Oh my god, this is unbelievable! Honestly, I never expected this. Oh, and I have nothing prepared! [Surreptitiously removes folded piece of paper from jacket pocket.]

Well, first I need to thank Dianne Erpenbach, former director of the Fashion/Retail Management Program, who was an indispensable resource when I transferred to Columbia. She was always accessible and did her best to minimize the loss of three years I spent at an unaccredited institution that shall remain nameless. It was she who first broached the idea that I combine my love of the fashion industry and the written word by declaring an interdisciplinary major, for which I’ll be forever grateful. Janet Talbot, associate director of the Advising Center, got the ball rolling and made the process a smooth one.

Betsy Edgerton, my adviser and director of the Magazine Writing & Editing Program, I cannot thank you enough for your immediate support and belief in my potential. Thank you for pushing me (despite my many protests) to enroll in a summer session of Reporting & Writing II taught by Jeff Lyon, which was perhaps the singular class of my college career. Jeff, you took a terrified, insecure journalism newbie and patiently helped me develop my skills as a reporter. I will never forget the lessons I learned in your class, nor the fact that it was you who suggested I apply to The Chronicle (again, despite my many protests).

To my Chronicle family, both current and those who have moved on to the real world: Matt Watson, thank you for taking me under your wing and answering all of my tedious questions. Amber Meade, I’ll always remember the cursing and laughter we shared at the copy desk, traditional Native American hula hooping included. Heidi Unkefer, from my very first day to my very last, you have been an eternal delight, a wonderful friend and a fantastic designer. Gabby Rosas and Jack Reese, you’ve survived 15 weeks of close, continuous contact with me, and therefore deserve medals, or at least a bottle of vodka. I hope I wasn’t too much of a nightmare. Heather Schröering, you are a gifted editor, and your commitment to excellence will take you far. It has been an honor working with you. Lindsey Woods, I’ve so enjoyed our friendship and discovering our similarities. Sophia Coleman, you, more than anyone, have been my companion and confidant during the last two years. I wish you nothing but success and happiness. Stephanie Goldberg, your humor and guidance were always appreciated. Chris Richert, you are a god among men and deserve a 200 percent raise and an office with a view.

To the many reporters who’ve put up with my exasperated sighs, eye-rolls and f-bombs: You’re all saints for not murdering me in my sleep. But rest assured, every edit I’ve ever made was to help your work shine (and protect us from libel). Remember to always confirm name spellings and stay away from clichéd ledes.

To the entire staff and faculty of the Journalism Department and the 33 E. Congress Parkway Building: Thank you for the memories. I’ve spent more time here in the last three semesters than in my own apartment. Thanks for waiving the security deposit.

Jennifer Halperin, you deserve sainthood. Keep sending those emails. Kristen Menke, thanks for sharing the Kool-Aid and letting me gripe about my copy woes.

Last and most of all, I would never have made it this far without my parents, Gordon and Beverly Dukerschein. Your unwavering support, unceasing love and preternatural patience are the only reasons I’m here today. Thank you for limiting my TV viewing to two hours per week, never letting me play video games, encouraging me to read, forcing me to pick rock in the fields, attending every parent-teacher conference and instilling in me an invaluable work ethic

I’m not talking about zombies of the brain-munching variety but people who have permanently attached themselves to their smartphones. It seems the iPhone and its ilk are the next step in our evolution. They are new appendages that allegedly bring us together but in reality lead to detachment.

Smartphones aren’t entirely to blame for this epidemic. They are merely the conduit. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare and Tumblr all exist to connect us to our fellow man. RSS feeds and Google news alerts ensure we’re up to date on every global event. Google Talk, mobile email and texting mean everyone, everywhere can respond to you at any time. We’re plugged in to the world 24-7, and things just couldn’t
be better.

I have to go on record, though, that none of this appeals to me, and I no longer use any of the social media I just mentioned. I don’t even have a smartphone. Call me old-fashioned, but I have absolutely no desire to be hyper-connected to the world and those in it. I would go so far to argue that one needs to tune out this global chatter in order to appreciate life more.

It disturbs me that so many relationships are now based on text messages and Facebook wall posts, and that people are increasingly interacting with the world through the glow of a touch-sensitive screen. Whatever happened to sitting down with a friend and having a conversation uninterrupted by a vibrating phone? When did it become necessary to share every mundane and profane detail of your life with a global audience? And on a similar note, why the hell should I care that you “checked in” at Dairy Queen?

It seems that the majority of social media and mobile technology exists to combat people’s pathological fear of silence and loneliness. After all, it’s hard to feel lonely walking down the street with earbuds blaring music exclusively for you while tweeting about the latest addition to your Pinterest board. You think you’re the bright, shining center of the universe, but take a step back and look at yourself. You, my friend, are in a self-made bubble. An airplane could be going down right over your head, and you wouldn’t know it.

In “The Tempest,” Shakespeare writes, “Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices that, if I then had waked after long sleep, will make me sleep again.” This quote often comes to mind when I see people completely absorbed in their smartphones, allaying themselves from the specter of silence with the reassuring din of constant digital interaction. Are we, as a society, afraid to sit alone with ourselves and our thoughts? What do we think would happen
if we stepped away from
social media?

I had a Facebook page for a number of years. I was tardy to the party compared to most people my age, and I could never get fully on board with the concept of broadcasting my activities and thoughts. I did my best to be clever for my highly edited list of friends, but my own interest in what I was saying, not to mention the photos of parties I wasn’t invited to, soon dropped.

My Facebook page was officially laid to rest two weeks ago, and there have been a number of benefits. First of all, I have a lot more free time. While I never devoted too much of my day to reading about my ex’s summer vacation or commenting on an Instagram photo of someone’s lunch, it’s amazing how easy it is to get sucked into a Facebook time vortex. Secondly, friends now have to resort to more direct means of communicating with me. I have to say I’m enjoying actually using some of these Verizon “anytime minutes” I’ve been paying for.

I relish the fact that I’m able to come home, leave my bag at the door with my 3-year-old flip phone inside,  sit on my couch and read a magazine—no breaking news alerts, no Twitter feeds to monitor and no Facebook photos to “like.”  You may say this makes me sound like a jaded old man, but I say the world would be better off if everyone tuned out social media rather than the world.

Elspeth and Zachary Harris of Zachary Gunn & The Local Historians

The Chronicle sat down with the interdisciplinary major to discuss his new creative name, the creative process and the direction his music career is headed in.

The Chronicle: Where did your first name, Birds and Kings, originate?

Zach Harris: That’s a funny question because I don’t remember for sure. I remember I have it written down in a notebook from high school, but I have no idea where the two words came from. But it has kind of evolved into a creative identity to work from, with the idea of freedom coming from the birds and authority, or a sort of structure coming from the king, and working from the conflict between the two.

The Chronicle: What prompted you to change the name?

ZH: I guess I’m trying to focus the work and also get a little more collaborative. Initially, the “Zachary Gunn” came from my wife’s middle name, and so that’s kind of a framework to work with her. Then “The Local Historians” is kind of something bigger, and I’ve started doing more exciting stuff with that by working with a couple other musicians to collaborate with and write totally new music that isn’t just my own work.

The Chronicle: What led you to start making albums?

ZH: It’s a creative impulse, I suppose. I guess I’ve always been a mixed media sort of artist, whether in my major or otherwise. There’s something about constructing a song from layered parts that just sort of came naturally. I had always been [a writer], and songwriting became the very focused way to tell a story.

The Chronicle: How would you describe the style of your music?

ZH: Oh boy, oh man, I don’t know. Something involving indie folk with a campfire sort of improvisation.

The Chronicle: Your songs are very lyrically driven. What is your process?

ZH: I’m always writing words down, whether I’m on the train, in class or in church. I’m always doodling ideas for imagery. Imagery is huge, and I’ll often just have a huge page full of random images or maybe something a little more structured. Then, I’ll take time and sit at home and just play chords and figure out something that would work, to find a melody for those words.

The Chronicle: Have you performed live?

ZH: Yeah, several times. Not as much as I would love to, just with still being in school. I’m still trying to get out there more. But I’ve done a few underground shows, a couple house shows and open mic nights.

The Chronicle: Have you noticed your music evolving in the course of your three albums?

ZH: It’s hard for me to summarize how, because I don’t spend as much time reflecting on my own stuff as I do making it. But it’s definitely shifted, and I hope it has gotten better, or at least found more of a structure and become more refined as I’ve learned new recording techniques, [become] a stronger guitar player and learned to vocalize better.

The Chronicle: How far do you want to go, musically?

ZH: It’s not something that I’m pressuring myself to do too much. It’s something that comes naturally rather than [my] seeking a career within music in and of itself. I want to go as far as it will take me, and that just matters as far as what people think of it—how it’s received and where the collaborations go. Because no matter how it is received, I’m going to keep doing it and keep trying to construct the perfect song.

To hear music from Birds and Kings and Zachary Gunn & the Local Historians, visit music.BirdsandKings.com and ZacharyGunn.bandcamp.com.

The majority of the Christmas tree farms in Illinois are small family-run operations that rely on customers coming to them to choose their own tree.

Approximately 27 million real trees with a retail value of $976 million were sold in the U.S. in 2010, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, and many of the 15,000 tree farms across the country have been run by the same family for generations.

Bruce Tammen was raised in the Christmas tree business. His father first planted trees in 1956 when some of the land on their farm in Wilmington, Ill., proved unsuitable for growing crops. What started in a small field grew to become the 150-acre Treeberry Farm, where Tammen grows several varieties of evergreen trees and blueberries.

The process of raising trees requires many areas of expertise, according to Tammen, including a detailed knowledge of soil, biology and many agricultural practices. He said patience is also important, especially in an industry where it can take up to 10 years to see any revenue.

Tammen and his two full-time employees tend to the trees year-round. Younger trees require fertilizer and are treated with herbicide to prevent surrounding grass from blocking the sunlight. When the trees grow to be waist-high, they are sheared by hand with large blades to create the symmetrical taper customers want.

“It’s a difficult business,” Tammen said. “Most people don’t realize how much work is involved in it.”

Tammen sells his trees by letting customers come to the farm to choose and cut their own. He said he has seen multiple generations of families in the 35 years he has been running the farm.

“Many of my customers came here when they were children,” he said. “Now, they have their own families and are carrying on the tradition.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent census, Illinois has nearly 300 tree farms that harvested more than 112,000 trees. Many of the trees sold in the state are shipped from other locations, said David Daniken, former president and current board member of the Illinois Christmas Tree Association.

“Illinois is dominated by small choose- and-cut style farms,” Daniken said. “Weather conditions here are not ideal for growing massive quantities of plantation-grown Christmas trees like they do in parts of Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Washington and Oregon.”

Daniken, a second-generation tree farmer with a 60-acre operation in Pocahontas, Ill., said he supplements the trees he grows with varieties harvested in other states. Fraser and noble firs—two popular trees that are difficult to grow in Illinois—are brought in from Michigan and Oregon.

Like Tammen, Daniken said the bulk of his business comes from customers visiting his farm to cut their own trees. Although visiting a tree farm ensures a fresh tree, Daniken said the industry as a whole has become very responsive to shifting demand.

“These days, most trees are very well-kept, cut very late in the season and typically very fresh when they get to you,” he said. “Whether it’s a big-box retailer or a tree lot, or buying a pre-cut tree at a farm, you’re going to get a good product.”

Amber Arneson’s family has been selling Christmas trees in Chicago for more than 65 years.
Today, she and her husband operate eight lots around the city that sell trees brought down from small farms in Wisconsin. In order to find the best selection, Arneson said she spends months personally selecting and tagging each tree before it is cut.

Although she chooses a variety of trees to harvest, she said Chicagoans have a clear preference for what they want in their homes.

“Balsam has always been the most popular because its [branches] are very strong and fragrant,” Arneson said. “But Frasers have also been selling well. They have a beautiful color and hold ornaments well. They’re becoming more and more popular every year, especially in Chicago.”

She said her business is selling half the amount of trees it did 30 years ago, a drop she attributes to the increasing popularity of big-box retailers that are able to order massive numbers of trees from large-scale farms at lower prices.

“We can’t compete with [large retailers] because they sell trees cheaper than we actually buy them at wholesale,” Arneson said.

Demand for live trees has also been affected by the popularity of artificial trees, she said. Although artificial trees are convenient, according to Arneson, she believes they do little to support the economy.

“When you buy an artificial tree, the money just goes to the corporations and the country where it was manufactured,” she said. “With real trees, this is money that was made in America, stays in America and supports American people.”

Vintage Christmas sweaters in the window at Hollywood Mirror, 812 W. Belmont Ave.

The tacky Christmas sweater, once a holiday punch line as familiar as fruitcake, has become an ironic Yuletide staple fostered by an increasing number of themed parties and specialty retailers servicing the demand for this oft-maligned garment.

“I think that around the holidays, people are just looking to have a good time,” said Clarissa Trujillo, owner of the Chicago-based retail website, UglySweaterStore.com. “Why not look goofy in the process?”

Trujillo, who works in public relations, founded her online business in 2008 after she and her husband had difficulty finding an adequately ugly sweater for his company’s Christmas party.

“It just dawned on me that there might be an untapped market for ugly sweaters online,” Trujillo said. “We began by doing our own scouring of thrift stores and also taking plenty of donations from aunts, grandmas and friends. Now, luckily, we’ve found some wholesale distributors, which definitely helps save time and allows us to have a larger quantity of [merchandise].”

Trujillo said her website sold approximately 200 sweaters in its first year of operation and more than 1,000 last year. This season, she hopes to sell more than 2,000 pieces, including sweaters, cardigans and vests priced from $14–$38.

Most people are seeking out sweaters festooned with Santas, snowflakes and reindeer to wear to holiday parties, Trujillo said. A growing number of businesses and individuals in Chicago are hosting such parties as a means of celebrating the season.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Chicago Sport and Social Club’s Ugly Sweater Holiday Party. According to marketing and event manager Gailin Kristofek, the event has become popular with club members, many of whom take the act of dressing up very seriously.

“The first year we did [this party], people would just wear a sweatshirt and jeans; it wasn’t quite as costumed,” Kristofek said. “Now, people wear crazy tights or whole outfits,” such as one man who, in 2010, created a custom suit outfitted with
Christmas lights.

The CSSC uses the event to support a local charity, something Kristofek said is done by nearly all organizations that hold similar parties. This year, the group is holding a toy drive for the Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

“The first thing I plan every year when organizing this event is what charity to support,” Kristofek said.

While both Kristofek and Trujillo said they see the sweaters as a fun means of expressing holiday merriment, Andrew Causey, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Columbia, sees a deeper meaning behind the trend.

“I think with a lot of things people reappropriate—the corny, tacky and all that stuff—there is a side of it [that] is tongue- and-cheek, but I think there’s also a side of it, which is a real craving for authenticity,” Casey said.

He said he sees a correlation between the resurgence of the proverbial ugly Christmas sweater and the more recent do-it-yourself and Occupy movements, all of which he said represent a cultural shift away from corporatization. A generation adopting certain cultural references of its ancestors is nothing new, but what sets this trend apart is its reliance on irony, Causey said.

“When I was college-age, everybody was going back to the ’50s and we were taking on ’50s style, but we were taking it on as it was,” he said. “It wasn’t ironic, and we weren’t taking on the ugly aspects, but the cool aspects.”

Causey said he believes the current taste for irony and nostalgia is a reaction by younger people who are grappling with the hypocrisy of politicians and other social leaders.

“We live in such cynical times,” he said. “So to go back to something like a friendly grandma sweater from a time that seems like it wasn’t so mean—I think there’s something to that.”

Logan Vaughn, as Penelope, waits for the return of her husband Odysseus, who has been trying to make his way home from the Trojan War.

For Vaughn, “actor” is an addition to a resume that already includes model, dancer, choreographer, theater director and assistant to Academy Award-nominated director and producer Lee Daniels. The Chronicle spoke with Vaughn regarding her transition into acting and where she sees herself heading in the future.

The Chronicle: You were a film major at Columbia. How did you first get into theater?

Logan Vaughn: [During] my junior year, I decided not to do [Columbia’s] “Semester in L.A.” [program] and went to New York instead. I got an internship with Lee Daniels Entertainment. He only had a six- or seven-person staff, so I worked every day with him. He and his producer, Lisa Cortes, were extremely supportive and loving toward me when I was there. Lisa is a huge theater-lover and took me to see my first show in New York, and I expressed my real interest in casting. Lisa recommended that I really look into the theaters in Chicago. I applied for a casting internship at the Goodman, and lo and behold, I got the [position].

The Chronicle: Did you do any acting before “Penelope”?

LV: I’ve done a lot of commercial work on camera, and I was on “The Playboy Club” before its demise. I found acting through dance, but I did not train as an actor.

The Chronicle: What made you want to take this leap into acting, especially in a lead role?

LV: To be perfectly honest, the story is really about the men [in the play], although it centers around me. Sometimes it’s hard when people say, “Oh, you’re the lead,” because it really is [the men’s] story. But I love to be challenged as a person and as an artist, and it was the right time in my life. I felt prepared to do it, so I said, “Why not?”

The Chronicle: What is “Penelope” about, in your own words?

LV: “Penelope” is based on Homer’s “The Odyssey.” It is a play that centers around these four last men out of hundreds who have been in waiting for over 20 years—literally waiting in an [empty] pool in front of the home of Penelope and Odysseus—and they are attempting to win her affection in order to save all of their lives.

The Chronicle: How would you describe your character?

LV: Penelope is a woman who has been alone and in waiting for many years, and when we meet her, she is just hopeful that today will be a different day. She is longing for love and longing for something new.

The Chronicle: What was the audition process like?

LV: It actually was very different because Penelope is sort of an omnipresent character who does not speak, so [the audition] was really a series of conversations that I had with first the casting director, and then I came in and sat down with the director and talked through the play, who I am and how we relate to one another. It was a cool, very different process.

The Chronicle: Did anything in particular draw you to this character?

LV: I really wanted to work with the company, and in particular, Amy Morton. I think she is a phenomenal director whom I’ve learned from just by observing her work. To have the opportunity to be in the same room as her and be directed by her was just amazing for me. I could not pass that opportunity up. I definitely was really excited to work with the company members—Yasen [Peyankov], Ian [Barford], John Mahoney [who had to leave the production because of a death in his family and was subsequently replaced with ensemble member Tracy Letts]. Letts is a fantastic actor and comrade. He’s taken over with such grace. It’s beautiful.

The Chronicle: You haven’t had any formal training as an actor. Did your background in casting help you onstage?

LV: Working in casting and directing has informed my skill and ability as an actor tremendously. I always feel like I would not be where I am as a director without my work as a casting director. I think it has informed my ability as a director in a really profound way, and the same with acting. When you are in a room watching actors and going through that process with them, and you are with directors as they are directing, you take in and learn
so much.

The Chronicle: You’ve already done so much in your career—modeling, dancing, directing, casting and now acting. Is any one your favorite?

LV: I love directing for the stage. It gives me the ability to incorporate other things that I love, like movement, dance and music. I love how quickly you can affect an audience and how it is ever-changing. Unlike in film, there’s no stopping and starting. You have to carry it the entire time, and that’s very thrilling and scary. I love working with actors, and it’s something that I hope to do for a really long time.

The Chronicle: Do you ever see yourself returning to film?

LV: I do, definitely. I feel like right now my career and heart are in theater, but I do feel at some point down the line, I will come back to film. I have to say, though, that I think some of the best directors also direct for the stage, like Sam Mendes and Mike Nichols. They are very comfortable in both worlds, and that’s really where I’d like to be at some point in my life.

“Penelope” is playing through Feb. 5, 2012, at the Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. For ticket information, visit Steppenwolf.org.

Lee Leahy, owner of the Family Tattoo parlor at 2125 W. Belmont Ave., said many rising tattoo artists have strong backgrounds or degrees in fine art. In his shop alone, two artists have degrees in printmaking and illustration from the School of the Art Institute and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Together with his staff, Leahy, 33, organized an art show highlighting the increasing role and influence of fine art in tattooing featuring the work of more than 40 tattoo artists from Chicago and around the country.

According to Leahy, the purpose of the show—which includes paintings,sculptures and mixed media—is to bring together artists whose work outside the realm of tattooing is not often recognized.

“A lot of the younger guys [in the industry] are coming in from art schools all over the country,” Leahy said. “Artists my age or a little older never had the money to go to school. But for the younger guys, their parents don’t think it’s so crazy to be a tattooer anymore.”

Caroline Moody, 28, has been tattooing for nearly four years. An artist from an early age, she said she first started visiting tattoo shops when she was 18 and was impressed by how the tattoo artists were able to practice and use their art skills on a daily basis. She found an apprenticeship at a parlor in her native Louisville, Ky., and ever since has been tattooing in order to pay for art school. After studying fine art at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Louisville, she moved to Chicago to finish her degree at SAIC.

When she’s not tattooing at Metamorph Studios, 1456 N. Milwaukee Ave., Moody continues to paint and sculpt. Although clay is her preferred medium, she also learned metal foundry at SAIC. Drawing on her familiarity with traditional Japanese tattoo subject matter, she cast three Hannya masks used to represent the demon women of Japanese “noh” theatre. In keeping with the tradition of the masks being different colors to represent three recurring characters, Moody cast her masks in aluminum, bronze and iron—a process she said mirrored the theme of her work.

“Iron is a beast of a material to pour,” Moody laughed. “If pouring bronze and aluminum is like a kitten, then pouring iron is like a demon hellcat.”

Moody said she continues to draw on her schooling in fine art for her paintings and tattoos, and cites Lucian Freud and John Singer Sargent as two of her key inspirations.

“I’ve had a very strict fine art background,” she said. “I’ve studied it, and it’s all in my head. I just try to remember what’s beautiful about everything those [artists] did and try to make it a bit more modern, or at least apply it to my life.”

An art education has numerous advantages for a tattoo artist, including versatility and development of an individual style, said veteran tattoo artist Scott Fricke, 44. Fricke, who has worked in the industry for more than 18 years, said more young artists are looking at tattooing as a legitimate profession.

“When I started out, there were less people from a fine arts background,” Fricke said. “It seems that in more recent years, with the growing popularity of tattooing, art students look at us and think, ‘Hey, these people are making artwork every day, and they’re getting paid for it.’ They look at it as a more viable option for what they can do as a career and be a successful artist.”

Like Moody, Fricke said he was interested in tattoos and art from an early age. As a child, he imagined himself having tattoos and was even sent home from school for applying decals to his face. After taking numerous art courses in high school, he went on to study printmaking and painting at SAIC. It was there that a fellow student gave him his first tattoo, and by the time he was 25, Fricke knew he wanted to be a professional.

In addition to his work at Speakeasy Custom Tattoo, 1935 1/2 W. North Ave., Fricke still does acrylic paintings and has recently branched out to murals. A self-described heavy metal music fan, Fricke said the dark imagery of his paintings is heavily inspired by album art. He said he has had reasonable success with his art, although he thinks many galleries are not interested in his aesthetic.

“For me, it’s always been about creating [a painting] rather than trying to sell it,” he said. “If it were about selling paintings, I would quit my tattoo job and concentrate solely on that, but I like it being my escape from what
I do daily.”

Fricke said the vast majority of his tattoos are custom designs that can take up to 10 hours to sketch, and like any piece of commissioned art, creative differences between a tattoo artist and a client sometimes arise.

“It’s really about getting into the head of the person I’m about to tattoo,” Fricke said. “Sometimes I have to be honest with them and say, ‘Maybe I’m not the person for this.’ Generally, I don’t want to turn away business, but I also don’t want my name attached to something that is not going to [accurately] represent what I do.”

Creating a signature style is crucial for any tattoo artist, but especially for those just starting out, said Ben McQueen, 24.

McQueen, who studied fine art and animation at Columbia in 2009, moved back to his native Indianapolis in June to be a full-time tattoo artist. He said that tattooing is an ideal way for young artists to have a steady job and get paid for developing their own talent.

“Custom tattooing really enables you to put your own twist on everything that comes through the door,” McQueen said. “It’s pretty awesome to be able to do that on a daily basis. But at the same time, tattooing is at a level now where it’s so competitive and so advanced that if you’re not on top of your game all the time, if you’re not making art and pushing yourself, you’re going to plateau and get swallowed up.”

Despite the increasing competition, Fricke said he can’t imagine any other life for himself.

“I watched people in my family break their backs doing manual labor,” Fricke said. “I did a fair share of that myself, and I feel pretty fortunate to be able to make my living with my artwork. I’m not rich by any stretch, but I’m a lot happier than I would be doing anything else.”

For Animal Lovers

Native Foods Cafe’s Wicker Park branch, located at 1484 N. Milwaukee Ave., will be hosting its first all-you-can-eat vegan Thanksgiving buffet from 1 – 7 p.m. According to General Manager Aaron Buss, Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days of the year for the chain’s locations in California, and he is also expecting a large turnout in Chicago.

The $24.95 buffet includes a polenta-butternut squash terrine, wheatberry Waldorf salad, pumpkin cheesecake and other sides. The main dish is the chain’s signature “Native Wellington,” a puff pastry filled with seitan, organic kale, portobello mushrooms, yams and stuffing.

To make reservations for Native Foods Cafe’s vegan buffet, call (773) 489-8480. For information on ordering items for pickup, visit NativeFoods.com.

For Do-Gooders

Kit Kat Lounge & Supper Club, 3700 N. Halsted St., is giving Thanksgiving diners a chance to give back to the community. Each patron who brings in a non-perishable food item will be given a 50-percent discount on their entire bill, said owner Edward Gisiger. Donated items will be given to Vital Bridge’s Harvest of Hope food drive, which benefits Chicagoans living with HIV and AIDS.

In addition to its regular menu, Kit Kat will be offering a $30 fixed-price Thanksgiving dinner of roasted Kabocha squash soup; roasted sage turkey with cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, pomme puree and a pumpkin martini for those of legal age.
To put people in the holiday spirit, Gisiger said Kit Kat diva Kinley Preston will begin performing Christmas numbers from Mariah Carey, Madonna and Beyonce at 7:30 p.m., and the film “Miracle on 34th St.” will be projected on the walls of the club.

Kit Kat Lounge & Supper Club will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 5:30 p.m. – 2 a.m. For more information, or to make a reservation, call (773) 525-1111, or visit KitKatChicago.com.

For Traditionalists

Ann Sather, the Swedish-themed restaurant famed for its cinnamon rolls, has been serving Thanksgiving meals for more than 60 years, according to Catering Director Anne Sachs. She said this year’s meal will include a choice of soup or salad, roast turkey with dressing, sweet or mashed potatoes, a vegetable side and a choice of pumpkin or apple pie for $18.95 per plate. The restaurant will also be offering a limited menu, including roast tenderloin, grilled chicken breast, broiled salmon and a vegetarian option.

“If you’re an orphan for a day, there’s always a full house here,” Sachs said.

She added that the restaurant’s cinnamon rolls will be available all day.

Ann Sather’s Thanksgiving menu will be available at these locations: 909 W. Belmont Ave., 3411 N. Broadway and 5207 N. Clark St. Reservations will be taken for parties of six or more. For business hours and other information, visit AnnSather.com.

For Historians and Gourmands

The Chicago Firehouse restaurant, 1401 S. Michigan Ave., takes its name from its historic location. Erected in 1905, the building was a working firehouse until 1984, after which it was used as a storage facility by the Chicago Police Department, according to Carl Madsen, the restaurant’s guest relations manager. The building’s current owners spent more than two years remodeling the space while preserving the original glazed Tiffany tiles, brass fire poles and hand-carved black walnut paneling.

Madsen said the restaurant is expecting approximately 700 diners for its $45.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. From 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., the restaurant will be serving a breakfast of eggs benedict, sausages, french toast and a made-to-order omelet station. The restaurant will also present a spread of more than 20 dishes all day, including traditional Thanksgiving staples, as well as braised beef short ribs, seafood platters and a prime rib carving station.

The Chicago Firehouse’s Thanksgiving buffet will be served from 11:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. For reservations, call (312) 786-1401, or visit OpenTable.com.

The film festival will screen a short documentary on The Doughnut Vault, 400 1/2 N. Franklin St., and serve treats from the popular establishment.

The Chicago Food Film Festival is returning for a second year, from Nov. 18–20, but this time with a full program of events and several locally-produced shorts and documentaries.

According to Chicago Food Film Festival’s Executive Producer Seth Unger, the idea behind the festival is to showcase films—mostly documentaries and narrative and creative shorts—that are solely devoted to food. The audience is served the cuisine featured in the film, often shortly after it appears onscreen.

Festival goers will be able to sample doughnuts from The Doughnut Vault, 400 1/2 N. Franklin St., lowcountry oysters from South Carolina and savory pies from a local bakery.

Unger said seeing the food on the movie screen has a powerful effect on the sensory experience.

“Without a doubt, food tastes better when you anticipate it,” Unger said. “One of the best ways you can anticipate it is to see beautiful shots of it in motion on a big screen. The way our festival works is you’re watching those doughnuts get glazed on the screen, and your eyes get glassy and you start drooling. Then boom! You look over and someone is serving you one.”

The Food Film Festival was founded in 2007 in New York City by George Motz, host of the Travel Channel’s “Made in America.” According to Unger, the idea came to Motz after he decided to serve hamburgers at the 2006 launch of his documentary film, “Hamburger America.” The festival grew in size and popularity during the last four years, and in September 2010 made a quick stop in Chicago to “say ‘hello’ to the town,” Unger said.

Festival organizers look for a range of films to showcase, he said, and their standards are different from most film festivals.

“When it comes down to what we accept as submissions, our only requirement is that [the film] is about food or drink,” Unger said. “We have some films that are shot beautifully and look picture perfect. We have other films that are great conceptually but weren’t shot very well. At the end of the day, we’re picking what we think is going to make a great festival, not just what the best films are.”

This year’s festival will feature four screenings focused on particular themes, such as the growing farm-to-table movement. There will also be a juried film competition judged by local culinary experts, including Chef Michael Kornick of DMK Burger Bar, 2954 N. Sheffield Ave., and journalist, author and radio host Rick Kogan.

Several films at the festival will feature local restaurants and businesses, including Michael Gebert’s “Farm to Barstool,” a short documentary about Pleasant House Bakery, 934 W. 31st St., where owner and chef Art Jackson grows the produce for many dishes on his menu.

“It’s the farm-to-table story told within two city blocks, which is unusual to me,” Gebert said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find it more compressed than that.”

Gebert, a freelance writer and the Chicago editor of the website GrubStreet, has been shooting food-themed shorts for his blog, “Sky Full of Bacon,” in which he covers everything from restaurant reviews to the history of barbecue.

“[My films are] kind of my calling card[s],” Gebert said. “I wanted to establish my name as somebody who had a thoughtful approach to food and did something that was entirely mine.”

Last year, editors from the Chicago Reader approached Gebert about doing a food-related video feature for their website. He and writer Julia Thiel launched “Key Ingredient,” a series in which local chefs challenge each other to create a dish using an unusual component. Gebert and Thiel not only managed to attract some of Chicago’s top chefs, but the two also won a James Beard Award for Best Multimedia Food Feature in May 2011.

The visual nature of food and how it is prepared lend themselves very well to the screen, Gebert said.
“People like seeing the technique,” he said. “There’s a pleasure in watching someone who does something well. When you see somebody cutting something 15 times faster than you can, make a perfect little brunoise, [one of the most difficult knife techniques], and not lose a finger, that’s pretty cool.”

Unger said the festival regularly selects a food-based charity to donate a portion of its proceeds, and this year they chose The Good Food Project, a nonprofit organization that aims to help children become more aware of the food they eat by conducting fruit tastings in local schools.

According to Susan Taylor, The Good Food Project’s executive director, the organization has gone into more than 40 local elementary and high schools to educate students on the variety of foods available to them. The goal, she said, is to teach children to be critical of the food they eat and be mindful of how it affects the way they feel.

“We’ve lost our food culture,” Taylor said. “My experience is that children across the board are disconnected both from the food system and from knowing how to take care of themselves, period.”

Several of the films screened at the festival explore the strong connection between food and culture, something Unger said appeals to a wide audience.

“We have guests coming because they’re hardcore foodies,” he said. “We have guests coming because they’re filmmakers, and we have people who don’t care about either one and just want to have a good time. We definitely make sure there is plenty of food and drink, and people leave happy.”

The Chicago Food Film Festival will run from Nov. 18–20. Events will be held at Kendall College, 900 N. North Branch St.; and Intelligentsia Roasting Works, 1850 W. Fulton St. For full details and ticket information, visit
TheFoodFilmFestival.com.

“Space Wars” cast members, from left: Kirk Osgood as PC, Berner Taylor as Mark Sleepwalker and Cassandra Quinn as Mac.

Evanston’s Piccolo Theatre, 600 Main St., is premiering “Space Wars,” a play inspired by multiple science fiction television series and feature films, and written and performed in the style of traditional Victorian British pantomime, or “panto.”

The play tells the story of Mark Sleepwalker, a young man who wants to escape his dreary existence of working in a diner and live a life of adventure. He eventually breaks free and meets the Princess Ha’el, whom he must prove himself worthy to marry. On his journey he encounters evil queens, android clones and other intergalactic characters.

According to Kathleen Perkins, associate professor of theatre at Columbia, panto started in the late 18th-century and early 19th-century England as a response to a growing suburban audience who could not gain admittance to London’s two licensed theaters. What started as a mixture of vaudeville, literary burlesque and children’s fairy tales eventually evolved into a popular family tradition, with theaters throughout Great Britain staging panto productions every holiday season.

Panto theater involves a number of established traditions, including slapstick comedy, bad puns and cross-dressing, said Nicole Keating, the play’s director. Pantos often feature a principal male character played by a woman and a “Dame,” a comedic female character performed by a man. In keeping with those practices, Sleepwalker is played by actress Berner Taylor, and his mother, Susie, the production’s Dame, is played by Andrew Puckett.

“Space Wars” is the third panto written by Jessica Puller, a local playwright who describes herself as the “world’s biggest Trekkie” with a fondness for this particular variety of theater.

“I find it to be a very rewarding challenge,” Puller said. “It’s a script that’s constantly changing, constantly in a state of flux, which makes it unique each time it’s performed. At the same time, it has certain stylistic requirements. Every panto has the same set of stock characters and specific themes that need to be involved.”

According to Puller, panto also involves a great deal of audience participation, including yelling out “It’s behind you!” and other key phrases at predetermined moments. While British audiences are familiar with the practice, she said Americans usually require a bit of guidance.

“One thing I like to do is build the instruction into the script as much as possible,” Puller said. “I use the Dame as the audience’s guide to panto. [She] explains to people unfamiliar with the form what it is they are required to do. She is a character who bridges the audience to the action.”

Puller said references from a number of her favorite science fiction series are sprinkled throughout the play. One of the characters, Admiral Snoozer, is made up to look like a Vulcan from “Star Trek.” Others characters engage in a lightsaber duel, and two droids named Mac and PC stand in for R2-D2 and C-3PO.

While the heroes and villains of “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who” were an easy fit for the panto style, Keating had the task of staging a British-style play for an American audience.

“It was an interesting beast to tame,” Keating said. “I would say the biggest [challenge] was that American audiences don’t have a background in this style of theater. As a director, it was important to honor all of the traditions that come along with [panto], but at the same time not alienate any audience members by doing things that seem too odd or foreign.”

Perkins said the reason U.S. audiences are not as familiar with panto is that American theater developed post-colonially and took on other influences.

As a first-time panto director, Keating said she did a significant amount of research, and taught her cast—many of whom had never acted in a panto before—how to give an authentic performance.

“In more traditional acting schools, most people are trained to work from the inside out,” Keating said. “In panto, you have to work from the outside in and be very aware of your body and of your physical manifestation first, then figure out what that means internally for you [as an actor].”

She said she and the cast worked as a group to develop their own interpretations of panto conventions, especially the slapstick element that was not specifically spelled out in the script.

Keating also helped the two cross-dressing actors explore the unique dynamics of their characters.

“If you haven’t worked in drag before, it’s difficult to get used to,” Keating said. “However, [panto] is not a style of theater where we’re trying to disguise the fact [that] there’s a girl playing a boy and a boy playing a girl. Part of the fun is knowing this is someone of the opposite gender playing this role.”

“Space Wars” will play at the Piccolo Theatre, 600 Main St., in Evanston, from Nov. 11–Dec. 17. For showtimes and ticket information, visit PiccoloTheatre.com.

One of Dom "Etienne" Orejudos' paintings, which is on display in the museum auditorium

The Leather Archives & Museum, 6418 N. Greenview Ave., is the only museum in the United States devoted to leather culture, sadomasochism and other alternative sexual practices. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the LAM serves as a resource for the leather community and gives visitors a unique glimpse into a world that for many years was hidden from mainstream society.

According to Rick Storer, LAM’s executive director, the museum was founded in 1991 by Tony DeBlase and Chuck Renslow. Renslow, a prominent figure in Chicago’s leather scene and founder of the popular International Mr. Leather contest, opened Gold Coast, the city’s first leather bar, in 1958. His lover, Dom “Etienne” Orejudos, was an artist who painted large erotic murals that moved with the bar to each of its various locations. After Orejudos died from AIDS-related complications in 1991, Renslow searched for an organization that would display the paintings. When he was unsuccessful, he opened his own storefront gallery in Uptown, and the concept for the LAM was born.

The LAM moved to its current 10,000-square-foot location in 1999 to accommodate its growing collection of artifacts donated by members of the leather and S&M community. Although the building may have changed, Storer said the purpose of the organization remains the same.

“Our mission is to collect and preserve; to provide a place where this community’s history and culture can be preserved in a building that is owned by the leather community,” Storer said. “Our first goal is to keep it safe. The second goal—which I think is a little more important—is to provide access to it.”

Storer said the LAM is actually three institutions in one. The building houses a library with more than 12,000 books, 13,000 magazines, 100 journals and 5,000 films devoted to leather and kink. The museum’s collection of more than 8,000 contemporary and historic artworks and artifacts highlights aspects of leather and S&M culture, such as jackets, vests, patches and erotic toys. The archival collection contains unpublished records, letters and other documents used by scholars to do analysis on the leather community.

According to Storer, LAM uses leather as an umbrella term for many sexual subcultures and fetishes, including rubber, furries (individuals who dress up as stuffed animals) and practitioners of bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism. Although leather culture is predominantly gay-oriented, Storer said the LAM strives to be inclusive of all genders and sexual orientations. Last year, the museum launched the Women’s Leather History Project to analyze and document women’s involvement in the leather community.

Alex Warner, the project’s historian and creator of the museum’s “A Room of Her Own” exhibit, said female fetishists have a specific and unique history that grew out of gay leather clubs of the ’60s and ’70s. While many women’s groups during that time declared S&M to be anti-feminist, leather activists argued that their sexual practices were not incompatible of feminism.

Documenting the history of the leather community is one of the LAM’s primary objectives, according to Storer, and to date the museum has recorded the personal histories of approximately 100 leather enthusiasts around the country.

“When you’re talking about sex, you’re talking about something very intimate [that] people hold as private,” he said. “There are a lot of facets of leather and BDSM sexuality for which there is no hard documentary evidence. We rely on oral histories to fill in those gaps, [and] to provide insight into places where photography and other documentary methods aren’t permitted.”

Storer explained that the leather subculture developed when a large number of gay veterans returned from World War II and searched for a community where they could continue to socialize. They eventually adopted the traditions and practices of motorcycle clubs, including leather jackets, fraternal patches commemorating years of membership and achievements, and a hyper-masculine brotherhood. Leather clubs spread throughout the country, including several in Chicago.

Michael S., 45, is the current president of the Chicago Leather Club, a traditional back patch organization that was started in 2001. According to Michael, the club has five full members who have gone through the pledging process and earned their patches, and has more than 20 associate members. He described the CLC’s mission as one of service to the community, education and outreach, unlike social sexual groups such as the Chicago Hellfire Club. CLC members hold monthly meetings, organize “munches,” or informal social gatherings often held at restaurants and participate in fundraising for leather organizations.

Michael, who identifies himself as a leatherman, said he first learned of the BDSM and leather communities in the early ’90s through the Internet. His wife at the time did not share his growing interest in S&M, and the two soon divorced. He is now remarried and has a master/slave relationship with his current wife, Angie, who is also a CLC officer.

Despite the fact that he is the president of the CLC, Michael said he is still uncomfortable being completely open about his sexual tastes and lifestyle. He is not “out” to coworkers, and most of his friends are within the leather and S&M community.

Both Michael and Storer said they believe that mainstream society has become more tolerant and open to the leather lifestyle. Michael, however, commented that many long-term members of the community are upset regarding how many of the culture’s traditions, such as back patches, are being lost and that its meaning is becoming diluted.

“It’s changing,” Michael said. “I’m waiting for the sitcom where you have the dominatrix living next door. Then I’ll know it’s really over, and we’re no longer rebels.”

For more information on the Leather Archives & Museum, including gallery hours and admission rates, visit LeatherArchives.org.

CineKink, a New York-based festival showcasing sex-positive and kink-friendly documentaries, shorts and feature films, will be at the Leather Archives & Museum for the Chicago leg of its national tour on Nov. 18–19.

According to CineKink organizer Lisa Vandever, the films selected for Chicago were culled from those screened during last March’s six-day festival. This year’s assortment includes a selection of award-winning shorts determined by CineKink’s film jury: “Kink Crusaders,” a documentary about the history of the International Mr. Leather contest, and “Indietro,” which won the Audience Awards for Best Documentary and Best Narrative Feature, respectively.

Vandever said while the number of films submitted to the festival has only increased slightly since CineKink was founded eight years ago, she has seen a large increase in their overall quality.

“I think there is more of an awareness of the festival and [directors] are creating films targeted specifically for it,” she said. “I do think there is a sex-positive movement out there, and people are hungry to talk about sex and learn more about it.”

For more information on the CineKink film festival, including a full program listing and ticket information, visit CineKink.com

One of the dresses on exhibit at "Charles James: Genius Deconstructed" at the Chicago History Museum

Fashion Focus Chicago returns for its seventh year on Oct. 17 to showcase the local fashion industry with a long list of designer runway and trunk shows, shopping parties and industry events.

This year’s highlights are an eco-fashion show in Millennium Park, a masquerade ball featuring Chicago’s most envelope-pushing designers and a new exhibition celebrating the work of a world-renowned couture designer with Chicago roots.

Approximately 25,000 people attended 20 various FFC events last year, according to Kiran Advani, fashion programming director at the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture, which coordinates the week’s events. This year’s FFC calendar has more than 35 activities, an increase Advani attributes to Chicago’s unique fashion community.

“New York is the fashion capital of the U.S., and it’s very hard to compete with that,” Advani said. “But I think we’re definitely a growing industry and community with a wide variety of talent. You get a sense of really being able to get something unique and different because the inspiration in Chicago is so different from anywhere else.”

Fashion Focus Chicago takes place on Oct. 17–22. For a complete list of events,visit ExploreChicago.org/Fashion.

Fashion’s Green Thimble

“Vert Couture,” a carbon-neutral fashion show featuring Chicago designers who create eco-conscious clothing and accessories, has been part of FFC since 2009. However, this year marks its debut in the main fashion tent at Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St.

According to Michael Alexander, one of the show’s executive producers, the change is indicative of the growing awareness of the need for sustainable fashion.

“I think it’s time for green to be on the main stage,” Alexander said. “[People] are beginning to understand that eco-fashion doesn’t have to be hemp bags, and you don’t have to look like a hippie who doesn’t shave [his or her] armpits.”

Alexander said eight local designers will be presenting their collections on the runway this year, including Richard Dayhoff’s line of men’s underwear made from recycled plastic fibers and Lauren Lein’s eco-friendly dresses cut from repurposed fabrics.

“Vert Couture” is also serving as the Chicago premier of Heart, a women’s clothing label that prints fine art photography onto garments. The company, founded in 2009 by photographer Christina Nöel, designer Jenny Greco, and painter and merchandiser Lisa Selby, strives for sustainability in practically every step of its operation.

According to Nöel, the label sources organic and domestic fabrics, uses eco-friendly printing techniques and contracts local manufacturers to produce its garments.

Nöel said Heart currently has revenue coming in from custom clients and the sales through the company’s website, and the “Vert Couture” show will be an important step in expanding the business.

“This is our very first cohesive collection for spring/summer 2012, so we will actually be reaching out to buyers and retailers and trying to get into boutiques worldwide,” she said.

“Vert Couture” may be Heart’s Chicago debut, but the label had its first runway moment at a fashion show for Paris Vegan Day on Oct. 1. Although Heart doesn’t bill itself as a vegan clothing line, Nöel said the organizers saw enough similarities to warrant an invitation.

While a spot on a Parisian runway is certainly an auspicious beginning, Nöel said it is more meaningful to show the collection in Chicago and help bridge the gap between eco-fashion and luxury.

“I think in the past it has been sort of oxymoronic to put the two together,” she said. “You either had your ‘crunchy granola’ or haute couture. I don’t think there needs to be such a divide. I think you can still have luxury and beauty and high fashion but still be very responsible and have that transparency.”

“Vert Couture” will take place on Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Millennium Park’s Chase Promenade Central, 201 E. Randolph St. General admission tickets are $35 and can be purchased at VertCouture.com.

Fantastical Fashion

Looks from a selection of Chicago’s avant-garde designers will be on display at “Masquerade: An Evening of Fashion and Fantasy,” one of FFC’s closing celebrations on Oct. 23.

According to Tee Lam, president of K Dock Media, the event marketing and media firm organizing the event, the evening will feature seven designers who have received a lot of press for their innovative creations, including 2010 Gen Art participants Hakeem Gayden, Alexandre Chandoha and Que Shebley.

Julius LaCour Jr., one of the evening’s featured designers, will be showing a look from his spring 2012 Maison de LaCour collection, which is debuting at a special presentation at The Drake Hotel, 140 E. Walton Place, on Oct. 20.

LaCour, a 2008 graduate of the Illinois Institute of Art at Chicago, said his latest collection, titled “Körperkulture,” is inspired by nudist groups. Through the use of monochromatic lambskin, crepe chiffon and jersey, LaCour said he strove to find “an ironic way to cover the body but still have a naked appearance.”

Maison de LaCour is the latest evolution of a clothing line LaCour has produced since moving to Chicago from his native New Orleans in 2004. After presenting his first collection in spring 2010, he showed at the following season’s Latino Fashion Week, Fashion Focus Chicago and won the Italian Expo’s fashion competition at Navy Pier.

LaCour currently works out of his studio in Pilsen, using couture techniques to create made-to-order garments for male and female clients. He said he enjoys making clothes for both sexes equally, finding inspiration in the work of Karl Lagerfeld and Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy. He described his customers as people who want a unique garment and are not afraid to go down a separate path in fashion.

“Every collection I put out, every collection I do, you could say it’s experimental,” LaCour said. “What I do with the label is always find new fabrics, new finishings and new ways of doing things. Nine times out of 10, things come out accidentally.”

“Masquerade: An Evening of Fashion and Fantasy” will be held on Oct. 23 at Crimson Lounge, 333 N. Dearborn St., from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m. Tickets for the 21+ event are $10 and can be purchased at KDockMedia.com/Upcoming-Events. Masks are required and cocktail attire is requested.

Designer Hat Trick

“Charles James: Genius Deconstructed,” the new exhibition at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., explores the career of one of the few American designers to create garments at the level of haute couture.

James began his fashion career as a milliner—a person who designs and constructs women’s hats—in 1920s Chicago. He started designing dresses after moving to New York City in 1930 and spent the next three decades crafting one-of-a-kind creations for women in the U.S., London and Paris.

According to John Russick, director of curatorial affairs at the CHM, what makes James’ pieces unique is that he used his millinery expertise to design dresses with unprecedented construction.

In order to understand James’ methodology, Timothy Long, the museum’s costume curator, had CT scans taken of a number of dresses that revealed their complex structural layers. It was the first time the museum had gone to such lengths to examine a garment.

“The notion was to deconstruct—as the title suggests—James’ method for creating fashion designs,” Russick said. “I think that by looking at the way these dresses are developed and constructed, you get a sense of his finely-tuned ability to imagine what it would take for a dress on a [mannequin] to express his idea of what the female form should look like.”

According to Russick, James’ designs are not only noteworthy for their construction, but also his lavish use of fabric, particularly during the conservative fashion climate of the Great Depression and World War II.

“[James] was really looking at opulence and excess at a time when most sensibilities and styles were defined by moderation,” Russick said. “The idea of extra fabric just for effect was unthinkable, or at least not done by any other designer. But James was lead by his vision, and despite his circumstances he worked in these patterns and styles that defied the conventions of the time.”

The exhibition will showcase 18 of James’ most iconic designs, all of which were donated by the women who originally wore them. Russick said the museum also commissioned touchable models of several dresses to give the public a sense of how the garments were assembled.

“Charles James: Genius Deconstructed” will be on display at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., from Oct. 22 – April 16, 2012.

Ed Kang/ The Chronicle

The creators of Grindr, a popular location-based mobile social network for gay and bisexual men, have launched Blendr, a version for all genders and sexual orientations.

The free app, which is available for Apple mobile devices and Facebook, allows users to view profiles of those in close proximity and possibly make a connection based on mutual interests.

“As we go about our daily lives, there’s dozens—if not hundreds—of people you don’t interact with, but you’re near them and you might have a lot in common,” said Joel Simkhai, founder and CEO of Blendr and Grindr LLCs. “With Blendr, you can now see who they are, learn a little about them, chat with them and hopefully meet them. The goal here is to bring people together to make the world a little friendlier.”

Simkhai said most social networking sites work at keeping users connected to people they already know rather than enabling them to make new acquaintances.
“It’s amazing to me that no one else has done this,” he said. “Nobody is making a concerted effort to help you connect with the people right around you.”

Unlike Grindr, which allows men to do little more than include a photo and a brief description of themselves or who they’re hoping to meet, Blendr allows users to choose from a list of interests and post these selections in their profile. The app also helps users decide where to go by allowing them to see who has checked in at restaurants, nightclubs and other venues.

Simkhai said the changes were necessary in order to adapt the app for a broader range of users.

“With Blendr, it was important for us to allow users to find people who share these interests and commonalities,” he said. “With the Grindr community, we saw it’s all based on really one commonality, and that’s being gay or bisexual.”

According to Simkhai, Blendr comes with a variety of privacy protection features. While most social networking and dating sites require users to disclose personal information such as their name and email address,Simkhai said Blendr only asks for a date of birth to ensure everyone using it is over 18 years of age. Users can limit who can view their profile by restricting access to other users of a certain gender, sexual oriention or age range. It is also possible to adjust the accuracy with which the app maps your location.

“Privacy was our [biggest] consideration for Blendr,” Simkhai said. “We understand privacy very well.”

Since Grindr’s launch in 2009, the app has approximately three million users in 192 countries, including more than 24,000 users in Chicago, according to Simkhai. He said an average of 600,000 members use the app for 90 minutes daily.

Simkhai said although it was too early to reveal the number of people who have downloaded Blendr since it was released at the beginning of September, the company has seen rapid growth in metropolitan areas including Chicago, London
and Sydney.

It’s no secret that Grindr is sometimes used to arrange quick and convenient sexual encounters, despite having extensive profile guidelines. Ever since the company announced it was working on a more all-inclusive version, there has been speculation as to how heterosexuals—especially women—would use the app.

Karen Krefman, a licensed marriage and family therapist and senior vice president for Strategy and Advancement at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, said she believes most women are less apt to engage in casual sex than men. Unlike some men who are able to compartmentalize sex and emotion, she said, in her experience, many women are unable to separate the two.

Humans are fundamentally social creatures who have a strong desire to connect with others, according to Krefman. She said while social networking media can help create informal connections, she questions their ability to form a serious partnership.

“Because I look at relationships in the fullest sense of the term, I’m cautious about apps and using [them] to start a relationship, even if it is just for a hookup,” Krefman said. “There is no timing, there is no pacing—it’s immediate. It forecloses on any opportunity or chance to meet the person and see who you are dealing with.”

Pamela Popielarz, an associate professor of sociology at University of Illinois at Chicago who specializes in gender studies and social networks, said she could see women being hesitant to use an app like Blendr because of the possible exposure to danger and violence.

Popierlarz and Krefman both expressed uncertainties about the permanence of any connection based on a short list of shared interests.

“It may well lead to a lot of glancing contacts between people who are very different from one another,” Popielarz said. “On the other hand, you can’t get lasting contact without that first contact. It does open the door, but it doesn’t guarantee anything lasting is going to happen.”

Simkhai said what he has accomplished with Grindr has revolutionized how gay men meet, and he’s providing the technology to do the same for the entire world.

“What we’re doing is breaking the barriers,” he said. “We’re breaking these invisible walls between people and allowing you to connect with them. We’ve done it with Grindr, and we’ll do it with Blendr. We bring you a little closer to the people around you.”

Trevor Geiger and his sister, Molly, of the indie folk band The Arrowsics. The duo is currently working on their second EP.

The Chronicle caught up with Geiger to talk about his next EP, musical influences and future plans.

The Chronicle: You graduated with a degree in music business. How do you think that will help your career and The Arrowsics?

Trevor Geiger: The music business degree gave me the skills to do everything myself. I took classes in music, publishing, recording, promoting, etc. So now I can do most band-related stuff myself. I don’t see myself signing with a label anytime soon.

The Chronicle: How did you grow as a musician while at Columbia? What was the biggest impact or turn around?

TG: Columbia didn’t influence me musically. Its influence came more in the business sector, learning how to build a fan base [and] network. That said, I was able to hone and develop my style more while at school and went from more of a funky band to an alt-country style that is more representative of me.

The Chronicle: Tell me about your previous band experience.

TG: I moved here with my band DPOM [a three-piece rock band] from Atlanta. I also played in Black Turtle Co-Op here in Chicago and played in a reggae band in Atlanta.

The Chronicle: When asked about musical influences, you credit people such as Neil Young, John Lennon and Bob Dylan.How have they influenced you?

TG: My motto for life is, “What Would Neil Do?” I grew up with folky, hippie parents and listened to a ton of Beatles, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, etc. That stuff really sunk in when I got older. I found myself naturally attracted to making that type of music.

The Chronicle: Tell me about your next EP.

TG: We are currently recording our second EP at Family Bear Music [345 N. Loomis St.] here in Chicago. I am super proud of the songs on it and am really excited to release something that is more commercially viable. The songs were written more recently and are very near and dear to me right now. We are hoping for a December release.

The Chronicle: How would you describe the fan base of The Arrowsics? What are the numbers like?

TG: Most shows we play for between 30–100 people, though we’ve done a few that were bigger. You always have to start with your family and friends and grow your fan base from there. Most of our fans are people who just like simple songs with classical sounds.

The Chronicle: Where do you see The Arrowsics in the near future?

TG: In my ideal world, I will be able to support myself through music. Our first priority is to look for licensing opportunities in film and television. I hope to be able to tour at least a little—two to three months a year—although that is difficult financially.

The Chronicle: Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?

TG: Be honest. Be authentic. People can tell you are trying to be something you are not. If you are true to yourself and make music from the heart, people will recognize it.

For more information on The Arrowsics, visit their fanpage on Facebook. Their music can be downloaded at TheArrowsics.BandCamp.com.

Unfortunately, female models are not the only ones who need protection from eating disorders. While witnessing the global condemnation Zimmer was receiving, I couldn’t help but think of a man I had read about some time ago.

Model Jeremy Gillitzer battled anorexia and bulimia for most of his adult life. Through a regime of chronic starvation, self-induced vomiting and relentless exercise, he whittled his body down to practically nothing.
When he died in 2010 at the age of 38, he weighed 66 pounds.

Although Gillitzer’s case is extreme, it serves as a reminder that eating disorders are not just battled by women. We live in an age in which men are increasingly bombarded with images of what constitutes a physical ideal. While the images vary among different groups in our culture—buff fraternity brothers high-fiving each other on the side of an Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag, an Armani Exchange billboard full of lean muscles frolicking on the beach or the pale, waiflike faces staring back at you from a Burberry advertisement—the message is the same: We must all aspire to perfection.

Men are not immune to media’s powerful influence over body image. According to Caring Online, a Web-based resource for those battling eating disorders, between 10 and 15 percent of patients treated for eating disorders are men. This year, the U.K.’s National Health Service announced it has seen a 66 percent increase in the number of men hospitalized with anorexia and bulimia in the last decade. Experts in both countries believe hundreds of thousands of men remain undiagnosed and refuse to seek treatment because of the shame of having what is traditionally believed to be a “girl disease.”

Eating disorders in men can take many forms. Although male anorexia and bulimia are not uncommon, men are more likely to become preoccupied with having a more muscular physical shape, according to Dr. Theodore Weltzin, medical director of eating disorder services at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc, Wis. Male eating disorders often begin with compulsive exercise combined with rigorous dieting in an attempt to reach an athletic ideal.

For other men, the disorder is very much about the glamorization of being thin. A YouTube search for “male thinspiration” yields more than 100 videos featuring montages of emaciated models, musicians and adolescent boys with concave chests and protruding hipbones. The videos serve as motivation to maintain one’s anorexia. “Stay strong and starve on,” read one description.

It is easy to believe male eating disorders are limited to the purview of gay men. After all, it could be argued gay culture places even more of an emphasis on fitness than straight culture. However, while studies have indicated homosexuals account for a significant percentage of male anorexics, straight men are just as likely to develop an eating disorder. In fact, many experts point to high rates of anorexia, bulimia and binge eating among high school and college athletes participating in sports that stress appearance and weight control, including wrestling, running and swimming.

I remember being in high school and seeing members of the wrestling team walking around carrying paper cups to spit in, hoping to make weight. After stepping down from the scale hours later, they would binge to the point of vomiting. I don’t recall anyone at the time suggesting this behavior was at all odd or unhealthy.

Since high school, I’ve had several friends—men and women—struggle with eating disorders. Some received treatment while others suffered in silence.

Men with eating disorders are too often overlooked and dismissed. It is time for everyone to recognize we are all susceptible to the intense pressures and unrealistic expectations of our society, and no one should feel ashamed about reaching out for help.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation will be hosting its first “openhousechicago,” a celebration of Chicago neighborhoods, on Oct. 15–16. Modeled after similar events in London and other world capitals, OHC will give the public free access to 131 sites centered around five distinct neighborhoods: Downtown Chicago, Bronzeville, Garfield Park, Little Village and Rogers Park.

Highlights include the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Emil Bach House, 7415 N. Sheridan Road; access to the two-acre rooftop garden at Lake Point Tower, 505 N. Lakeshore Drive; and a backstage tour of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, 201 E. Randolph St.

According to Justin Lyons, director of communications for CAF, visitors will be admitted to the participating sites on a first-come, first-serve basis. Visitors can proceed at their own pace or take part in the guided tours and lectures being offered at several locations. In order to help participants visit as many sites as possible, CAF will offer a free shuttle service in each of the five neighborhoods.

Lyons said sites were selected to coincide with a theme of “community.” Teams of CAF docents partnered with community leaders in the five neighborhoods to identify many buildings that operate under most Chicago residents’ radar.

“We wanted to go out into some of the diverse communities and open them up,” Lyons said. “From past experiences with [organizers] in New York and London, we learned 70 percent of the people who attend [these events] live in and around the city. We’re expecting many people to be suburbanites and Chicagoans who probably just haven’t gone into these different areas.”

Bastiaan Bouma, OHC’s managing director, said many factors played a role in choosing which sites to showcase. Organizers wanted to achieve a balance between new and historic buildings and highlight those featuring elements of sustainability. Bouma said it was also important for the buildings to have something behind the scenes that can be illuminated for the public.

“Some sites are high on design, and others are more vernacular,” Bouma said. “We were looking for buildings that were important from either an architecture or design standpoint, or that they were significant contributors to communities from a cultural, economic or social perspective.”

According to Bouma, several of the locations in Rogers Park are not significant for their architecture, but for the “streetscape” they create. He cited the hundreds of two-story buildings along Devon Avenue that for decades have served as a means of sustaining culture, and stood as a local economy for successive waves of immigrants. Bouma said he feels the buildings are noteworthy for their sturdiness and adaptability as businesses come and go.

The adaptiveness of modern design to historic architecture can be seen at Lookingglass Theatre, 821 N. Michigan Ave. The theatre company is housed inside the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station, which was built in 1869 and was one of two public buildings to survive the 1871 Chicago Fire.

According to Lookingglass’ marketing director Erik Schroeder, the theater will be offering tours of its backstage areas, an opportunity usually reserved for ticket subscribers. John Morris, the architect who designed the theater, will also be present to answer questions.

According to Bouma, the idea of opening significant architectural buildings to the public originated in London 20 years ago, and today approximately 15 global cities hold such events. He said while city-wide open houses in London and New York each drew 250,000 people this year, OHC organizers are planning for 75,000 attendees.

Lyons said even though this event is new to Chicago, building owners were eager
to participate despite the fact organizers were unable to tell them what to expect.

“There’s been a tiny bit of a leap of faith by many of the buildings, but they really embraced the project from day one,” Lyons said. “By working with New York and London and getting all their feedback and support, it’s been a good process.”

Bouma said OHC could have easily recruited 250 buildings, but organizers thought it wiser to limit the number of sites for the inaugural year.

Bouma offered reassurance to those who might already be intimidated at the prospect of having more than 100 places to visit.

“[At] many of these sites, you’ll get to see what you need to see in a few minutes,” he said. “We sometimes refer to it as the architectural equivalent of speed dating.”

Openhousechicago will take place on Oct. 15 –16, with open hours determined by each location. For more information on the buildings participating in openhousechicago and to plan your itinerary, visit Openhousechicago.org.