Prairie Ice Productions

Notes to the Underground — 001 | The Underground Get more from The Underground on Patreon

Working on how we got here. How the middle class got so divided in convoluted in their ideology.

🔊 Listen Now: Rigged: What can go wrong when a word becomes linked with a political identity TED Radio Hour on NPR One | 16:13

Super Early Bird deadline for CUFF33 closes this week! Click on the link below submit your film. 💌

https://filmfreeway.com/ChicagoUndergroundFilmFestival

CUFF32 closes with the Chicago homecoming of $POSITIONS in the debut from local filmmaker Brandon Daley (@coolbrandond).⁠ ⁠ Premiering earlier this year at SXSW, this hyper-anxious comedy-thriller follows Mike Alvarado, a blue-collar Midwesterner who thinks he’s found salvation for his struggling family in the crypto market. Instead, he plunges them, and himself, into a volatile spiral of gambling addiction, screen addiction, and emotional ruin. Think Uncut Gems by way of the Midwest, but funnier, scarier, and a hell of a lot more personal.⁠ ⁠ It’s the rare indie comedy that doesn’t hedge its bets, just hard laughs and harder truths. We can’t imagine a better way to end CUFF 2025.⁠ ⁠ $POSITIONS will play at the GENE SISKEL @filmcenter on closing night, SUNDAY, September 21, 7:30PM. Link in bio for tickets!

CUFF32 closes with the Chicago homecoming of $POSITIONS in the debut from local filmmaker Brandon Daley.⁠
⁠
Premiering earlier this year at SXSW, this hyper-anxious comedy-thriller follows Mike Alvarado, a blue-collar Midwesterner who thinks he’s found salvation for his struggling family in the crypto market. Instead, he plunges them, and himself, into a volatile spiral of gambling addiction, screen addiction, and emotional ruin. Think Uncut Gems by way of the Midwest, but funnier, scarier, and a hell of a lot more personal.⁠
⁠
It’s the rare indie comedy that doesn’t hedge its bets, just hard laughs and harder truths. We can’t imagine a better way to end CUFF 2025.⁠
⁠
$POSITIONS will play at the GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER on closing night, SUNDAY, September 21, 7:30PM. Link below for tickets!

https://cuff32.eventive.org/schedule/6892b4b396b8a653e332dc10

https://youtu.be/tmamPItLdOY?si=SKuzqCVE3cXim0Lv

www.youtube.com

Thanks Matthew Kaplan for your beautiful depiction of the Southeast Side of Chicago

https://www.instagram.com/mkaplanphoto?igsh=ZDBtcGVobGdnaHow

12/7/24 - Hammond, Indiana - Over the altar of St Joseph Catholic Church on Hohman Avenue, in a mural painted by Czech artist John A Mallin, are scenes reflecting the high regard in which many held the Calumet Region’s heavy industry in the 1940s. Beneath and to the left of the Holy Family, who take the place of honor atop the arch, a petroleum tank farm is clearly visible beyond a group of skilled workmen diligently erecting a building. In 1943 when the fresco was painted there were a number of oil refineries in communities bordering Hammond. At present only one remains, BP’s giant Whiting Refinery. In a similar position on the right side of the arch, another panel shows steelworkers at an open hearth, while a train is speeding by, and a ship of some sort is also in view. Smoke pours out of the stacks atop of the mill building, with other industrial structures in the background. Hammond had a steel industry of its own back then, and was quite close to the massive mills of Indiana Harbor, Gary and Chicago’s southeast side, which employed tens of thousands in those years. These exaltations of mid-century working men (all are men and all appear to be white, sadly) are placed above the two remaining scenes relating to the conception and design of the church building itself. The laborers of industry and construction are given pride of place just below Jesus, Mary and Joseph; all three of whom are also shown engaged in skilled work. One can imagine a sense of pride and belonging felt by many parishioners at St Josephs, seeing their own working lives adorning the altar in front of them, and raised so near to the Holy Family. St Joseph Catholic Church was established at the corner of Hohman Avenue and Russell Street in 1879, on a lot donated by Caroline Sibley Hohman. Construction of the current building was begun on the same site in 1912. Opened to the public in 1913, and seating upwards of 1000 people, St Joseph has been a prominent feature of downtown Hammond ever since. Born in what is now the Czech Republic, and educated in Vienna, John A Mallin (1883 to 1973) was a prolific artist of Catholic churches and buildings in the Chicago area.

One of the most famous and important parables in #Daoism is known as the ‘Story of the Lost Horse.’ It goes like this: Once upon a time, there was a farmer whose horse ran away, and everyone gathered round and said, ‘Oh, bad luck, friend.’ But the farmer only replied, ‘Maybe.’ The next day, the #horse returned with six wild horses in tow, and now everybody said, ‘Great luck.’ And the farmer just replied, ‘Maybe.’ The next day, the farmer’s son tried to tame one of the horses, but he fell off and broke his leg. ‘Oh, what rotten luck,’ everyone said. And the old farmer replied, ‘Maybe.’ The next week, soldiers came for the farmer’s son to join a hopeless war, but with his broken leg, the son could not march to his death. ‘Oh, amazing luck,’ the neighbours said. ‘It all worked out in the end.’ ‘Maybe,’ the old man replied. Daoists often compare the universe to the flow of a #river . Sometimes there are smooth and gentle passages, and sometimes there’s choppy waters and rapids. But as the old farmer knew, it’s naive to say that this is a calm river because we don’t know what is around the corner. The Story of the Lost Horse is all about accepting the world as it is, and not as you want it to be. All of the dark moments and hard times of your life are part of the river that led to now. The future might, and probably will, bring those hard times on again. But the river, and you, flow on. #phliosophy #acceptance #lettinggo #lifeadvice #wisdom