Barbara Brotman – Page 5

Ellen Morton, in the garden at her Woodstock home, is among the essayists featured in "At My Pace," a collection intended as a response to Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In." Morton said she didn't regret quitting her job to spend more time with her children.

Women writing about life’s twists and turns in ‘At My Pace’

August 18, 2019 at 7:33 p.m.

A few months ago, I got a terrifying email. Ellen Morton, who lives in Woodstock, didn't intend it to be frightening. She was just writing to ask if I could...

A wind turbine farm harnesses the forces of nature in Waterman.

Chicago landscape painter sees the art in wind turbines

April 5, 2019 at 11:50 p.m.

When Brian Ritchard drove through the Midwest on road trips in recent years, he found himself struck by a relatively new sight: Wind turbines. There were so many of the...

Late Steve Montador, a former Blackhawks player, had CTE brain damage

August 18, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Steve Montador knew something was wrong inside his brain. And he thought he might know the reason. Were the symptoms he couldn't shake — depression, sleeplessness, memory loss — related...

Some people plan for elaborate gardens and carry it out. Procrastinating gardeners' grand plans often turn into just putting a few flowers in a pot and calling it done.

Perfect gardens in May a torment to procrastinators

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

To: The Management Re: Unfair Gardening Practices I would like to lodge a complaint. It has come to my attention that there are people who are gardening in a way...

The Rev. Randall Harris Sr. visits an empty lot along Roosevelt Road in Chicago on Thursday, April 30, 2015. Buildings that once occupied the site were destroyed in the 1968 riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Baltimore stirs thoughts of a former Chicago rioter

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

Eyes across the country have been focused on Baltimore — anger in its streets, looting, the calling in of the National Guard. Some eyes in Chicago have seen this before...

Former Nazi guard’s openness about atrocities surprises survivor

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

From her home in Skokie, Magda Brown is carefully following a trial in Germany. Brown, 87, is a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was deported with her family at 17 in...

Rusty, Oak Brook’s favorite stray dog, comes home for a reunion

August 18, 2019 at 7:17 p.m.

Julie Gleason knelt, her hand to her mouth, as the reddish dog trotted toward her. Moments later, she was scratching him behind the ears. "Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh...

On a spring walk, Nick and Tiffany Amlot hold their 3-year-old son Joel as he walks the handrail like a tightrope Sunday, April 12, 2015, at Chicago's Montrose Beach pier.

In Chicago, don’t forget winter when celebrating spring

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

Are you happy now? No, not just happy — on delicious, teasing days of early spring, are you giddy, euphoric, rapturous? Does the sun pouring down onto newly blossomed flowers...

A study found that the proportion of brides keeping their names reached a high of 23 percent in the 1990s. For most brides, a wedding ring is accompanied by a name change.

A bride-to-be asks about keeping maiden name

June 15, 2018 at 7:14 p.m.

Rebecca Raab is getting married in July, and so faces a decision: Should she take her husband's name? Her decision-making process took a detour into my email box recently. Raab,...

Moving an elderly parent to live nearby — common and complicated

May 10, 2019 at 4:09 p.m.

A friend is in the middle of the tense logistics of moving his elderly and ill father up from Florida to be near him. We talked about it — the...

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