Molly Sullivan

The Hideout is under the glow of the twinkling lights, for a night of storytelling--the crowd gathers calmly, nestles in. Passing by the bar, those in search of a peaceful ambiance find the Make magazine release party in the back, comfortably filling the room as the readings from the fourth issue begin.

"The American story, after all, is at once a story of immigrants and also the story of a global market, literature included," Mike Zapata, the fiction editor and co-publisher, says about why Make magazine chose the international focus. And with writings from Colombia and translations from Arabic, it's obvious that theme was taken to heart. They had to take on a new process, making sure to avoid covering too much of one particular culture. "I found myself emailing my cousins in Ecuador to see if they could mail me books they were reading and also picking up Arabic short-story collections at bookstores, something I may have never done," he says.

While a number of the pieces are in English, the handful of translated pieces brought on a whole new challenge for the editors. "The editing process forced us to look at the context of the work and the language choices more carefully," Zapata says, especially with the Arabic translations "whose syntax, context and aesthetic is so very different from our own."

But tonight, all the translations and organizations work smoothly. "The choice of material was beautiful and nicely, thematically cohesive," audience member Eugenia Williamson says about the reading, as tamales are offered to the audience with a simple yell--"Tamales! Tamales!" Zapata says, "Though we are a small, independent magazine, our hope was that we could pursue these larger issues."

(2007-01-30)

Also by Molly Sullivan

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ARFhouse, a no-kill shelter, moved into Bucktown just five months ago, and pairs up tonight with its new neighbor, three-and-a-half-month-old Red Dog House, an upscale pet boutique, to get the word out that they are both open and here to stay
(2007-01-23)

The Art Community
Everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words, but how many words does it take to create a picture? At Caro D'Offay Gallery you need only a few words to describe what you want the picture to look like and the rest will be left up to interpretation as "The Colorist Chess" exhibition opens for public collaboration
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Maxim-um Attention
Ask most men and they will say that there isn't much that they love more than babes and booze--except maybe football and booze. Unfortunately, Maxim, Coors Light and Coyote Ugly Saloon find this out the hard way during their search for the next Maxim cover girl on Saturday night
(2007-01-09)

Portrait of a Man
Back when Marc Hauser took a photo of a young John Mellencamp with his arm around his grandfather, critics claimed that this was the piece that Hauser would become known for, but he reasons that it just got him a few more jobs. Tonight at his Oculus Gallery opening, everyone gets to see not only that famous photo, but a renewed glimpse into more than thirty years of Hauser's photography
(2006-12-19)

Choose Chomsky
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Oopsie Daisy
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Anime Marinara
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Machinehand
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Rolling Bling
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Only Connect
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Macy Day
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