South-side native Kwyn Townsend Riley, aka Kwynology, is in love with the city of Chicago. Her hopes for its people, her pride in its culture, and her appreciation of its influence on her individually were recurring themes in my conversation with her. They also appear in her recent poem “Windy.” In the emphatic spoken-word piece that is as sobering as it is starry-eyed, Kwyn delivers a sermon on what her hometown means to her and expresses her gratitude, optimism, criticism, and vision for “Windy,” which she personifies as a hurt person who only wanted to “burn blunts, blow trees, and do poetry, and be free” but has ended up burning “childless dreams.”
The #LetUsBreathe coalition answered that with direct action back on the home front, “Windy.” In the summer of 2016, the group organized Freedom Square, a 41-day protest outside the Chicago Police Department’s Homan Square interrogation facility, which had become a center of controversy due to reported unlawful abuse and torture of men who’d been arrested and were being held there. The goal was to get the city to recognize that investment in education, employment, housing, mental health, nutrition, and art could be more instrumental to the prosperity of the city’s citizens than investment in law enforcement. For Colón, it became evident that the combined powers of the #LetUsBreathe coalition would be put to better use in a different way. “The first step to liberation is internal,” she says.
Kwyn decided to launch the In the Yard open mike because she was tired of seeing teens and young adults from the south and west sides spend their last dollars to go perform on the north side. She wants to use her platform to bring those who have been pushed to the margins back into the conversation. She saw the Breathing Room as the perfect space to do that.
Kwyn wants her open mike to be a reflection of the city’s beauty. She’s invited a plethora of Chicago poets, musicians, and comedians—even footwork legend Tha Pope is slated to perform, and journalist Resita Cox will guest host. The event will also include DJ Such and Such and an art gallery by the ThoughtPoet.
