In honor of the 100th anniversary of Gwendolyn Brooks's birth, Liesl Olson, Director of Chicago Studies at the Newberry, recreated the poet's signature frozen fruit salad. The concoction offers a mayo-streaked window onto the culinary predilections of mid-20th-century America: whipping cream, cream cheese, and the afore-mentioned mayonnaise combine with maraschino cherries, canned pineapple, and walnuts to create a dessert that's as textured as Brooks's poetry. But the recipe, which Brooks shared with Chicago writer Jack Conroy after a dinner party in 1961, also reveals the social connections among the city's literary community. (Intro music: "Two Types of Awakenings" by Nheap)