The Jewish High Holy Days begin this Friday (Sept. 18th) at sundown with the two-day celebration of Rosh Hashanah.  In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means "head of the year" or "first of the year," and is commonly known as the Jewish New Year.  It is a time of reflection on the past year and on changes to be made in the coming year.  The holiday period extends through Yom Kippur, which falls eight days after Rosh Hashanah in the Hebrew calendar (this year at sundown on Sept. 27th).

The ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur are commonly known as the Days of Awe.  As Rosh Hashanah calls for introspection, Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement when one asks for forgiveness for any wrongdoing and to be granted a good year in the coming year.   On the two days of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur one is to refrain from work and attend synagogue services, which are extended for the holidays.  An important part of the services is hearing the sounding of the shofar (ram’s horn).  The Bible gives no specific reason for this practice, but it has been suggested is that the shofar's sound is a call to repentance.  A total of 100 notes are sounded each day with four different patterns of notes that are repeated.  The shofar is not blown when the holiday falls on the Sabbath as part of it does this year.  Another popular observance during Rosh Hashanah is eating apples dipped in honey, a symbol of our wish for a sweet new year.

DePaul Hillel High Holiday services are provided free of charge to DePaul Students, faculty, and staff. However, due to capacity restrictions, you will need to register for a ticket online. Please visit www.HillelsAroundChicago.org for more information, or call 312-673-2357

Erev Rosh Hashanah: Friday September 18th 7:30p.m.
Rosh Hashanah: Saturday September 19th 9:30a.m.   
Kol Nidre: Sunday September 27th 6:30p.m.

Yom Kippur: Monday September 28th 9:30a.m.

Ne'ilah: Monday September 28th 6:30p.m.

 

The Chicago Jazz Festival, a Labor Day weekend tradition, kicks off this Friday, September 4th at Grant Park with headliners Madeleine Peyroux and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The rest of the weekend is packed with live performances in genres from big band to Latin, contemporary, classic, and vocal jazz. Catch local acts like vocalist Dee Alexander, saxophonist Fred Anderson, and the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, as well as artists from all over the U.S. and around the world. Events are free all weekend long through Sunday night's world premier performance of an orchestral piece, "Spiralview," composed by Muhal Richard Abrams.

Check out the full schedule of events, and be sure not miss a performance by our very own DePaul University Jazz Ensemble, led by Bob Lark, on Saturday, September 5th at 3 p.m. on the Young Jazz Lions Stage!

If you can't make the festival this weekend but still want to hear some jazz, consider checking out one of these new albums recently added to our circulating CD collection:

T Time by Stanley Turrentine
Benny Goodman: Yale University Archives, 1955-1986
Round & Round by Lee Konitz
The Hawk Flies High (remastered) by Coleman Hawkins
The New Crystal Silence by Chick Corea and Gary Burton
Nightmoves by Kurt Elling
Appearing Nightly by Carla Bley and her Remarkable Big Band

Summer isn't over yet!  Check out these two free festivals this weekend!

Viva! Chicago Latin Music Festival
Grant Park, Jackson and Columbus
11 am - 9:30 pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Featuring evening performances by Aterciopelados (Saturday) and Javier Garcia (Sunday).
 

Taste of Greece 2009
100-400 Blocks of S. Halsted St.
Noon-11pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Featuring Greek food, music and dancing! 

Each year before the summer winds down and students start thinking about heading back to school, we still have the annual Bud Billiken Day Parade to look forward to!

This year Bud Billiken will celebrate it's 80th anniversary on Saturday, August 8th with a "Salute to President Barack Obama." The parade stretches up 5 miles long and features more than 300 floats, as well as celebrities, politicians, and civic and youth organizations. But the highlight for many parade-goers are the high energy marching bands, twirlers, drum cores, steppers and tumbling groups. With attendance in the millions, the parade is one of the largest African-American community events in the nation.

But if you've ever wondered who's the man behind the Bud Billiken Day parade, here's the story:

In 1923 Robert S. Abbott and Lucius Harper, founder and managing editor of the Chicago Defender, started a club to serve as an outlet for African-American youth on Chicago's South Side. In forming the club's name, Harper combined his own nickname, "Bud," along with the term "Billiken," which he understood to mean a mythical Chinese protector of childen. The club issued membership cards and buttons and proved such a success that its founders also planned a parade and picnic that would give young club members a chance to showcase their talents and spend a day in the spotlight. The first parade was held in 1929 and has been held annually since then on the second Saturday of August. Among the many celebraties to march over the years are Muhammad Ali, Lena Horne, Michael Jordan, L.L. Cool J, Oprah Winfrey, Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and, of course, then-Senator Barack Obama.

This year's Bud Billiken Day Parade steps off from Martin Luther King Drive and 39th Street on Saturday, August 8th at 10 a.m. and is expected to last until at least 3 p.m.  If you can't catch the action in person, tune in to local station WGN-TV for live coverage.

Photo credit: "A Portion of the Bud Billiken Day Parade Along Dr. Martin L King Jr. Drive on Chicago's South Side... 8/1973." The National Archives.

Sources: 

Best, Wallace. "Bud Billiken Day Parade." Encyclopedia of Chicago.

"Bud Billiken at 80." Chicago Tribune. 31 July 2009.

 

It's true that the summer sun is rising a little later and setting a little sooner, but that doesn't mean summer's over.  It just means that movies in the park start a little earlier!  
The Chicago Park District's answer to the drive-in movie, the "Movies in the Parks" program screens more than 170 current and classic movies in neighborhood parks throughout the city.  The program runs from June-September, so there's still time to find a film to enjoy.  Vist www.chicagoparkdistrict.com and search for "movies," for location and titles.

In addition to a night out in your local park, you can enjoy Chicago's Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park!  Films are shown at dusk on a giant screen at the corner of Monroe and Lake Shore Drive every Tuesday night between July 14th and August 25th.  The remaining films:

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (July 28)
• Born Yesterday (Aug. 4)
• Psycho (Aug. 11)
• Young Mr. Lincoln (Aug. 18)
• Tootsie (Aug. 25)

 

Did you know that you can visit the Art Institute, Field Museum or Brookfield Zoo for FREE with a museum passport from the Chicago Public Library? 

Passes for families of up to four people are available for check out from Chicago Public Library branches.  Each library location has a limited number of Passports for each of the 13 museums that participate in the program, and one Museum Passport can be checked out per person, per loan period. The loan period for each Great Kids Museum Passport is one week. Might be just the thing for a rainy summer day.  Or week.

More information and a list of participating museums and institutions is available at http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/kids/grkids_museumpass.php.  (Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a kid to take advantage of this program.)

Looking to get out and about in Chicago this weekend? Why not hop on a bike? This summer, the Ray Meyer Fitness Center has six brand new Cruisers available to rent! Bikes can be rented starting at 9:00am and run $10 for the day.

Here's a little inspiration: the Lakefront has 18 miles of paved bike path, and don't forget about the Cook County Forest Preserve, which has over 100 miles of paved bicycle trails. If you need help getting your bike around the city, you can take your bike on the CTA buses all day, every day, and the CTA trains all day, except during rush hours: http://www.transitchicago.com/riding_cta/bike_and_ride.aspx 

Check out the Campus Recreation site for additional details: http://campusrec.depaul.edu/equipmer/outdoor_br.html 

The Ravinia Festival season is underway with concerts and performances nearly every night of the week through mid-September. One of the oldest outdoor music festivals in America and the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia's season includes classical music, jazz, rock and pop bands, world music, and dance. Performances can be enjoyed from pavilion seating or from the lawn, where the music is broadcast and picnicking is encouraged! Metra helps make getting to Highland Park easier with "Ravinia Special" train schedules and fares.

And the best part is that college students are eligible for free lawn passes to Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts and Martin Theatre events. Just present your current DePaul student ID at the box office on the evening of the performance to receive one free lawn pass. Your student ID will also score you a reserved seat on the night of these performances for only $10, pending availability.

So start packing your picnic basket, and check out Ravinia's season calendar to plan your trip! And for more free concerts this summer, also check out Millennium Park's music schedule, which includes mariachi to opera to reggae.

 

photo provided courtesy of Ravinia Festival

June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, a celebration and recognition of contributions made by LGBT Americans. In 2000, President Bill Clinton first designated the month of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride month, and earlier this month President Barack Obama issued a proclamation to reinstate this designation. 

Along with many other cities around the world, Chicago hosts an annual gay pride parade, PRIDEChicago, which will step off from Belmont and Halsted at 12 p.m. on Sunday, June 28th. This year's parade commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a landmark event in LGBT history that is often cited as the birth of the gay rights movement. In the wake of a routine police raid at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969, a spontaneous and violent resistance by gay clientele spilled out onto the street and resulted in a dozen arrests and injuries. As news of the riot spread, thousands of LGBT people reconvened over the next several nights to demonstrate and protest harassment. The meetings and community discussions that grew out these demonstrations led to the establishment of hundreds of gay and lesbian organizations by the mid-1970s and thousands by the end of that decade.

To learn more about the Stonewall riots and the gay rights movement, check out these books and videos available at the library. Throughout the month, the Lincoln Park campus library will also feature a display of selected new LGBT books on the hallway bulletin board just outside the library.

Sources:
Wasserman, Fred. "Stonewall Riots." LGBT: Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America. 2004.
Kocurek, Carly A. "Stonewall Rebellion." Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice. Accessed from Sage Reference Online on 17 June 2009.

Starting next week, Chicago's Farmers Markets bring more than 70 vendors selling fresh fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers to over 20 neighborhoods throughout the City of Chicago. Markets are held Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday around the city.

DePaul students, faculty and staff are lucky to have several farmer’s markets within walking distance of the Loop and Lincoln Park campuses!

Federal Plaza (in front of the post office at Adams and Dearborn)
Tuesdays, 7 am - 3 pm
Season begins Tuesday, May 12 and runs until October 27, 2009

Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington
Thursdays, 7 am - 3 pm
Season begins Thursday May 14, 2009 and runs until Oct 15, 2009

Lincoln Park Farmers Market
Lincoln Park High School Parking Lot
Armitage Ave. & Orchard St.
Saturdays, 7 am - 2 pm
Season begins May 16, 2009 and runs until  October  31, 2009

Green City Market
Lincoln Park
1799 N. Clark St.
Saturdays, 7 am - 1 pm
Season begins May 16, 2009 and runs until October 31, 2009

More information is available at:
http://www.chicagofarmersmarkets.us/