It was 2011 and I had just read that, get this, Donald Trump announced that he wasn’t going to run for president. » Read the rest of this entry «
#661: Zubat and the Theys
July 18th, 2016 § permalink
They and they were of types who usually don’t talk.
The first they were 30s-ish, white and cool, aging punks and hips whose once candy-colored hair was now seeing threads of white come through. A man and a woman riding a rocking, jumbly ‘L’ train toward the Loop. » Read the rest of this entry «
#660: A Corruption Tour Mission Statement
July 15th, 2016 § permalink
I made TV news on Wednesday. Twice.
The first time was the NBC 5 evening news in a piece about the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour I run.
Take a minute to watch the segment here.
The second time I made the news Wednesday was on the local PBS affiliate’s Chicago Tonight, when I was used as maybe not the greatest example in a question. » Read the rest of this entry «
#659: Downtown Bingo
July 13th, 2016 § permalink
The Rules: Print off the three cards below, grab two friends (or two groups of friends) and hit Chicago’s downtown.
Whoever gets a straight line of five in any direction first wins! » Read the rest of this entry «
#658: The Five Greatest Sentences the Chicago Tribune Has Ever Written
July 11th, 2016 § permalink
It’s a beautiful summer day, I was out of town all weekend at a wedding and, well, I just wanted to do this.
So in lieu of your usual story today, a list of five of the greatest sentences that ever appeared in the Chicago Tribune, as per its online archives. » Read the rest of this entry «
#657: Bit-O-Honey
July 8th, 2016 § permalink
“You will have little bits of bee in your honey, I’ll tell you that right now.”
On a rainy Thursday under a park district shelter, a group of about 12 people and one puppy gathered to talk bees. » Read the rest of this entry «
#656: The Royal Order of Flappers
July 6th, 2016 § permalink
“A girl who likes a good time, of course.”
“A girl who likes freedom in dress.”
“A girl who does as she pleases.”
“A girl who is young, naturally.”
Thus spaketh 17-year-old High Priestess Margaret Persell when two members the Royal Order of Flappers burst into the office of Chicago Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson to demand the city shut up those lousy ministers. » Read the rest of this entry «
#655: Learning Piggy
July 4th, 2016 § permalink
“Piggy! Piggy! Y’all don’t know how to play piggy?”
We did not.
Blanket, grill, Montrose Beach Park. Fun, friends, three separate dogs, a Frisbee no one used and baseballs we did toss around every now and again.
And the baseballs netted us the invite. » Read the rest of this entry «
#654: The Cubless Cubs Game
July 1st, 2016 § permalink
The crush of meatflesh oozing out of the Red Line at Addison.
The bars. The crowds. The water bottle and bootleg T-shirt vendors hawking wares and the how-are-they-not-arrested scalpers yelling “Tickets! Tickets! I got extra!” from their pre-arranged Wrigley stoops.
Slow cruises of suburbanite SUVs trickling slowly, slowly down Clark looking for that holiest of Grails, a cheap parking spot by the field. » Read the rest of this entry «
#653: The Patron Saint of the Belly-Itchers
June 29th, 2016 § permalink
Catch. Throw. “Ah, I overthought it.”
Catch. Throw. “I could feel it slipping.”
Catch. Throw. “Oof. Sorry, Dan.”
As I mentioned last month, I’ve been asked to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming Kane County Cougars minor league baseball game in August. I’m sort of a sports Einstein (in that I play like an elderly physicist), so for the last several weeks I’ve been practicing.
I know I’m not going to get great, but as visions of 50 Cent’s and Snoop Dogg’s humiliating first pitches swirled my brain (and Carly Rae Jepsen’s was no prize either), I decided to drive to the suburbs once a week to get pitching lessons from a friend who coaches his son’s Little League team. » Read the rest of this entry «
