Unheard Voices of Care Lecture Series: Ghosts and Monsters

Doors at 5:45pm

Free and open to the public

Guest speakers will explore the real and imaginary ghosts that were part of the larger immigration story, where young nurses had cause to fear for their safety in this new land. One of the bigger horror stories to make headlines was the massacre of eight student nurses on Chicago’s south side in 1966. Speakers will examine the Richard Speck incident and provide artistic impressions of the dark side of urban life for young women in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Poet Dwight Okita will read from his new memoir,The Invention of Fireflies: A Memoir of the Magical & the Monstrous, set to publish in 2027, and other artistic work based on his life in Chicago during those times.

Angel Abcede graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism. He spent most of his professional career as a reporter for a business magazine targeting owners and operators of convenience stores. As a reporter, he examined trends in packaged goods, foodservice and fuel. He has won several business press awards for his journalistic achievements. In 2025, he published a novel about his mother and aunties who were all Filipino nurses.

Ginger Leopoldo is an accomplished educator, actor, director, and community organizer. As a proud founding member of the Pintig Cultural Group and the founding Artistic Director of the Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts (CIRCA), she has dedicated her career to enriching the arts community. Ginger’s extensive work includes performing, directing, producing, and facilitating theatre productions and workshops for audiences of all ages.

She has been instrumental in developing a youth heritage curriculum that utilizes an integrated theatre arts workshop methodology and actively facilitates Activism & Art workshops for college students. Ginger earned her B.A. and M.A. in Theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dwight Okita is a memoirist, poet and novelist. He started writing poems in first grade because he couldn’t write compositions. His most reprinted poem, “In Response to Executive Order 9066,” is about the Japanese American internment camps. His new memoir, The Invention of Fireflies: A Memoir of the Magical & the Monstrous, is due out April 2027 from Tia Chucha Press. Dwight's sci-fi novel, The Prospect of My Arrival, was a top three finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Born and raised in Chicago, Dwight is active in the SGI Buddhist community advocating for peace and culture, and is a professional cuddler in a touch-starved world. He also works part-time as a caregiver for seniors with dementia. Dwight embraces his identities as a gay man, a Japanese American, and as a neurodivergent human. A compulsive drinker of iced coffee and occasional slumber party host, you can visit him at www.dwightokita.com.

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