Pickwick Lane and my mistakes
Ten years ago, I wrote a story in the Chicago Tribune about one of the oddest wrinkles in the Chicago cityscape — Pickwick Lane. It is a short, nine-foot-wide private [...]
Voting for wonder
I vote for wonder. Amid the mudslinging of political campaigns, despite the reports of all that is going wrong across the world, I vote for joy and amazement at the [...]
An open letter to Chicago’s archbishop-elect Blase Cupich
Dear Archbishop-elect Cupich: Eat at Burger King. By yourself. In street clothes. If you want to get to know Chicago and those of us who live here, go to the [...]
Books that remain in my heart and head
On Facebook, Andy Bourgeois posted a list of books that had stayed with him, and suggested that several people, including me, do the same. Andy is a real-world friend of [...]
Meditation: The job of living
The prophet Jeremiah got exasperated with God: “You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day [...]
Book clubs aren’t about books. They’re about life.
This essay initially appeared in the Chicago Tribune on 7.27.14. When I was a young man, I reveled in my physical strength and intellectual acuity. Today, I’m very aware of [...]
How smart is Derek Jeter? He can do the math.
(Photographer: Keith Allison) The world of Major League Baseball was taken aback in February when New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced that he would retire at the end [...]
Jane Jacobs and the New York City Gay Pride Parade, 2014
555 Hudson Street, New York, the former home of Jane Jacobs On a recent trip to New York City, I went looking for Jane Jacobs and found the Gay [...]
Me, myself and Jim Brosnan and Anne Hollander
I suspect that Jim Brosnan and Anne Hollander never met. They moved in different circles. They died eight days apart — Brosnan on June 29 at the age of 84, [...]
The Last Four Miles: Completing Chicago’s Lakefront Parks
Virtually my first freelance job after being laid off by the Chicago Tribune in April, 2009, was to edit (and write portions of) a report for the Friends of the [...]