Thanksgiving in NC

The W's are now in Durham! With lots of space for teenagers! And lots of space for pie and turkey, oh my! We went to the Duke v. Carolina football game, saw Twilight, and visited with Mr. and Ms B and Mr. and Ms. L and their families in Raleigh.

Brothers Karamozov at Lookingglass

Ambitious, but not our most favorite thing we've seen at Lookingglass.

The Dean at the Women's Board

Post election, my Dean was at the Arts Club, talking to the University of Chicago Women's Board.

Kafka on the Shore

From Chris Jones's review in the Tribune:

"In dreams begin responsibilities," observes the hero of Kafka on the Shore, Frank Galati's inestimably cerebral, endlessly complicated, occasionally incomprehensible and quite beguiling new show at the Steppenwolf.

What a terrifying thought! In our world of personal overextension and professional crisis, falling asleep for a few hours is the only chance we get to actually evade responsibility. Now Steppenwolf is telling us that we're on the hook for our dreams? Oy.

But if you know your Freud, Oedipus and Hamlet, you'll know the centrality of the unconscious. Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami (on whose novel the play is based) argues that our dreams must be the moral template for our actions.

If you think hard about it—this show requires you to think hard about everything—that's a timely and potent political observation. Throughout history, plenty of people have claimed to have been innocently asleep while, say, one of their leaders bombed innocent people or looted the treasury. Murakami argues that dreaming ain't no defense.

Kafka on the Shore, which contains multiple, elliptical narratives and includes wild, supernatural characters like Colonel Sanders, Johnnie Walker and a talking cat, is about far more than the division of conscious and subconscious. Little is achieved by arbitrary summation of plot, because the piece has many and they don't all follow through."

Portland

A work trip, but Ms S came along and we had a great time. Saw the Turner clan, on Mr. J's advice ate fabulously well, saw Reggie Miller at our hotel.

Election Night

I will admit, we didn't go to Grant Park. I checked in on a bit of my Dean's elections class, then came home and we fired up the TV and multiple political web sites. A great night.

Ms. L in town

Ms. S's sister was in town. We saw the Halloween parade, took in "Six Years" at the New Leaf Theatre in Lincoln Park, and went to the green building show at the Museum of Science and Industry.




















And posed in the park...

Amadeus and Tricia

Double bill day.

Amadeus at Chicago Shakes and Tricia Brown at the Dance Center.

Dinner with Mr. N

I had dinner with an old college friend, Mr. New, who is hanging out (and hanging in there) in the hedge fund world.

Opera Dinner with the Kiwis

We had a fun dinner with friends on the occasion of family and friends of Ms. MNM visiting from Australia. Apparently, I look like an Aussie TV personality.

Dinner with Tricia Brown

We had a lovely dinner with the choreographer Tricia Brown who was in town for her company's performance at the Dance Center















"On the program at The Dance Center is PRESENT TENSE (2003), featuring breathtaking lifts and raucous partnering that is distinctly Trisha Brown. Foray Forêt (1990) is a collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg in which dancers leap into the air, nearly colliding with one another in a breathtaking sequence dubbed “turnstile,” featuring live accompaniment by a local marching band playing outside the theatre walls. Also on the program is If you couldn’t see me (1994), a haunting and seductive solo, and Accumulation (1971), a study of gestural repetition."

Edward II at Chicago Shakespeare

From Time Out Chicago's review:

"Marlowe’s the only playwright listed in the program. But even casual observers of Chicago theater know that when the director is Graney, an “adapted by” credit is implied. Graney’s textual tweaks have been a Hypocrites hallmark for years, though some of his trials have lacked clarity of purpose. But his bold cutting of Marlowe’s tale of Edward’s tumultuous reign and eventual downfall shows us that the director’s messing around has been building to something. The muscular result is a stunning achievement.

Graney stages the action in the “promenade” style he’s experimented with in such Hypocrites productions as Mud and Miss Julie. Yet Todd Rosenthal’s smartly gritty set allows a geographical fluidity that ensures the audience is part of the action rather than simply wandering observers, making Edward II feel deliciously dangerous."

Work Trip to DC

Not my usual territory, but did a quick trip to DC for work.

Nobel Prize Day: Krugman

Got up early, just in case, but this year's Nobel Prize in Economics went to the New York Times's Paul Krugman.

Hyde Park Day

We spend the day in Hyde Park. First for Chicago Humanities Festival lectures by Gary Becker and Ian Foster and then wen to Caroline or Change at the Court.