Hyde Park: January 2009 Archives

Need a winter pick-me-up, but live too far south for the famous glogg at Simon's Tavern? Hyde Park's Park 52 may have the remedy. Sommelier Alain Njike has created a "Glow Wine" (based on the traditional German drink, Gluhwein): a blend of wines, spices and seasonal fruit, warmed up for your imbibing pleasure.

At the high price of $15, or 36 packets of Swiss Miss, it's not an everyday indulgence. But with the days not getting any warmer, it's worth a sip.

In Frank Capra's civic classic, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) gives us numerous goose-bumpy homilies, like this one:

"You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading 'the land of the free' in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that."

If this has new meaning for you on Tuesday, head to DocFilms at the Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th, for a screening of that film at 7 p.m. Tuesday — with 2-for-1 $5 admission!