frequently here and in other cities and has appeared on radio and television.

Keith Bolin, How Corporate Agriculture Abuses American Farmers and Consumers
Keith Bolin and his family raise hogs, cows, corn, oats, and alfalfa on the family farm near Manilus, Illinois where he grew up. As President of the American Corn Growers Association, he is a leader in the fight to save the family farm from a predatory marketplace.

J. Quinn Brisben, Hello Yanqui, Fill Your Tank with CITGO!
J. Quinn Brisben taught high school history and social studies in the Chicago Public School system for 30 years before retiring in 1990. He joined the Socialist Party in 1959 and was the Party’s Presidential candidate in 1992. A frequent speaker at the College of Complexes, he has actively participated in civil rights, anti-war, labor, and disability rights struggles for more than 40 years. He has traveled widely in South America.

Michael Burton and Josh Deth, Bring Back the Draught
Michael Burton has spoken frequently at Bughouse Square for Chicago Critical Mass. Today he appears with Josh Deth on behalf of the Logan Square Draught Beer Preservation Society, which seeks to lure couch potatoes to the local tavern for healthy social interaction and an “honest pour.” Josh Deth is the proprietor of Handelbar Bar & Brill, which caters to cyclists and vegetarians.

Rachel Goodstein, Planes and Parks—Bring Back Meigs Field
On the night of March 30-31, 2003, the City of Chicago bulldozed Meigs Field. Rachel Goodstein (a non-pilot) is the Executive Director and President of the Meigs Action Coalition, a coalition of business and aviation groups founded in 2001, and was President of Friends of Meigs Field, 2002-2004. Both groups seek to restore, preserve, and improve Chicago’s downtown airport, and they have a plan to do it.

Warren Leming (Clarence Darrow), Crime and Religion
Warren Leming has written, directed, choreographed, and staged theater and video for over 25 years. He co-founded the musical group Wilderness Road, the Cold Chicago Company, the original Story Theater Company and the Nelson Algren Committee. His website, DummyDown.com, is devoted to social satire. He is the author of Cold Chicago, a Haymarket Fable (Charles Kerr Publishing).

Erwin Lutzer, Why the Jesus of The Da Vinci Code is Bogus
Senior Pastor of the Moody Church since 1980, Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer is the author of more than 20 books, a celebrated international conference speaker, and a featured speaker on three radio programs. He was born and reared near Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. One of his most recent books is The Da Vinci Deception.

Bob Matter, Depave Paradise—the High Cost of Free Parking
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” sang Joni Mitchell. Bob Matter of the Campaign for a Free and Clear Lakefront will talk about what “free parking” actually costs. He is a cycling, walking, and public transit activist. He is founder of the Chicagoland Folding Bike Society, former chair of Chicago Bike Winter, and member of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, Break the Gridlock, and Calumet Citizens for Connecting Communities.

Michael Tsonton, Quit Telling Us What We Can Cook!
Michael Tsonton, Executive Chef of Copperblue Restaurant, is co-founder of Chicago Chefs for Choice, a chapter of the Illinois Restaurant Association. Chicago is the first American city to ban the sale of foie gras, a delicacy made from the livers of overfed ducks and geese. For Chefs for Choice, foie gras is a consumer choice not a matter for legislation. What’s the next food the City Council will ban?

Quentin Young, Free Health Care for Every Body
In 1980, Dr. Quentin Young founded the Chicago-based Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and is national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. Since 1953, he has been attending physician at Michael Reese Hospital. Since 1987, he has been clinical professor of preventive medicine at the University of Illinois Medical Center. His is a tireless advocate for health care reform.

Rob Warden, Rotten Justice—Convicting the Innocent
Rob Warden is the executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern University school of Law. He is an award winning legal affairs journalist, who was an investigative reporter, foreign correspondent and editor at the Chicago Daily News. In 1978, he founded Chicago Lawyer and in the 1980s exposed many wrongful convictions in Illinois. Among his many publications are two books about wrongful convictions that he co-authored with David Protess, Gone in the Night and A Promise of Justice.

Alma Washington (Lucy Parsons), The War and the PressActress Alma Washington is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. After receiving a theater degree from Chicago's Roosevelt University in 1973, Washington auditioned for the role of Lucy Parsons in a play about the Haymarket Trial. Ever since she has kept alive of legacy of the militant anarchist, with performances at the Chicago Historical Society, the Praireland Chautauqua in Jacksonville, Illinois, and at the Newberry Library’s Bughouse Square.

PERFORMERS

Folksinger Jimmy Tomasello teaches guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He has been “hanging out” at the Old Town School since May of 1973, when as a senior at Francis Parker School and self-described “star-struck kid,” he volunteered to work at the Old Town School. Bucky Halker is a labor protest singer and songwriter who grew up in Ashland, Wisconsin. He recorded his first album in 1984, and has since produced a half dozen CDs, and toured in Europe as well as in the US. He earned a Ph.D. in American history at the University of Minnesota, and is now completing a research project on Illinois’s labor song heritage.

For the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Allen Ginsberg's landmark poem, "Howl,” which was seized by US Customs for “obscenity,” the Poetry Foundation presents a recitation by four standout student participants of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest. Devin Kenny, Ariela Rotenberg, Deja Taylor, and Bueana Cox demonstrate and celebrate our first amendment rights. The national contest is supported by The Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Johnnie Mae Dunson Smith left Alabama in 1943 and came to Chicago where she learned drums from former medicine show dancer Eddie "Porkchop" Hines on Maxwell Street. She became an accompanist and songwriter for Jimmy Reed and recorded a few sides in the 1960's. In 2000, she recorded “Big Boss Lady” with her son, Jimi "Prime Time" Smith, and old Maxwell Street friends including Jimmie Lee Robinson and Frank Scott.