PROOF Art and Literature

Catherine: Hey, what are you reading?

Claire: The Chicago Tribune. Theyve done a review of the past year books, art, that kind of thing.

Catherine: Oh, I dont read The Tribune. I prefer the Chicago Sun-Times.

Claire: I dont know. The Tribune is just so much older than the Sun-Times. I like that. Its been
around for a long time. I trust it.

Catherine: Yeah Dad liked the Tribune. He preferred the Wall Street Journal though. He had a
couple of favourite magazines too he used to like National Geographic. I used to flick through
those. The pictures are beautiful. He liked Time Magazine too. They picked George W. Bush as their
person of the year this year.

Claire: Do you like magazines?

Catherine: Yeah I like Vanity Fair. Its about popular culture, fashion, and current affairs. Which ones
do you read?

Claire: I like Interview. It features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest
celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers, and the interviews are usually unedited or edited
in the eccentric fashion of Andy Warhol's books. I started reading a new magazine that came out this
year called Real Simple. Its full of beautiful photos, inspiring features, recipes how-tos, lists and
chartsall intended to help make your life easier. I used to read Jane, but I dont really like that
anymore.

Catherine: Can I have the newspaper?

Claire: Sure.

Claire hands Catherine the newspaper.

Claire: Check out the book reviews. They give a list of some of the most popular books this year.

Catherine: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown is one.

Claire: Oh, I read that! You might like it its all about conspiracies of secret societies and the
Catholic Church with lots of ancient history, architecture, and symbolism.

Catherine: Ill check it out. The fourth Harry Potter book came out in July: The Goblet of Fire. Have
you read any of those? Theyre pretty popular.

Claire: No, I havent. Theyre kids books arent they?

Catherine: Yeah I guess. What about A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin? The third book,
A Storm of Swords, came out this year. Its the longest book in the series so far. I dont really have
time to read them but they look good.

Claire: Yeah, theyre ridiculously long! You know what book everyone was reading at work? The
Brethren by John Grisham. Oh, and I started reading The Wedding by Danielle Steel. I thought it
would be a fun read with my wedding coming up and all. It was ok. Lots of people were raving
about it though.
Catherine: Oh thats sad Gwendolyn Brooks died of cancer in early December. I really liked her
poetry. She was the first black person to win a Pulitzer Prize. She preferred the term black to
African-American. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968, a position held until her
death. She was from Chicago you know. I mean she was born in Kansas, but her family moved here
when she was six weeks old. Dad met her. She used to teach at the University of Chicago.

Claire: That is sad.

Catherine: Yeah Theyve got a whole section on art too. Did you see that documentary on
Chicago? Its called Chicago in the Year 2000.

Claire: Yeah I saw that. It was really interesting. Carlos Javier Ortiz was the staff photographer. He
was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Chicago. What other artists have they featured in the
newspaper?

Catherine: Have you heard of Ed Pashke?

Claire: No. Whos that?

Catherine: Hes a Polish American artist who was born in Chicago. He studied at the Art Institute of
Chicago. It says here: Although Paschke is inclined toward representational imagery, he learned to
paint based on the principles of abstraction and expressionism. He gravitates towards the images
that exemplifies the underside of American values fame, violence, sex, and money.

Claire: Oh, cool. His work sounds interesting. Ill see if there are any exhibitions coming up soon.
Maybe we could go together.

Catherine: Maybe. Well see.