Mission 4: LGBT Heroes

Mission 4 is now closed.

For our fourth mission, inspired by Sam Clay’s profound recognition of his true self, we ask for you to consider who your LGBT hero is.

You could win a $50 Powell's gift card and be entered to win an Apple iPad Air 2!

The Mission

While the city Kavalier and Clay inhabit is having its own Golden Age -- and, indeed, our two main characters are in their own lives -- the need for connection and community is as present as ever.

For this mission, we invite you to learn more about the Chicago Legacy Walk project, an outdoor museum walk dedicated to sharing the historic contributions of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Whether you review the list of Legacy Walk inductees, the candidates for 2015, or call upon your own experience and knowledge, your mission is to share who your LGBT hero is.

Mission 4 Prize

One submission from Mission 4 will be chosen at random to win a $50 Powell's gift card, courtesy of BiblioCommons.

Grand Prize

There will be six missions over the course of the reading program.

At the end of the reading program, one submission will be chosen at random from across all six missions to win an Apple iPad Air 2, courtesy of BiblioCommons.

Submission Guidelines

Enter to win by telling us about your LGBT hero:

We may share your submission on our website and social media too!

Submission Rules

  • You must be a registered Chicago Public Library patron.
  • You must be 13 years or older to enter.
  • Only submissions posted between midnight Monday, March 23 and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, April 12 will be entered for a chance to win the Mission 4 prize.
  • By using the #OBOCMission4 hashtag or submitting to the OBOC Facebook page, you are granting the Chicago Public Library permission to share your submission on the CPL website or on CPL social media accounts.

Background

“The true magic of this broken world lay in the ability of the things it contained to vanish, to become so thoroughly lost, that they might never have existed in the first place.”

In the fourth part of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, titled “The Golden Age,” we find our heroes, Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier, having much personal and professional success. The Escapist is so successful that it receives its own radio program; after much delay, Joe’s brother Thomas appears to finally be coming to America; Joe’s relationship with Rosa is in full bloom, with Rosa’s family welcoming him into their fold; while performing his magic act, Joe foils an attack by Carl Ebling; and Sam finally allows himself to find happiness with the charismatic and All-American Tracy Bacon, the man who will voice The Escapist.

However, this Golden Age is doomed to be short-lived. It is 1941, and the war looks to have no end in sight. On the same fateful night, the eve of Sam’s departure to California and the day before the Pearl Harbor attack, Joe receives horrible news about Thomas and runs away from his life and Rosa, and Sam is caught by the police with Tracy Bacon and their group of friends.

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