In conjunction with the Newberry Library’s Annual Book Fair, the Bughouse Square debates will again take place in Washington Square Park on Saturday, July 26. Recalling Chicago’s history of free speech & soapbox oratory, the Bughouse Square debates provide an open forum for anyone with something compelling to say. This year’s speakers will address health care reform, US torture policy, and sexual abstinence, as well as some Chicago-specific issues including the city’s smoking ban & the actions of the Chicago Park District. The main debate features Illinois Democratic Representative John A. Fritchey and conservative Joseph Morris going at it, and the action begins at noon. For the full schedule and more details on Bughouse Square history, have a look at the informative Bughouse Square blog.

The debates conclude with the conferring of the Dil Pickle Award upon the day’s best orator, followed by the revival of the Dil Pickle Club just north of the Newberry & Bughouse Square at the Zebra Lounge, 1220 N. State Pkwy. Established by labor activist Jack Jones in 1914, the original Dil Pickle Club encouraged free speech & artistic expression in a social environment, and became one of Chicago’s best known Bohemian nightspots. Dil Pickle activities resume in the form of “short speaking” about the history of hobohemia, plus some new writing, piano cabaret and performance art, all put together by editors from Lumpen & Stop Smiling magazines. Things get started at 5pm and will wrap up around 8; many more details about the night’s events plus facts about Dil Pickle then & now at the Bughouse Square blog.

Nobody wants to spend money these days, but buying used doesn’t really count, right? Well, at least, you won’t feel quite so guilty about it. There’s nothing like a good used book sale to make you feel like your disposable income stretches further than Special Payday Lunch, and one of the best happens to be this weekend: the Newberry Library’s Annual Book Fair. Over 100,000 books & 32 hours of browsing/shopping spread out over four days, with many books priced under $2. In addition to books on subjects ranging from antiques to zoology, you can also score board games, vintage magazines, records, and some artwork, among other things. Everything’s organized into categories for easy browsing, and those intimidating checkout lines actually move pretty fast. The schedule:

Thursday, July 24, 2008, from 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Friday, July 25, 2008, from 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Saturday, July 26, 2008, from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sunday, July 27, 2008, from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

The Newberry is located at 60 W. Walton Street between Clark & Dearborn, an easy walk from both the Division or Chicago stops on the Red Line. Or take the Clark #22 or Division #70 bus, which drop you off at the front door. (Or ride your bike..racks & wrought iron fence aplenty!) Check the Book Fair’s website for parking information.

The world’s stupidest op-ed appeared in today’s Tribune. I do not mean this condemnation as hyperbole. This was literally the dumbest editorial I’ve ever read in that paper.

If we have any readership left after our impromptu hiatus (hi, Mom!), please be advised against reading Tom Mullaney’s paean to the lost greatness of Starbucks. Please don’t read the part where Mullaney tells us the sanitized, ubiquitous megaconglomerate had “enormous cachet and street cred.” Please skip over the part where Mullaney complains that today’s baristas “seem less knowledgeable about the coffees and each blend’s character” and who, unlike their predecessors, don’t find blending Frappuccinos for douchebags to be a “calling.”

Surely Mullaney was kidding when he quoted the following from a fellow Starbucks fan: “It’s a tragedy that the young kids won’t know the difference, and will never know how good it once was.” Surely he isn’t so brainwashed as to think that the subject of incalculable discourse on mass production and lifestyle marketing was in any way ever authentic.

The other headlines from this week’s editorial section: “New Kids on the Block Have Shit Tons of Street Cred,” “The Leaders of the Conservative Party are So Fucking Christian I Can’t Even Stand It.”