SOAPBOX JUDGES contributors were Industrial Workers of the World labor union members whose radical views and acerbic ADA CHENG is a professor-turned-storyteller, wit made them perennial crowd favorites. During the Moth StorySLAM winner, National Storytelling park’s heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, thousands Conference presenter, and the 2017 Dill Pickle of people gathered there on summer evenings to hear Award winner. speakers debate the vital issues of the day, while busloads of tourists looked on. However, the crackdown SAMEENA MUSTAFA has managed a on socialists and communists that followed World Planned Parenthood clinic, worked as a tenant War II led to Bughouse Square’s decline, and, by the advocate, and created a political comedy mid-1960s, its free-speech culture had all but ceased to collective. She recently ran a 100% grassroots- exist. It was only in 1986 that the Newberry decided funded campaign for US Congress in Illinois’s to work with community activists to revive the spirit 5th District. of the park by organizing the first Bughouse Square ELIZABETH TANDY SHERMER is Debates. an associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago. ABOUT THE DILL PICKLE AWARD The Dill Pickle Award honors the year’s champion ENVIRONMENTAL ENCROACHMENT soapbox orator and commemorates the Dill MARCHING BAND (sometimes spelled Dil) Pickle Club, founded by Chicago brass band and performance art group labor activist and Bughouse soapboxer Jack Jones in Environmental Encroachment (EE) uses 1914 to provide an indoor forum for free expression. mobility, costumes, and antics to create unique By 1917, the Dill Pickle had relocated to a space entertainment environments. EE’s mission at 22 Tooker Place, just around the corner from is to create playgrounds for the body and Bughouse Square and the Newberry. Picklers mind through dance, music, and art. Visit attended lectures, plays, dances, concerts, and (of www.encroach.net for more information. course) did plenty of talking and debating. Carl Sandburg, Clarence Darrow, Maxwell Bodenheim, GENESIS ACADEMY SUMMER INSTITUTE Lucy Parsons, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, The Genesis Academy Summer Institute brings Sherwood Anderson, and Ben Reitman were just a together pre-university Chicago students, ages 15-19, few of the literary, political, and social luminaries and youth from conflict and post-conflict zones around who regularly attended. The club closed in 1933. the world. The students meet with thought leaders, activists, and artists and participate in an array of BUGHOUSE SQUARE DEBATES COMMITTEE experiential learning opportunities and field studies The Newberry Library thanks the Bughouse Square in order to examine those forces that play a part in Debates Committee for organizing this year’s perpetuating conflict and preventing it. event. The committee includes Karen Christianson, Elizabeth Cummings, Paul Durica, Will Hansen, SOCIETY OF SMALLNESS Marcos Herrera, Cate Harriman, Mary Kennedy, The Society of Smallness is a collective of enthusiasts of Tony Macaluso, Erin Sulla, Alex Teller, Jamie all ages and backgrounds who explore the potential for Waters, Georgina Valverde, and Karen Williams. small actions to generate creative opportunities. HECKLING ABOUT BUGHOUSE SQUARE Responding to speakers is a Bughouse Square Bughouse Square, as Washington Square Park has tradition, and interaction is part of the fun. Please historically been known, was Chicago’s most boisterous keep it civil and friendly. and radical free-speech space during the first half of the twentieth century. Bohemians, socialists, atheists, #BUGHOUSE2018 and religionists of all persuasions mounted soapboxes, Want to supplement your heckling with some online spoke to vocal crowds, and competed for attention commentary? Share your thoughts and opinions with and donations. For many years, the square’s core us on social media. SOAPBOX SPEECHES SPEAKER OF TRUTH YOUTH PICKLE AWARDS TOM TRESSER is a civic educator, public BUGHOUSE SQUARE DEBATES defender, organizer, and “NO”-sayer to plans that SOAPBOX 1 Awards will be presented to Edie Canter, Executive Director rip off the public and enrich the clouted few. of the Chicago Debate Commission, and Lisa Madigan, Noon – MUSIC by Environmental Encroachment 2:30 pm – Andy Olcott, “The 2nd Amendment Has Illinois Attorney General. JUSTIN TUCKER is a libertarian activist living Been Hijacked” in Chicago. 1:00 pm – WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO BUGHOUSE SQUARE by Rick Kogan, journalist, radio 2:40 pm – Rosetta McGee, “Don’t Be Afraid” AFTER THE SOAPBOX SPEECHES host, and longtime Bughouse advocate 2:50 pm – Tom Tresser, “F**k Off, Amazon!” YOUTH SOAPBOX SPEAKERS –  by National Youth Poet 1:10 pm – PRESENTATION OF THE 2018 JOHN PETER 3:00 pm – Geoffrey Cubbage, “The Dirtiest Election in 3:30 pm PERFORMANCE LUCIA BENNETT will speak on why solitary Laureate Patricia Frazier ALTGELD FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWARD Cook County: Where Politics and Sewage Intersect” confinement is an LGBTQ issue. She believes that Recipient: President Robert Zimmer, on behalf of the 3:45 pm – PRESENTATION OF DILL PICKLE AWARD prison is unsafe for anyone but that LGBTQ people 3:10 pm – June Berveiler, “Libraries Are Still for are especially at risk. University of Chicago. David Spadafora, President of the Reading” FOR BEST SPEECH Newberry, and Karen Christianson, Director of Public KATRINA BURLET is the founder and 3:20 pm – S. Montgomery Priz, “The Republic Has director of the Justice Debate League, a non-profit Engagement, will present the award. Failed, and Only the Queen of England Can Save Us” organization that coaches debate teams in prisons. SOAPBOX SPEAKERS We recognize the University of Chicago, represented ALEXSANDRA GOMEZ is a student at McGill by President Robert Zimmer, for the crafting of a JUNE BERVEILER holds music and German University. She believes that we must actively statement by its Committee on Freedom of Expres- SOAPBOX 2 degrees from the University of Kansas and the confront environmental justice problems in sion, which articulates “the University’s overarch- 2:30 pm – Joseph Kopsick, “Janus Decision Reveals University of Mississippi and now serves as a supply marginalized communities. ing commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited organist at churches around Chicago. Two-Faced Nature of Collective Bargaining Policy” JAYDEN HAMMOND is a student at GCE Lab debate and deliberation among all members of the GEOFFREY CUBBAGE has been a Bughouse 2:40 pm – Harrison Sherrod, “The Future Is Marxist” School and will be speaking on structural racism. University’s community.” This statement has become Square Debates fan since high school. Prior to a model for policies at many universities nationwide. 2:50 pm – Justin Tucker, “Let’s Give Statehood to diving into the murky world of politicized sewage JONATHAN MCGEE currently serves as We also recognize President Zimmer’s and the Uni- Cook County” treatment, he was a projects analyst and oversight a Community Engagement Officer at Get In versity’s longtime and ongoing work, outspoken and reporter for a Kabul-based firm. Chicago, an organization that aims to reduce gun 3:00 pm – Jim Leitzel, “Casinos for Humanity” violence among at-risk youth in Chicago. uncompromising, in advocacy of free speech, open LINDA HORWITZ is an associate professor discourse, and academic freedom, especially in this 3:10 pm – Hugh Iglarsh, “The Obama (Non-)Library: at Lake Forest College. Her research focuses on AMANI MRYAN is an activist and member of her era of attempted restrictions on these core elements A Giza for the Gullible” visual rhetoric, public memory, and the rhetorical school’s Forensics and Poetry teams. She recently of higher education and national discourse. construction of identity. performed the poem “Trigger Warning” with her 3:20 pm – Linda Horwitz, “Dissent, Compromise, teammates at March For Our Lives Chicago. The Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award is dedicated to the and Power to the People” HUGH IGLARSH is a writer, editor, satirist, and memory of the former Illinois governor (1892-96) who theater critic who has published extensively in New NOOR MRYAN is a member of her high school’s pardoned the surviving anarchists wrongfully convicted of City, CounterPunch, and other publications. debate team. She believes that minorities should embrace their differences and urges us to remember the Haymarket bombing of 1886. The award is presented SOAPBOX 3 JOSEPH KOPSICK has self-published two each year to an organization or person who has achieved that hate speech has real consequences. Open Mic – Moderated by the Society of Smallness collections of essays (Libertarian Conspiracy Theories distinction as a defender of free speech and ideas. and Soft Communism for 90’s Kids) and runs a blog, KATE QUINN is an undergraduate at the Step up, one and all! The Aquarian Agrarian. University of Chicago. She served as a core organizer for March For Our Lives Chicago and is 1:25 pm – PERFORMANCE by Genesis Academy JIM LEITZEL teaches economics and public also Campaigns Director for Gather Activism. policy at the University of Chicago. At last year’s Summer Institute students SOAPBOX 4 debates, he explained how to re-legalize cocaine for MOLLY PINTA is from Buffalo Grove and is out, proud, and ready to share her passion for Youth Soapbox – Organized by students from GCE Lab School recreational use. 1:35 pm – MAIN DEBATE on the Main Stage the LGBTQ community with the world! She is Neighborhood Improvement, or Gentrification? Youth, ages 25 and younger, will speak individually or in ROSETTA MCGEE has been a member of planning her hometown’s first pride parade and Envision Unlimited for five years and is a featured WINIFRED CURRAN is an associate professor pairs or teams and give three-minute lightning speeches on rally. pressing issues. Youth awards will be presented at Soapbox 4 soloist in the Rose Center Choir, a satellite of of geography at DePaul University. Her research Envision Unlimited. MARLEY ROSARIO is an undergraduate at focuses on understanding the effects of gentrification after the speeches. the University of Chicago. He served as a Lead ANDY OLCOTT will address the history of the on the urban landscape by looking at labor, policing, Lucia Bennett (Prison Reform) Organizer for March For Our Lives Chicago and is education, environmental gentrification, and the 2nd Amendment and argue that the Amendment Director of Outreach at Gather Activism. Katrina Burlet (Prison Reform) should be repealed. gendering of urban policy in New York, Chicago, Alexsandra Gomez (Environmentalism) GIMENA SERVIN is a GCE Lab School London, and Mexico City. She is currently working Jayden Hammond (Structural Racism) S. MONTGOMERY PRIZ, English Explorer sophomore, Daniel Murphy Scholar, Louder Than on a book about gender and gentrification. Jonathan McGee (Gun Violence) Extraordinaire (Esquire Pending), is a recent law a Bomb slam poet, mariachi player, golf caddy, school graduate, circus performer, and insurance GHIAN FOREMAN is Executive Director of the Amani Mryan (Abortion Rights) thriving animator, and the 2018 Youth Bughouse privateer based in Chicago. Greater Southwest Development Corporation, whose Noor Mryan (Gun Violence and Bigotry) Mayor. redevelopment projects have included repurposing Molly Pinta (LGBTQ Rights) HARRISON SHERROD manages a film shuttered industrial and school buildings throughout Kate Quinn (Gun Control) production company by day and teaches weird the city. Marley Rosario (Student Activism) seminars at the Newberry by night. Gimena Servin (Immigration Policy) Q&A with the audience will conclude the main debate.