I was asked by the Chicago Literary Club, a very old social organization in the city — now in its 149th season — to give the Arthur Baer Fellowship Address on December 12. When Dan Pyne, the immediate past president, invited me, I was honored but a bit unsure what to talk about.  Dan said…

In late 1999, Rick Kogan and I were walking north on Astor Street through the Gold Coast, and, if memory serves, Rick was telling me about long ago summers when, as a boy, he would stroll down this street and listen to the Cubs game on the radio from the succession of open windows. I…

After Howie Harrington asked me if I would make this tribute to Marty Kirk — of course, I said “yes” — I read Ted Cirone’s short biography of his friend. (That's Marty to the left in the banner image with Ted. ) And I rummaged around in my memory, and I did some searching…

When I headed to the Newberry Library Book Fair on a Friday at the end of July, I knew I had to come up with a strategy.  It’s a locally famous sale, featuring tens of thousands of used works available very cheaply.  A kind of Nirvana for a book lover, but also a kind of…

by Patrick G. Reardon and Patrick T. Reardon . When you get to be old farts as we are, you recognize that Jesus never made it to his 70s or 80s. This guy who is the model for every Christian — What would Jesus do? — spent a lot of his life getting ready for…

“Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”  The voices of dozens of big-name African-American entertainers sang for joy in the song that came on when I started my car.  It was the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration, a 1992 performance of the Messiah as channeled through the full range of African-American music — gospel, soul, blues,…

This essay originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune on 3.15.21. Well, Pope Francis, I disagree. I respect much of what you’ve done in the papacy, Holy Father, but this statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued Monday with your approval, about the sinfulness of homosexuality is just plain wrong-headed. It’s a…

Some guy on ESPN the other day was complaining again about men who bring a mitt to Major League Baseball games, and I just don’t get it.  Maybe that’s because I still bring my first baseman’s glove to the park whenever I go, even though I’m 71. As if dreams of catching a foul ball…