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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/06/08/the-rundown-a-chicago-art-show-about-black-boyhood",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-08T20:45:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.wbez.org",
  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon, and happy Monday! It’s hard to believe, but it’s been about two years since I started writing this newsletter full-time. While I have some ideas to freshen things up, I’d love to </i><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://airtable.com/appfj1m0lbpKb7gMG/shr1KArm7lZA7O4Vg\" target=\"_blank\" ><i><u>hear your thoughts</u></i></a><i>. Here’s what else you need to know today. </i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/06/08/emmett-till-blanc-gallery-black-boyhood-exhibit-civil-rights-art\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. A Chicago art show is sparking dialogue about Emmett Till and Black boyhood</u></b></a></p><p>It’s been more than 70 years since 14-year-old Emmett Till’s racially motivated murder devastated a nation and helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.</p><p>But what if he had lived?</p><p>In artist Raymond A. Thomas’ dream, Till celebrates his 15th birthday, marries his high school sweetheart and has three children. He cares for his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and grows old in Chicago. He finds joy spending time with his grandchildren, even as the world around him remains unjust for Black residents.</p><p>“From Memory to Movement: Emmett at 85\" is on view at Bronzeville’s Blanc Gallery through July 25. The exhibit humanizes Till and other Black children while raising questions about justice in America, Erica Thompson reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. It comments on the present-day banning of cultural history books and classes, as well as the erosion of diversity, equity and inclusion.</p><p>The exhibit opened Friday and runs through July 25, when Till would have turned 85. It is presented in partnership with the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Institute nonprofit, where Thomas serves as creative director. The show features paintings, photographs, sculptures and mixed media works by a dozen Chicago artists. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/06/08/emmett-till-blanc-gallery-black-boyhood-exhibit-civil-rights-art\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/06/05/new-test-to-get-into-selective-cps-high-schools-is-longer-only-in-english\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. The new test to get into selective CPS high schools is longer and only offered in English</u></b></a></p><p>The district’s eighth graders will take the PreACT 9 Secure exam in October instead of the current HSAT, my colleague Emmanuel Camarillo reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. Many students spend time preparing for the test, and their scores determine whether they get into a selective-enrollment high school.</p><p>The current HSAT is offered in several languages, including Spanish and Arabic. Some parents worry the switch to an exam only in English could worsen disparities in representation at selective schools.</p><p>Mary Carmen, the parent of two students at Saucedo STEAM Magnet Academy in Little Village, a community where many students and parents speak Spanish, said she wonders why Chicago Public Schools is making this shift when the district shares information with parents in many languages.</p><p>But CPS Chief Education Officer Karime Asaf said the district’s data showed offering the HSAT in additional languages didn’t provide “any advantage” for students who are learning English, compared with taking the test in English with accommodations. Students who completed the test in an alternate language performed lower than English Learners who took the test in English with accommodations.</p><p>She added that one goal of the switch is to make the test more equitable. There wasn’t a lot of public information about the HSAT, which often meant students from wealthier families paid for private test prep, while students from low-income families struggled to prepare. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/06/05/new-test-to-get-into-selective-cps-high-schools-is-longer-only-in-english\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/health-medicine/2026/06/05/flu-meds-offer-potential-to-help-slow-aging-reduce-cognitive-decline-in-hiv-patients-research-shows\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. Flu meds could help slow aging and reduce cognitive decline in HIV patients, new research shows</u></b></a></p><p>Researchers have long known, without fully understanding why, that people living with HIV — even those taking antiretroviral therapy — are more likely to experience memory loss and other cognitive impairments.</p><p>Now, a new study published Friday in the medical journal Med finds widely used flu medications have the potential to reduce cognitive decline as well as premature aging in this population, said Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, whose team was involved in the study.</p><p>Using samples from people with HIV who have cognitive impairments and those who don’t, researchers found a pattern of a degradation of protective sugar molecules, known as glycans, that usually protect people from inflammation, Abdel-Mohsen said.</p><p>The inflammation is tied to cognitive impairments, he said. The researchers, using animal models, looked into why people were losing the glycans and what could be done to preserve the anti-inflammatory molecules. They found that already widely used medicine for the flu, such as Tamiflu, could be a key part of the solution because the medication inhibits an enzyme that degrades glycans. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/health-medicine/2026/06/05/flu-meds-offer-potential-to-help-slow-aging-reduce-cognitive-decline-in-hiv-patients-research-shows\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2026/06/07/cyclist-death-bridgeport-crash-chicagos-safe-streets-program\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. The cyclist killed in a Bridgeport crash was a champion for Chicago biking and worked on the city’s safe streets program</u></b></a></p><p>Riley O’Neil, 35, was riding his bike Friday afternoon when he was hit with a car door and sent into traffic, where an oncoming semitruck hit him. As my colleagues Kaitlin Washburn and Violet Miller report, O’Neil is at least the third cyclist killed by a driver this year.</p><p>“We need more protected bike lanes, especially on a busy street like Halsted; a lot of big rigs and semis go down that street every day,” said Dr. Travis Curtis, who was across the street during the crash and performed CPR on an unresponsive O’Neill until paramedics arrived. “I pass semitrucks every day on my bike. Having a protected bike lane is a way to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening.”</p><p>After graduating from DePaul University’s sustainable urban development graduate program, O’Neil continued to be a champion for better biking in Chicago. He worked for Quigg Engineering, which had contracts with the city for biking infrastructure. Among his accomplishments, O’Neil helped install more than 1,000 bike racks throughout the city, created a database of public requests for bike racks and organized the distribution of abandoned bikes to local bike shops and community groups, according to his LinkedIn. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2026/06/07/cyclist-death-bridgeport-crash-chicagos-safe-streets-program\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/museums/2026/06/08/wrightwood-659-lawsuit-lincoln-park-museum-fred-eychaner-art-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. The museum Wrightwood 659 wants to expand in Lincoln Park. Why does a neighbor want to block it?</u></b></a></p><p>One of Chicago’s most influential boutique museums faces a challenge in court over its planned 10,000-square-foot expansion on a residential Lincoln Park street, arts contributor Kyle MacMillan reports.</p><p>The lawsuit, filed March 26 by Lisa Berron, a managing partner in a venture capital fund, raises larger questions about neighborhood museums and what they can and can’t do in residential areas. And it puts back in the spotlight the dealings of founder Fred Eychaner, a newspaper magnate and Democratic megadonor who owns all the properties along West Wrightwood Avenue from 653 through 673 except for 655, plus another lot behind the museum on Deming Place.</p><p>Berron said she bought a third-floor condominium at 675 W. Wrightwood 22 years ago and planned to live there into old age. Now she wonders if she can stay in part because of the blocked views from the new construction that will be three feet or so from her residence.</p><p>“We’re building a philanthropic museum. No one wants to hurt Ms. Berron at all,” said Louis D. Bernstein, one of two attorneys representing Eychaner’s company Newsweb, Wrightwood No. 3 LLC and the construction company Norcon, all named defendants. “She can live there if she wants, and we offered to buy her at twice the value of her unit.” [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/museums/2026/06/08/wrightwood-659-lawsuit-lincoln-park-museum-fred-eychaner-art-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><b>Here’s what else is happening</b></p><ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\" id=\"rte-0b86f240-6376-11f1-8c3a-2f4dac845191\"><li>After trading missile fire over the weekend, Israel and Iran pulled back for now. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/06/08/g-s1-126844/iran-war-updates\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>These were the highlights of last night’s Tony awards. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/tony-awards-schmigadoon-pink-ragtime-5774d8b78360e0ca2861e6b37e30ffac\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>AP</u></a>]</li><li>The official trailer for the final season of “The Bear” dropped today. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojjCvICC86c\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>FX</u></a>]</li><li>Review: The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s “Brokeback Mountain” brings to life literary favorites Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/theater/2026/06/05/review-brokeback-mountain-chicago-shakespeare-theater-annie-proulx-play-summer\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>The Chicago Bears’ board of directors voted last week to officially move forward with plans to build a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana.</p><p>WBEZ’s Lisa Labuz spoke with our sports contributor Cheryl Raye-Stout to discuss what this moment means for the Bears.</p><p>“The Bears used the word ‘advanced,” Raye-Stout said. “They didn’t say it was completely confirmed, so it doesn’t eliminate Arlington Heights at this point.”</p><p>You can listen to the conversation on <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XaeB0NKCSoy7543hrPHPA?si=843a2a5f83c74795\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Spotify</u></a> and <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-the-chicago-bears-destined-for-indiana/id1694809413?i=1000771372666\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Apple</u></a>.</p><p><b>Tell me something good …</b></p><p>Among this weekend’s many events was <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/technology/2026/06/05/fans-reminisce-as-kids-set-out-on-mission-to-catch-em-all-at-pokemon-go-fest\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Pokemon GO Fest</u></a>, and it was so fun to see people playing the game all over the city (yes, I still have it on my phone and love all things Pokemon). That has me wondering, what’s a game or show from your childhood you still enjoy?</p><p>Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.</p>",
  "title": "The Rundown: A Chicago art show about Black boyhood",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-08T20:45:02.124Z"
}