Category Archives: Uncategorized

WORLDS BEST ACTRESS? (Sorry Meryl. It was close.) Years ago. Walking past the upscale Italian restaurant on Halsted Street in Chicago. Rain coming soon. And in the window of this place, sitting by herself at a table for one, was … Continue reading →

Just west of Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. Around the corner from Diner Grill. There is a tent that looks like it could have been Ulysses S. Grant’s battlefield headquarters. Or maybe someplace Hemingway would stay on a hunting trip to … Continue reading →

  I hear Jackson Browne sing, “The road is filled with homeless souls.” How breathtakingly horrific it must be to grab your kids and just start walking. I think how their feet must hurt. The choice is death or blisters … Continue reading →

It’s just her now. The two of them built the retail business together over 35 years. Now she counts the days since one of the nation’s most prestigious hospitals could not help him and he died. She counts the days … Continue reading →

It was hot in Chicago on the day Aretha Franklin died. Probably hot in Detroit as well. And I wondered if maybe on her way to go sing for the angels, Aretha stopped to sit for a moment, and took … Continue reading →

  It’s so much more than the first voice you hear every workday morning over the past forty some years. This Gift. Carl Grapentine, morning guy on Chicago’s WFMT is calling it a career. Friday is his last show. Last … Continue reading →

Where did he get the broom? Take a few steps off our front porch and walk ½ a block west on Grace Street and you’ll see him. Sprawled out on blankets in a pool of light underneath the viaduct that … Continue reading →

The Chicago hospital is gone. Battered by the dangling iron wrecking ball, crushed and carted gone. Till all that remains are the shimmering waves of dirty gray heat, like a south Texas sun beating down right this moment on a … Continue reading →

Here’s Grand Nephew James! His Mom and Great Grandmother–my Mom. And some music that lives on. Honoring peace worldwide. https://youtu.be/43F8-xMkAS4

He’s here. On his birthday. Miles Davis plays, Just listen. You’ll hear. Like honey golden brass poetry. Trumpeting tones beyond the spectrum of human possibility. Caressing the night with his horn. Today green leaves of summer heat settled into Chicago. … Continue reading →