For most of my lifetime, Chicagoans have voted for mayors who could be described as domineering and dictatorial and most often named Daley. Why they have is hard to figure. A friend offered the notion that the electorate is like the victim in an abusive relationship who keeps going back. Another friend offered that it’s like […]

Hello from Alexandria, Va., on the last day of our mini-vacation. It’s been, as always, a blast. And as always, it’s ending too soon but it was long enough to stir a big, bubbling pot of nostalgia. In the fall of 1977, my junior year at the University of Illinois, I enrolled in a political […]

It’s almost here. Spring that is. The signs say so, even if the thermometer seems a little late to the game. As in 34 damp, bone-chilling degrees. We jumped to daylight saving time a couple weeks ago — which as it always does — left me feeling out of sync for about a week. I […]

College basketball fans are about to embark on a month-long orgy of tournament basketball, betting, brackets, trash talking, buzzer beaters, triumph and heartbreak. I’ll be watching, pulling for my standbys (since Illinois is limping along these days) Wisconsin (our son Gus’ team) and Michigan State (we love Tom Izzo and Beth’s sister in Michigan is […]

Just returned from a business trip to Boston for a conference and trade show. Stayed at a very nice, hipper than I am, but completely satisfying hotel. For yucks, I looked up reviews on Yelp after my stay. All I can say is: What is wrong with us? Among the Yelps from the whining, er, discriminating […]