The carrots, scrawny and dirt cased, began to sprout in the makeshift garden between the two abandoned buildings just west of what had once been Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. It was 60 degrees. Bright warm sun and the middle of February. There were no real seasons anymore. It could be snowing one day and tropical […]
Malia Obama probably wasn’t sure if her Dad would make it home from work to watch her soccer game this past Friday night. He’s been pretty busy lately. But her Mom and her little sister would be there. The flow of the kids moving the ball down the field, under the lights of a chilly […]
Chances are that if you were sitting at the bar at the Cape Cod Room in Chicago’s Drake Hotel that night in 1954, and the laughing young couple next to you started in on the tradition of carving their initials in the bar, you would have known whom they were. The initials might not have […]
The baby from the train that fell from the sky. The story swirls and entwines with the paths of our three stars. You, me and the child, Annie Beth Morningstar. We couldn’t give her much, but we gave her that name. Didn’t it all happen sometime around New Year’s? First, you. Calling you back across […]
Mary and Joe were flat broke when they got off the bus in Chicago. They didn’t know anybody and she was expecting a baby. They went to a cheap hotel. But the clerk jerked his thumb at the door when they couldn’t show a day’s rent in advance. They walked the streets until they saw […]
Just heard he died today. I don’t know if he ever saw the story he inspired and I put in my book. I’m guessing that he did not. So I’ll put it here now. In tribute. With respect to his family. His friends. All of us who learned from him. “Eating Our Desert First” From […]
Am I the ghost of Wrigley Field? That echo of distant laughter you can almost grab on to before everything goes icy dark? Is that me? Perhaps it would be best for you to decide. It is October again. When there is always more than what you see. But where are my manners? I am […]
October 15. We picked the wedding date cause it was smack dab in the middle of our favorite month. Got married at a pot luck ceremony in the basement of what was then our church. There was a lot of music. There still is.
This is Chicago. We kill people here.
Lake Street Dive. Band where everyone is a star.