A friend of mine wrote a book. » Read the rest of this entry «
#262: Peace to 2013
December 30th, 2013 § permalink
Peace to the old man sipping drinks at the VFW bar.
And the bagpiper on the condo roof.
Peace to the newsman, chasing stories for cartoons.
Peace to the lady who jammed in Tunisia.
And peace to the one who makes really sexy ladies’ underthings. » Read the rest of this entry «
#261: The Gold Coast Bagpipes
December 27th, 2013 § permalink
He was thin, mostly, with light brown hair in a blocky cut that would be called hipster if he weren’t doing it authentically.
“Nope,” the doorman said, narrowing his eyes and looking away from me. “Haven’t had any complaints about a bagpipe.” » Read the rest of this entry «
#260: C is for Christmas
December 25th, 2013 § permalink
The little boy was padded and bundled so much he looked more like a blue Nylon starfish with a stocking cap than a child.
But this little starfish boy waddled and toddled at that freaky-weird speed 2 year olds can sometimes get and he ran right up to touch the pretty red light.
His father came after to scoop him up and make sure his nose was wiped, but for a second there was nothing but the beautiful smile of a child who has found something pretty to touch. The eyes were wide in joy as the little starfish boy touched and touched that sparkling red light from the atheist A at Daley Plaza. » Read the rest of this entry «
#259: Radical Departure
December 23rd, 2013 § permalink
I recently came across a piece I wrote in 2009 for an early version of the Chicago Underground Library arts blog.
Now known as the Read/Write Library, the library is an amazing place where I used to volunteer, trying to figure out how to classify zines in a database and taking occasional forays into what I insisted on calling “liblogging.” (They tweet at @TheChibrary, a pun I came up with that went over a little better.)
The arts blog was going to follow Chicago’s creators and social innovators. I wanted my contribution to be a dry run for this site, a chance to get a little limber at the literary journalism before investing in this project.
The piece is a bit cringe-inducing to me now, but not a letter has been changed since I sent it off in ’09, even the typo about “a billions dollars.” So let’s take a trip to 2009, when a city was trying to figure out what to do after the International Olympic Committee told it to fuck off. » Read the rest of this entry «
#258: Yo-Yo Man
December 20th, 2013 § permalink
The windows were ads. They were always ads. » Read the rest of this entry «
#257: The Drunk
December 18th, 2013 § permalink
“OK buddy, OK buddy, OK buddy, we’re going to sit you down, OK? We’re going to sit you down, OK? OK?”
The man in my arms nodded and blinked long eyelashes caked with snow. » Read the rest of this entry «
#256: Mrs. Boyer
December 16th, 2013 § permalink
Looking at my grading is making me sort of misty.
Only one student got an A. There were a couple A minuses, to be fair, but not many. It was a low A and that student worked her ass off all semester.
They must hate me. » Read the rest of this entry «
#255: Open Open Books
December 13th, 2013 § permalink
It wasn’t the corkboard feet high and feet wide full of inch by inch Polaroids that made me realize how many people volunteer at Open Books.
It was the coatrack. » Read the rest of this entry «
#254: Imaginary Stories
December 11th, 2013 § permalink
Manic Pixie Dream Girl and The Irishman had a tragic love affair, which is why they wait for the train at different sections of the platform. » Read the rest of this entry «
