Pilsen / Blue Island, 2024
Print on Canvas. Purchase

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Art by Ines Gardea
Prose by Angelica Davila

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niñez on Marshall Blvd.

I laugh at Doña Raquel as she slips on ice while walking me home from preschool and later regret it when abue tells me that I’m a “niña caraja!” when I return home. At night I wait by the window for my uncle to pull up in his green mustang; this is the same mustang I must help push when it gets stuck in the snow during the winter. The phone rings and I run to answer it, “Papa?” No, someone else. On weekends we go visit another uncle at the trucking garage that he owns where I help my abue clean up the deteriorating building. Sometimes I play with the guard dogs/ most of them are friendly/ except the one that isn’t, and he almost bites me. We go visit my other uncle, the one who lives with Doña Blanca, who unknown to me at the time will one day buy a house that fits us all inside, but I both tune out the adults and only catch glimpses of what will someday be the past. On weekends, abue, mama, my aunt and me all cram into my other uncle’s mustang to go beyond the city limits, and then we all cram in again to return to Marshall Boulevard where home is. The phone rings and I run to answer it, “Papa?” No, someone else. The phone rings again and I run to answer it, “Papa?” No, someone else. It’s always someone else and unknown to me yet, memories of papa y Mexico will begin to get disintegrate each year that passes until these memories form a tight knot in a small crevice of my brain. Almost as tight as the apartment on Marshall Boulevard. Not an inch is spared in this apartment. My uncle / the one whose name is on the lease / sleeps in the only bedroom. The dining room is not a dining room but instead is a makeshift bedroom with two full-size beds in it. My mom and I sleep in one of the beds together and my abue and aunt share the other. Another uncle sleeps in the living room on the pull-out sofa, and the cockroaches sleep in the kitchen. The phone rings and stirs the sleeping cockroaches.

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Angelica Davila | Angelica Julia Davila is a writer, performer, and self-advocate. She is currently a PhD Candidate in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays and has recently dived into sketch. Her literary work has been published in Lover’s Eye Press, The Nasiona, The Sink Review, Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture, and Grimoire. Her work is an exploration of the Latinx and bilingual identity, autistic self-expression, and mental borderlands. Angelica is also a comedian, improviser, and co-producer of “Antojitos Fest: Chicago’s Latin American Comedy Festival” and the monthly Latinx variety show “La Hora de Antojitos” at Logan Square Improv Theater.

Ines Gardea | I was born in Mexico, raised in Chicago. I am a Marine Veteran who served in the mid 70’s. I started taking photos when I was in 8th grade with a 110 kodak camera. I taught myself photography by reading books, and constantly practicing. I bought my first 35mm camera while stationed in Japan. Photography to me is therapy, I look for things that not everyone sees, I enjoy going out for sunrises, sunsets, cityscapes, and landscapes, getting lost in nature is so peaceful.

I have Photographed events for NBC, Chicago Tribune, Photographed Weddings and Portraits. I now sell my photography as Artwork for Home, Offices, ManCave and SheShed. My photographs are printed on canvas from 16×20 to 30×40 and are hanging in homes around the Country, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

I feel that if many of our Veterans with PTSD picked up a camera it would be Therapy for them, as it is for me.

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1000 Words | Home Not Home Artists + Writers

Noa Alemán + Tamar Brooks • Jacqueline Almaguer + Alanis Castillo Caref • Lexi Alvarado + Isabela Ortega • Danielle Arend + Janina Gatilao • Sofia Brunwin + Spencer Hutchinson • Andrea Cole + Rocio Franco • Lydia Collins + Tarnynon Onumonu • Gregory Diaz + Irvin Ibarra • Danielle Dykerhouse + Betsy Van Die • Jonathan Espinoza + ben-aki • Jaymes Fedor + Maria Requena • Samantha Franco + Angeles Rangel • Ines Gardea + Angelica Davila • Frank Geiser + Penny Mann • Evelyn Hernandez + Valeria Osornio • Stephanie Hererra + Neha Chawla • Ivana Jarmon + Theo Sullivan • Vivian Jones + Luz Silva • Lewis Lain + Thulasi Seshan • Cesar Luna + benedicta m badia • Marie Magnetic + Jasmine Rodriguez • Delisha Mckinney + Paloma Velasco • Diana Noh + Juj-Lepe • Andrew Rehs + Corbett Berger • Clau Rocha + Maria Jose Ramos Villagra • Amyia Ross Brittanii Batts (Tanae b) • Fawaz Sakaw + Arianna Maggio • Lucero Sanchez + Clay-Cofre • Ramin Takloo-Bighash + Yiwen-Lyu • TEEL ONE + Melody Contreras • Pamela Trejo + Kim Yeoh • Cindy Uriostegui + Scum Drop • Ami Vasilopoulos + Stephanie Cruz Rincon • Ivy Waegel + Aryn Hills • Emily Schroeder Willis + Angelica Flores • Raine Yung + Micaela Petkus