APRIL 2021 06 NEEDS VS NEEDLES 12 BFA SHOW 2021 ... 07 SAICʼS TIKTOK STAR 14 THE TEA ON NFTS S B the SERVICE BUREAU Follow us for daily updates on Instagram @fnewsmag ROCKS Digital-output center, specializing in laser printing, book-binding, risograph and wide-format printing. @servicebureausaic sites.saic.edu/servicebureau NEWS Infographic: Where Did 4 That $281.5 Million Go? Chicago got millions in COVID relief from the CARES Act. Why did so much of that money go to the police? Aldermen weigh in. by Olivia Canny and Lela Johnson SAIC APRIL Photo Essay: 6 Struggling to Get 7 An SAIC Student’s Va c c i n a t e d Journey to TikTok Stardom My mother’s medical conditions make her a high 2021 From the 162 dorms, to viral sensation, risk for COVID. So why is it so hard for her to get to digging up clay in his backyard. a vaccine? by Darien Ridenour by Aidan Bryant Performance Art 8 On Demand IMPACT, SAIC’s annual performance art festival, turns to a new venue this year: Zoom. ARTS by EJ Kok What Happened to 10 “Godzilla vs. the Art The Spring 2021 World”? 12 BFA Show After the MoCA show’s cancellation, and after the Atlanta shooting, Todd Ayoung of the ENTER- The graduating class of 2021 goes out Godzilla art collective searches for solidarity. in style at the undergraduate exhibition. by J. Livy Li TAINMENT Photographed by Nina Liu No TikToker 16 Is an Island The Gen Z Directory 14 for Cryptoart A look at the creators on TikTok making a difference for mental health around the world. With NFTs and cryptoart in the news, by Ishani Synghal SAIC students and artists weigh in. LIT by Monica Gong Dear Sports Fans: 18 Let’s Be Heard Pandemic Collection: Commentary: It’s time for a new era 19 It’s OK To Run the of the sports fan. Dishwasher Twice by Katherine E. Pitré How the pandemic made me re-examine the rules that dictate my life. by Erica Franchino COMICS Tales from the With contributions by: Zeinab Ajasa, 20 Exercise Bed 22 Teddie Bernard, Wayne Degen, Eric J. Garcia, Emma B. Rosengarten, Chayse Walker. The disability bed that baptized my imagination and made me into a storyteller. by Ben Kim Paplham NON Art Director Jade Sheng Staff Designers Cortney Anderson, Justine Guzman, Yajurvi Haritwal, Lela Johnson, Chanina Katz Comics Editor Zeinab Ajasa Infographics Editor Lela Johnson FUNGIBLE Managing Editor Leo Smith Design Advisor Michael Miner Editorial Advisor Paul Elitzik Engagement & Ad Editor Mimi Ozormoor Webmaster Ilai Gilbert PIGEONS Arts Editor J. Livy Li Entertainment Editor Ben Kim Paplham Lit Editor Ishani Synghal News & Podcast Editor Olivia Canny SAIC Editor EJ Kok Staff Writers Hayley Mackenzie Bain, Zephanie Battle, Monica Gong F Newsmagazine is a journal of arts, culture, and politics, edited and designed by students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The print edition is published monthly, and articles are published weekly on our website, fnewsmagazine.com. 4 NEWS F NEWSMAGAZINE APRIL Category of need Funding Area Domestic violence hotline Foreclosure legal assistance Human services Behavioral Health Services Small business relief funds and housing Housing for people living with AIDS ACT/CST Services assistance funds Food assistance Suicide Prevention compared to funds allocated to the CPD. Broadband internet access Mental Health Workers Workforce assistance/training Community Connections Outreach programs Mortgage Assistance Mental Health Auburn Gresham Community Health Hub Senior assistance Outpatient Mental Health Services Healthcare Infrastructure North Lawndale Care Center Housing assistance Rental Assistance Small business relief 45.7% Discretionary1 $516,850,000 Homeless services Funds spent on FEMA Public Assistance Match Chicagoʼs Police Department Public health response Homeless services 55% of all discretionary funds Potential resurgence 33% of entire 2021 police budget Midway Airport Airport assistance Contact tracing, laboratory testing 54.3% Non-discretionary2 $613,874,000 O'Hare Airport COVID-19 Direct Response Direct COVID 19 response Wellness checks, as the cityʼs Budget Director describes them, involve CPD officers assigned to community policing roles performing regular check-ins with 1Government funding that allows for 2Essential government funding with residents to monitor their well-being. more flexibility in its distribution rigid guidelines for distribution Where Did That $281.5 Million Go? Chicago got millions in COVID relief from the CARES Act. Why did so much of that money go to the police? Aldermen weigh in. by Olivia Canny and Lela Johnson INFOGRAPHIC BY LELA JOHNSON 2021 F NEWSMAGAZINE NEWS 5 Category of need Funding Area Domestic violence hotline Foreclosure legal assistance Human services Behavioral Health Services Small business relief funds and housing Housing for people living with AIDS ACT/CST Services assistance funds Food assistance Suicide Prevention compared to funds allocated to the CPD. Broadband internet access Mental Health Workers Workforce assistance/training Community Connections Outreach programs Mortgage Assistance Mental Health Auburn Gresham Community Health Hub Senior assistance Outpatient Mental Health Services Healthcare Infrastructure North Lawndale Care Center Housing assistance Rental Assistance I’m just having a very hard time Small business relief understanding how the coronavirus 45.7% Discretionary1 relief fund went to fund essentially $516,850,000 Homeless services “CPD personnel expenses. I would have thought it went to the Chicago Funds spent on Department of Public Health for FEMA Public Assistance Match direct support there. Chicagoʼs Police —Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22), Feb. 19 Committee on Department Public health response Homeless services Budget and Government Operations meeting 55% of all discretionary funds Potential resurgence 33% of entire 2021 Other cities have made other choices when it comes police budget particularly to personnel costs. We’ve seen other cit- Midway Airport ies that are a fraction [of] the size of Chicago spend a lot more money on different types of support pro- grams for residents in need during this crisis. —Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Feb. 19 Committee on Budget and Government Operations meeting Airport assistance Contact tracing, laboratory testing I’m sure most of us drove by McCormick Place when the facility was being remodeled to accommodate 54.3% Non-discretionary2 patients. I think most of us have neighbors that might be in need of wellness checks. I’d be hard pressed to $613,874,000 understand how wellness checks could account for hundreds of millions of dollars. —Ald. Edward M. Burke (14), Feb. 19 Committee on O'Hare Airport Budget and Government Operations meeting Across the city we see the disproportionate effect that this pandemic has had on Black and brown commu- COVID-19 Direct Response nities. Over 5,000 Black and brown residents in the Black majority have died. We have serious suffering in our communities — over 750 murders last year. And with all those tragedies, mainly affecting the most vulnerable, I truly think it was a slap in the face to our communities to see $280 million dollars go to the Chicago police department. Direct COVID 19 response —Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25), Feb. 26 City Council meeting Wellness checks, as the cityʼs Budget Director describes them, involve CPD officers assigned to community policing roles performing regular check-ins with 1Government funding that allows for 2Essential government funding with residents to monitor their well-being. more flexibility in its distribution rigid guidelines for distribution ” Of the $1.2 billion in federal funding that Chicago received in June 2020 Government Operations meeting on Feb. 19 and from The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), the City Council meeting on Feb. 26, which saw the Where Did That finalized approval to appropriate the $281.5 million to the city was allowed $470 million to use for discretionary expenses the CPD despite staunch opposition from several of incurred during the pandemic; 60 percent of these funds went to Chicago’s aldermen. personnel expenses for the Chicago Police Department (CPD). In Chicago and almost everywhere else, COVID-19 $281.5 Million Go? has proven to exacerbate disparities in health and resources which existed long before the pandemic, and which will almost certainly persist after its de- When this fact came to light in February 2021, it was assistance, contact tracing, homeless services, etc. cline. That said, it’s important to consider how these met with outcry not only from the public, but from The $281.5 million in discretionary funds that CPD disparities came to be and what stands in the way a handful of the 50 elected members of Chicago’s received was not accompanied by precise data in of diminishing them, now. In the statements above City Council. terms of where it went and how it was distributed, from Chicago aldermen about CPD’s $281.5 million of We’ve broken down the city’s distribution of its and that’s one of the main criticisms that aldermen CARES funding, there’s a question of whether the city’s CARES funding into various areas of need: rental brought to both the Committee on Budget and financial priorities match the needs of its residents. Lela Johnson (VCD MFA 2022) is the infographics ed- itor at F Newsmagazine. She forgets the rest. // Olivia Canny (MANAJ 2021) is the News and Podcast Editor at F. She likes taking long walks on Google Street View. 6 NEWS F NEWSMAGAZINE APRIL Struggling to Get Vaccinated My mother’s medical conditions make her a high risk for COVID. So why is it so hard for her to get a vaccine? by Aidan Bryant “ I lost an appointment because I can’t get vaccinated at pharmacies in New York. I almost lost another appointment due to a glitch in the system.