Apologies for dereliction of blog duties the past few weeks. To be honest, I’ve just felt a little empty, with nothing to say. Don’t worry, not that empty. I’m not despondent and no more or less anxious about the state of things than usual. In most ways, my life is as good as it’s ever […]

I’m as fatigued as everyone else when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. The omicron variant news made a lot of people feel like we’re starting over again. But, for a glass-half-empty kinda guy, I’m optimistic that we have the spiky little pest on the run. I know that runs counter to news about […]

Heidi Stevens, a Chicago Tribune Columnist (among other things) had this to say on Facebook about last week’s Rittenhouse verdict: “This country keeps finding new and endless ways to break your heart.” Ain’t it the sad truth. I have nothing to say about that matter that hasn’t been written. Like everything in today’s United States, […]

Editing an alt-weekly newspaper in Champaign-Urbana some 20 years ago taught me a ton. I already knew journalism was difficult work. What I didn’t understand was how critical good local journalism is to any community. And how difficult it is to do local community—focused journalism when you’re a local. When I took the helm,  the […]

My father and his three brothers served in the armed forces during WWII. I grew up with a simplistic reverie for them, and the armed forces, and had that simplistic, callow view that the good guys won. My dad and my uncles were good guys. The good guys did win. They were good guys, but […]