For the next eight days, The Chicago Humanities Festival is going to fill sites around town with over 70 lectures and talks about this year's theme, laughter. Got a current student ID? You get in free!
Jimmie Dale Gilmore likes to tell a story about when "After Awhile" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album. That categorization shocked him at the time, until he had the realization that folk just means "all of us." Humanities is just the smarty pants academic way of saying the same thing. This festival is about and for all of us folks.
Last night's talk at UIC with Linda Barry and Matt Groening, who are both also speaking elsewhere this week, enlightened me in a few unanticipated ways. I hope for the same from the other events, which include talks and/or performances by Dick Gregory, Chris Ware, Robert Reich, Harold Ramis, Jules Feiffer, and Don Byron. Lectures on laughter and Romans, Jews, Lenny Bruce, subversion, writing, insects, Keaton and Wittgenstein, and the Not So Funny Situation of Alternative Comics. Seats are even still available for the 50th Anniversary of Second City performance on Saturday night featuring unspecified "accomplished Chicago actors."
See you there.
See you there.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Be nice!