Tag Archives: MEDIUM

There’s something about Chicago. We lifers can feel it in our bones. It’s a pride tempered by humility. Yet plenty gritty. There’s not a trace of doubt in it. Chicagoans believe we live in the best city in America. At the same time, a whole lot of us know that our city sits at a perilous point in its history. More than a crossroad; a crucible. Chicago faces a set of seemingly intractable problems. Some new, bu

The Cubs-themed floor mats — lined by blue track lights — are the first thing you notice inside Santiago’s Honda Odyssey. Next thing you see is the Chicago Bears flag proudly unfurled from the back of his seat. Look closer at the driver and you see he’s got a Bears shirt on. Look up and The Blues Brothers is playing on the overhead screen. They’re all conversation-starters on their own, but toget

NBA and NHL players are rarely compared. Besides being professional athletes, they don’t have a ton in common. But I couldn’t help noticing last week that the MVPs of each league’s Finals, Toronto Raptor Kawhi Leonard and St. Louis Blue Ryan O’Reilly, have traveled an eerily similar path over the last year. Both born in 1991, 27 years later Leonard and O’Reilly would get traded in the same month to new tea

  I saw this difference of opinion scrawled on a wall at Gino’s East restaurant last Friday night.   Right before I snapped the shot of it, I thought to myself, what a picture perfect image to represent the politically divisive sign of the times. But if you think about it, it’s far more than that. This handwriting on the wall is a preview of what’s going to be the ultimate societal Rorscha

I’d like to introduce you to a few people. And then I’d like to explain why. [caption id="attachment_734" align="aligncenter" width="640"] In May of 2019, Kennedy-King College valedictorian Cindy Alvarez speaks to her fellow One Million Degrees Scholars and supporters.[/caption]   Three years ago, Cindy Alvarez was a mother of five teenagers with a high school diploma. The thought of starting commun

The payoffs made to Rick Singer in the college admission scandal make me furious — not only because of the greed and dishonesty of the entitled Hollywood offenders, but also because of their sheer ignorance. It is NOT ESSENTIAL to attend an “elite” university to live an excellent life. In fact, the Gallup-Purdue Index of more than 70,000 graduates — from people out of school for 10 years to 50 years — repo

Seventy-one year-old Calvin’s three grandkids call him “PawPaw.” He met his wife of 42 years when they were in middle school. True “soulmates,” he says. “We still have so much affection and love.” Storybook-sounding on the surface. You'd never know that beneath it all, Calvin and Gwendolyn were both were addicted to drugs and alcohol for years. “Those were tough times to go through. Being homeless.

  As a child, Safiya Wazir lived in Afghanistan under the threat of the Taliban, hiding from shootings and bombings. Today, 27-year-old Safiya is the Democratic nominee for state rep. in New Hampshire’s 8th Ward. Some Americans are just unstoppable. Safiya’s family fled the Taliban when she was six for Uzbekistan. There, she was shamed by classmates — called a “terrorist” and “Taliban kid.” Wi

We don’t have to demonize each other, just because we vehemently disagree with one another. I have never felt universal hatred for Americans who support this President. I’ve felt anger, shock, confusion, sadness, but never hatred. And I’m not being patronizing. If anything, I’ve strived harder to try to better understand people who support a person who disgusts me on a daily basis. This is one of the lesso

  There’s nothing in America like a comeback. Especially from the depths of public failure. In this country, we love to see people get knocked down when they deserve it — and then we cheer for them to climb their way back up the mountain. Muhammad Ali, Bill Clinton, Richard Pryor, Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan, Sinatra, Robert Downey, Jr., etc., etc. And there’s nothing like watching the drama unfold in

To my friends who voted for this President because they believed that there were genuine positions he held that would improve their lives: First of all, I get it. I don’t agree, but I get it. Setting aside the awful, racist, mendacious behavior of the man (and I can’t set it aside, but some folks can) — I get it. Maybe you wanted lower taxes. Maybe you couldn’t stand Hillary Clinton. Maybe you just wanted a

  You may wonder where I’ve been. Why you haven’t seen much of me. Why you haven’t heard much from me. After all, I was the President of the United States for eight years. Naturally, I care. Obviously, I’m watching. And listening. There is a tradition in our country, especially in the modern era, that a former president doesn’t engage in public criticism of a sitting U.S. President. There are excepti

Journalists are patriots. I don’t write much after these shootings occur. Like you, all of them just make me sick. So sad. So damn sad. But today’s mass murder didn’t make me sad. It made me angry. I could feel it in my blood. I attended a political event tonight where interesting speakers talked about interesting things. Yet mostly I was thinking of those journalists who died at the Capital Gazette. In an i

There’s a guy I know. Friend of mine. Twenty-five years ago, when he was about 25, he moved to New York. What he’d thought was a good work opportunity out West turned out to be anything but. So he applied for some jobs in Gotham and hopped a flight to attend some interviews. He was offered a job as a staff accountant at an investment services company. The salary was 40K. He took it. My friend flew back, picke

All those months of saving articles, transcribing research and refining my precious little book outline — yet I still hadn’t written the first word. Would I ever? Could I ever? It was a summer day in 2013. I was standing on Michigan Avenue along Chicago’s Mag Mile, blathering into a cell phone to my author friend Bridget. Once again, I was all fired up about my latest idea on how to repair what I referred to

Today, in the first round of the 2018 Masters, the defending champion, Sergio Garcia, actually made a 13 on the par-5 15th hole. It was stunning. And for a whole lotta golfers and golf fans, it was an instant reminder of the fictional plot in the movie Tin Cup. I’ve watched Tin Cup many, many times. If you’re a pure golfer, you love it. Not that it’s a truly great flick; cable ratings usually won’t peg it an

There is a beauty about the game of golf that is hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t played the game. But let's give this a shot. [caption id="attachment_739" align="aligncenter" width="2304"] Me, on the 7th tee at Pebble Beach Golf Links, 2005.[/caption] No one shot is ever the same as another. Ever. There are thousands of fields you play this sport on — and every one of them is totally singular. A base

Theodore Roosevelt didn’t care for golf. In fact, he couldn’t stand it. But for those who know the pro game very well, there’s a set of Roosevelt’s most famous words that could easily describe what it’s like trying to compete on the PGA Tour: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit be