This last weekend in June, not only will we be topping off our Pride Month celebrations, but we’ll also be celebrating the “official” start of the summer season!

It’s all about celebrating Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community when Pride in the Park returns to Grant Park’s Butler Field (South Lake Shore Dr. and East Monroe St.) in The Loop this Saturday (3 p.m.-10 p.m.) for its third festive year.  This annual outdoor music festival will feature a non-stop lineup of top national and local music headliners along with an impressive DJ roster who will have everyone dancing.  Plus, there will be plenty of fantastic food, artists, merchandise vendors, and more to make this festival the perfect party!

Navy Pier’s annual full-day celebration of LGBTQ+ culture is back with Navy Pier Pride this Saturday (11 a.m.-11 p.m.) in the Streeterville neighborhood (600 E. Grand Ave.).  This free event celebrates diversity, inclusivity, and support for the LGBTQ+ community with festivities that include live music, performances from local LGBTQ+ artists, educational programs, on-site resources from community partners, and more!

Boat owners are invited to decorate their boat in Pride Colors and partake this Saturday in Pride Flotilla (weather permitting).  A pre-parade circle will begin north of the Playpen at 12:30 p.m. with the parade commencing at 1:00 p.m. and then proceeding North along the coast to Kathy Osterman Beach.  Those of us without a boat can soak in the colorful action at either Ohio Street, Oak Street, or North Avenue Beaches!

Celebrating all different kinds of love, Chicago’s Pride Bar Crawl takes place Saturday (12 p.m.-6 p.m.) at some of Wrigleyville’s best bars.  As usual, tickets include admission to all participating bars, a free brunch buffet, gift cards to be used on the crawl, giveaways, and more!  It’s a party for everyone and not to be missed!!

Last by not least, the Chicago Pride Parade returns to the streets of the Uptown and Lakeview neighborhoods this Sunday.  The parade features 150 registered entries which includes floats, performance groups, a marching band, decorated vehicles, and walking contingents.  The parade will step off at 12:00 p.m. at the corner of Montrose and Broadway as spectators gather along the parade’s usual route.  You may want to stake out your spot early along the route as this parade can attract over one million attendees!

The Logan Square Arts Festival will be kicking off the first official weekend of the summer on Saturday and Sunday (12 p.m.-10 p.m.) at 3150 W. Logan Boulevard at Kedzie and Milwaukee Avenues in the Logan Square neighborhood.  This event is a celebration of the art, music, and culture reflecting the diversity and vitality of this neighborhood.  Once again, stages, tents, and food trucks will spring up around the Illinois Centennial Monument with artists of varying disciplines, a great line-up of music, local craft vendors, food, and beer!

Chicago’s Dragon Boat Race for Literacy takes place this Saturday (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) at the Ping Tom Memorial Park (300 W. 19^th St.) in Chinatown.  This event is a family-fun activity featuring a lion dance opening ceremony, dragon boat races, cultural performances, exhibition booths, and kids’ activities promoting Asian culture and helping the neighborhood literacy programs!

Sue Moss and Dean’s Team Chicago

Chicago’s 53^rd Annual Pride Parade steps off at Broadway and Montrose noon this Sunday, June 25, with a four-mile procession through Northalsted, Uptown, Lakeview, and Lincoln Park. 

You may be asking yourself… where to eat before the parade? Dean’s Team Chicago has a suggestion…at Rewired Pizza Café and Bar in Edgewater. 

This month, their special Pride menu is filled with rainbow-hued ‘gay deviled eggs,’ rainbow cake, Gay IPA from local brewery Marz, and Rewired’s signature Pride lattes with edible glitter. 

During week, their pizzas take top spot. Made from scratch, with crispy dough that’s been tossed by hand, they have personal size & sharing size pizzas are available for dine-in and takeout – or get a slice to go!

Also, try their most unusual coffees, available all day and including Banana Bread Latte, with house made “banana bread syrup” with espresso & milk. Baezilla Latte, their signature coffee, is prepared with house-made basil syrup, white chocolate, cinnamon, espresso, and milk. Or, your can combine coffee with cereal and milk by adding Cheerios or Fruity Pebbles. (What…no Count Chocula?) 

Over the weekends, Pride Month and beyond, Rewiredhosts a Showtunes Sunday Brunch, from 10am-3pm. 

No need to be fancy, either. They invite you to “Just roll out of bed and stroll into Rewired for our bottomless mimosa Pajama Brunch party!” 

Saturdays at brunch, you can enjoy your favorite old school cartoons. 

Whimsically named dishes are their tune. You and your kids will enjoy such favorites as Oh What A Beautiful Breakfast, featuring two eggs your way, your choice of bacon, sausage, or ham, breakfast potatoes and sourdough toast. Or The Pancakes Lola Wants, with fresh berries, powdered sugar, and real maple syrup. And if you dare… Mrs. Lovett’s Quiche, with a different selection daily. Sweeney Todd would be proud! With these selections, ala carte sides sound promising, with Kinky Fruit and West Side Side Salad. 

Google reviewers love this spot:

”I searched for “kid friendly with wine” and this place did not disappoint. Food and service were A+ most wine is by the bottle though. Be ready if you order a slice. They are huge! If I am ever in the neighborhood again I will definitely be back. Highly recommend a 10” pizza for a kid.”

“Love this place it’s great! The atmosphere is so friendly and open, it’s such a great neighborhood spot to go have a drink or a slice of pizza or a coffee! I love the pet friendly patio area and so does my dog Evee! They always give her a cute little puppy party snack 😋 the daily specials are fabulous and I love that they do a date night three course meal with music!”

Rewired Pizza Café and Bar is located at 1100 W. Thorndale Avenue. Their hours are Monday-Saturday, 10am–1pm and Sun: 10am–3pm. For information and reservations, click here. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago

No matter how amazing and comfortable the rest of your home may be, there’s something about the kitchen that has everyone congregating to it. No doubt, your kitchen is the hardest working space your home, and should be designed to help make it as efficient as possible. And considering how much of an effect the kitchen has on the overall value of your property, you’d be well advised to make sure its design and style are carefully considered.

After flipping through countless home interior magazines and navigating through Houzz and Pinterest, you’ve probably got a solid idea of what you want your new kitchen to look like. But before you start the process, you’ve got to have a detailed plan in place, which includes things that need to be done, as well as things that you absolutely must avoid.

Here are a few kitchen design mistakes to steer clear of.

1. Not Planning For Adequate Storage Space

Unless you plan on leaving all your pots, pans, dishes and glassware on the counter (which you shouldn’t), you’re going to need to seriously think about adding enough storage to keep all of your kitchen belongings out of sight. And don’t forget about your dry foods and knickknacks that will also need to have a home. Whether your storage takes the form of extras drawers, pantries, or cabinets, you need to be certain that it is adequate enough to tuck everything neatly without having to cram everything into a tight space.

2. Not Including Enough Counter Space

The amount of space that you’ve got on your countertops is equally as important as your storage space. After all, it’s where you’ll be prepping your meals and housing small appliances like your blender, toaster, and coffee machine. And don’ forget about any decorative elements that you may want to have out on your counter to boost the style factor of the room. Without adequate space on your countertops, you’ll find your kitchen will become cluttered really quickly and easily.

3. Skimping on Lighting

If you want to clearly see what you’re doing as you’re preparing dinner, you’re going to need excellent lighting in the kitchen. But many homeowners skimp on lighting in this space for some reason, and often leave it to one solitary central light fixture to provide the lighting needed. Instead, the lighting in your kitchen should be varied, and include both task lighting and fixtures meant specifically for creating ambience.

Consider illuminating the overall space with pot lights, and install pendant lights over your kitchen island. You may also want to install undercabinet lighting to illuminate your counter as you handle food, and hang a chandelier over the dinner table. Layering your lighting in this fashion can provide with both the right amount of lighting needed to whip up your famous dish, while giving you the flexibility to create a specific atmosphere in the space.

4. Lacking Proper Ventilation

All those fumes from your boiled eggs or grilled salmon have to go somewhere, or else you’ll be left with unpleasant smells that will linger for hours. Not only that, but if you have a gas stove, these fumes can go from unpleasant to downright dangerous. That’s where proper ventilation comes into play, which is a critical component to consider in the planning stages of a kitchen design. Not only will an adequate ventilation system help keep the air in your kitchen fresh, it’ll also help to lengthen the lifespan of your appliances. 

5. Forgetting About the ‘Kitchen Triangle’

It would be pretty awkward and annoying to have to dodge obstacles to bring food items from your fridge to your stovetop. That’s why the kitchen triangle should always be kept in check during a kitchen design. This layout basically links the three most used areas of the kitchen: the stove, fridge, and sink.

Out of all these components, the sink, in particular, is most often used, and should have direct access to both the fridge and stove. Tight walkways, cabinet doors that swing open the wrong way, and improperly situated islands can mess this system up big time. Straying from the kitchen triangle too much can make the room must less efficient.

6. Misjudging the Island

Having an island in the kitchen can offer you additional counter space and an added spot to eat and hang out. But your kitchen’s size and layout will dictate the size and location of an island, as well as whether or not one can even effectively exist. The kitchen is a working space, so anything that gets in the way of functional flow will just cause problems.

If the island is too big, or is not located in an ideal spot, you’ll cut off proper flow in and around the space. Ideally, there should be between 42 and 48 inches of open area surrounding kitchen islands. For it to be of any use, the island should be at least three by five feet in dimension, and your kitchen should be a minimum of 13 feet wide.

7. Going Too Trendy

Unless you’re planning on revamping your kitchen every few years, you’d be better off sticking to a design that’s not overly trendy. While you still want to be modern and innovative, you also don’t want to be so quirky that the appeal of your kitchen will wear off you in the near future.

Rose Quartz and Serenity might be Pantone’s choice of colors of the year, but how long these pastel hues stay on trend in the next few years is up for debate. No one says you can’t be bold in your color choices, but just be sure to use them in non-permanent ways, such as with your towels or decorative accessories.

And when it comes to kitchen design, carefully consider the styles you choose for your trim, cabinet materials, finishes, countertops, and flooring. You might think you’re certain that the latest out-there trends will tickle your fancy for the long-term, but you never know when your tastes will change, or if you ever plan on selling your home in the near future to buyers that may not necessarily have the same tastes.

8. Forgetting About the Trash

Your kitchen design can be sleek and impressive, but the look of this space can easily be thrown off with the presence of a trash can. Nothing is more off-putting than the sight of garbage, so be sure that you consider a spot where you garbage bin can be tucked away in a spot that’s easy to access.

Not only is the spot for a trash can up for consideration, so is a bin for your recyclables. One modern way that interior designers and homeowners are tackling this issue is by installing a dual cabinet pull-out that features one bin for the trash, and another for the recyclables. This offers easier access, rather than having to reach under the cabinet and hoping that your toss made the bin. 

9. Not Including Enough Electrical Outlets

Think about all the little appliances that you’ll be using in the kitchen at various stations. From your toaster, to the cake mixer, to the blender, all these items need an outlet to be plugged into. And what about your smartphone and tablet? Odds are the kitchen counter will be the place to recharge these gadgets. For that reason, make sure you’ve installed enough outlets to accommodate all the things that will need to be plugged in.

Spending the time considering all these factors in the planning stages can help save you plenty of hassles after the fact. Make sure you’ve considered all the components that go into making a kitchen great, and avoid all these mistakes that can wreak havoc on your kitchen design.

While the Art Institute of Chicago houses the works of art masters through the centuries, one museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Avenue, is one of the largest museums in the world displaying the works of contemporary masters. 

Take, for example, their latest exhibition, Gary Simmons: Public Enemy,which opened Tuesday and runs through October 1. Just in time for Juneteenth, in this exhibit, Simmons exposes and analyzes histories of racism inscribed in US visual culture, and is the first comprehensive career survey of his work. As the website states, it’s not the first time he has explored such topics. Over the course of his 35-year career, Simmons has revealed traces of these histories in the fields of sports, cinema, literature, music, and architecture and urbanism, while drawing heavily on popular genres such as hip-hop, horror, and science fiction. 

In a recent interview with Vocalo, explaining his motivation to the Los Angeles Times, Simmons shared, “I started to think about the cartoons that parents would sit you down in front of then walk away, almost letting the television babysit you. I was looking at Dumbo. 

The crows had this prominent role in teaching Dumbo how to fly, but they were highly racialized and very stereotypical. I talked to a cross-section of different people about their memories of Dumbo and I realized that the memories kind of broke down along racial lines. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is very interesting that people that look like me remember the racialized racist images and white folks didn’t.”

A Brief History of MCA Chicago 

MCA Chicagoopened in fall 1967 in a small space at 237 East Ontario Street that had served as the corporate offices of Playboy Enterprises, according to Wikipedia sources.Initially, the museum was conceived primarily as a space for temporary exhibitions, in the German kunsthalle model. 

However, in 1974, the museum began acquiring a permanent collection of contemporary art objects created after 1945, hosting several notable debut exhibitions, including Frida Kahlo’s first U.S. exhibition and Jeff Koons’first solo museum exhibition. Koons later presented an exhibit at the museum that broke the museum’s attendance record. The current record for the most-attended exhibition is the 2017 exhibition of Takashi Murakami.

 Other modern collections at the museum include the works of Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and Kara Walker, and encompassing a wide variety of mediums: late surrealism, pop art, minimalism, and conceptual art; contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and related media.

Today: A Cornucopia of Arts

MCA Chicago also presents dance, theater, music, and multidisciplinary arts. On Tuesdays at the Terrace, when MCA is open late and admission is free for Illinois residents, they host free concerts highlighting Chicago artists on their outdoor terrace, paying tribute to jazz, blues, and soul, among others. 

A Juneteenth Celebration at MCA! 

Juneteenth marks the day all enslaved people were ensured to be freed. On Friday, June 16 from 5pm-9pm, MCA is hosting its Third Annual Juneteenth Freedom Market.  As Choose Chicago says, the market includes over 50 local Black-owned businesses participating, and entertainment from the renowned 40+ Double Dutch Club, an open art studio experience + complimentary sample wine tastings with Chicago’s Raspy Rivera X Michael Lavelle. 

MCA Chicago is open Tuesdays from 10am-9pm, and Wednesday-Sunday 10 am–5pm. They are closed on Mondays. For tickets and information, click here.

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago

Even the most intelligent among us dread the inevitable social situation when we must engage in small talk. Unfortunately for them, we all need to engage with strangers or people we don’t know well. Here are a few ways to navigate this or even enjoy it!

One way is to reframe the situation. Think about it as something like a treasure hunt. You never know just how interesting that person standing next to you in the buffet line really is! Who knows what life experiences or cool information they have to share, and where the conversation could lead?

You can start small.Start out with a general talk about the weather, careful not to drag it out for longer than a few minutes. Then, slowly go further to try and get a little more personal. If you ask a co-worker how their weekend was, they might say they went to a concert. Instead of just saying that’s great, ask what the best part of it was. People love to give their opinions and it’s a great way to get to know someone!

Complementing or commenting on their appearance can also be an ice breaker and give insight into that person. But be careful not to sound creepy! Saying someone has beautiful eyes could make them feel uncomfortable, but commenting on an unusual piece of jewelry shows interest. Complementing a tattoo will often lead to an interesting story. 

Try to steer clear of landmine subjects like politics and religion. Even asking someone if they are married or have children can seem intrusive. Inquiring about someone’s work status can be tricky too. Instead, ask what the person does in their off time. This will likely lead to a much more relaxed conversation!

Remember, conversation is a two-way street. Answer generously when you are asked a question. One-word answers are not acceptable. Be an active player. When asked how you are, you can say I’m great and then add why. Perhaps you are trying a new workout you love, or reading a great book, or watching a new series. 

Above all, go into these everyday small talk situations with an open mind. You just might have a good time!

Kathleen Weaver-Zech and Dean’s Team Chicago