Tom Lynch

The cold air blows through the open windows of High School Gallery; the audience mumbles in response.

The screening room for "Rebels with a Cause," a documentary examining the history of the Students for a Democratic Society, the radical group of anti-Vietnam protestors, feels like a freezer. "It's too cold," a blue-shirted attendee with black wire-rim glasses whines as he puts his jacket back on and flips his scarf around his shoulders. Others follow suit.

High School, located above Buddy gallery on Milwaukee Avenue, hosted its first event three weeks ago, a puppetry workshop. Now it's turned into a leftist theater of uprising, as over thirty young rebels sit in white chairs in front of a large projection screen.

"We're gonna start the movie now," the thin host announces, pulling his red sweater over his unwashed dirty-blond hair. No one responds to his lack of enthusiasm. The three scheduled speakers, former Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorn as well as fellow SDS leader Carl Davidson, don heavy coats and linger by the windows behind the crowd as they wait for the post-film panel discussion. The members of the audience that recognize them grin in appreciation. As the lights dim, some serve themselves complimentary coffee from the snack table. The film begins and more mutineers enter and pay the $5-$10 sliding donation. Silence.

"Human relationship should involve fraternity and honesty," the screen projects in text. No mention of warmth.

(2003-12-10)

Also by Tom Lynch

The cock crows
As The Daley Center hosts the hearing regarding the potential closing of Big Chicks, the crowd breathes heavily on one another
(2003-12-02)

Windows for the world
A pink-haired Columbia College freshman, complete with a Camel cigarette and a matching backpack littered with Black Flag patches, winces as she witnesses a child swallowed by a river of thick brown ooze
(2003-11-26)

Tip of the Week
Geoffrey Bent discloses all of the dirty details in "Silent Partners," his satiric ode to necrophilia
(2003-11-19)

From Russia, With Love
Katherine Shonk's ticket into the book world comes in the form of "The Red Passport," a collection of eight short stories set in post-Communist Russia
(2003-11-19)

Tip of the Week
(2003-11-13)

Debbie does Dogme
(2003-11-13)

Tip of the Week
(2003-11-05)

Still biting
(2003-11-05)

Ollie oop
(2003-11-05)

Tip of the Week
(2003-10-29)

Psycho Killers
(2003-10-23)

The narrator stands alone
(2003-10-23)

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