☀️ The perfect Sunday along the lake

Enjoy your summer, Chicago. [READER]( The Daily Reader August 1, 2023 Walking along the lakefront on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, my wife and I came upon a pool party in the lake. Dozens of people frolicking in the waters. One guy did a backflip off the walkway. Three women held hands and squealed as they jumped in. And dozens of people floated about in pink floaties. There was a man on the walkway selling floaties and people were lined up to buy them. The signs painted on the walkway clearly stated no swimming. So everyone was breaking the law. Except perhaps the man selling the floaties? I don’t think there’s anything illegal about that. There was also a woman in her floatie, bobbing on the water, smoking a joint. Yes, I know reefer is legal. But smoking outside? Pretty sure there’s a law against that. Not that we cared. My wife took it all in and joked, “We’re going to hell in a handbasket.” Thank goodness Paul Vallas was nowhere to be found. He’d call the police, then write an outraged editorial for the Tribune. Exactly where on the lakefront was this illicit behavior occurring? Sorry, not going to tell you. I worry that if the powers that be knew about it, they’d shut it down. And everyone was having just too much fun for it to be shut down. I realize what I just wrote sounds paranoid. It’s a paranoia left over from the Mayor Daley years. When one flack or another would try to shut me down for writing all those critical columns about Daley. Back then Reader readers would joke, “Keep writing this nasty stuff about the mayor, Ben, and you’ll end up at the bottom of the lake!” (I’m pretty sure they were joking.) Over time, I developed a paranoia that if I mentioned something I’d like, Daley’s guys would shut it down. Just to spite me. So I never mentioned Chicago SummerDance, for instance. That’s this [groovy dance party]( the city sponsors. Used to be on Friday and Saturday nights in Grant Park. They’d bring in a dance instructor to give lessons for the style of music they’d be playing that day. After an hour or so of lessons, a band would come on and we’d dance until sunset. You’d have people from all over the city dancing up a storm to whatever music was playing. As far as I’m concerned, SummerDance was the best thing that came out of the Daley years. That and Millennium Park. Though I’m pretty sure that Mayor Daley would never close Millennium Park, no matter how much I said I enjoyed it. Back to Sunday along the lake. I could have sat there for hours. It was one of those lovely summer days that made me glad to live in Chicago. For the record, I will neither confirm nor deny that we too jumped in the lake. Just in case Mayor Daley is reading. Enjoy your summer, Chicago. 🎙Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 [What Ben's Reading] [The Man In the Corduroy Suit]( by James Wolff. A great suspense novel about a British secret agent who asks too many questions for his own good. Had me up to all hours of the night. Brian Mier: “[Lessons from Harold and Rob]( Ben Joravsky: “[The lost Harold Washington files]( [Best of the Ben J. Show]( Chicago Sun-Times editorial board member [Rummana Hussain]( with an ode to Sinead O’Connor WCPT’s Think Theory Radio host [Damien Perdue]( on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon and Oppenheimer Journalist [Monroe Anderson]( on Emmett Till’s legacy [Review: The Beanie Bubble]( A talented cast goes to waste in this charmless origin story. by [John Wilmes]( | [R]( → [Review: Theater Camp]( This comedy captures the joy and obsessiveness of theater kids and adults alike. by [Brianna Wellen]( | [R]( → [The future according to Derrick Woods-Morrow]( The SAIC graduate stages his first major solo show at Gallery 400. by [Kerry Cardoza]( | [Read here]( → [No country for old men]( Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land hits differently post-Brexit. by [Kerry Reid]( | [Read here]( → CHEW ON THIS! [SIGN UP FOR FOOD & DRINK]( [Issue of July 27 – Aug. 9, 2023 Vol. 52, No. 21]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE [PDF]]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2023 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616