Chicago history: Seven Chicago Books by Non-Chicago Authors
When you’re looking for a good novel about Chicago, you’re most likely to turn to those writers identified as Chicago writers, such as Saul Bellow (The Adventures of Augie March) [...]
Chicago history: The ten best books about Chicago — and a clunker
There are many very good and even great books about Chicago, and, based on my half century of writing about Chicago, here are the ten that, at the moment, I [...]
Essay: Lighting a candle of sweet kindness
My friend Mark and his wife Cathy were coming home on a mid-March Saturday from the sad burden of the funeral of their 42-year-old daughter Margaret. Margaret, a wife and [...]
Essay: Haircuts, prison, love and sheltering in place
Cathy gave me a haircut today on the back porch. In our 37 years of marriage, that hasn’t happened before, but we’re not leaving the house for haircuts or [...]
Photos: Calvary Cemetery — 4.25.20
The afternoon was cold, dark and rainy at Calvary Cemetery. Maybe that’s why I ended up in my short walk there, focusing on the textures of things, such as [...]
Essay: I found God in the pain of my brother’s suicide
I found God in the pain of my brother’s suicide. I don’t want to tell this story again — of my brother David, wracked with pain, dragging himself out [...]
Photos: A neighborhood walk, 4.16.20
Building ornamentation caught my eye today, and one little city emblem: Patrick T. Reardon 4.16.20
Essay: Calvary Cemetery, 4.10.20
One of the guys from basketball at the Levy Senior Center in Evanston is recovering, apparently well, from the coronavirus. But he’s been stuck in a motel for weeks. [...]
Essay: Calvary Cemetery, 4.7.20
The lakefront parks are closed, as are all the other city parks. Walking on the sidewalks of Edgewater — normally an invigorating exercise — is weird. I find myself scanning [...]
Essay: Long books for the long hours ahead
Early on, it was pretty clear that my wife and I — both over that red-alarm age of 60 — are going to be spending basically all our time in [...]