Concrete Love

In Collage of Landfill Art Local Artist Collects Stories in Stone

By Victoria Scott

The rocks at the edge of the Northwestern University lakefill defend 74 acres of land against the ravages of the lake from which it was reclaimed. But besides shoring up the ground under the university library and art museum, they are themselves an archive.

These rocks can talk.

The massive boulders and concrete slabs are a record of the young people who have left their mark with paintbrush or chisel over the years since the lakefill was created in the 1960s.

Yet given the impermanence of paint and clay, it took a local artist to grant some of the youths the bit of immortality they hoped their art would confer. She did it with a digital camera, a computer and a printer.

Patty Baker, whose day job is administrator for academic affairs at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, began photographing the rocks last September, with, she says, "no goal other than to record. I was intrigued by everything." Returning ten times over the next six months on lunch hours and Saturday afternoons, she completed the collage for a community art exhibit at the seminary in April. By then she had accumulated more than 200 images.

It was not her first collage. In 2005 she collected images of the Iraq war - rows of coffins, wailing women in black who looked, she says, "so Biblical" that she called the work "Pieta," and small photos of President Bush smiling and waving. Her next collage was a compilation of Hurricane Katrina photos formed into a bowl rimmed with pointing fingers.

The rock collage involved precarious footing and tricky photography. Aiming for clear images, she played hide and seek with shadows and at first begrudged the intrusion of the grass and snow she later incorporated into the 16 by 2 1/2-feet collage "Rock Talks."

The sheer number of painted stones amazed her. "I was struck," says Ms. Baker, "by the fact that all these people had spent a fair amount of time making a mark." She believes "the impulse to declare love, to make a public witness, is timeless." At the lakefill the old impetus to carve hearts and arrows in a tree trunk "uses a different medium that's handy," she says.

The collage provides glimpses of young people at a very particular time of life - a time, she notes, when "friends and falling in love" are paramount. She used the themes that emerged as she looked at their work to group the photos in the collage.

On the left end is what she calls the "John loves Mary" section - her first priority and the one she subtitled "Love Rocks." "I wanted to get the love ones," she says. "They are genuine - right from the heart." Testaments range from the ecstatic "20 years in Boston for one kiss in Chicago - Sweet!"; to the clever - a Chicago El map with "Melody What is the next stop?"; to the brooding - "I'll sing and dance, I'll play for you tonight. The thrill of it all. Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes...but I'll work it out."

One brave suitor asks "Marry me Maggie," then provides boxes for Yes or No. The Yes he hoped for has almost faded away. Another very collegiate poet writes, "I could drink a case of you/And still be on my feet."

Some of the rock art, says Ms. Baker, conveys a sense of "touchstone and ritual," like the timeline one couple must have returned to create: "Pam and Vic - engaged 85 - married 86 - Alicia 88 - Cupcake 01 - Jason 02."

Some made her laugh: "Franks and Buns," or "[Censored] you/We're seniors." Others, which lean toward the philosophical, she grouped as "Rock On." Though Ms. Baker refrained from putting "Keith Richards Is God" in the theology section," "LOOK AROUND ... BE AMAZED" is there, as is "When tempest tossed/Embrace chaos." "Tanya - The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius" - dates from 4/23/77 and may explain the many artists who relived their preschool experience by leaving their grown-up handprints in paint.

Affirmations of friendship abound. Some sound like rhymes from old-fashioned autograph books: "There's not a word yet/For old friends who just met." and "There are big ships/There are small ships/But the best ships/Are friendships." The collage also includes a family group: "Happy Father's Day" and "To Ryan - I am so proud of you. Dream big. Love, Sis."

Digital photography was just the beginning of Ms. Baker's project. She spent hours at the computer cropping the pictures and enhancing colors. She printed them on an ordinary inkjet printer, then laid them out by category. She tried for a natural look, placing water at the top and grass at the bottom and filling in white space.

It was a difficult work to abandon. "There are so many life stories," says Ms. Baker. "It's so rich, it's hard to leave [the project] behind." She would love, she says, "to have the incentive to shoot a whole bunch [of pictures] again."

Patty Baker says visiting the rocks reinforced the value of "just seeing and looking. We skim past so much we don't look at. It's hard to slow down and pay attention."

Choir Auditions at Music Institute of Chicago

The Music Institute of Chicago (MIC) will hold auditions for their Prelude and Concert Children's Choirs 4 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 15-16 at the Institute, 1490 Chicago Ave. Call 847-905-1500 to schedule an audition.

• Prelude Choir, a training choir, grades 2-4, is designed to prepare children for membership in Concert Choir.

• Concert Choir, the premier performing choir, grades 5-9, is for the more experienced and focused singer. There will be weekly rehearsals in Evanston, MIC concerts/performances, Chicago area outreach events, festivals and workshops. MIC offers the highest quality music education with Dr. Rollo Dilworth, conductor, educator, composer. Visit www.musicinst.org.

Sundays with Rhino

RHINO/the Poetry Forum invites all poets to its Fourth Sundays Poetry Workshop & Peer Exchange, 1:30-4:30 p.m. July 23 in room 108 of the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave. Attendees are welcome to bring 15 copies of a poem to be critiqued, and to participate inan ongoing discussion of poetry and poetics.

No registration is required, and the workshop is free, though a $5 donation is appreciated. This session of the Forum will be led by Arielle Greenberg, author of "My Kafka Century," "Given" and the chapbook "Farther Down: Songs from the Allergy Trials." She is poetry editor for "Black Clock" and co-editor of the journal "Court Green." An assistant professor in the poetry program at Columbia College Chicago, Ms. Greenberg lives in Evanston.

"Arthur and George "

"Arthur and George," a novel by Julian Barnes, is a unique look at the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Arthur is the oldest son of an aristocratic family, whose alcoholic father dies in an asylum.

In his father's absence, Arthur becomes the male head of the family, looking out for his impoverished mother and younger sisters. He has trained as a doctor, but soon finds his true passion - writing - and a writing career that includes the celebrated Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

Arthur marries and has two children, but his wife, Touie, is stricken with tuberculosis. She lives for the next 10 years as a reclusive invalid. During these 10 years, Arthur has no wife in a real sense and, as a result, becomes attracted to Jean Lickie.

He is in love truly for the first time in his life and looks forward eagerly to the clandestine moments he has with her. As a man of honor, he cannot betray Touie and does not want to bring her pain. Even though Arthur's mother and sisters and Jean's brother all know of their relationship, everyone agrees to keep it from Touie.

When Touie dies, Arthur goes into a year of despair. He is overcome with grief and guilt: "He always imagined that grief and guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly reforming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds."

At this same time, in another part of England, George Edalji is wrongly accused of savagely killing cows with a razor-like instrument.

George, the oldest son of an Indian, a Parsee, is the parish minister. Although he has dark skin, George was born in England and has always considered himself British.

He studied law and is a quiet, self-contained man who can not believe that race can possibly have had anything to do with the threatening letters he has received.

When accused of being the ripper, he is certain the British rule of law will prevail and he will be found innocent.

Arthur and George are alike in many ways. Both assume reason will inevitably lead to the right answers. In 1906 their lives converge. The novel is based on fact but reads like a detective novel, as Arthur and George pool their intellects to find who is behind the attacks on George.

"Wordplay"

"Wordplay," an official selection of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, is a pleasure to watch - especially for the seriously word-minded. It is made by crossword aficionados for crossword aficionados, as well as for the simply curious, and like the earlier film, "Word Wars," by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo, about Scrabble and its top players (a 2004 Sundance selection, nominated for an Emmy in 2005), takes the viewer into a wonderland of word-game competition.

The director of "Wordplay," Patrick Creadon, and its producer, Christine O'Malley, both Chicagoans now based in California, are married and have more than 25 years of nonfiction filmmaking experience. "Wordplay" is the first film that is "all their own." They say that it all began when they discovered that no one had yet made a film about Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times, and whom TV personality Jon Stewart describes as "the Errol Flynn of crosswords." They decided their film would be largely about this man, who managed to convince Indiana University, where he went to college, to allow him to design his own curriculum and to graduate with a bachelor's degree in "enigma-tology." Mr. Shortz also founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), which has taken place annually in Stamford, Conn., since its debut in March, 1978.

Of crossword puzzles, Mr. Shortz says, "A great puzzle is based on an original idea." He says he works with about 110 "crossword constructors" at the Times. During the course of the film, we are treated to interviews with a few professional constructors, such as Merle Reagle, who lives, breathes, and works words: He sees the words "Noah's Ark," for example, and immediately points out that if one moves around one letter, the result is "No! A shark." Mr. Creadon, by training a cameraman, does most of the camera work himself in "Wordplay," and the result is an appealing intimacy with his subjects. Mr. Reagle constructs, before the viewer's eyes, a crossword based on the theme "wordplay." It is a fascinating process to observe. It is also entertaining to note that some of the wallpaper in Mr. Reagle's living room is giant crossword squares.

Interviews are also held with past champions and hopefuls for the title of Champion at the 2006 ACPT, the 28th annual tournament; the film documents the tournament for much of the film. Among the competitors are musician Jon Delfin, a master sight-reader; "Trip" Payne, a professional crossword constructor ("I've always been intrigued by the letter Q.... N is a boring letter"); Ellen Ripstein, an editor and self-proclaimed "nerd girl"; Al Sanders, a project manager at Hewlett-Packard; Tyler Hineman, a student in information technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Again because of the filmmakers' sensitive treatment of their subjects, the viewer is made to feel as if he or she really knows these people - the result is that one really cares about them when tournament day arrives and the pressure is on. The viewer is eager to see who will win the title and the grand prize of $4,000.

Mr. Creadon interviews more "mundane" crossword-puzzlers as well (again one-on-one, with comfortable, open results), such as former president Bill Clinton; Bob Dole, past presidential hopeful; Mike Mussina, starting pitcher for the New York Yankees; the Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, who say that music and crosswords deal with the same issues: "obscurity, generalization, specificity..."; Ken Burns, filmmaker ("living in the city is all about boxes"); and Jon Stewart ("I'm so confident, I'm gonna do it in gluestick!"). All of them state proudly that they do their crosswords in pen, not pencil.

There is a lot packed into this film, and the large theater audience (surprising, given that "Pirates of the Caribbean" was playing simultaneously) was entranced. We all laughed at the crossword-puzzle ties and pantsuits, and even a truly unusual crossword hat, worn by judges and competitors at the tournament, and at the numerous word or crossword-related songs playing throughout the film. Especially the catchy one by Vic Fleming, also performed by Sean O'Malley, which goes, "If you don't come across, I'm gonna be down."

This is a truly fun film to watch, though you may well agree by the end with the feelings of one frustrated "solver" who wrote to Mr. Shortz, and whose letter he reads to the camera: "Mr. Shortz, you are sick, sick, sick."

It is signed "sincerely."

1 hr. 34 min. Rated PG for some language and mild thematic elements.

"Superman Returns"

No one should have been surprised to hear that the "Superman" franchise was being reprised considering Hollywood's recent quasi-remakes of classic horror films ("The Omen," "Dawn of the Dead"), not to mention the successful resurrection of "Batman" on the big screen. In fact, the creation of "Superman Returns" has been a long, arduous process. Countless directors and screenwriters have been hired and fired, and the project has been shelved and dusted off several times in the past decade.

Warner Brothers finally found the script they wanted, by writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, and nabbed a proven comic-book director in Bryan Singer ("X-Men 1 and 2"). The piece de resistance, therefore, was in selecting Brandon Routh to be the new face of Clark Kent/Superman. Replacing Christopher Reeves is not an easy task for a known actor to achieve, so the producers chose the unknown Routh, whose voice, incidentally or not, bears an uncanny similarity to that of the late Reeves.

While the film is not an overwhelming tour de force, leaving viewers with an insatiable desire for a sequel as did the first "Matrix" or "Spiderman" films, it is inevitably both solid and flawed.

Here is what worked:

The action sequences and special effects are far more exhilarating and realistic than anything in all of Lucas's recent "Star Wars" films. Bryan Singer honed his talent for directing action in the "X-Men" films, and his experience pays off in a huge way here. The visual effects are jaw-dropping, from Superman's hurling a space shuttle into the stratosphere to saving a doomed passenger plane moments from impact at a packed baseball stadium. Every computer image pulses with authenticity, even during the meditative moments when Superman simply hovers above the earth.

The story is intriguing. Superman returns to earth after a five-year absence in which he returned to his home planet, Krypton, to look for survivors. When he returns, he finds that his stepfather has died, and his former love interest, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth is respectable standing in for Margot Kidder), is engaged, has a child, and has won a Pulitzer Prize for her article titled, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." More importantly, the world is in disarray and Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey is a suitable replacement for Gene Hackman, although Hackman was terrific) has escaped from prison.

Here is what needed improvement:

The writers turned Clark Kent/Superman into a stalker. Obviously heartbroken by the knowledge of Lois Lane's engagement, Superman resorts to eavesdropping on her conversations, hovering outside her house in order to use his supervision to peek inside, and shamelessly taking her on a moonlight flight above Metropolis to try and get her to cheat on her fiancé. While it is obviously valid to portray Superman as a lovelorn character, it is not cool to turn Superman into a creep. Too much screen time was devoted to Superman's devious exploits, and it detracted from our empathy for Routh's character, even though fiancé Richard (James Marsden) is clearly unsuitable.

There is also a hokey moment that is ripped off from "The Incredibles," involving a piano and Lois's son, but my guess is that ninety percent of the audience will have figured out the "surprise" well before it occurs.

Hope for the sequel will lie in Routh's development as Superman, with the aid of the writers. Furthermore, some more screen time between Superman and Luthor is desirable, considering the two share the screen for only one brief scene. Keep an eye on Parker Posey as Luthor's girlfriend, Kitty Kowalski. The indie film queen makes certain there is more going on in Kitty's oxygenated head than it seems.

2 hrs. 34 mins. Rated PG-13 for some intense action violence.

New Installation at Art Center

Chicago artist Micki LeMieux has created a new outdoor installation, "Calm Before the Storm, "for the Evanston Art Center's 2006-2007 Sculpture on the Grounds program.

Ms. LeMieux has transformed the Art Center's front lawn into a fanciful garden of oversized organisms whose elastic sky-blue bodies bloom into exaggerated antennae of unknown origin, say the Art Center staff: "Using a vocabulary of humor and strangeness, LeMieux creates a deliciously whimsical maze, inspired by sources as diverse as Surrealist artist Salvador Dali and children's book author Dr. Seuss."

The Evanston Art Center is located at 2603 Sheridan Road, and imited free parking is available. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday- Thursday; 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Visit www.evanstonartcenter.org, or call 847-475-5300, Ext. 208.

Fasting at Fountain Square

CODEPINK, a women-initiated grassroots movement for peace and social justice chose Fountain Square as one of the sites for launch its nationwide Bring the Troops Home Fast, which began July 4. Every Wednesday and Friday at least one memeber of CODEPINK will be at Fountain Square from 4 to 8 p.m.

Their Wednesday vigil coincides in part with the weekly Women in Black vigil, held at 5 p.m. Wednesdays, also at Fountain Square. Julie Field of Oak Park, pictured above, said she is committed to a juice-and-broth fast of at least two weeks. The poster next to her says "I am fasting to highlight the brutality and inhumanity in Iraq" and in solidarity with the the prisoners in Guantanamo.

Late last month the United States Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional President George W. Bush's plan to use military tribunals to try detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Court said the plan violates the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions, which the United States has signed. There are more than 500 detainees in Guantanamo, many of whom have been imprisoned for four years as "enemy combatants" in the war on terror.

Veggie Mama

Artichokes

By Anna Mussa- Ivaldi

I am writing my column on the month's vegetable from Sicily, where I recently arrived to spend the summer. I am surrounded by friends and relatives who, armed with their culinary knowledge and deeply rooted beliefs, encourage me to try this or that food and explain to me the "best way" to cook a certain dish.

It is not an easy task to show my appreciation for the way my sister-in-law Eleonora cooks the delicate flower of squash without hurting the feelings of my friend Carmelita, who cooks the same dish adding one ingredient that is totally banned from Eleonora's kitchen.

Link to Artichoke Recipes

I myself am flexible enough to enjoy both recipes with the same pleasure, though I would never admit that to either one of them. I protect myself by making sure they rarely meet at the same time in my presence and hoping that, if they do, the topic of squash will never come up.

Consider, for instance, this morning. Carmelita has decided to cook the artichokes she has bought at the "two sisters' grocery shop" where, she informs me, one can find the best vegetables in town. She also says that the "best way" to cook artichokes is by grilling them. So, while she prepares the grill and the vegetables, I hope Eleonora will not show up suddenly, as she usually does, and I entertain Carmelita by telling her what I found out about artichokes in my research for this article.

The first mention we have about artichokes is in the work of the Greek naturalist Theophrastus, who wrote between 371 and 287 B.C.

It was, however, Dioscorides (40-90 A.D.) who, while traveling as a surgeon with the Roman army of the emperor Nero, wrote extensively about artichokes and other plants and herbs in the Greek "Herbal of Dioscorides," later translated into Latin under the name "De Materia Medica."

Both Romans and Greeks considered artichokes an aphrodisiac, and Greeks in particular believed its consumption would secure the birth of a boy.

About 800 A.D., Saracens, transplanted from the Syrian border of the former Roman Empire, started to cultivate artichokes in Sicily. In fact, we derive our name for the vegetable from the Arabic word al'qarshuf.

Artichokes reached the United States through French immigrants in 1806, when they settled in the Louisiana Territory. It was, however, the Spaniards who brought the artichokes to California in the late 1800s.

My friend Carmelita thinks I made this up, but historians say the American mafia found a way to create a monopoly in the artichoke market. In the 1920s, Ciro "Whitey" Terranova bought all the produce shipped to New York from California at $6 a crate and resold it at a 40-percent profit.

Not only did he terrorize distributors and producers, but he and his men even attacked the artichoke fields from Montara to Pescadero with a machete in the dead of night.

Fiorello La Guardia, then mayor of New York, fought Whitey by declaring illegal in New York the "sale, possession and even display" of artichokes. Mr. La Guardia, who loved artichokes, decided to lift the ban a week later.

According to experts, there are about 140 varieties of artichokes, but only 40 are grown commercially. France, Italy, Spain and Italy produce artichokes, but California grows 100 percent of the United States' supply.

In the meantime, my sister-in-law has called to inform me now that at Agostino's Produce store I can find the best artichokes in town, and that she can buy them for me and bring them over together with the best recipe to cook them.

Needless to say, I declined the offer.

Information for this article was found at the following website:
http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch48.html

For the Love of Film

Local Teens Take Part in National Filmmaking Contest

By Leah Lavelle

Evanstonian Sarah Moshman took this picture of the rest of her Chicago team as they filmed a shot at a Chicago park. The team created their film in just one week.

Usually it takes at least a few months to cast, direct, edit and produce a film; a group of local teenagers did it all in seven days.

Evanstonian Sarah Moshman was one of thousands of hopefuls who applied to be part of the national contest, Fresh Films, which gives filmmaking novices from coast to coast a chance to bring their talents to the public eye. The contest challenges teams of about 10 teenagers each around the country to create their own original short films in one week, from conception to creation.

Beginning July 10, Fresh Films sponsors Samsung, Apple and Stayfree began making the teams' films available to the public on their website, www.fresh-films.com. Each week, a new pair of films will be released for public viewing and judging. On July 20-26, people will be able to vote between the films of the Chicago and Indianapolis teams by visiting the contest website.

Since which team wins will depend completely on the voting public, promoting the online voting "has really been my full-time job" since making the film, said Ms. Moshman, 19. Although she and her teammates were not compensated for the nine-to-12-hour filmmaking days or the time they have spent getting the word out about the contest - at least, not in cash, these filmmaking enthusiasts got something better, said Ms. Moshman: "a good experience."

"We didn't know each other when we started" working together on Sunday, said Ms. Moshman, the oldest on a team of 14 to-19-year-olds, but "we realized we would have to pull together to make the film and … get people to vote."

To make the team, Ms. Moshman and her cohorts submitted essays describing why they want to be filmmakers. This was an easy task for Ms. Moshman, who will be a junior video/film and psychology major at the University of Miami this year, and who has been "interested in filmmaking since seventh grade."

Taking every opportunity to become part of "anything … that comes my way involving film," she has worked on a Northwestern University student film, plans to help with an independent film later this summer and looks forward to producing a movie with a University of Miami student group in the fall. Ms. Moshman gets a thrill from showing her film work to an audience. "Even if [just] five people saw it, …five people saw my name in the credits," she said.

After the first round of voting, 10 teams from cities like Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Atlanta will be narrowed down to five and those teams will be pared down to two. The grand-prize-winning team of the contest will go to Los Angeles for a "red-carpet premiere" of their movie, spend a day with a "Hollywood" director, and receive a Macintosh computer.

Yet, even more valuable than the prizes could be the experience that team members, many of whom are interested in pursuing their interests in filmmaking, have gotten while making the films. "It's always good to have something like this on a resume," said Ms. Moshman.

Still, it is not always easy to find a position in the filmmaking industry, Ms. Moshman said. "Usually you have to start at the bottom.…This program was so refreshing because they let us … be in charge," she said.

Each team member got to know all sides of filmmaking, playing every role in turn from director to boom-microphone holder. "We were handed a script, but everything else was us," said Ms. Moshman. Professional screenwriter Sandra Mitchell wrote the screenplays for each team, putting together ideas that team members had submitted with their contest applications.

With less time than the average directors-cinematographers-film-crew-production-team, Chicago team members knew they had to work quickly. On Sunday, their first day working together, the 10 Chicago team members held a casting call; on the second day, they chose eight of 100 called-back actors, including Lauren Lapkus, also of Evanston, for their film.

"We tried to do as much pre-production as we could before shooting on Thursday," said Ms. Moshman, which meant creating a storyboard, obtaining shooting permits and practicing with equipment as much as possible in only a few days. The team spent 12 hours on Thursday shooting all of their scenes; Friday and Saturday they edited and added original music created just for their film.

The finished product, which the group titled "Ping on the 'Dar," is a 10-minute glimpse into a turned-about world; in the film, homosexuality is the norm, heterosexuality is exceptional, and the main character, Jack, faces "coming out" as a boy with a girlfriend to his gay parents.
During filmmaking, "we taught each other," said Ms. Moshman. Members "learned and relearned…and practiced" filmmaking skills, she said, "purely for the love of film."

aRound Town

Budding Artists at the Central Street Fair.

Left, Miranda Penrod, Maker of Duct Tape Things, displays hats and purses created from duct tape. She attends Kingsley School.

Again this year the Central Street Merchants Association invited young artists from Evanston and Wilmette to sell their wares during the annual sidewalk sale.

In photo at left, Zoe Citterman, right, and Libby Goldman hold the pillows they made. The two girls, who will enter Haven Middle School this fall, decided to donate 10 percent of their profits to Y-Me, an organization for breast cancer research.

"Stop, drop and roll!"

Pictured at left, Konnor Malone and Max Hanzel enjoy "Safety Town."

On the last day of their camp session on July 7 at Kingsley School, preschool-age day-campers recited this fire-safety slogan and other useful rules they had learned during their two weeks at Safety Town, a summer day-camp that provides children with precautionary lessons - and a little fun.

In a class of about 25, the kids learned what to do around strangers, how to cross the street safely, who to call in case of emergencies - even safe playground etiquette - through books, videos, projects, walking field trips and guest speakers.

Children practiced some of their safety skills on the playground by peddling go-carts around a child-sized town complete with a fire station, hospital, library and lots of traffic signs.

Safety Town's final 2006 summer camp session ends July 21. Call 847-866-6185.

Safety Town photos and story by Leah Lavelle

Lazy Saturday Mornings at Lovelace Park Pond.

Between 30 and 40 parent-child groups showed up to fish at Lovelace Park last Saturday, said ETHS senior Danny Cullen. This is the fifth year he has helped out with the City's catch-and-release program.

Left, Nina Torrez holds up a tiny fish for her father, Eugenio to admire, while her sister, Leticia, in the background, dangles her pole in the pond.

Along with staff from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Danny hands out poles and worms and explains how to bait a hook, how to release a fish and answers other questions from would-be fishermen.

"It's a fun program for the kids," he said. "They're very proud of what they do."

The pond is stocked with sunfish, bluegill and bullhead catfish, he said.

At left, four-year-old Drew McDermott learns from his father, Terry, how to throw the line into the pond.

The program continues Saturday mornings, 9 a.m.-noon, through October. Call the Ecology Center, 847-448-8256.

Experience Countries Around the World: The Ethnic Arts Festival

Take a two-day trip around the world without needing a passport. The Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival will be held from noon to 7 p.m. on July 15-16 at Dawes Park, at Church and Sheridan. The lakefront will be transformed into a global village with song, dance, food and arts and crafts from countries from Asia to Africa, the United Kingdom to the Middle East.

Highlights of this family event are an arts-and-crafts sale, artist demonstrations, interactive workshops for children and live entertainment on two stages. This year's central stage features Las Guitarras de Espana, and Alpha and the Princes of Futa. Performers on the family stage include the Sheila Tully Dancers; Mama Edie; and JASC Tsukasa Taiko, a children's drumming ensemble.

Free admission; complimentary shuttle bus service from the Northwestern University parking garage, three blocks north of the festival. Visit www.cityofevanston.org/arts or call 847-448-8058.

Call the Library Using New Phone Numbers

The Evanston Public Library's main location has recently had its telephone service upgraded and new telephones installed. The old telephone numbers will continue to be in service for a few more months, but the Library staff requests the public to begin using these new numbers:
• Main Library Information, 847-448-8600
• Reader's Services Desk, 847-448-8620
• Reference Desk, 847-448-8630
• Children's Services, 847-448-8610
• Periodicals, 847-448-8635
• Circulation, 847-448-8605
• Renew-by-phone, 847-590-8706

The telephone numbers for the branch libraries have not changed: North Branch, 847- 866-0330; South Branch, 847- 866-0333. These numbers will change eventually.

Fifth Ward Meeting

Alderman Delores Holmes invites community members to the next Fifth Ward meeting, set for 7 p.m. on July 20 at Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center, 1655 Foster St. Alderman Holmes holds a meeting monthly on the third Thursday at the same place and time.

Roosevelt University Elects New Trustees

Roosevelt University's Board of Trustees elected nine new trustees at the board meeting on June 16. Among the new faculty trustees is Evanstonian Vicky L. McKinley, professor of biology at Roosevelt. Her interests include ecology of soil microbial communities, especially prairies; decomposition processes in soils; composts and freshwaters; and science pedagogy.

Church Car Wash.

Members of the Evanston New Testament Church of God held a car wash on Saturday. Children on the corner of Asbury Avenue and Davis Street directed drivers one block west to the church, where members gave each car a thorough scrub, then hand-dried it. The church will hold its third annual Caribbean-American fest on Aug. 18, with jerk chicken and pork, fried chicken, ribs, catfish and, at 7 p.m., a gospel concert.

Big Sandy at Starlight.

The July 25 Starlight Concert will be held at Dawes Park, Church Street and Sheridan Road. Beginning at 7:30 p.m., the concert features Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, with a hillbilly-boogie-jazz-country-swing sizzle.

ECTV-Zine Wins National Award

Evanston's volunteer-produced TV Magazine, ECTV-Zine, won first place in the TV Magazine category from the Hometown Video Awards, sponsored by the Alliance for Community Media.

"It is the ‘Emmy' of national public-access TV awards." says ECMC executive director, Steve Bartlebaugh.

Shot at various Evanston locations, the award-winning edition of Zine is an example of the show's teamwork and the work of producers Sheryl Rosen, Arthur Cohen and Patricia Simms. "Evanston: Beautiful Inside and Out" takes viewers on a ride into Evanston for an homage to Walter Burt Adams and his work. See the City as this gifted artist saw it in this tribute at 7:30 p.m. Mondays and at 9:30 p.m. Fridays on ECTV Channel 6 (Cable).

Last year the "Zine" won a regional Philo Farnsworth (the inventor of television) award for a program taped on location at the Farmers Market.

A Pastor No More, But Still an Eager Minister

By Leah Lavelle

Reverend Hardist E. Lane retired after serving a 37-year tenure as pastor at Fisher Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in June, but he has no intention of ending his service to the Evanston community.

"When all is said and done, yet there will be more said and more done," Mr. Lane said, quoting 4th Ward Alderman and long-time friend, Steve Bernstein. A seasoned orator, Mr. Lane has a number of quotes stored and ready.

Before coming to Evanston, Mr. Lane served as interim pastor at an AME church in Muskegon, Michigan, where he also helped that congregation finish building their new church. In 1969, he came to Evanston on the order of the Church Bishop.

The Bishop and others "felt I had the skills … from an ecumenical standpoint" to serve the community, said Mr. Lane.

During his years as pastor in Evanston, Mr. Lane helped to build a new Fisher Memorial church building and develop programs that uphold the tenets of the AME Church by ministering "to the whole person," to benefit those people in the community who he thinks need the most help. "There is a need for us to respond to the people who have fallen through the cracks," he said.

Though he will not be pastor any longer, Mr. Lane will continue to minister to people in need through the church's programs.

Established in 1994, the Fresh Start Program was created to offer ex-offenders the resources they need to reestablish themselves, and the First Base program to minister to the homeless. The First Base program was also begun in 1994 at First United Methodist Church; it moved to Fisher Memorial in 2002.

In addition to helping people get physical and psychological treatment when they need it, the programs provide people with basic necessities that are often overlooked, said Program Director John Barner Williams. Through Fresh Start and First Base, the church offers a place for people to receive phone messages and a mailing address they can give to prospective employers, help with resumes, clothing for interviews, bus passes and food stores to sustain them until they find employment.

The programs have successfully aided many ex-offenders and homeless people to "build a new life for themselves and get themselves together," said Mr. Lane. Another program that Mr. Lane counts as a success is Families In Transition, which has supplemented living costs for people so they could go back to school. He and Mr. Williams have also worked with the Evanston Community Development Association and the Reba Place Development Corporation on affordable-housing programs.

Not limited to giving within the Church's established programs, Mr. Lane and the Church have also conducted free weddings for people who could not afford to pay for them, "so they could do it right," said Mr. Lane, and provided other support to the community as needs arose.

Yet the church itself has had to make do with limited resources. "We don't get suitable funds to do what we have to do," said Mr. Lane. "We have to scrape and pull."

Still, Mr. Lane thinks ministerial work is imperative. If we do not counsel an ex-offender, he said, "10 chances to one he'll be back in prison in three months."

Mr. Lanes served two terms as president of the Evanston Ecumenical Action Council and 12 years as a member of the Evanston Ministerial Alliance. He has also worked with community organizations and congregations, including First Presbyterian Church of Evanston, Friends Meeting House, Reba Place­­­­ Church, First United Methodist Church and CarePoint in their efforts to develop outreach programs.

"Like Ezekiel said, ‘I sat among the people,'" cited Mr. Lane, describing his time as church pastor. "I have been blessed to work in a community like Evanston."

"We built the church from the outside and we built it from the inside," he said, but "there is much to be done yet."

Mr. Lane seems intent on continuing to build the ministry of the church outward.

As for his experience as church pastor?

"Thanks for the memories," said Mr. Lane, smiling. "- That's Bob Hope."
PHOTO CAPTION: "I have been blessed to work in a community like Evanston," said Reverend Hardist Lane, who retired in June after 37 years as pastor of Fisher Memorial Church.