Antiques, Books, Art, Breasts? Hello, October!

By Margaret Lyons in News on Oct 1, 2004 7:32PM

Man, it's October. That's so…authentic and autumnal. We just want to like, bite pumpkins and take a bath in apple cider and see our breath and jump in leaves and stuff. No? Just us? Anyway, there's so much stuff going on this weekend we have no idea how we're going to cram it all in, especially cause tonight is shot—holla, season premier of Degrassi. Here's but a few of the many exciting happenings around town this weekend:

• Apartment looking like the dumpy shithole that it is? Don't clean it, silly: buy something antique to make the filth look like a finely cultivated aesthetic. Like, "oh, this shirt's not stained, it's vintage." Same works for apartments. Swing by Primitive Art Works, one mile west of U.S. Cellular, for their semi-annual warehouse sale, where textiles, furniture, jewelry, and artifacts are discounted up to 75 percent. Maybe with the money they make during the sale they can buy themselves a bigger typeface; holy shit, we cannot read that page at all.

• The Chicago Book Festival starts today! Nerds and literary types rejoice! (Give us a second, we're rejoicing.) Now in its fifth year, this month-long event celebrates reading, writing, authors, Chicago—you name it. The Reader has a comprehensive schedule, and stuff really is going on all month, so, you know, yay for reading. We're especially excited for tomorrow's Read-Out, part of Banned Book Week sponsored by the ALA.

• The 34th Annual Artists' Open House is in Pilsen this weekend. It's a combo of shows and self-guided tours that feature over 80 artists and performances all weekend long. The open house is part of Chicago Artists' Month, and this year's theme is "Art Connects": much of the work on exhibit here, and around the city, examines the ways that "art and artists create powerful links with individual viewers and collectors as well as with local and international communities."

• October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and tomorrow is Chicago's Race for the Cure, a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The 5K race/fitness walk starts at Columbus and Balbo, and even though online registration is closed, you can still register on-site the morning of. This year, 216,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and even though the rate of women diagnosed with breast cancer has increased every year, the rate of women dying from the disease has decreased. Why? Early detection. In addition to regular check-ups, remember to give yourself a breast exam. Ah, October.