OCTOBER
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Magician David Parr is always on the lookout for spots to stage his brand of interactive theater that explores “the gray area where history meets myth.” He says Evanston’s Charles Gates Dawes House, the 1895 mansion that’s now home to the Evan-ston Historical Society, is the perfect setting for Haunting History, his adults-only Halloween tour. “We’re not trying to attract the hockey-mask-and-chain-saw crowd; it’s not about shock and gore,” says Parr. “We’re going for that atmospheric feeling you get from a great ghost story.” Tours begin at 7, 8, and 9 tonight, Saturday, and Sunday, October 18 and 19, and October 24 through November 1 at the century-old house, 225 Greenwood in Evanston. Tickets are $20 (half of which goes to Dawes House); no one under 17 will be admitted. Call 847-475-3410 for more information.
18 SATURDAY
The grassroots social and environmental justice organization Bustan L’Shalom (Grove of Peace) describes itself as “pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, anti-war, and anti-occupation.” Founded by Israeli human rights activist Devorah Brous, it focuses on poverty relief and raising awareness of the discrimination faced by indigenous peoples in Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Jordan, establishing schools and medical clinics in impoverished areas and planting “peace groves.” Brous will discuss her work today at 3 at the Dole Branch Library, 255 Augusta in Oak Park (708-386-9032), tomorrow, October 20, at 7:30 at the Jewish Reconstruc-tionist Congregation, 303 Dodge in Evanston (847-328-7678), and Tuesday, October 21, at 1:40 in room 2094 of Northeastern Illinois Univer-sity’s Classroom Building, 5500 N. Saint Louis in Chicago (773-442-4660). All events are free; for more information call 312-427-2533 or see www.bustanlshalom.org.
When Truman College English professor Robert Hughes learned that his three-year-old son Walker was autistic, he and his wife refused to take the diagnosis lying down. Though a doctor told them there was “no hope” for the boy and predicted he would be best off institutionalized, the couple decided to raise him at home. Their struggle to bring up “a happy, loving, smart little boy who had his whole life ahead of him” is the focus of Hughes’s memoir Running With Walker. He’ll read from and discuss the book tonight at 7:30 at Barbara’s Bookstore, 1350 N. Wells, Chicago. It’s free; call 312-642-5044.
